January 16th, 2008Wireless Toronto – Profile of Local Community Wifi Heroes
Since 2005 a group of volunteers known as Wireless Toronto has been quietly networking up restaurants, coffee shops and public spaces all over Toronto, and engaging in all sorts of related wifi hackery. Patrick Dinnen, and Gabe Sawhney, two of Wireless Toronto’s original instigators, took a few minutes this week to tell WirelessNorth.ca a little more about their organization.
 Patrick & Gabe, Wireless Toronto   |
1. If you had to describe Wireless Toronto in a single 140 character twitter post? [Patrick] A volunteer powered group providing free wifi at 30+ locations in Toronto. Also experiment with location based content.2. How did wireless Toronto get started and what’s your motivation/inspiration for making it happen? [Gabe] Everyone has their own reasons for getting involved: here’s mine. I’m interested in wireless tech, but I’m particularly interested in urban contextual computing, and/or locative media. Like: how can our mobile/handheld media respond to our context in an urban environment, to enrich and amplify the urban experience? I create content and applications for urban space, but there weren’t many platform options (there still aren’t). Around that time I met Michael Lenczner from Ile Sans Fil, and started thinking about the amazing work they’re doing in Montreal, and the nifty open source community wireless network management platform they built, WifiDog. So in a way, I imagine Wireless Toronto’s network as a platform for me (and others!) to develop urban content and software applications.Other folks are involved with WT because they believe in free wifi / open access; or because they like tinkering with routers; or because they believe the availability of free community wifi helps change people’s expectations about how complex wireless tech is and how expensive it should be; or because it’s a good opportunity for them to flex their geek muscle and at the same time create strong relationships with community leaders and small business owners; or because we have good taste in beer (and drink it often).The group was “birthed” with the help of Phillip Smith and Social Tech Brewing, and was the first “virtual” tenant at the Centre for Social Innovation.3. Why do you think offering free/open access wireless is important for the residents of a city like Toronto? what does free/open make possible? [Patrick] Free (or at least low cost) wireless internet access is important as the Internet becomes a requirement for day-to-day living for more of us. We have only seen the start of what free/open wireless access makes possible, but as it becomes more widespread we will see uses and interactions we can only begin to imagine now.4. What’s next for wireless toronto? [Gabe]More hotspots, more community portal page content, more art projects, more gatherings, more beer. 5. If people out there want to get involved part or help out Wireless Toronto, how can they help? [Patrick, Gabe](Thanks!) |
More great Wireless Toronto photos on flickr
