Eterea - New Urban Wi-Fi Landscape

ETEREA New Urban Wi-Fi Landscape

ETEREA New Urban Wi-Fi Landscape

A thesis project by Yulia Besplemennova 764434

Academic Tutor Fabio Di Liberto Assistant Marco Lampugnani

POLITECNICO DI MILANO FACOLTĂ DEL DESIGN Product Service System Design Master Degree A.Y. 2012/2013

Contents Abstract �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 6 Intro ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 9 THEORETICAL RESEARCH ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 10 Why Internet������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 12 Cyberspace ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������14 Social Effects of the Internet �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������16 Cyberspace vs� Public Space �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������20 ICT and Cyberspace vs� Spatial Organisation of Cities ���������������������������������������������������������������������26 The Internet and Public Realm ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 30

Why Wi-Fi? ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 34

Why Not 3G? �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������36 Trends in 3G ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������40 O2 Case ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 42 AT&T Case ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 44

What is Wi-Fi?������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 46

Wi-Fi as Infrastructure ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������48 Hertzian Space ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������52 Hertzian Space and Affordances������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������56 Visualizing Wi-Fi ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������60 Daily Life Artifacts �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������62

How do cities do it? ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 64

Values of City Wi-Fi ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������66

Why and How Cities Do Wi-Fi ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 68 The Philadelphia Story���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 70 New York City Case���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 72 Bottom-Up in Bryant Park ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 74 Estonia���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 76

Wi-Fi & Internet in Italy �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������78

Italian Internet Usage Statistics �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������80 Legal Regulations and Public Initiatives �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������84 Wi-Fi Offers ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������86

FIELD RESEARCH ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 92 Field Observations Preparation and Examples ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������94 Tools���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������96 Research Questions�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������98 Choosing Spaces ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������100 Piazza Argentina ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������102 Via Morgagni ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������124 Upcycle ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 136

Research Synthesis Understanding Users ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������142 Clustering Users ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 148 User Archetypes Description������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 152 Understanding Offer Focusing on Open Wifi Milano ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 158 Digital Islands��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 164 Mapping Global Context ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 168 User Journey and Breakdown Moments�����������������������������������������������������������������170 Openwifi Conclusion �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������176 Design Principles ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������178

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT Concept Service Approach to Infrastructure����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 182 Focusing on the Offer ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 184 Offer = traffic rules + bandwidth ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 186 Understanding demand through user needs��������������������������������������������������������������������� 190 Platform for Urban Engagement ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 194

Service Description �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������196 For the Users ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 198 For Partners �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������200 For Urban Planning���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 201 Options������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������202 Offers and Credits �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������204 Graphic Concept Elements ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������206 App/Website ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 212 Other Touchpoints �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������226 New User Journey�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������228 Returning User Journey ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 230 User Experience ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������232 System Map������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 240

Future Development ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������242 Conclusions �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������244 Appendix

References �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������246 Bibliography ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������248 List of images ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������250 Acknowledgements�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������252

Abstract Eterea – New Urban Wi-Fi Landscape Eterea is a new way of thinking of Wi-Fi offer in the city� It aims at bringing together physical and virtual aspects of spaces for the best user experience� As Internet is changing our lives and the ways we relate to the world we constantly need to connect wherever we are� It is even said now that being urban is being online� City Wi-Fi infrastructures are experiencing new growth with spread of mobile devices and smart cities promise� In Italy it is rising with legal changes and in Milan especially with future EXPO-2015 preparations� Complexity of this new infrastructure should not be underestimated� Normally in design we work with affordances of tangible objects, but with Wi-Fi service there are three levels of affordances: the one of usual physical space, another of electromagnetic field and the affordance of the virtual space affecting our behavior in it� They all should be taken in account to satisfy users� Another important point is the balance between usefulness of service offer and difficulty of access to it� Proposed solution especially focuses on the offer component redefining it for multiple user groups� With Eterea they will be able to choose the right connection at right time and right place to satisfy their specific needs� This concept was developed after many field observations followed by deep research of existing offer in the city which helped to identify real user demands and gaps in existing services� The crucial user groups were defined to focus on delivering proper solution to those who need it the most� Eterea is also emphasizing the central role of Internet as contemporary communication tool and builds a platform for other partners to enter and integrate their services� In this way it is engaging multiple actors to improve the overall connected urban experience� 6

Eterea – Nuovi paesaggi Wi-Fi urbani Eterea è un nuovo modo di pensare l’offerta di accessi Wi-Fi nella città� Il suo obiettivo è quello di combinare virtualità a fisicità degli spazi in modo da garantire la migliore esperienza possibile all’utente� Poichè Internet sta modificando le nostre vite e i modi in cui facciamo esperienza di ciò che ci circonda, abbiamo un bisogno costante di connetterci, ovunque ci troviamo� C’è chi dice, addirittura, che essere cittadini significhi essere online� L’infrastruttura Wi-Fi urbana sta conoscendo una rinnovata crescita grazie alla diffusione dei dispositivi mobili e delle promesse legata alle smart cities� in Italia questa crescita è accompagnata da innovazioni legislative e, a Milano in particolare, dai preparativi per la futura EXPO-2015� La complessità di questa nuova infrastruttura non va sottostimata� Se nel design si lavora normalmente con le possibilità/capacità (affordances) degli oggetti tangibili, con il Wi-Fi si hanno tre diversi livelli rispetto ai quali queste capacità sono manifeste: quello consueto dello spazio fisico, quello dello spazio elettromagnetico e quello dello spazio virtuale che definisce i nostri comportamenti in esso� Tutte queste dimensioni vanno prese in considerazione se si vuole soddisfare l’utente� Un ulteriore punto di interesse è l’equilibrio tra l’utilità del servizio offerto e la difficoltà nell’utilizzo dello stesso� La soluzione proposta si concentra sul lato dell’offerta, ridefinendola per i diversi gruppi di utenti� Con Eterea, i suoi utilizzatori potranno scegliere la corretta connessione, al momento giusto e nel luogo giusto, per poter soddisfare i loro bisogni� La concezione del servizio nasce da molteplici osservazioni sul campo, seguite da attente analisi dell’offerta esistente in città, utili a identificare le reali esigenze degli utenti e le lacune dei servizi già disponibili� I gruppi di utilizzatori principali sono stati circoscritti in relazione alla necessità di costruire un’offerta che incontri le esigenze di chi ne fa maggiore uso� Eterea fa leva anche sulla centralità di Internet come strumento di comunicazione contemporanea, e costruisce una piattaforma sulla quale altri partner possono avere accesso e integrare i loro servizi� É in questo modo che Eterea coinvolge molteplici attori, in modo da migliorare l’esperienza della connessione urbana nel suo insieme 7

Since the very first moment that I arrived to Italy I was struggling with different problems related to Internet access� First it was the absence of Wi-Fi connection in the hotels and places in the city and after — even at the place I rented� It was so frustrating that at one moment I was almost crying because of not being able to connect to meaningful people� However I was seeing it as a personal issue till my friends coming to Milan haven’t opened my eyes on how many people are really experiencing the same frustration in different situations� As I was looking for the topic of my thesis dealing with technology and the city I finally accepted the point that basic infrastructure level is unfairly missed by designers and deserves more attention� Theoretical research and field observation proved this idea and the resulting project shows how humancentered approach can contribute to development of seemingly pure technological matter of infrastructure�

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THEORETICAL RESEARCH Why Internet?

Why Wi-FI? What is Wi-FI? How do cities do it?

Wi-Fi & Internet in Italy

Why the Internet?

No need to say that the Internet became essential part of our life and it’s importance and penetration is growing faster than of any other communication medium in the human kind history� UN has even declared the internet access to be one of the basic human rights� “We all shape and are shaped by what happens there” [1] Of course with such rapid growth besides all other aspects of life it is affecting the life of cities and our behaviour: “Being urban is being online” [2]

There was a moment when we could complain about people preferring to stay online at home resulting in less life out, but now with global spread of handheld devices situation changes and we bring the Internet to the streets changing our relations to surrounding citizens and environment�

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Cyberspace The Internet is just one part of the new bigger space which is restructuring our life

“Cyberspace” literally means ‘navigable space’ and comes from the Greek “kyber” (to navigate). This term became popular since William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer, cyberspace there is a navigable, digital space of networked computers accessible from computer consoles; a visual, colourful, electronic, Cartesian datascape known as ‘The Matrix’ where companies and individuals interact with, and trade in, information.

Now it’s not one homogeneous space; it is a myriad of rapidly expanding cyberspaces, each providing a different form of digital interaction and communication. In general, they can be categorised into those existing within the technologies of the Internet, those within virtual reality, and conventional telecommunications such as the phone and the fax, although because of a rapid convergence of technologies new hybrid spaces are emerging.

Importantly this “virtual” space doesn’t exist on it’s own, but merges with our regular physical space.

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“Things occur or exist in relation to space and time�” [3] — But which space?!

Why the Internet?

The Internet is a global network of computers linked by ‘wires’ – telecommunications technologies (cables of copper, coaxial, glass, as well as radio and microwaves).

The World Wide Web (WWW - it exists within the Internet) consists of multimedia data which are stored as hypermedia documents containing links to other pages of information.

Intranets have the same functions as the Internet, but are private, corporate networks linking the offices, production and distribution sites of a company around the world.

Other services existing within the Internet include email infrastructure, numerous messaging clients and peer-to-peer networks.

Perhaps what distinguishes cyberspace, and in particular the Internet, has been the speed of diffusion and growth. However the unveiling of the Web in 1992 was the outcome of nearly thirty years’ of research in digital computing and networking. Moreover, despite its impressive growth statistics, most of the world have yet to experience the Web and many may never gain access, particularly those in the developing world.

“The rapid expansion in investment in Information and Communications Technologies and the exponential growth of users of cyberspace is impressive, but their real importance – why they matter – centres on their transformative agency agency� ICTs and cyberspace are transformative technologies, changing society in a number of ways ways� They are presently facilitating a process of restructuring, radically altering social, cultural, political, institutional and economic life�” [4]

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Social Effects of the Internet Despite many concerns active users of the Internet are also more active in the offline communication

In order to understand why do we need internet in the city and what it can cause it’s important to look at its social aspects, which is one of the very discussed topics nowadays.

One of the most important researches of this might be found in the book ”The Internet in Everyday Life” edited by Barry Wellman and Caroline Haythornthwaite. It gathers different essays on various aspects of the Internet affecting daily life: comparing the Internet use in different time of day and different countries, talking about civic engagement and social interaction on internet, understanding its impact on other daily activities and involvement into offline communications, new forms of work and experiences in different fields.

“If you do not care about networks, the networks networks will care about you, anyway anyway� For as long as you want to live in society, at this time and in this place, you will have to deal with the network society� Because we live in the Internet Galaxy�” [5]

Mainly it tries to answer the number of questions:

• Does using the Internet make people happier or unhappier?

• Is the Internet empowering, or is it a tool of social control?

• Is the Internet addicting?

• Does virtual community erode face to face community? [6]

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Why the Internet?

In many of essays authors try to understand whether in reality we’re facing the utopian or dystopian model of the Internet development. Former one is suggesting that online communication makes everything better and more efficient, gives people opportunity to connect to those far away and find new friends and knowledge destroying the physical and space limits. Dystopian on the contrary argues that this enthusiasm about the Internet is false and that this engagement into long-distance communication will affect physically tied communities, cause alienation, social disengagement and loss of “real” to “virtual”.

However none of those models turn to be completely true in reality. According to researchers people who are more active in online communication turn to be more active offline as well.

(Even more than could be observed in research of 2002 nowadays we see real and virtual uniting a lot as we passed from the time of chatrooms and forums with imaginary avatars and nicknames to structured social networks websites for people with real names.)

“The blossoming of the Internet has eliminated the financial cost of longdistance communication, reduced the time and psychological cost of contacting near and far away people� Although some community ties function solely online, so-called “virtual communities” , in practice, most people use whatever means are necessary to stay in contact with community members: in-person, by telephone, as well as the Internet� Contrary to dystopian predictions, new communication technologies do not disconnect people from communities communities� Computer-mediated communication reinforces existing communities, establishing contact and encouraging support where none may have existed before before�”[7] 17

Why the Internet?

Interesting aspect of these debates is in evaluating the social capital changes with use of Internet and what Information revolution has done to communities in details. In this fields commonly expressed fears included:

• The weakening of private community: social contact with kin, friends, workmates, and neighbors� • The decline of public community: gatherings in public places, involvement in voluntary organizations, civic concerns, and commitment to community� • The disengagement from community: positive attitudes towards community life and willingness to contribute to the well-being of the community [8] To understand that researchers have studied different forms of social capital:

1�1 Network capital: the frequency of social contact with friends, relatives, and workmates. This is the private side of community.

2� Civic engagement:

participation in voluntary organizations and political activities affords opportunities for people to bond, create joint accomplishments, and collectively articulate their demands. Such civic engagement is the public side of community.

3 Sense of community: social capital consists of more than 3� interpersonal interaction and civic engagement. When people have a strong attitude toward community – a motivated and responsible sense of belonging – they should mobilize their social capital more willingly and effectively. This is the attitudinal side of community.

The evidences for analysis came from a web survey of a large web survey of North American visitors to the National Geographic Society website.

18

Why the Internet?

And in the end research’s results suggest that the Internet is increasing social capital, civic engagement, and developing a sense of belonging to online community. People not only have more relationships than in pre-Internet times, they are in more frequent contact with their relationships, and the strengthening of the bonds through more frequent contact means that ties can be more readily mobilized for aid.

“Research shows no single Internet effect effect� At a time of spatially dispersed community, the Internet facilitates social contact that supplements face-to-face and telephone contact� At a time of declining civic engagement, the Internet provides tools for those already involved to increase their engagement� At a time of partial identity with multiple personal communities, the Internet provides another means for feeling connected with friends and kin� Rather than weakening other forms of community, those who are more active offline are more active online – and vice versa� In this way, people are incorporating the Internet into their everyday lives even as the Internet is quietly fostering the changing composition of capital�” [8] social capital It should be considered however that this research was performed in the years before spread of Facebook and other social networking services becoming essential in our lives, which apparently should only emphasize all the effects discussed above.

19

Cyberspace vs. Public Space Telecommunications moved us from local communities to distant networks, requiring new approach to spatial design

Public spaces for many centuries were the main gathering points for communities, but new communication models are changing their relevance. For example, now we don’t need to gather in the city squares to discuss problems with fellow citizens, online forums do this jobs of physical spots. And new models of people’s connections ask for different space organisation.

“Designers need to know how the world actually functions rather than trying to force their interactions into misspecified templates templates� People live and work in networks, not in groups� Realizing this can aid the design and use of the right computer tools for our times�” [9] “In our century information and communication technologies are changing space-time relations, redefining our views on materiality and spatiality and the way people connect to the places� Cyberspace existing due to them extends our social interaction providing new media�” [4] Rapid development of telecommunications in the past century has changed our lifestyles, the way we connect, interact and behave and apparently — how do we use spaces and relate with those around. Public spaces are different for different publics. Barry Wellman puts it short and clear in “Little Boxes, Glocalization, and Networked Individualism” He tries to warn those involved in

20

Why the Internet?

“digital cities” issues not to mistaken the old ways of thinking of communities and accept new reality instead.

According to him we’ve passed from Little boxes organization, through Glocalization to Networked Individualism. Each of them deserves a bit of explanation.

“The “little boxes” metaphor (from Malvena Reynolds’ 1963 song) connotes people socially and cognitively encapsulated by homogeneous, broadly-embracing groups�”[9] Little boxes is the model of traditional pre-telecommunication society where people were mostly communicating with fellow members of the few groups to which they belong: at home, in the neighborhood, at work, or in voluntary organizations. These groups often have boundaries for inclusion and structured, hierarchical, organization: supervisors and employees, parents and children, pastors and churchgoers, organizational executives and members. In such a society, each interaction is in its place: one group at a time.

What’s important is that this groups of interacting people require specifically designed spaces. And they find them in churches, town squares, cafes, bars, clubs and many other traditional public spaces.

“Glocalization” is a neologism meaning the combination of intense local and extensive global interaction�”[9] Transition from little boxes to glocalisation was driven by revolutionary developments in both transportation and communication. It was a move away from a solidary group in a single locale to contact between people in different places and multiple social networks. Households and worksites became important centers for networking; neighborhoods became less important. Also social changes like liberalized divorce law added much to this transition.

Glocalization means the establishment of network of places. People on this stage can interact both within and without local neighborhood. They can find friends by interest in other places and keep connected by means of telecom-

21

Just as global society Simpsons family is very much affected by the ICT changing its social communication and life organisation

Local community

“Little boxes”

Just like in old times Homer likes to meet his friends at Moe’s while Marge is actively participating in church community.

However real contemporary family’s anchor is their living room connected to global world by TV-news and telephone.

Glocalization

Person-to-person networks

Unlike her parents Lisa finds like-minded friends in different places using the Internet.

(She also likes playing poker there.)

Despite his love to TV Homer tries all new devices and they’re changing his relations to others. (Though it’s still unclear whether something will make him spend more time outdoors)

Simpsons’ case perfectly demonstrates also how in reality (even cartoon one) different modes of communication coexist in contemporary society even though main vector is moving and more people become networked individuals abandoning local communities participation�

Why the Internet?

munication and travelling. However this telecommunication is still a landline phone and a desktop computer connected to the Internet with a cable. Therefore it is more of the network of places than of people. If the landline phone rings in the apartment or restaurant it can be addressing anyone who’s in there.

This brings another specificity — connection being feature of a place pushes people to stay in that place if communication with people far away is important for them. And it tends to be more and more important as people connected by shared interest tend to have better time together rather than those who’re just physically close.

For the spaces:

“Community interactions have moved inside the private home — where most entertaining, phone-calling and emailing take place — and away from chatting with patrons in public spaces such as bars, street corners and coffee shops… People rarely know their neighbours and don’t establish any close connections with them if communicate at all… By contrast to traditional meetings in village squares or pubs, friends and relatives get together in private as small sets of groups�” singles or couples, but rarely as communal groups [9] Then mobile phones and ubiquitous internet connection change this picture again:

“Wireless world affords networked individualism, with each person switching between ties and networks” [9] Now people are connected as individuals not rooted to the households or work units, the technology affords shifting of work and community ties from linking people-in-places to linking people wherever they are.

24

Why the Internet?

With portable communication physical context becomes less important. Physical surroundings must be described, rather than assumed because people have uncertain knowledge about the immediate whereabouts and social contexts of their mobile network members.

Today “private cyberspace� can follow person everywhere competing with real public spaces in people’s attention field.

However transition from place-to-place connection to person-to-person is not the end of it. Online world allows people to continue with role-to-role communication. When the physical presence of real person is not necessary we start to connect with people on basis of some narrow social roles. Professional correspondence is one of the most obvious examples of it, but Internet provides much more of those when talking about forums and different communities of people united by the shared specific interest.

All this stages of development have their manifestations in people behaviour in the city and spaces that are required for it. It is especially interesting as nowadays we still observe the mixture of all the mentioned social organization types which causes interesting design challenges in terms of space and services.

25

ICT and Cyberspace vs.

Spatial Organisation of Cities Despite obviously changing spatial relations we still haven’t got to “death of the distance” and cyberspace can even help maintaining social authenticity

In modern society social relations are formed by spatial concerns. People and their sites of production and consumption are organised in relation to a spatial logic. It can be said that cities developed in order to overcome time with space and were located close to raw materials sources or routes of trade. Sites of production were located in relation to materials and markets to minimise costs and maximise sales; and sites of consumption located in places that would maximise sales. Some analysts now suppose that ICTs make this modern logic of space obsolete and challenge space–time relations as conceived in modernist thought.

It is argued that ICT is revolutionising how business is conducted, transforming patterns of work leading to urban-regional restructuring. The use of Intranets, is facilitating globalising processes such as office automation, telework and the adoption of back-offices operations leading to a radical reorganization of corporations and significant changes in employment patterns. Urban areas are restructuring to gain competitive advantage through cyberspace, and some sections of industry are decentralising to the suburbs and even other areas/ countries to take advantage of cheaper rents and skilled workforces, while remaining in constant and instantaneous contact via ICTs. However things are not that simple and most of futuristic scenarios with cities not being anymore needed and all work and meetings performed on distance from rural areas have never come true.

The “information age” or the “network society” turn to be not that immaterial or anti-geographic.

26

Why the Internet?

“It encompasses a complex range of restructuring processes that become highly materialized in real places, as efforts are made to equip buildings, institutions, and urban spaces with the kinds of premium electronic and physical connectivity necessary to allow them to assert nodal status within the dynamic flows, and changing divisions of labour, of digital capitalism�”[10] Even in the very matter of delivering the Internet the greatest challenge of multiplying telecommunications firms in large cities is what is the problem of the “last mile”: getting satellite installations, optic fibres, and whole networks through the expensive “local loop.” The challenge is to thread networks under the roads and pavements of the urban fabric. Up to 80% of the costs of a network are associated with the business of getting it into the ground in highly congested, and contested, urban areas. This hard material basis for the “digital revolution” is neglected but crucial. Focusing on it allows to reveal the complex social and technological practices that surround and support the explosion of digitally mediated economic and cultural flows.

Physical reality is still crucial for us as human beings and will continue to be an issue for a long time yet.

“One must not overlook the fact that people still live in a material world and require food, shelter and human contact contact� In cases where services can be decentralised, they still have to locate in areas of suitable skilled labour and conventional transport links� In other words, although ICTs work to destroy space–time relations, to render social relations ‘spaceless’, other spatial practices, forms and forces resist and work against this attrition attrition� Consequently, we are witnessing simultaneous pressures of spatial fragmentation (decentralisation) and unity (centrali27

Why the Internet?

sation)… Indeed, a complex interplay between local and global forces exists as some places use and develop their localism, their uniqueness, to try and attract visitors and business�”[4] Besides the pure pragmatism of production and consumption processes, also emotional bonds to places and their social aspects are important. In “Place and Placelessness”, Relph explores the relationship between people and places.

He posits that there is a powerful relationship between the two, to the extent that

“people are their place and a place is its people” people”� He argues that people develop and need attachments to places which of course can vary a lot though. As an opposite to attachment “Placelessness” is

“a weakening of the identity of places to the point where they not only look alike, but feel alike and offer the same bland possibilities for experience”� Now as telecommunications threaten local identities and spread homogenous experience we have to be aware of this fact and try to design connection of cyber and real spaces in a way which would empower the latter.

“Cyberspace can provide an antidote to placelessness by providing alternative and more attractive authentic places� If we take the definition of place by Jess and Massey – places are characterized by providing a setting for everyday activities, by having linkages to other locations, and providing a ‘sense of place’ – then there can be little doubt that new places, and new spatialities, are being formed online online� Moreover, these places seem to be authentic as they embody a sense of belonging�” [4] 28

Why the Internet?

On the Internet individualistic, like-minded people join forces to form publicbased communities; cyberspace offers the opportunity to reclaim public space and recreate online the essence and nature of authentic places which are disappearing in geographic space.

29

The Internet and Public Realm Serendipitous meetings with diverse others are essential for social life of cities, but they don’t usually occur online

The public realm includes urban public spaces, such as a city’s streets, parks, and plazas, and is part of a much larger public sphere. What is specific about it is hosting planned encounters with existing acquaintances, as well as serendipitous encounters with strangers. The public realm is different from all public spaces because it includes only those “locals” or social settings that minimize the segregation of people based on “life-styles”: values, opinions, gender, race, ethnicity, stage in the life course, and other forms of diversity.

“The Internet has become the public space of the 21st century — the world’s town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse and night club�” [1]

“The proportion of copresent others in the public realm is dramatically in favor of the unfamiliar and leans toward a diversity of interests, behaviors, and beliefs rather than to the familiar or the homophilous� It stands in contrast to the private realm, those social settings that are principally the domain of intimate, homophilous social ties — generally kinship ties, with whom people share many to most things in common�” [11] The public realm is also differentiated from those spaces that may be public or “third places”, but are nonetheless “home territory”, in that people are surrounded by others with whom they share much in common, such as in a neighborhood, small town, or workplace. Belonging to the public realm can be defined by existence of social diversity and a low density of acquaintanceship.

The public realm provides exposure across ethnic, social, behavioral, and ideological boundaries which gives access to messages ideologically divergent or absent from the intimate networks of the private realm.

30

Why the Internet?

“The public realm can provide a provocative, potentially disruptive, and contested setting that, although incomplete, is an important component of public deliberation in an increasingly shrinking public sphere�” [11] sphere� 31

Why the Internet?

Many analysts consider that the public sphere, created in the period of Enlightenment, is rapidly disappearing to be replaced by spaces governed by private concerns.

“For theorist Jurgen Habermas, when the public sphere emerged in the early eighteenth century, it did so in the context of the cafe, the learned society, and the salon� Together with the rituals of coffee drinking, the cafe increasingly provided both forum and fuel for critical debate about the latest pamphlets, newsletters, and broadsides� But the public sphere was never so much a physical place as a discursive site in which a literate public could conduct rational debate�”[11] and critical debate debate� [11] Of course the Internet nowadays takes many discursive functions of public sphere in general, but it’s difficult for it to simulate proper public realm. Another interesting aspect is Internet use in the public realm which has remained relatively unexplored. This type of use carries with it significant implications for urban planning, the structure of community, and the nature of democracy.

“The upsurge in Internet access in public spaces may reshape the public realm� Because of its location, it may revitalize, repopulate, and improve the safety of public spaces� Because of the electronic connectivity it offers, it may reduce social inequalities and increase the use of public spaces� As a result of the diversity of those who are copresent, it may increase social cohesion, tolerance, and exposure to diverse messages� And, given that participation in both physical and virtual spaces can contribute to public discourse, it may develop political action and stimulate 32

Why the Internet?

democracy� Or, it may not� Wireless Internet use may push out existing public life; previously private activities may shrink the public realm; and the availability of this technology on the street, in parks, and in plazas may do nothing to increase exposure to diverse ideas and diverse others, but, instead, contribute to existing trends toward privatism that are augmenting the structure and composition of people’s social networks�” [11] There are a lot of hopes regarding how public internet connection in outdoor spaces can bring people back to great diversity exposure and local community participation, however justification of these possibilities require a lot of socioethnographic field work.

33

Why Wi-Fi? It might seem that Wi-Fi is losing its popularity with the spread of mobile Internet technology and people paying to have connectivity from their mobile devices wherever they go� It’s true that Wi-Fi cannot compete with 3G in roaming freedom and wide coverage, however it has its own advantages� The main one — it operates in free spectrum and therefor will remain cheaper than 3G� At the moment when our communication culture gets more and more video influences and traffic demand grows outrageously, this quality of Wi-Fi will guarantee its further popularity� Mobile operators themselves seek to offload their networks and turn to Wi-Fi for it�

Why Not 3G? Wi-Fi is more sustainable option which also has more connection to location and should work together with 3G

Development and diffusion of Wi-Fi networks has paralleled that of Mobile Broadband services — Internet subscriptions for mobile phones, enabled by the third generation of mobile telecommunications technology (“3G”). Wi-Fi technologies afford high throughput and fast speeds in a localised area (usually a radius of 100 meters around a wireless access point), while 3G networks enable roaming Internet access at the expense of speed.

But unlike Wi-Fi, mobile broadband providers operate in licensed spectra that carry large costs for providers and end users. This limits the affordable data capacity of 4G subscriptions.

Current fastest Wi-Fi developed is claimed to reach 7 Gbps speed, while commercially available one is passing 1 Gbps Gbps� Meanwhile the last developed broadband standart LTE-Advanced is just reaching 1 Gbps, and today users can get around 100 Mbps�

On the other side of cost problem is the development of media services that people like to use especially video streaming. Growth of video culture is obvious in updates of services like Instagram allowing capturing clips as well as photos now and such trends as traditional paper magazines (like i-D and Dazed) rolling its video editorials.

Even as 3G and 4G networks expand and gain speed, Wi-Fi is proving even more popular, especially with carriers looking to offload their cellular traffic, the networks are already congested in many parts of Europe because of a lack of allocated spectrum so telecom operators already search ways to offload the network in the heavy usage hours starting to offer Wi-Fi services to their subscribers.

36

Why Wi-Fi?

Projected macrocell capacity and traffic demand:

“Mobile data offloading is the use of complementary network technologies for delivering data originally targeted for cellular networks� The main complementary network technologies used for mobile data offloading are Wi-Fi, femtocell and Integrated Mobile Broadcast� It is predicted that mobile data offloading will become a new industry segment due to the surge of mobile data traffic�” [12] European Comission has conducted the “Study on the importance of Wi-Fi & the socioeconomic benefits of using small cell infrastructures” and has published report suggesting promoting further offload and various Wi-Fi initiatives to deliver the best Internet access to people.

37

Why Wi-Fi?

“In 2012 71% of all wireless data traffic that was delivered to smartphones and tablets in the EU was delivered via Wi-Fi� It is estimated that this figure will grow to 78% by 2016� It is predicted that in 2016 up to €200 billion in network cost reductions can be expected from data traffic offloading chiefly to WiFi�“ [13] The surprising results show how the lower cost to consumers of using Wi-Fi hotspots is changing behaviour, and the study recommends extra spectrum be made available across the EU to support this rising demand.

“• Wi-Fi and LTE small cells are complementary to one another rather than substitutes� • Off-load solutions potentially permit much greater spectrum re-use over a given geographic area� • New Wi-Fi equipment will enable higher bit rates by deploying wider channels (80 MHz or 160 MHz)� • Automatic authentication processes for accessing Wi-Fi networks will largely overcome the historic complexity to connect manually to Wi-Fi, namely of the connection and authentication process� • Solutions that allow individuals to share their bandwidth via Wi-Fi and a number of Wi-Fi roaming aggregators are making public Wi-Fi access more convenient and affordable for many users�” [13]

38

Why Wi-Fi?

So nowadays there is no anymore question of which Internet connection is better in the city, it’s understood that different kinds of it are needed and they should work together to use their advantages for the best overall user experience.

However to be really used by citizens public Wi-Fi service should offer some experience really different from that of 3G internet: easier access, higher bandwidth and less traffic restrictions, better usability, etc. Mobile internet will always maintain advantage of roaming, but it can be seen as a special feature of Wi-Fi — being connected to the local scale and therefore able to change with specific places in the city. Wi-Fi is embedded in space making, connecting tangible physical layer with intangible online world and this possibilities should be further explored to design better connected city experience.

39

Trends in 3G Some elements of 3G world can be interesting applied to Wi-Fi as well

Paid traffic: Recently AT&T has announced the new offer “Sponsored Data” — service that enables companies to sponsor the data usage for specific content on behalf of AT&T wireless customers. With AT&T Sponsored Data customers can browse content from sponsors without impacting their monthly data plan allowance.

For example, a customer may access an application for healthcare from their insurer. Within the application, there is an educational video. The customer sees the AT&T Sponsored Data name, identifying that the video is sponsored.

When the customer clicks the icon to play the video, the data usage incurred while watching the video is not applied to the customer’s monthly data allowance.

Amazon was using this model on its own devices for a long time already: Kindle e-readers with 3G has unlimited mobile broadband. Device owners can use the connection for downloading e-books when out of Wi-Fi range and can also use the web through an experimental browser. Amount of traffic in browser is limited, but owners can download as many books as they want from Amazon, books are delivered via “Whispernet”, typically in less than 60 seconds.

40

Sharing Wi-Fi: The Karma hotspot is a tiny, pocket-sized, pay-as-you-go mobile hotspot that offers fast mobile data when you need it, either at home when the cable goes out or when you’re on the go and can’t find a Wi-Fi network to use. It comes pre-loaded with 1GB of data on account, and as it’s used, it can be recharged with more data which never expires, and there is no monthly fees or charges to deal with. 1GB of data is $14.

Peculiar moment is that Karma prompts sharing data keeping access open to others, so when someone else accesses the hotspot, they get 100MB for free and this fact adds also 100MB to user’s account. It’s a bonus for being social and encouraging friends to join Karma’s Wi-Fi network.

41

O2 O2 uses Wi-Fi network to offload traffic in the future Telefonica Europe is a European broadband and telecommunications company that trades as O2. It uses Wi-Fi network to start traffic offloading project for the future. First it launched 100 hotspots for London Olympics, but after went on with the project.

O2’s first hotzone covered high-traffic areas in London’s high-tourism West End. O2’s project has two notable distinctions: 1) Service is free to all comers, whether or not they are existing O2 subscribers and 2) The Wi-Fi network is serving as a blueprint for O2’s future small cells rollout.

“Once you’ve signed-up, that’s it� No passwords or usernames to connect� Every time you come into an O2 wifi area, we’ll connect you automatically� And it won’t eat into your mobile’s data allowance� Just quick Wifi, where you need it�” [14] The offer is up to 10GB a month, user can keep track of how much they’ve used on the online account page showing how much was used in the last 30 days.

It exists in thousands of Wi-Fi-enabled locations including McDonald’s, Costa, Pizza Hut, Debenhams, TONI&GUY, Strada, Subway, All-Bar-One and many more — even on the streets and other public places.

All you need to do is register using the free O2 Wifi app� Once you’re on, you’re on� No username� No password� You’ll connect automatically whenever you’re in a Hotspot� Easy� You can check your emails, upload photos on Facebook or watch those funny cat videos on YouTube� It’s up to ten times faster than 3G� [14] 42

Why Wi-Fi?

O2 app functionality includes: • Register for O2 Wi-Fi, wherever in the UK (not just in a Hotspot).

• Find and get directions to a Hotspot, even when offline.

• Manage settings (and any other Wi-Fi devices) on O2 Wi-Fi. • Get answers to questions.

Users have to be over 18 to register and accept terms and conditions.

Besides Wi-Fi O2 experiments with different additional services improving customers’ experience.

Exclusive for O2 customers, Priority brings you the best offers from high street brands and local independent stores stores� With prize draws, experiences, exclusive videos, gigs and sporting events, Priority makes every day a little more special� [14] User launches the app and phone will instantly load a selection of the day’s best offers. The closest to user are at the top of the list.

User can get your voucher immediately or save it for later to plan ahead. To redeem voucher has to be presented in any store nationwide. Offers are available to all O2 mobile customers.

43

AT&T A&T provides Wi-Fi both for its own customers and other users working in partnership with many city councils for common good

AT&T is another example of telecommunication operator providing Wi-Fi connection as a part of its service. It creates numerous Wi-Fi spots in public zones both on its own and in partnership programs as in case of NYC. It also provides additional supportive environment, for example charging stations powered by solar energy.

As a partnership with city government it provides free Wi-Fi to all new yorkers not depending on their mobile operator. Many places are in the parks as well as indoor locations (than 32,000 such as hospitality locations, retail stores, stadium restaurants and more).

Specially designed app has various features: remembers to connect to user’s 44

Why Wi-Fi?

favorite spot, finds Wi-Fi on the go, automatically turns Wi-Fi on when close to the hotspot to save battery, etc. Many of popular smartphones can switch seamlessly from the 3G network to Wi-Fi with auto-authentication performed by the app as well. App helps to increase Wi-Fi connections while minimizing cellular data consumption. AT&T Smart Wi-Fi helps to find, auto-connect and remember available hotspots in places user connects frequent. It also maximizes the battery life and displays Wi-Fi and cellular data usage in real-time so user can keep tabs on her data plan usage. Running quietly in the background, AT&T Smart Wi-Fi uses hotspot auto-detection to make it easy to discover, select and build a list of available hotspots. It also helps maximize battery life by staying in sleep mode until it recognizes user’s near a previously-detected hotspot. Moreover, AT&T Smart Wi-Fi creates a hotspot opportunity list by logging and mapping hotspots already seen -- but not connected to previously.

By doing this, user can readily access relevant hotspots the next time she’s in that area and want to connect.

45

What is Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi is a new kind of urban infrastructure� It is different from previous kind by its intangible nature and flexibility of change� It brings together affordances of many levels: of tangible environment on which user experiences it first, of electromagnetic field which we cannot sense, but it defines the spread of signal and therefore experience as well, and in the end it has universal Internet connection affordance suggesting what people can do in cyberspace� These level should be understand deeper to know what can be redesigned�

Wi-Fi as Infrastructure Wi-Fi relies on both material an intangible layers of infrastructure which causes new relation of it to the cities

Wi-Fi is a technology that allows an electronic device to exchange data or connect to the internet wirelessly using microwaves in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. The Wi-Fi Alliance defines Wi-Fi as any “wireless local area network (WLAN) products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) 802.11 standards”. However, modern WLANs are based on “Cities are layerings them.

Wi-Fi came to prominence at the turn of the millennium when 802.11 standards were refined and personal computer manufacturers began to market Wi-Fi equipped computers. With the distribution of affordable wireless routers, Wi-Fi quickly became ubiquitous. Free Wi-Fi ‘hotspots’ can now be expected where there are ‘intersecting flows’ of commerce and people.

of infrastructures structures� We read infrastructure broadly here: not just power, water, and sewage, but other infrastructures that define elements of the experience of space� space�” [15]

As common Wi-Fi router allows delivering Internet connection to a number of users on relative distance it became the main mean of providing connectivity in the cities both by private and public actors, so the whole Wi-Fi infrastructure emerged and has to be explored in context of the city.

Infrastructure is a way of rearranging resources, wirelss infrastructure is based on physical devices, but then flows away from tangible realm into the electromagnetic fields landscape which has different laws than our visible objects.

However all the elements of it are important to the resulting user experience.

48

What is Wi-Fi?

“Far from the mythical distributed ideal that ideologists of technology claim it to be, the network has presence� Netits own physicality, its own material presence works rely on relatively few high-bandwidth transcontinental and transoceanic fiber-optic lines, on even fewer Tier-1 carriers that sell space on these lines, and on still fewer mobile-phone operators and last-mile connection (DSL or cable broadband service) providers that allow the end user to access bandwidth� Interchanges between such networks occur at only a few major peering points, usually one or two major carrier hotels per metropolitan area� This highly centralized system produced by historical factors helps to further concentrate the global city� Not only is this system vulnerable to natural or manmade disasters but it’s all too easy to take advantage of by individuals or governments�” [10] 49

What is Wi-Fi?

But besides the tangible elements of this new infrastructure that are more or less understandable to us, new wireless layer is also physical and real, the moment that many tend to forget about. It leads us to the virtual world, but is not virtual itself yet:

“The fascinating thing about the move from the systems we built on the wired internet to those that we experience through wireless and mobile networks is that we are creating not a virtual but a thoroughly physical infrastructure, and we need to think about it as one that is interwoven “We need to think archiwith the existing physical structure of tecturally about the mospace� space�” [16] bile and wireless techThere is always a complex interaction between space, infranologies that we develop structure, culture, and experience. The spaces into which new and deploy, the human technologies are deployed are not stable, not uniform, and not side of infrastructures�” given. Technology can destabilize and transform these interac[15] tions, but will only ever be one part of the mix.

Infrastructure is

“relational and ecological — means different things to different groups and is part of the balance of action, tools, and the built environment, inseparable from them� It also is frequently mundane to the point of boredom, involving things such as plugs, standards, and bureaucratic forms” [17] There are different properties of infrastructure: embeddedness, transparency, reach or scope, learned as part of membership, linked to conventions of practice, embodies standards, built on an installed base, becomes visible upon breakdown, and fixed in modular increments. A related concept underscoring several of these properties is that of the invisibility of infrastructure, in that it becomes taken for granted and thereby disappears into the background unless it breaks down.

50

What is Wi-Fi?

51

Hertzian space On basic physical level any wireless connection is made of electromagnetic waves. They set specific constraints which should be understood for the best user experience

Physical properties of wireless signal propagation — the range, signal strength and possible obstacles determine their presence in the environment. The

‘space’ formed by these waves is sometimes referred to as hertzian, because it consists of waves oscillating on frequencies expressed in Hz (SI unit of frequency named after Heinrich Rudolf Hertz). This term is also used to describe

“a holistic view of the electronic device and its cultural interactions”[19]. The problem with physicality of the hertzian space is that it is extremely difficult to (accurately) perceive and represent, leaving us with a vague idea about how it actually ‘looks’ like.

This space is talked about a lot under different names William Mitchell called it an ‘electromagnetic terrain’ — both intricate and invisible, and only hinted at by the presence of antennas, the common fact is that interest to this space only grows and help understanding how to deal with its effects on our lives.

52

“The rapid expansion of knowledge and technical development has swept us into a world beyond our grasp; the face of nature is alien once again� Like the forest and the mountains of medieval times, our new environment harbours strange menacing beasts, invisible viruses, atoms, mesons, protons, cosmic rays, supersonic waves�” [18]

What is Wi-Fi?

“Whereas cyberspace is a metaphor that spatializes what happens in computers distributed around the world, radio space is actual and physical, even though our senses detect only a tiny part of it�” [19] “We are experiencing a new kind of connection to our artifactual environment�” [19]

“All electronic products are hybrids of radiation and matter” [19] “Designers direct little attention toward the possible sensual and poetic experience of this industrially produced new materiality�” [19]

54

“The twentieth century has seen space evolve into a complex soup of electromagnetic radiation�” [19] “The extrasensory nature of electromagnetic radiation often leads to its treatment as something conceptual — which easily becomes confused with the notional, although of course it is physical and exists in space�” [19]

“Electronic objects are disembodied machines with extended invisible skins everywhere�” [19] “It helps us think of electronic objects in “hertzian” terms, as interconnected fields rather than discrete things�” [19]

Affrodances of Wi-Fi Infrastructure Experienced Wi-Fi infrastructure is a mix of elements of different levels which provide new flexibility in design “The term affordance refers to the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used used� used�”” [20]

The notion of affordances applied to physical (tangible) objects is more or less clear to all of us. There are simple physical and ergonomic laws which make us use object in certain ways in the first point. These are perfectly demonstrated by Munari’s chair research. Then we add psychological, social and cultural elements to it. Each space is constructed and each settings have their own affordances: even though you can lie on any bench in the street, normally you don’t do it, and even homeless people prefer benches in deserted spaces, not in the middle of crowded square in the daylight. But this theory goes beyond the simple tangible interaction and finds its way also to human-computer field.

First of all hertzian space has its own very physical, but not tangible and perceived by us, affordances. There are limits of signal strength, interference with other devices, obstacles, even weather and daylight affect the spread of radio waves. They all define how we perceive the interaction even though we don’t always realize what’s really happening.

Second level of it is defined by Internet provider or hardware which results in how fast is connection, how much traffic do we get and in the end — what can we do online. Dial-up connection was completely different from modern broadband. We couldn’t imagine streaming video with it. The same way price of 3G traffic stops users from downloading content.

And in terms of offer digital world allowed uncommon before flexibility. It’s quite difficult to turn off some exact user from water pipe, it takes a lot of work at least, it’s much easier to control electricity grid, but difficult to diversify the offer, and with wireless communication it’s just in the nature of it.

56

What is Wi-Fi?

Then tangible world doesn’t leave us even when connecting to Internet. We’re still using devices for it, so we need to sit properly, hold them somehow, they need electricity and screen protection from sunlight and so on and so forth.

Surrounding environment adds to this defining what’s acceptable and not to be done in the specific settings. Cultural code changes it also for different places in the world, Italian public space is different from Russian and even Milanese from Roman.

Considering all these facts it’s wrong also to think that “cyber-behaviour” at home and outdoors in public won’t change.

“Nothing takes place in a vacuum vacuum� As Paul Dourish observes: “interaction is intimately connected with the settings in which it occurs occurs�” His theory of “embodied interaction” insists that interactions derive their meaning by occurring in real time and real space and, above all, among and between real people� n Dourish’s view, the character and quality of interIn actions between people and the technical systems they use depend vitally on the fact that both are embedded in the world in specific ways ways� A video chat is shaped by the fact that I’m sitting in this office, in other words, with its particular arrangement of chair, camera, and monitor�” [21]

58

What is Wi-Fi?

59

Visualizing Wi-Fi As it’s more difficult to understand affordance of something we don’t see, there were numerous attempts to visualize hertzian space.

60

Wi-Fi Camera Camera that takes “pictures” of spaces illuminated by Wi-Fi in much the same way that a traditional camera takes pictures of spaces illuminated by visible light�

Mapping in time Peter Jellitsch was measuring Wi-FI signal strength on different days and then created 3d sculpture mapping those temporal changes in space�

Mapping in real space For “Immaterial Wi-Fi Light Painting” project the team used a rod with LED’s attached to it together with Wi-Fi signal reading hardware, then they walked around filming the real signal landscape in the city� 61

Daily Life Artifacts Hertzian space can be manifested through common human behaviour

Not only professionals and artists are concerned with Wi-Fi landscapes visualization. Users also were interested in invisible field with very pragmatic reason — finding open network to connect. This led to the practice of “warchalking” — indicating the presence of nearby wireless networks.

Normally a person who have spotted a network would leave a mark indicating hotspot’s features and name. These marks were left on walls of the buildings or pavement, obviously with a chalk.

Even though with development of digital maps this behaviour became obsolete, it doesn’t mean people lost interest in it, they just continue in the many wireless mapping projects to be found online, ranging from industry-sponsored maps to war-driving or war-flying maps. It destabilises distinctions between public and private making visible networks that are supposed to be used by insiders.

62

What is Wi-Fi?

Wi-Fi Dowsing Rod by David Menting

Wifi Dowser (Curious rituals)

Sometime “critical design” devices don’t even need to be really produced as their function gets embedded in our behaviour with daily objects. Wi-Fi dowsing is one of such examples. Interestingly dowsing was a way to find useful resources and now Wi-Fi is the main one that we can be searching for in the city.

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So How Do Cities Make Wi-Fi? It might be said that there were two waves of city-wide Wi-Fi infrastructure projects� First it started with the very development of standard when everyone decided to use it for urban spaces just because it seemed cool to have� However at that moment there was not much demand — relatively littler amount of people bringing their laptops outdoors — but the price of infrastructure was high� Now there can be seen new interest in city Wi-Fi as mobile devices became primary communication tool and also everyone dreams of smart cities, internet of things and many other ideas which require developed infrastructure�

Values of City Wi-Fi Besides affordances there is an issue of values that get embeded in the infrastructure

Laura Forlano is one of the researches of municipal Wi-Fi initiatives and implementations who argues that they’re not very well understood by general public and therefor suffer from a technological determinism of dominating in this field engineers.

According to Forlano there are several key concepts that will be helpful in describing wireless networks: affordances, infrastructure and values. First two were already discussed above, but the concept of values is very important. It allows to build on the affordances of wireless networks and embed a range of socio-cultural, economic and political values into the infrastructures that is designed.

There are following questions regarding the embodiment of values in the design of technologies:

‘“If we build it they will come” strategies for communications infrastructure deployment, will fail without a reframing of debates that is linked to local concerns and practices� tices�” [22]

What is the locus of control?

Are they transparent or opaque?

Do they support balanced information exchange?

Do they discriminate against users?

Do they enhance or diminish trust?

For the purposes of understanding wireless networks these questions can be reframed and expanded:

Are wireless networks centralized or decentralized?

Are they open or closed?

66

How Wi-Fi?

Do they use proprietary or open source software?

Are they visible or invisible?

Is access free or paid?

Ownership model is very important in terms of values, there are several of them for municipal wireless networks: privately-owned networks, public-private partnerships, publicly-owned and community-owned networks. In the beginning of municipal wireless networks many have struggled to identify appropriate business models, failed to create workable private-public partnerships and, as a result, a number of high-profile projects have been cancelled.

Discussions about municipal wireless networks would suffer from a lack of public understanding about the properties of wireless technology. It is important to understand that due to Wi-Fi constraints, it is unlikely that cities will be fully-covered by the network’s signal. However many debates on municipal Wi-Fi continue promising ubiquitous “anytime, anywhere” connection.

“This language assumes that place is irrelevant and homogeneous i�e� one place is just the same as any other place, and therefore ignores social needs and usage patterns�” [22] Instead we should face and use specificity of Wi-Fi, cities should consider their unique advantages, needs and cultures before embarking on projects to build municipal wireless networks. This might allow cities to plan network infrastructures that may not be ubiquitous but that focus on meaningful sites of everyday life rather than merely ‘anytime, anywhere’ connectivity.

“A better understanding of the city’s potential users would allow the city to design networks, applications and services that could be tailored to the user’s needs” [22] needs”� Designing networks for people requires concepts that describe human behavior. While ubiquity and anytime, anywhere access may describe the technological promises, people’s needs and uses are located in specific places of meaning, culture and community.

67

Why and How Cities Do Wi-Fi City Wi-Fi projects experience the second wave of popularity, but in each case they communicate different messages and values “Holistic urban planning now needs to have some understanding of the relationship between the city and, say, GPS, wifi, WIMAX, 3G, social software, APIs, FttN, RFIDs, BIM, mesh networks and a thousand other acronyms and neologisms� It’s confusing, complex and in constant flux, but as Reyner Banham once said: when you’re running with technology, you’re in fast company, and you might have to discard the clothes by which you’re recognised as an architect�” [23]

It might be said that there were two big waves of municipal Wi-Fi projects — the first in the beginning of 2000s when technology just became trendy and every city wanted to establish its digital leadership. However many of those hopes failed, especially infamous one is Phildelphia Wi-Fi story in US which will be discussed further. It has marked the end of large-scale public initiatives for that moment. However nowadays with global spread of mobile devices, and upcoming age of Internet of things, wearable devices, connected everything and smart cities, city-wide Wi-Fi becomes a popular idea in many places again. This is very much supported by special attention to city-wide Wi-Fi projects by such a huge company as Cisco, for example.

The director of business development for Smart+Connected Communities at Cisco is pushing a new business model for municipal Wi-Fi. Smart mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous, and user habits have changed. And with faster speeds and better options for blanket coverage, Cisco sees Wi-Fi as a tool not just for public Internet access but also for enabling a broad range of city services and improving management of existing services.

In general there are simple reasons for Wi-Fi projects: enriching community life; enhancing public safety; providing marketing and communications portals; servicing city employees and sensors; and, most prominently, enhancing local economies by attracting more visitors. Wi-Fi can also facilitate the delivery of municipal information and services to residents and visitors. It can provide a private communications channel to connect city 68

How Wi-Fi?

employees and sensors. Importantly, it allows cities to close the digital divide for those outside commercial service zones.

But to get there public institutions must decide how to fund a service that does not gain primary revenue from end users. Quality of services may differ a lot and cost varies greatly as does the role of different stakeholders. Funding largely follows the ownership models:

Complete public funding by municipal or state governments, and hence by the public� Public-private partnership — where institutions can partner with network providers, ISPs and/or advertisers to help fund Wi-Fi� Complete private funding — a city acts as an ‘anchor tenant’ giving a private network operator use of city-owned assets, spaces and rights of way to provide a for-profit service Besides that Wi-Fi networks have different ‘network roles’ which can be played by both public and private actors: network owner, network operator, internet Service Provider.

Who plays which role defines main models:

“1� The public institution owns and operates the network and a third party supplies Internet connectivity� 2� The public institution owns the network and third parties operate it and supply Internet connectivity 3� Third parties deliver all the primary network roles owning, operating and supplying Internet connectivity�” [24] The more roles an institution plays the more control it will have over its Wi-Fi network, but it will raise the cost of infrastructure for public.

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The Philadelphia Story Learning from one of the pioneers’ failure — shifting from public to private and back to public model

Wireless Philadelphia disregarded the recommendations that grew out of the public process and that supported nonprofit ownership of their wireless network.

Instead, WP yielded to political pressure when it accepted EarthLink’s bid to own and operate the network.

In 2005, EarthLink announced that it would build the nation’s first metropolitan-area Wi-Fi network in Philadelphia. Over the next two years, the company also said it would build similar networks in New Orleans, Texas, and California.

By 2008, however, EarthLink pulled out of the municipal Wi-Fi business. It offered to transfer the network to Philadelphia for free and donate new Wi-Fi equipment, but city officials said network operation expenses would cost taxpayers too much. Company then shut down the Philadelphia project after it failed to find a buyer for the $17 million unfinished network.

For city officials: • Involve all stakeholders� • Sustain open participation� • Promote horizontal relation ships among stakeholders� • Be open with information� • Go offline� • Leverage existing assets� • Seriously consider the ben efits of public/nonprofit ownership and open access business models� • Treat connectivity and digital inclusion as basic public rights� [25]

More than a year after EarthLink ditched plans for a city-wide Wi-Fi network, Philadelphia officials announced that they will repurchase the existing wireless assets from Network Acquisition Company (NAC) for $2 million and build the system itself.

The city plans to create a “multi-purpose public safety and municipal wireless network that will improve government operations as well as providing free Internet to citizens in targeted public spaces,” the city said in a statement.

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How Wi-Fi?

Philadelphia will invest an additional $17 million in the network between 2011 and 2015 to build out its existing core fiber network and the wireless mesh network acquired from NAC. Without this initial investment, the city said it would cost more than $30 million, plus several more years of construction, to complete the build-out alone. Officials expect to realize about $350,000 in savings by 2015.

Philadelphia expects to use the system to enhance its video surveillance and provide information to officers on the street. The city also plans to provide handheld devices to government field workers so they can file reports and access information reFor community members and lomotely. Officials also expect reduced vendor costs for data communications, as well as lower operating cal organizers: budgets as workers are deployed more efficiently.

Consultants say the bigger story about Philadel• Organize a coalition� phia’s decision is the impact on poorer communities.

• Get to know the key players and decision-makers� • Be the media and report on the process� • Do your own research and disseminate it within your community� • Start a community wireless project� • Remain actively involved in all steps of the process� [25]

“For the most part, the broadband stimulus program has screwed the urban poor� However, city ownership of broadband could be a powerful new element to the national broadband strategy plan that the FCC is writing, and a path to broadband adoption for low-income citizens�” It’s argued that WP has underperformed because it de-prioritized public input and constituent interests. WP would have been more effective if it had assumed ownership of the network. In the absence of substantial public control over the decision-making process, arguments in favor of public ownership of municipal and/or nonprofit networks may be disregarded in favor of a “free lunch” corporate ownership model.

This case was studied a lot and is good to get some recommendation given by experts to municipal Wi-Fi initiatives that want to do better.

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New York City Internet access as one of the elements of digital leadership In 2011, Mayor Bloomberg introduced New York City’s first Digital Roadmap. Less than three years later, with 100% of objectives complete, New York City’s Digital Leadership demonstrates the strides the City has made to date, driven by investments in infrastructure, education, open government, online engagement and technology sector support.

There are many initiatives on implementing and engaging people in digital government and increasing overall digital literacy as well as stimulating entrepreneurship in technological sector. And one of the instruments to reach those goals is improving situation with wireless access in the city.

“If New York City is going remain competitive in the global economy, we must find ways to support the entrepreneurs who are driving technological advances and creating jobs� With these new initiatives, we are making targeted investments to improve our city’s wireless infrastructure and expand Internet access�” [26]

“Increasing wireless connectivity in commercial districts will help strengthen neighborhoods by attracting even more businesses, visitors, and residents to the City’s vibrant commercial corridors�”” [26] Free public WiFi will be launched in many areas citywide. In order to implement it, the city has developed numerous partnerships models with various companies. The Bloomberg Administration has prioritized connectivity infrastructure so that all New Yorkers can have access to the networks of information that make our economy run.

“Free public wireless networks in neighborhoods across the five boroughs, along with the new broadband rating program, will advance our goal of equipping all New Yorkers with the tools they need to participate in the innovation economy economy�”” [26] economy� 72

How Wi-Fi?

In a new step to improve the city’s Internet access, especially in lower income areas, New York City has announced the launch of what will be the nation’s biggest Wi-Fi network, which will blanket 95 blocks of Harlem.

“City’s phone booths were finally going to enter the 21st century, with some being remodeled with Wi-Fi and touchscreens� Seven months later, it turns out that the 25 updated booths were a hit� The city is now setting up 250 of the high-tech telephone booths around its five boroughs� The booths, or “SmartScreen” stations, which are made in partnership with Cicso and LG, feature 32-inch multi-touch displays with apps that let you search for local restaurants or information� Just walk up to the screen and tap it� The booths will also broadcast a Wi-Fi signal�” [27]

“The network will be completely free of charge, have speeds of at least 2mbits�” [28] But besides providing only connectivity NYC was also very good in exploring physical assets helping it. For example, they have launched a campaign of repurposing phone booths into Wi-Fi hotspots.

Another very important initiative is the Digital Vans aimed at helping the residents bridge the digital divide. Essentially vans are computer labs on wheels and are available for residents and community members to link to the Internet, search for job opportunities, touch-up your resume and much more. The vans travel around the city, stopping in areas that have limited or no access to broadband high-speed internet service. WiFi also allows people with their own laptop computers to be outside the van and access the Internet for free. It’s a part of program that seeks to expand broadband access and adoption in communities across America.

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Bottom-Up in Bryant Park For a moment while the municipalities were lagging with their huge bureaucratic machine, communities were taking advantage NYCwireless is an example of bottom-up approach to WI-Fi in the city, founded in 2001 as an all-volunteer organization. It advocates and enables the growth of free, public wireless Internet access in New York City and surrounding areas. Originally started as an informal group of wireless technology enthusiasts, NYCwireless has grown into a multi-faceted organization that helps individuals and communities all across New York City to use wireless technology to provide free, public Internet access.

NYCwireless has built free, public wireless networks in over ten New York City parks and open spaces through partnerships with local parks organizations.It also has built up a reputation as an advocate of the public interest participating in many official wireless initiatives discussions and representing national wireless community worldwide.

The most acknowledged project by NYCwireless is

Bryant

Park Wi-Fi. It’s an example on how initiative that started with bottom-up then was sustained by higher level organisations when they finally turned their attention to it.

Park was designed during the Great Depression on the site of a former reservoir. In Social Life of Public Space it is mentioned as one of the dangerous places in NYC. It’s renovation started in 1988 and today the park has cafes, entertainment, a reading library, lawn games — all amenities tuned to contemporary urban life. One of the important renovation elements was installation of blanket Wi-Fi network on all the park territory. After rejecting several approaches requiring wired benches, standalone kiosks, or other stationary concepts, the idea of creating a wireless environment in the park was born. It became the largest urban hotspot in the world at the moment. NYCwireless implemented the idea with the help of Intel wireless equipment. Network got powered in June 2002. It immediately became a showroom demonstrating possibilities of wifi in the city. Visit to Bryant 74

“…despite the fears that mobile communication technology would drive us all into lives of wireless isolation, the opposite seems to be happening pening� Bryant Park, like myriad parks and plazas in other cities, is returning to a role it filled generations ago: a place to share, read, write, gossip, and debate…in short, communicate�” communicate

park has even inspired Estonian Veljo Haamer to cover all the nation with free WiFi. Since that time, the network has undergone several upgrades. In 2011, Bryant Park Corporation teamed with Sky-Packets install a brand new, state of the art wireless network. The latest upgrade has made the system capable of accommodating thousands of users each day, and has enabled the park to be one of the busiest

half the users in Bryant Park are working which doesn’t disappoint administration, on the contrary they support this idea on their website:

“Go wireless and turn Bryant Park into your new office� Your clients will be impressed with your front lobby�” [30] lobby lobby�

hotspots in the world.

From its birth in the 19th century, the idea behind the urban park was to provide an escape from the machines and technology that dominate the cityscape outside the ornamental fence. The park is for leisure, not work, but over

According to observations 25% of people come here because of Wi-Fi, but that shouldn’t be tricking on the role of infrastructure on its own.

Bryant park has all the user experience elements working together for creation of enjoyable and functional public space.

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Estonia Connectivity as a political freedom force and economic progress accelerator

Estonia’s wireless broadband statistics is very impressive: 924,699 subscriptions, 74th in the world; 72.5% of the population, 12th in the world (2012).

The reasons for the wide spread of broadband technology here are mainly politica: in a tiny (population: 1.4 million) and newly independent country like Estonia, politicians realised computers could help quickly compensate for both a minuscule workforce and a chronic lack of physical infrastructure. Estonian majority feel Nordic, rather than Slavic or eastern European. In the early 90s, this meant they looked to tech-happy Scandinavia for both inspiration and investment. Those Finnish and Swedish businesses that did invest expected their Estonian counterparts to communicate by email rather than fax so infrastructure had to be developed for this new communication.

The internet was also seen as a buffer to Russia.

“We were afraid that Russian armies might take down the TV tower, the central radio station, or newspaper press,” said Viik�“Three addresses shut down, and we would have been disconnected from the rest of the world� “But the internet would still work – and so we realised that this would be a great way of keeping in touch with the world in case of emergency�” [31] Ironically, when an attack did finally come, it came via the internet – and promptly disconnected Estonia from the rest of the world.

The first public Wi-Fi area was launched in 2001 and a system of mobile data networks that enable widespread wireless broadband access has developed. In 2011, the country had over 2,440 free, certified Wi-Fi areas meant for public use, including at cafes, hotels, hospitals, schools, and gas stations. A countrywide wireless internet service has been deployed.

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How Wi-Fi?

“For other countries, the internet is just another service, like tap water, or clean streets, But for young Estonians, the internet is a manifestation of something more than a service — it’s a symbol of democracy and freedom� freedom�” [31] Free Wi-Fi is everywhere, and has been for a decade. They say you could walk 100 miles – from the pastel-coloured turrets here in medieval Tallinn to the university spires of Tartu – and never lose internet connection.

“We realised that if the government was going to use the internet, the internet had to be available to everybody, so we built a huge network of public internet access points for people who couldn’t afford them at home�” [31] Tallinn city provides free wifi to its citizens and visitors in 30 different hotspots around the city . It is free to use and has been so since it started in 2005.

The download speed is 15Mbps per hotspot which is shared between its users.

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Vatican 2005

Vatican 2013

Internet in Italy Italy is behind most of other western European countries in its Internet culture development� Statistics tells that the third of population hasn’t ever accessed Internet at all� Those who do access also use it for different reasons — e-commerce or administrative procedures online are not mature enough� The case of public Wi-Fi connection is especially serious as for many years authorization procedure was complicated due to legal restrictions� In 2013 situation started changing and in Milan it is especially urgent with EXPO-2015 approaching�

Italian Internet Use Statistics Italy is seriously behind rest of Europe in most of indicators except the 3G coverage

29,5 € in Italy

8,46 € in Lithuania

10+ Mbps

100+ Mbps

15,5% connections faster than 10 Mbps

0,0109% connections faster than 100 Mbps

58% connected urban households

regular users — 56,9% of population

nomadic — 22% of users

never used — 34,4% of population

Case of Internet in Italy is very interesting as Italians are obviously very communicative nation and they have one of the highest rates of cellular phones spread, however Internet penetration is much lower than in most of other Western European countries. Quality of connection is lower and prices are higher. But Italy is in the leading Internet growth rate list after Venezuela, India and Indonesia. 3G coverage is closer to the average European level as well.

[32] 80

regular urban users (56,9%) urban households (58%)

monthly price (29,5â‚Ź) 3G coverage (96,5%)

nomadic users: % of population (12) % users (22)

never used (34,4%) 8-12 Mbps connections (15,5%)

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Top Visited Websites Culture affects not only the quantitative parameters, but what content people access US is taken for comparison as the country which got Internet access the first and therefore has longest history, however of course there are significant cultural differences. There can’t be any certain conclusions made in this comparison, but it gives some understanding of what people use Internet for in the country.

Blogspot is higher in italy and also Wordpress appears on the list in Milan while Tumblr turns to be not that popular as well as Pinterest� Twitter doesn’t appear in overall Italian stats at all and is much lower in milan than US�

There is no Netflix in Italy, but streaming services are demanded, so Megavideo takes its part�

rankings from alexa�com

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

US

IT

Google g Facebook YouTube T Y Yahoo!

Amazon.com eBay Wikipedia Craigslist.org Windows Live Bing LinkedIn Blogspot.com Twit T Twitter ter Go Pinterest MSN AOL Tumblr Netflix PayPal ESPN The Huffington Post CNN Interactive Ask Bank of America

Google.it Facebook YouTube T Google.com Libero Y Yahoo!

Wikipedia Amazon.it Windows Live Ebay La Repubblica Virgilio AutoSottoCosto Subito.it Il Corriere della Mediaset.it il Meteo Conduit Babylon Altervista Adcash® Adve xHamster’s Fre Ask AVG | Antiviruss Alice

o

a Sera

ertising Network ee Porn Videos os

s and S Security

Internet in Italy

Milano facebook.com acebook.com google.com google.it youtube.com live.com yahoo.com wikipedia.org blogspot.com corriere.it c blogger.com libero.it msn.com repubblica.it virgilio.it partypoker.it wordpress.com ebay.it gazzetta.it altervista.org conduit.com twitter.com alice.it megavideo.com youporn.com mediaset.it

861,791 429,782 429 782 78,913 86,870 120,795 103,919 98,754 68,843 68,534 67,598 67,7598 63,340 62,914 55,499 49,254 40,084 38,191 33,194 32,675 30,631 30,021 28,992 28,512 28,427 26,049 24,655

Facebook as the most popular website may suggest that staying in touch with others is the most important for milanese people� At the same time Linkedin doesn’t show up in the popular sites�

News resources are higher in ranking it Italy and Milan�

The place of ebay is representative of overall underdeveloped Internet commerce field in Italy, PayPal also doesn’t appear on the list at all�

Adult video sites appear high on the ranking and in fact Italy is in top countries for this kind of sites access� 83

Legal Regulations and Public Initiatives Public Wi-Fi access was a problem in Italy due to legal issues, but now situation changes

Italy spent many years with no real possibility of easy Wi-Fi in public spaces development as it was limited till summer of 2013. Till that moment hotspot owner was obliged to control every person logging in to the network asking their identification data. This was creating a lot of problems with long passwords, complicated procedure and in general spaces lacking any Wi-Fi access at all. After new law as a part of “Decreto del fare” was accepted development of free Wi-Fi access in the country was predicted. However after fast start in the summer 2013 many initiatives just slowed down and disappeared from news.

Assowifi —association led by GreenGeek, aimed at promotion of wireless communication in Italy. Together with Wired they launched initiative on gathering the full Italian Wi-Fi database using crowd- and opensource methods. This database then is used in Wired Wi-Fi app to help people find hotspots around.

Besides information this app simplifies authentication procedure in the special Wired hotspots. It uses technology by Guglielmo which manages transition from 3G data usage to Wi-Fi without any user’s involvement. They’ve reported more than 20.000 hotspots in database in the moment. App has 10.00050.000 installs on Google Play store. However the landing page of Assowifi is abandoned already for some months (by March 2014) and it turned to be quite impossible to get in contact with them.

Interestingly in the same moment as Wired launched its new version of app very similar initiative was announced by Che Futuro. All the idea and functionality is the same, but this app is even less popular among users. (10005000 installs on Android market, though they report having 24.000 hotspots in database) Finally the law made registration procedure easier, but OpenWiFiMilano still requires users to register with their cellphones.

84

Internet in Italy

As another result the law requiring control over every user of Wi-Fi network resulted in a number of companies and startups selling their special routers adopted to commercial use and network sharing. Most of them help to separate private and public Wi-Fi channels and also as a result of getting users to register they use their data for marketing purposes.

In Milan Wi-Fi development is also pushed by approaching EXPO-2015 by which time the city wants to be represented as a digital capital.

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Wi-Fi Offers in Milan Both public and commercial efforts are made to bring Wi-FI to the city

Nowadays there are two most obvious players in outdoor public Wi-Fi field in Milan: Openwifi Milano which is city’s municipal Wi-Fi initiative and Freeluna — which promotes its service as a “social” Wi-Fi. Besides that there is a bottom-up approach by FON — international company engaging people in the system of private Wi-FI sharing. People have to buy the special router whihc will separate channels for private and public use. After registering in the system every owner of this router can use Internet from FON in any other place in the world. However it has several problems: people buy routers for their homes usually, so this offer appears in residential areas where it’s not that needed outdoors, for the same reason this system is not efficient from the location side, there is no real planning of it. Also as routers stay indoors and not only on ground floor the strength of signal can be quite low. Plus if you don’t own your FON router you have to register in system and pay for Internet. As this service is not very spread in Milan it was not in the research focus.

Another bottom-up initiative existing in Italy is NINUX, which is not for Internet access, but a wireless network created as an alternative for it. It is very characteristic that in Milan there is no single functioning NINUX node and only few potential about which it’s not clear when will they be activated. It reflects the overall situation with tech-involved initiatives in the city and the fact that it’s difficult for them to survive here for some reasons.

One special network is Guglielmo Wi-Fi, it’s a Wi-Fi aggregator with not many outdoor spots, but what’s important about it is a special app which manages on its own all the authorization procedure, providing seamless transition from 3G to Wi-Fi, so that the user doesn’t need to bother at all when passing from one place in the city to another.

86

Internet in Italy

87

Hotspots Density Map Openwifi planned its spots based on demands from zones councils and technical possibilities of already existing network� So it can be found close to transport nodes and municipal institutions� Freeluna has 3 times less spots than Openwifi Milano, but due to differences in its spread in some zones of the city their amount can be perceived as equal� Freeluna outdoor spots appear in the news stands which are often situated in not very lively spaces of the city also without facilities to use Wi-Fi there� FON spots appear chaotically based on users will to buy not regular router, but shared one� 88

Openwifi Milano

Freeluna

FON

Internet in Italy

89

OpenWifi

+ number of hotspots, no restrictions of internet use, places to sit and charge devices, 24 hours service, high speed when not in peak hours - limit of traffic, registration with mobile phone, municipality fully controls it, no intranet Openwifi is the municipal network introduced by Comune di Milano. Its plan is to install 500 hotspots in the city (now 250) creating city-wide network and then think of the opportunities for municipal services based on this infrastructure. Together with this special digital areas are installed in the city to promote it as a smart and digital capital. These initiatives are strongly stimulated by approaching EXPO-2015 by the time of which Milan wants to be represented as a competitive digital capital. EXPO will also test real functionality of these services with huge numbers of users. Openwifi Milano is all outdoor now and for indoor uses in the municipal institutions Wi-Fi Uffici Pubblici is provided.

90

Freeluna

+ unlimited traffic, intranet, registration with Facebook - Restrictions on use of p2p software and other bandwidth-heavy uses, low speed, annoying ads, very bad visibility of spots Freeluna is a double-sided organization. It claims itself social because its spots are installed voluntarily and it provides some intranet services for citizens like chat and local news, but at the same time it uses this social capital for marketing purpose showing ads to people while they’re surfing. Plus of it is possibility to easily access the network with Facebook profile. Outdoor Wi-Fi is not its main focus as ususally it provides routers for cafes, hotels and other businesses, but it has also collaborated with local news cooperatives to install hotspots in many news stands around the city.

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FIELD RESEARCH Field observations:

Piazza Argentina

Via Morgagni

Other spots Synthesizing research:

Understanding Users

Understanding Offer

Preparation and Examples Exploring the context to better understand the users and improve existing or design new offers

offers

city

General research path was to move from the first look at existing offers environment following it by the city research, then users and going back to offer. City observations would demonstrate how the offers have landed in the real urban landscapes, whether they follow its unique rules or there are many points of disconnection. Also city shows all the things about behaviour of its population, their ways to connect and communicate. After seeing the general city patterns more precise user understanding can be achieved. And when the knowledge of these specific settings is gained offer can be revisited in a new way.

!!!

In the research some previous works were used as examples and starting points. They include “Social Life of Small Public Space�, which studied city spaces in order to understand how to better design environments. Research by Hampton and Gupta and Laura Forlano were the first clues for understanding that in the field of Internet usual user observations can be not sufficient. This brought to idea of performing also network scannings to understand the real situation with connectivity which can not be seen by naked eye. Another point from their research also noted by Dan Hill in his blog is understanding what exactly do people do when interacting with their devices outdoors. The same person holding a phone can be involved in various activities nor evident for external observer, but requiring different settings. For this reason all the users were asked what exactky were they doing online in the moment of interview and what are their general Internet interests.

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users

Tools Such a complex matter as Wi-Fi and Internet behaviour require special ways to research it

In a way tools are defining the process and outcomes, so it can be useful to have a little overview of them.

First I went out to the city only with my phone thinking that it’s the less intrusive and suspicious thing to take photos of people. Soon it became frustrating as the speed of camera was not fast enough, so some important moments were missed and also the battery life was not long enough for such an intense use. So phone was substituted by a small and fast camera which was always with me. It’s photos quality is not very high, but many of those won’t be taken with the DSLR camera, so it was more of a choice between the low quality and nothing.

At first this camera was accompanied by a small simple notebook for the notes of people behavior and spaces, but soon I understood the need to use some maps and graphic representations of spaces. In this case digital tools were the best option. Small tablet with Sketchbook Pro and its layering options became the main tool. Also it has maps and possibility to edit them, Google docs for notes and added possibilities for digital ethnography in a form of network scanning tools.

All scanning was performed by Fing app. It was needed as existing Wi-Fi providers don’t want to reveal all usage data. However it’s not very simple task as, for example for Open Wifi Milano each scan was taking about 30 minutes.

Also network speed was measured by several apps at a time.

People interviews were noted in a simple notebook as it turned to be the fastest way which also looks the less frightening for people.

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Field Observations

97

Field Observations/ Research Questions: How are the public spaces in Milan?

Who are the users?

What are they doing there?

What do they need to connect?

How’s the existing offers in connection to city geography and users?

What’s the first-hand experience of those offers?

What do users think of them?

Who are the most promising or extreme users in need?

What’s local specificity?

Does existing connection change some public spaces and how?

98

Some of the city d observati

Field Observations

routes taken in during research ions:

99

Choosing Spaces Three places of different typology were chosen to focus research on

The research started with general look at city density and outdoor behavior distribution. Different places were visited including the very touristic city core and suburbs zones surrounding Bovisa and Quarto Oggiaro.

Research had to be performed in different directions — understanding the city life and public spaces usage, users and existing Internet offers and the overall trend in Internet use and “network society” changing urban life.

Center of Milan in the day hours is very crowded both with local people working there as well as by lots of tourists visiting city. On the contrary periphery is deserted and people are almost not staying there outdoors at the daytime. Also in some places in the outskirts staying out with the device might be not the safest option. For sure this places require good design which might improve it, but a more serious social and urban planning work is needed for thoses areas.

In the “middle zone” the density of people on the streets seems just the best to observe relations to Wi-Fi-kind of services. It also appears to have the most interesting outdoor life as there are both residents and city users coming from other places, it’s all mixed, they connect and interact here also spending a lot of time outdoors.

So it was decided to focus on three different places as an example of each typology: piazza Argentina for a square which has OpenwifiMilano, Via Morgagni as a green boulevard inside the neighbourhood with Freeluna Wi-Fi and Upcycle cafe as a new type of place for Milano where working is as encouraged as food consumption. (The latter was selected to understand which users are interested in Internet, but for some reasons are avoiding outdoor spaces) In all this places I was observing usage patterns in different hours, noting interesting elements of people’s behavior and talking to visitors asking their view on the space and Internet connection, also network scanning was used.

100

1� Piazza 2� Via Mo 3� Upcycl

Field Observations

Argentina orgagni le Cafe

101

Piazza Argentina + Open Wi-Fi Milano Lively square on the transport line intersections full both of passers by and people coming here on purpose

+ + + +

diverse public a lot of facilities for different users open space with no “dead� zones all facilities are integrated

- seems to be unsafe at night - busy road in the middle - gets dirty because a lot of people are eating and drinking here Piazza Argentina is an example of place located close to transportation node and so being very populated by the people coming from different parts of the city. At the same time it has community of people coming here on purpose to spend a lot of time here. A lot of people do use Internet here with their cellphones, but not many know about OpenWi-Fi Milano. After official opening of Digital Islands project this situation started changing, but there are still problems with the way service is designed not letting many people to become regular users.

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shops

cafès metro entrances flowers shop newsstand

McDonald’s BikeMi drinking fountain Grom icecream Isola Digitale

= bench + tree

90, 91

ATM

Field Observations

Context:

Piazza Argentina is an example of a lively square away from the very city center. The reason for that is its location in the intersection of public transport — two metro lines, circular bus line (90&91) and night bus and being right in the end of Corso Buenos Aires — one of the main shopping streets of the city which has also quite a lot of traffic dividing square in halves.

Facilities:

Corso Buenos Aires’s shops continue through the square, there are 4 cafes of different price range, icecream shop, newspaper and flowers kiosk, ATM, bikesharing station, drinking water fountain, several phone booths and public toilet underground. Plus it has Open Wi-Fi Milano and Isola Digitale (“Digital Island”) Food consumption habits in relation to social life and urban organization is a very interesting topic in Italy, For example McDonald’s main customers here are tourists, teenagers and people with low income especially immigrants. In Piazza Argentina it has two covered pavilions that are open to main square space. Other cafes have more “closed” pavilions isolating customers from outside.

Ice cream shop Grom is a very popular place which doesn’t have any indoor facilities so people spread around the square.

Another attractive place with the crowd is an ATM in the corner of the square which always has a line of people in front. Southern corner of square is occupied by local hookers <3 One of interesting assets is several street clocks which are used for ads as well.

It’s easy to underestimated their value in times of mobile devices and people not wearing wristwatch anymore, however as many people are staying here for some short time before meeting or start of work this clocks play crucial role for them allowing to keep track of time left.

Design:

From the space design point of view of the square is probably meant to be a transitional space where people don’t stay long. For example, rounded shape of the benches is not comfortable for long socializing, which however doesn’t stop people from using them for this purpose, just makes it less enjoyable. One issue here is that comparing to well lit Corso Buenos Aires

106

Field Observations

it seems to be much darker space at night. However it doesn’t have any “dead” zones like corners hidden away from pedestrian traffic which could be unsafe and used by “undesirables”.

People/Pattern: There is very diverse mix of people. As it is not so

close to the center, timetable of this place follows the regular citizens’ working/eating/drinking schedule. It is empty in the morning, getting lots of public during lunch hour, in the afternoon those who had break leave, but the new people arrive just to spend time here, aperitivo time again attracts people and even in the night there are crowds hanging out here and often drinking. The busiest day is Saturday when lots of people go shopping and then either just pass by here or stay to rest, eat and drink something.

Patrons:

Mix of people however has some groups of “patrons” staying longer than others: teenagers hanging out after school around McDonalds and Bikemi station, elderly and groups of immigrants around the square. They all come here to socialize and stay outdoors in the square. Other people prefer to stay in one of cafes having drinks. If they stay out it’s because they’re waiting for someone, resting or eating take-away food.

Overall social:

for many this place seems unsafe “at certain hours”, some say they’re “feeling like homeless” here, and that it’s impossible to really like it, however there are those who spend here many hours thinking that it’s a good space to watch people and socialize.

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Usage Comparison Superposition of different time layers makes it evident which spots are more popular than others

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Mo 14/10 9:00

We 16/10 16:30

Th 3/10 17:50

Sat 19/10 18:00

S

We 9/10 13:30

Tu 8/10 16:50

Th 3/10 18:50

Sat 5/10 19:28

S

Sun 13/10 17:30

Sun 20/10 13:08

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Use on weekdays

Mo 14/10 9:00

Monday morning â&#x20AC;&#x201D; almost empty square with several strangely behaving people

We 9/10 13:30

During lunch benches are full with people taking food away

We 16/10 16:30

On sunny days there is always line of people in front of Grom and benches are occupied then by icecream eaters ^_^

Th 3/10 17:50

Teens gather here after school preferring to stay around McDonaldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and BikeMi corner

Use on weekends

Sat 19/10 18:00

Saturday afternoon is very active time for this square, especially many teenagers in their regular part

Sat 5/10 19:28

Elderly is gathering here as well, coming to meet even from other neighborhoods as they love to stay at lively place

Sun 20/10 13:08

Even in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;emptyâ&#x20AC;? moments like Sunday lunch time there are groups of immigrants staying for long time in the square together

Sun 13/10 17:30

On pedestrian day at Corso Buenos Aires a lot of people were enjoying activity outdoors, but mostly passing by

Teenagers just like sitting on the shared bikes instead of benches

When waiting for someone people stay reading even after dark under newsstand lights

People tend to use their phones when waiting for someone in the square

Local elderly likes to spend time here as the place is full of people and is very lively

Even after the rain place is soon getting populated with people using newspapers to sit on

Sunny day â&#x20AC;&#x201D; line on front of Grom and beggar using this opportunity

Many tourists pass by here resting or looking for directions to explore the city center

Groups of immigrants can spend many hours in this square

Space Use Diverse public, but not everyone happy about the space

As understood in the observations this square is an example of space of mixed use - both by locals, “commuters” and “city users”. For some people it’s the closest public space allowing to spend time here socializing or just observing people.

This includes both living around or working and spending breaks here. Many just pass by and stay to have rest. Some are coming on purpose making appointments with friends.

“Sitting here I’m feeling like I’m homeless”

As it was noted before those who spend the most time here are elderly, teens and immigrants.

Teenagers gather here after school because there is enough space for the big group of them, plus McDonald’s offers cheap meals. They complain about not enough flexible sitting space and that’s why they flock around bikemi station.

Old people also meet their friends here — according to them, they like to see “some life and people around” and they prefer to stay out instead of in the bars where “everything and everyone is familiar.”

A lot of immigrants spend long hours here attracted by the lively atmosphere of the square as well. Usually they’re the groups of males shiftworkers that have a lot of free time on days-off, but not enough money or city knowledge to find better recreational activities.

Young and middle-age people seem to be not that enthusiastic about staying in this square and prefer to meet in some cafes.

However in the lunch hours all the different groups of people invade the square either with take-away food or just to spend some time of the break outdoors. Unfortunately after that hours square generally becomes quite dirty with lots of garbage left.

Another very big category of users is those waiting for someone or something.

As it’s right on the transportation intersection a lot of people make appoint116

Field Observations

ments here to meet and go on to other places nearby. Many of shift workers are also moving around the city between jobs and prefer to stay out here waiting before the next shift starts. Those are also the very group that tends to engage in different “time-killing” activities: reading newspapers, listening to music, talking on the phone and of course using Internet.

“I don’t feel comfortable as I don’t know what they’re talking about and by the look they always seem to be angry”

People passing by and staying for the moment to rest are another category, they would usually smoke a cigarette, drink some water and just relax, a lot of mothers with children stat to feed them, also elderly needs more rest on the way through city.

The most active use of the space is in the afternoons — it’s warmer, some people have finished their school or work, some people still have breaks at this time, it’s yet light enough, people get more tired by the afternoon (after walking since morning and so on)

Weather is obviously affecting, plus in the summer people change places depending where the sunny side is. Obviously on the rainy days there are people only in cafes and when it’s getting colder they prefer to have heating as well.

But as soon as rain stops the square gets populated again pretty fast. All the benches get covered by newspapers which are then used by following people.

“I don’t like to stay at the place where people were drinking and doing who knows what else at night”�

By night the space is less lit than surrounding area and some girls have stated that they won’t pass by this place alone at certain hours. Sometimes there are quite a lot of drinking people out here indeed. However another place that is opened here till late night is Grom icecream shop attracting the crowd of those who are coming back home after the night out.

In general this square is very active, diverse groups of users mix here, but unfortunately their perception of this fact is not always positive.

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Internet Use Naked eye observations don’t show much of Wi-Fi use in the square, but network scanning reveals different picture

Wi-Fi: Away from Digital Island, activity of which will be discussed next, only few teenagers were spotted using OpenWiFiMilano in this square. Some people told that they’ve heard about it, but haven’t used it cause the procedure of registration seems too complicated to them, some used in the other spots, but didn’t like it or didn’t know that it was present also in piazza Argentina.

However the network scanning shows that there are always people using it and the pattern repeats daily changes observed in the general use of space, for example, the peak is in lunch time. These users might be located inside cafes where not that many people were interviewed.

Internet in general: If not using Wi-Fi, people still use their 3G connection for all possible reasons: to chat, check social networks, news or for more serious purposes. Facebook and Whatsapp were among the most popular named apps. Some people were even making Skype calls during break hours. In the morning some people in cafe were noticed planning day and checking information of how to better schedule everything. Couples are often spotted watching videos together from one device. A few people use Internet to fulfil specific tasks like one man was performing Internet banking right there at the square, a lot of tourists (and not only) stop to check the directions in Maps.

118

Field Observations

30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Network scanning showed around 100 devices connected in 10 scannings with only one of them repeating twice twice� It also reveals the peak hour during lunch break followed by the around aperitivo hour on weekdays� Weekends are less popular, but around noon is the most active hour again� However pattern doesn’t completely repeat that one of space use — for example, Saturday, Oct, 5, around 7 p�m� was observed as a busy hour in terms of human presence in the square, but not on Wi-Fi� On Monday morning — no people in the square, but more people using network, than on busy offline Saturday� Also Sunday, Oct, 20 around midday was much less empty in the square than Sunday , Oct 13, evening — the day of pedestrian celebration at Corso Buenos Aires with a lot of people out, but network activity has opposite pattern� 119

Isola Digitale The spot with highest Wi-Fi use at the square

Context: corner, visibility problem, however because of that some people perceive it as a better and safer place of the square Design: only two benches, minimal, problems when more than two people want to charge Social: mixed users, some spending more time are homeless people, immigrants Use: Wi-Fi use is the highest here, of course people use it as the normal benches as well�

Digital Island is the part of municipal initiative of turning Use of Internet is more interesting – peoMilan into Smart city before EXPOple come here on purpose to download 2015. Wi-Fi is just apps, check mail, watch videos and listen the part of service to music� here, others include renting electric cars and charging devices. It is used by a lot of people mainly exactly for the last reason — to get some electricity for devices and while doing that they also access Internet. Another important asset is video-surveillance that is supposed to do place safer and indeed some users noted that they feel more comfortable staying here than in the other benches of the square.

120

Space and Internet Use: Some people stay here for hours to use public Wi-Fi and charging facilities Physical part of digital island with benches, lighting pole and the recharging infrastructure was present there from the beginning of research in the summer.

However at that moment it seemed to be completely unnoticed by people.

In September the first small signs of Wi-Fi area appeared and more people could be observed there.

Then it was officially opened and the staff of Isole Digitali was present here for two weeks explaining to people this new services. The important part of this communication is due to the lighting screen for totem which obviously shows that it’s functioning.

It appears that more people started to pay attention to this place and understood that they can charge phones for example. Not surprisingly is the fact that most of people usingOpenwifi were found exactly here. Despite the fact that the whole square is covered with Wi-Fi, people tend to be using it only at the spot where they’re told about it. More people use Internet here – they can be thinking that signal is stronger or don’t understand that Wi-Fi is everywhere. Plus access to electricity is important for devices use. In fact charging devices offer is more popular among people than Wi-Fi, but to charge phone, you have to stay there tethered to the place, so people have to spend that time in some way which doesn’t go with Comune’s explanation of benches design as to keep some rotation of users. It mainly solves the emergency issue problem, when you have to use the uncharged device, but not fully charge it.

Communication problems: lots of people don’t even see it, map of the other islands positions is not clear. The island is of course used by people for all the general activities, sometime lowering the accessibility for those who want to charge. It is perceived as a more safe and decent place of the square. Physical design of it has problems: benches are uncomfortable for long stay, two people sitting tend to take place around the plugs pole, preventing access to others, the plugs themselves are very stiff for elder people to use.

Here the different internet behavior from other square is noted: watching videos, listening to music, downloading apps.

122

Field Observations

123

Via Morgagni + FreeLuna Green zone with various activities spaces

+ green zone,diverse locals, various possibilities to spend time socializing by interest - unsafe, some parts seem deserted and abandoned, weird people hanging around This local green zone is not a subject of Owifimi service Freeluna has assets here, but no users were noticed using it outdoors, though both spots have benches in the area of fairly good signal. Once a man on lunch said that he tried, but couldn’t understand how to access it, most of people are absolutely unaware of it

* the usage of space differs drastically depending on particular zone of this street ! besides the “specialized” zones, other parts have very poor design

Internet connection is being used all around the space by different people, less only at the bocce ground as it is a space for local elderly, who are not that mobile-addicted, however this playground has its website online People can selforganize and Comune is supporting their initiatives The use of internet is slightly different here – people use it more in “recreational” way, they are less prone to check directions on maps or contact others for the appointments or search info to plan their day.

124

Context: Via Morgagni is a 5-blocks long boulevard between Loreto and Porta Venezia metro stations. It’s an inner neighborhood street with not that much of pedestrian traffic of random passers by.

Facilities: It’s green area includes 2 children playgrounds, 3 dogs grounds (including piazza Lavater), space of Amici delle Bocce – Bocce game field and other spaces of mixed use with only few benches, trees and bushes (probably they were designed as “quiet spaces” on the contrary to kids’ bocce playground, but in reality they look deserted and not safe which is justified by their patrons)

There are 2 drinking water fountains, one of the first filtered water dispensing machines from Milan municipality and even quite rare for Milan - public toilet.

Also on the length of boulevard it accommodates 2 gas stations and Bikemi sharing station, also a bikelane is passigng through.

Flowers shop in the middle close to Amici delle Bocce place significant role in improving overall appearance of boulevard.

There are two newsstands which both offer Wi-Fi Freeluna.

Around there are some bars, restaurants and shops but mostly just residential buildings and offices.

Design:

Patrons:

Besides the special grounds all other areas are less cared of and could benefit from better design. They have regular Milanese green benches now and offer quite rigid communication structures. This system appear to be working attracting multiple groups of people, but some of them express wish to see better environment.

Locals using various mentioned facilities or just coming here to get some rest. Normally itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a destination to travel to, people get here from the surrounding zone.

People/Pattern: This space follows residential life pattern â&#x20AC;&#x201D; timetable of children coming back from school to come playing to the kids grounds and working parents taking children out on weekends.

Elderly gathers in the afternoons, teens at night.

Lunchtime is also popular hour for people to have break here and enjoy staying outdoors.

Overall social: It attracts all the different kinds of people which normally are segregated. There are homeless, elderly, people with dogs and at the same time kids, at night teens gather here to smoke weed. And itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all toped by regular runners and cyclists.

Space Use Very different people come here for recreation and eventually build local community Via Morgagni is interesting because it attracts a diverse mix of local people with different purposes. It’s very well visible here how spaces designed for special activities are extremely more popular than general use spaces which are also not well kept.

The most drastic difference is seen in the use of little space of Amici delle Bocce (zone 3) where they have tables and play cards and the space with benches in the next block (zone 6). Cards playing zone is around 15m by 20 (very approximately) and the average use of it (from my observations) is 0,04375 people/m.

On the contrary for zone 6 this number is 0.000677 people/m which means 64.62 times more intense use of the space!*

* 26 people observed, in 8 sessions = 3,25 people per session / (120m*40m) = 0.000677 people per square meter 105 people/8 sessions = 13,125 per session/ (15m*20m) = 0,04375

However this comparison is not really correct of course — Amici is a community, while zone 6 is just a common space used by various people. But the reason is not just community spirit, pretty much the same situation can be observed at kids’ playground, so the reason can be in having some purpose of being outside, doing things together.

“Empty spaces” with only benches can be more or less populated on sunny warm afternoons, but in general they’re not perceived by people well.

128

Field Observations

Via Morgagni is very interesting because it’s much less public than Piazza Argentina, for example. It seems to be more of interior space where people behave more relaxed and do different things for leisure. It also builds local community here.

It turned to be quite difficult for interviews as it’s not that easy to find here people not occupied by something. Meaning that many people come here with specific goal like walking dogs or kids or playing bocce. And then they stay in those specific playgrounds, surrounded by fences. So the interesting thing was to understand the use of this space by those who don’t fall into one of the categories of dog owners, parents with kids or elderly community around Bocce ground.

First of all even here there were people waiting for something. Apparently there are a lot of household work in this area so those workers like to spend some time out here. There was a group of Ukranian women (4 of them) having break and coming together to speak their own language and socialize. They spend time here everyday if the weather is good, otherwise they go to check the shops or have coffee in the bars.

Some people come here to eat their lunch and in this case it’s not even take away, but their own food. Two Latin American women met here and were having lunch before moving for work in the different place in the city.

There is certain amount of people just staying here alone to read books or magazines. They say it helps to get rest and change the environment.

Teenagers also come here both during school our when they’re skipping classes, or after staying long till night.

Homeless people can be always seen at this street, they are using its water fountains both to drink and wash and just sleep on the benches around.

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Zone 1, Fri 11/10, 12:30

Zone 1, We 9/10, 16:48

Morning is the time of less activity with only few people here

After lunch (and after school) scenery changes with many visitors, especially parents with kids and elderly

Zone 4, Mo 15/10, 12:30

Zone 4, Sat 5/10, 18:00

By night users change completely, teenagers overtake kids playgrounds

On weekends situation is slightly different — older users are still active after 6 p�m�

Zone 3, Tue 16/7, 19:30

Zone 5, Tue 16/7, 19:30

Not all zones have the same activity hours â&#x20AC;&#x201D; some are getting more populated after 6 pďż˝mďż˝

Especially dog owners come out in the evening and spend a lot of time in their ground

Zone 4

Zone 6

The most active zone attracting many people, as it has different facilities altogether

The least active zone in the end of the street only with benches, usually very deserted

Despite popularity of BikeMi and water dispensing service Comune hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t provide Wi-Fi here for some reasons

However local community managed the deal with municipality to get special purpose spaces

Flowers shop in the middle both beautifies the street and is involved in local community

Very different people meet here as theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re locals and communicate despite their differences

Usually local dog owners build a friendly community, but even some of them prefer their devices

Lively atmosphere of children playgrounds attracts â&#x20AC;&#x153;quietâ&#x20AC;? users like those reading to rest

On the contrary quiet zones provide space for unconventional behaviour like popping bubble wrap O_o

New technologies connect people through generations: grandfather and grandson taking photos for his parents

Internet Use Even in space with so many special recreational facilities Internet is still important

Strangely despite all the other Comune facilities Via Morgagni doesn’t have OpenWiFi spot. However there are two Freeluna hotspots in the newspaper kiosks in the middle and the end of street. One of them is on only when kiosk is open, another works all the time. And still no one spotted really using this Freeluna service. Twice people said that they tried it, but it didn’t work and one man said that he couldn’t understand how to connect to the service.

Even if it was working properly there is not much opportunity to use it — there are only several benches in the zone around. However network scanning shows that some people are always online.

Of course even without Wi-Fi people are using Internet and in some particular ways. One striking example was from Pakistani man who was watching online news from his country. He told that because his brothers went there for a religious festival and he worried about situation being not sure they can come back safe.

Teenagers skipping school like to stay here playing online games with tablets and being outdoors as it allows smoking which they cannot do in cafes.

Two journalists were spotted working, others were mainly using Facebook or other social applications, chatting with friends, checking e-mails, playing games.

A group of Ukrainian women occupied in household activities around boulevard always gathers here to spend break together speaking their language.

When asked whether they use Internet to connect to their families and friends back home and do it only indoors they said that — well if there’s something interesting, then we bring it here to share. So instead of contemporary practice of sharing things online or in social networks they bring digital findings to share offline in person.

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Field Observations 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Morgagni 5/10/1736

Lavater 5/10/1755

Morgagni 9/10/1703

Lavater 9/10/1733

Morgagni 11/10/1233

Lavater 11/10/131

Lavater 13/10/1833

Even though there are no people observed using Freeluna, network has some users connected, but their numbers are much smaller than what Openwifi reachesďż˝

In general even though people in Via Morgagni are mostly involved in some special activities like playing with kids, walking dogs or playing games, there is still room for them to stay connected with not present others and connect to Internet for many reasons.

135

Upcycle Cafe, Indoor Wi-Fi Use of Internet indoors suggests what users would like to find outdoors

Context:

+ unlimited wifi, very nice people + being part of Avanzi

Facilities: two very long tables (for 25 people), bar, deck-chairs area, small outdoors

- homogeneity of users - meal hours restrict working in them

bike cafe close to Leonardo campus, attached to Avanzi

People/Pattern: typical Italian foodpattern: it gets crowded during the lunch, aperitivo and dinner hours, so that working certainly becomes impossible except for little deck-chairs island away from the main tables. All the other time it has few people with laptops working

* more places like that are opening in Milan

Patrons: people working in Avanzi Overall social:

meal hours attract lots of local people, however most of those spending time working there are very homogenous: young, well-educated, flexible workers, speaking English, similar style, etc

Wifi use: most of people here turn on Wi-Fi whether on computer or mobile devices

Internet use: for work, emails, browsing, downloadinng things 136

Space Use 10/10 11:45 10/10 12:15 10/10 12:49 10/10 14:20 10/10 14:50 10/10 15:43 10/10 16:20 2/10 16:50 2/10 17:50 2/10 18:50 2/10 19:50 2/10 20:20

138

139

Use of Space and Internet Upcycle has the perfect atmosphere for workers, but not during meal hours

Upcycle is a relatively new cafe opened in the spring 2013 in via Ampere 59.

First of all it’s a bike cafe aiming at promotion of the bike culture. But what is mainly interesting is that it’s a space attached to the Avanzi — a company aimed at promotion of sustainable enterprises accommodating lots of collectives involved in this field. It functions as an incubator and accelerator of startups and has a coworking space which is separated from upcycle only by a glass wall.

Space has free Wi-Fi secured by password and from the very beginning it start its life as a “working” cafe. People working in Avanzi are the regular customers of it and they use the space not only for meals but to work here as well. And this goes beyond the normal idea of business lunch. Often all the teams of workers just change their location and work at Upcycle to change the environment. Big tables are helping that allowing people to fit here perfectly.

However it is a place where specific categories of users go: usually young professionals in “creative” fields, all well educated, speaking English, they create a community of patrons here. In this sense this place is not that “public”. Instead it creates a comforting environment of people alike. There are much less people staying here throughout the day using Wi-Fi than those who come to eat during lunch and also they’re more homogenous public. But during the meal hours workers have to stop as all the tables get occupied. This is the disadvantage os using connection in cafe — meals hours heavily affect its schedules. Wi-Fi and good for work environment is what attracts people here between the meals hours. Most of people stay quite long — around 1 hour, therefore possibility to charge the devices becomes very important 140

Field Observations

During the day itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s normal for people to work at the tables here

But at lunch computers users are asked to move and give space to those eating 141

Research Synthesis: Understanding Users User needs define the further offer development

offers

city

Research in the city logically moved on to understanding the users in need of public connectivity.

This is the point when theoretical research predictions turned to be opposite from real observations. In the previously read papers it was noticed that most of outdoor Wi-Fi users are young single white males usually with high income and high educational level. In the streets of Milan the situation turned to be different.

People of all ages are using Internet outdoors and their income and education vary a lot. There is still some correlation though between being male and using laptop outdoors as no females were spotted with it out. However now with spread of tablets this must Technology is be the issue of device mobility and weight.

!!!

the answer, but what wast the question?

Not only the present Internet users were approached, but other people in the public spaces as the y might be the possible future users and also give insights of whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lacking for them to connect in the city. In the end it became clear that all the people can find themselves in need of public connectivity in different situations in life, but some are of course more regular users of it.

In the end the real â&#x20AC;&#x153;disadvantagedâ&#x20AC;? users were defined as those who would like to be online more, but due to some circumstances cannot do it. This has enlarged the field of possible service users and made their specific needs more evident.

142

users

30yo, Egyptian, pizza�

makes

“This place has everything - Openwifi, McDonalds, cheap coffee at the snack machine around the corner, drinking fountain, benches, people” “What would I do in the park? Watch trees? My phone screen is what important to see for me!”

60yo “professor”,spotted him 2 times more, No electricity at home� working, checking mails, charging devices, socializing on his Macbook air, old phone “I don’t have time to learn all these interfaces! I need to work to take care of my ill mother!”

“Take care of your belongings, it’s not that safe around here”

143

Piazza Oberdan, “homeless, unfortunate” from the other Italian cities the way they sit — the designed structure is not supporting their needs ergonomically there is no Wi-Fi there at that moment, they heard that there’s Openwifi somewhere, but they cannot find it without internet

144

this spot is still not on the openwifi map now, when there apperared Wi-Fi, electricity plugs were not working anymore the bench is new, but looks used a lot already because it’s in the place used by homeless and “undesirables”, however it found it’s users

Journalists at Via Morgagni they want to work out because the weather was nice using their own 3g modem they tried to connect to Wi-Fi, but it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work

while talking the african guy approached saying to leave them alone to work in peace being quiet agrresive even usually the bench is used by other homeless around there are all different people together â&#x20AC;&#x201D; elderly, parents with kids

145

I used it in library, but they give only 1 hour

Openwifi milano? I heard that it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really work

Internet is for rich people

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wanna be in the park, I wanna be online

Wow! look! there’s WiFi here!

I prefer Internet to the trees

if there’s no Wi-Fi I cannot enter the space

There’s some WiFi here, but we couldn’t figure out how to use it

All events are scheduled online

Clustering Users With any level of access — even without devices and any connection, people use public connection in different situations

The main finding of research can be that not only some specially disadvantaged categories people use public connection. People DO need free public connectivity even with all the Wi-Fi and 3G service and without even a device to use it. For example some super-connected people can experience temporary situation with no Internet at home or on the contrary those who cannot even a smart phone or PC go to library to access Internet from there.

Uses can be approximately clustered in the following categories: traffic offload, studying/working, digital divide, passing time, fulfilling tasks, temporary breakdown situation. There’s correlation between different uses and settings: as it ws seen from public spaces research there are a lot of people “killing time” at piazza Argentina, for example, while in Via Morgagni situation is different and people go for recreational activities.

There are some misconceptions about nature of connectivity. Such a popular issue as digital divide manifests itself not in the mere presence of the utility, but in the real possibilities to use it — having a device, knowing the place, being able to use the device in that place, being able to connect to the internet, being able to fulfill the tasks and understand the real value of internet connection.

Another issues is that using Internet to connect with others requires those others to have it too — some immigrants say their family don’t have access to it, so they have no need to connect.

148

Understanding Users Reasons why people use public connectivity depending on their resources Devices Internet

Computer & Smartphone

Computer

Mobile

the most urgent needs: che cking emails and No personal messages, looking for maps, travelling info) / for Internet access everything / go to the libraries to access the net from PC

None going to the libraries, usi ng it to search for info, job, contact people far away

saving money when doing something traffic-heavy (download apps, watch videos)

3G on mobile

combining urgent and regular uses

3G access for pc/tablet

downloading movies and large files

Wi-Fi

on smartphone to check the maps, contact people when waiting

Wi-Fi & 3G

changing environment

doing something traffic-heavy outdoors (watching videos)

Users who spend more times outdoors are teens, elderly, immigrants. Others are more affected by working-studying rhythms, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spend much time just hanging out outdoors, but use internet a lot. Elderly is not very used to technology at all, but teens and immigrants are significant groups who are also interested in Wi-Fi for economical reasons.

The synthesizing process included understanding what people are doing outdoors, what are they doing online and clustering them by this parameters. Also some deep issues were noted aside. For example one user suddenly exclaimed that he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have time to deal with weird inconsistent interfaces of devices, as he has to work and take care of his ill mother. Another was watching streaming video news because his brothers went back to Pakistan for holidays and he was worried whether they will come back safe at all. This kind of insights show how important is the simple and fast connection possibility for all the different citizens.

149

User Archetypes Description Real disadvantaged users from the Internet connection point of view are different from how current services see them

Five chosen user archetypes are coming from real people like an Egyptian Immigrant at Piazza Argentina who works as a pizza maker and spends hours using Wi-Fi there to connect with his friends and family and get entertainment content. However their use archetypes can be applied to some other groups — teens for example are somehow similar in their use of space and Internet as they stay long hours outdoors as well, and don’t have much money, but there is still difference between too. And still there can be easily some local person with similar pattern of use.

This users division appeared as an attempt to understand the real disadvantaged users in age of internet connection. According to Openwifi Milano disadvantaged users are their priority, however they’re seen mostly as those who cannot use Internet at home at all and doesn’t have money on 3G, so they substitute its possibilities. Instead all of them are differently disadvantaged starting from those who really don’t have private connection, going to those who exceeds the limits too fast even though they have their own internet.

However in the city as categories of people using connection outdoors they’re the ones who become target audience .

In 5 identified categories now only 2 are somewhat satisfied with existing service while others are “real Wi-Fi users” needing its possibilities over those accessible through 3G. Also such people as students, tourists and workers are very important from economic point of view, they’re willing to pay money for some services outdoors — taking food and drinks, shopping, etc. so it’s very good to keep them out and if internet can attract them — it’s good for everyone.

At the same time despite being “disadvantaged’ all users have some resources they could share: time, skills, knowledge of city or simply money. Exchange of this value for connection seems a good point for the future service.

152

Service

Prototype: immigrant

Hanger out

He moved to Milan to work from other country. His job allows having a lot of free time. However heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not able to spend it with quality as his social access is restricted. At home he could have university degree and all educated friends, but here people he meets at work are of very lower educational level which causes frustration. He doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have enough money to get Internet at home or a 3G, so heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hanging out using free Wi-Fi to stay connected with friends at home and get some entertaining content.

Prototype: teenager

Socializer

Comes out to spend some free time with the bigger group of his friends, they prefer to stay altogether and close to food places like McDonalds. Also needs to stay connected with other not present ones and so uses public connection to chat with them. Has Internet at home, but not much money to pay for a lot of 3G and uses it a lot exceeding the limit soon. Also has enough time to spend some of it on registration process and the need to log in every time.

Needs: _place close to transport nodes or socially active where they like to hang out _charging phones _assistance _offline communication _contact with locals?

Needs: _space to hang out in big groups _close to affordable food _sitting _antiboredom content _safety

153

Service

Prototype: tourist

Walker/Shopper

Wants to get to as many places in the city as possible and efficiently, to know the local culture more, but also to share this experience with friends at home. Internet is crucial now for all this activities.

Willing to leave money here. Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have much knowledge of the place or even language to always find needed things easy. Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to spend much time on registration, though most of the time is out around the places.

Needs: _spaces close to sightseeing _without food-breaks _easy authorisation _effective communication _charging phone/tablets, sitting _connecting to local culture

Traffic addicted

Prototype: student

Needs:

Came to Milan recently, cannot have the proper Internet connection at home for different reasons. Have to find ways in which to get the digital content which is the huge part of their entertainment in life as well as have the ability to connect with friends left at home and get to know the city and local people better.

Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to spend much time on complicated procedures, though would like to spend more time outdoors.

_nice space _working without meal-breaks _sitting with PCs, charging _GBs downloading option or local content _communication with other students and locals

154

Service

Prototype: worker

Productivity seeker

Local project worker who doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a fixed workplace. Needs some place in the city to work individually and in groups and stay productive there.

Needs to have the efficient planning possibilities to optimize moving between meetings. Often works also with social media to promote his activities, in general works online a lot. Would stay out if there was connection. Has 3G, but exceeds the limit very fast.

Needs: _working environment _sitting with PCs, charging _reliable connection _meeting possibilities _socializing working

while

155

canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford home internet, neither 3G

home internet, but when stay out exceeding 3G traffic

possible inte donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t buy 3G

most disadvantaged

Somewhat satisfied with existing service

Hanger out

s o c . acc es s

afternoon after school

traffic

a

e edg wl no

s o c . acc es s

Enough traffic to use SN, check news and updates, get some content

Watching videos/listening music, using SN

Info abou sharing

Comfortable to stay quite a long time, charge the phone, but can be quite crowded

Comfortable for big groups, allowing fluid gatherings

Interestin in and ha

Functional

Wans to stay in touch with friends

Get info from friends and share content experience

Check up share exp

Emotional

Get local friends, assimilate, entertainment, but cheap/free

Be cool, be safe

Enjoy sta getting lo time

Space

156

e edg wl no

NEEDS: Internet

lls ski

money

between jobs, on days-off

tim e

traffic

lls ski

money

traffic

tim e

Wa W

. ac ce ss

lls ski

Socializer

ernet in hotels, G for short visits

home(&office) internet, not enough 3G out

not enough home/school/3G internet

most advantaged

Not satisfied with existing offer, but are the “truly Wi-Fi audience”

Traffic addicted

money

e edg wl no

s o c . acc es s

after classes/days off

tim e

traffic

lls ski

money

money

e edg wl no

so

all day long

tim e

traffic

lls ski

s o c . acc es s

tim e

Productivity seeker

e edg wl no

alker/Shopper

between meetings on workdays

ut the city, SN, easy

Traffic enought to download something, make research online

Reliable fast connection

ng and pleasant to stay ave rest

Pleasant, not too crowded, allowing to stay there for a while

Productive space (vary for people) allowing stay with laptop

pdates, find routes, perience

Getting studying and entertainment content

Get job done

aying in the city without ost, frustrated and wasting

Communication with other students, socializiing, learning new things

Don’t waste time, be efficient, but also not bored 157

Understanding Offer: Focusing on Openwifi Milano Municipal network was chosen as it is the most developed existing offer in the city

offers

city

Deciding to focus on municipal offer I went to talk to its representatives: Guido Albertini — the Chief Information Officer of Comune di Milano and Laura Colombo who is Openwifimilano’s project manager.

OpenWifi started as a promise of current mayor of Milano to its citizens in his election campaign. Before that a smaller wireless network existed in the city — WiMi, but it was covering only the central part. The new Openwifi Milano has a sociopolitical message of bringing connection to many more people and a special goal of providing access in suburbs as well.

To fulfill that promise councils of each zone were asked to provide the list of places that they considered to be relevant for Wi-Fi there. However it was technically impossible to fully follow that list due to reality of infrastructure, so Comune tried to fulfill it as close as possible, relying on use of its own spaces all around the city already being connected by fiber optic line creating a network in the city. So that network was extended to the closest spots desired by people.

Each area needs in average 2 hotspots, (from 1 to 4, but 2 is the most common), so there are already about 800-1000 hotspots in the city, which cover approx 250 “Wi-Fi areas.”

The project was divided into two phases. The first one is already finished, the second, doubling existing amount of hotspots will be by spring 2014.

158

!!!

users

Example of service map in the central part of the city

Service website

Understanding Offer

159

Understanding Offer

Serious objective was to guarantee a high quality service for citizens. This is the main reason of keeping the registration and authentication procedure even if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not legally required anymore after change in the laws on public Internet access that got place in august 2013.

Therefore every user is limited in the amount of traffic that he can consume to 300Mb/day + 1 hour of navigation at the highest possible speed after which it will reduce to 192kbps.

Also registration of users helps to provide the costumer care service assisting people if something is not working.

Another big point behind planning this network was the desire of Comune to own all the assets and only select operators running the service, so that all the infrastrustrure will always belong to the city. It is also used for the internal needs of Comune like police and other services.

ATM (Milan Transport Agency) is still running the service as it was an operator of previous version of it â&#x20AC;&#x201D; WiMi. It actually has a license of telecom provider as it uses it to run and control its own services. Another operator is now British Telecom which runs internal network, further work will be fulfilled to combine two of them. WiFi Uffici Publici which is now available in around 50 locations indoors will be together with Openwifi Milano. Nowadays indoor WiFi has different regulations of use â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it can be used for 15 hours a day. However the interesting thing is that indoors the Internet access is filtered restricting access to some website while outdoors everyone can use whatever they want.

Important future directions for this network are development of services for citizens that can be accessed through openwifi, apps to better access it and find spots, becoming much more mobile friendly, creating an intranet and some social comunal services like paying taxes and city fees, etc.

Openwifi cannot provide any detailed statistics that they gather for spots or also on how people do use the network except for the number accessible through their Twitter account.

Since this year international cell phone numbers are accepted to register users so tourists can finally access the service. Before that ATM points were used for registration.

160

Understanding Offer

The app of Openwifi is developed only for Windows phones yet

Finishing the part of 2014, the next big plan is developing the network for EXPO when it will be challenged by the amount of users coming to the city.

Some procedures and services are being designed.

Important moment is that Openwifi didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to spend money on communication campaign as it was done in Rome for example, but better use those funds for improving the quality of service.

They also donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to create a competition to mobile operators. But however now are considering possible partnerships and traffic offload opportunities.

161

STATISTICS Official statistics of network use 150.372 users

1,07 sessions/user/month

298 Mb/session 30000

new users/month accesses/month/10 access/user/month by 100000

25000

Mb/access by10 GB/day

20000

15000

10000

5000

0 11/3/13

10/4/13

6/5/13

Statistics till 19/1/2014, graphic is normalized to make evident all the indicators changes (see indexes above)

10/6/13

10/7/13

7/8/13

6/9/13

Summer has predictable drop in number of accesses, but surprisingly the traffic generated per access suddenly increases

11/10/13

10/11/13

12 October official opening of Isole Digitali

10/12/13

19/01/14

Already next month it drops back

Unfortunately the only statistics openly available from Openwifi Milano is the one published monthly in their twitter. There are no graphs or spreadsheets of it, just total number of users, generated traffic and number of accesses. However tracking this data monthly with little arithmetic allows generating more detailed picture with monthly changes, number of accesses per user, etc.

It is visible from diagram how indicators change in time not always following the expectations. For example in the cold time of the year there are more users than in summer, which is though probably explained by the fact that people leave city. However it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t explain strange behaviour considering generated traffic per connection. It appears that users who stay in the city use network more heavily than those who leave.

162

Understanding Offer

Results from network scanning around the city 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Interesting moment happens after the official opening of Isole Digitali â&#x20AC;&#x201D; probably due to their relative visibility a lot of people discovered the service and registered, but however numbers dropped already the next month not resulting in increase of accesses per user. It can suggest that in fact newly registered people havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t found service to be that useful.

Next peak happens during winter holidays. It can be connected to the amount of tourists coming to the city in this period plus the fact that right before holidays new registration procedure was implemented allowing registration in the system also for users with international phone numbers.

The scanning of network turned to be a long procedure taking a lot of time for each session, so no statistically relevant results were achieved. However it allows to see at least possible maximums and minimums in different places. Large park zone at port Vittoria turned to be the most crowded from network point of view probably because of a lot of people spending some time there after work. Surprisingly number for very busy Cadorna station and piazza Argentina in the lunchtime are equal, maybe because of people not staying long at Cadorna while they spend long lunchbreaks at piazza Argentina.

163

Isole Digitali “Digital Islands” are meant to provide various services for citizens including Wi-FI

Digital islands are the new facilities in the city officially introduced by Comune in October 2013.

I first learnt about this spots in spring when their elements just started appearing, but then there were no visible changes for a long time. With the start of official communication campaign they got more visibility and started to be used more.

They’re not only for Wi-Fi service, this spaces are the local hubs providing citizens access to some digital services. Theyt include also a “totem” with some city info, some of them will be NFC enabled allowing people to purchase tickets, etc and a station to charge e-vehicle and share them. There are 15 spots in the city now they’re spread around the city in the strategic points.

Important fact about them is that they all were build with “zero” cost for municipality. The whole thing was sponsored by partners 3 million euro were taken from them and another one million from EU funding.

The choice of spots for them seemed questionable as some are in the not very nice areas often prefered by homeless people as at Porta Venezia - Oberdan and at Central station.

+ make the service more visible + add possibility to charge the devices + create spots in the city where diverse people stay close + create more safe environment - except charging don’t make using devices any better — ergonomics is a problem - not really visible, even people who’re aware of them find it hard to spot one - communication and maps are confusing - some locations are very questionable and safety in that spots seems to be impossible - some people get confused thinking that Wifi is functioning only precisely at those spots inconsistency of appearance; - service provider doesn’t want people to stay there long - appearance of spots is inconsistent

According to public administration they’re well aware of this fact, however some technical restrictions of the underground infrastructure were not allow-

164

Understanding Offer

ing putting spots in the different locations. They first had to identify those important points and then find ways to get as close to them as possible. They say that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actually the first step and an experiment so it is hard to predict the real use of those spaces.

Official map distributed by Comune is not very informative and in some places its difficult to find spot even knowing where about is it. So for my own research I decided to put them all on one google map.

The physical design of the spot is claimed to be comfortable and minimalist, but that comfort is under some doubts. The bench without a back doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really allow comfortably spend long time there. according to municipality they wanted to allow rotation of people in this spaces not making them stay for long. However there are different types of seats in different location, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to say whether some of them are suitable for a long stay.

Further development of this project suppose for example creation of branded islands together with Telecom and other sponsors.

165

1� Cadorna 2� Via Cusani 3� Viale Pasubio 4� Centrale 5� Loreto/piazza Argentina 6� Oberdan

1.

2.

10.

9.

12.

11.

166

7� Via Cadore 8� Cinque Giornate 9� Bocconi 10� St� Agostino 11� Pagano 12� Amendola Fiera

3.

4.

5.

8.

7.

6.

167

Mapping Global Context Very different forces are involved in municipal Wi-Fi system

Users want to get to the network, but accessibility problem stops them, Investors want to reach the users, but there are a lot of obstacles on the way - competitors and accessibility problem whihc render service not that usable.

The feedback loop between users and investors is broken also. more than that many users are actually investors as the public network is built partially on their money, but there is no transparency and they don’t see the situation.

they don’t want to compete they don’t want to spend money on communication hoping that word of mouth will work and they say that it’s going fine BUT they don’t give information say that now we’re finishing the infrastructure and will start to think of services

168

build it FOR citizens using citizens’ money and don’t want to communicate with citizens

they will fail and no one will even notice

Understanding Offer

169

Understanding User Journey and Breakdown Moments Why am I not recieving the messages?

Connection before registration stops people from receiving messages and notifications over their normal 3G

Communication of overall thing Lots of people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even know that there is such an Openwifi. Because of communication and existing reputation of public services in Italy there are trust problems

170

Position of zones in the city

Oh! Wi-Fi here!

Why here?!

lots of hotspots are in the meaningless places while other important are left

Maybe it’s also in place?

Didn’t know that there’s municipal Wi-Fi at all!

But can it be reliable?

Comune

I will just fast

?!

Register!

Authorization/Registration Some people can even drop idea as soon as they see the authorization required, others waste a lot of time on it

171

Understanding Offer

Finally!

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nice here: shade and benches!

But no

?!

But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s different!

Freeluna

At least I can register fast!

Register with Fb

Fragmentation There are existing offers in the city, but instead of working in synergy, they do add complications and frustration

172

Oh no! Full of ads!

Understanding Offer

Can’t believe!

&

I thought I could find transport INFO at least!

ADS ADS ADS ADS ADS ADS

Comune

Bad communication inside the service

Scarcity of special content/services

Isole Digitali and Openwifi Milano are not linked well together in the overall system and people don’t move between spots

Comune website is the only content advantage of existing offer and the website itself doesn’t have many useful services

173

Understanding Offer

I’ve seen , but I cannot find it here!

Invisibility of zones in the city Even when someone knows that there’s a spot in the area, it’s hard to find it and people sitting right in the place often don’t even realize it

Meanwhile in Piazza Argentina...

I cannot reach the socket if I sit down!

This bench is so uncomfortable!

I’ve exhausted all the traffic already!

Surrounding environment

Limited traffic

The street furniture is not supporting the usage of wifi from the ergonomic point of view as well as not helping on sunny days, etc.

500 Mb a day is rather a good offer, comparing to Cellular cometitors, however it’s not exactly what’s expected from Wifi (plus knowing about this limit gives people negative impression even if they won’t ever exhaust it)

174

Understanding Offer

Safety

Digital divide

People using internet get less aware of their surroundings, plu sthey’re o in the higher risk as they’re exposing devices

The most loyal users are those that don’t have any other option, however as they spend more time here, their needs should be treated more careful, plus educational work required

Internet is for rich people! =(

He will rob me!

Oh, I have to log in again!

Social tension

Roaming

Diversity in public realm is generally considered to be positive for urban life, however it can cause less usage of service

It’s imposssible to move between different zones not losing connection and authorization is required again

175

Openwifi Conclusion The current offer is not used by many because it’s either not useful or to difficult to access

Lots of people use Internet in the city, but public Wi-FI gets very little percent of those users. Mostly they prefer 3G on their devices, even if the spaces provide free access exceeding most of 3G internet offers for anyone, but people either: - don’t know about it at all - don’t want to use it, because their need in it is not that extreme and they don’t wanna bother with authorization procedure every time.

General problems are that:

• interface is not clear, some people don’t understand at all that they have to register, • others see the registration window and drop the idea of it immediately as it seems too complicated, some don’t have phone with them� • after registration password is stored in sms and it takes long time to find it, • not everyone knows that they can save it in browser, • not everyone can remember it in in mind, • not everyone use on mobile at all and the app is built only for Windows phones Teens and immigrants are the most prone to use Openwifi — they are economically most interested in it, having the most urge Internet demands and time/will to make little efforts to get it. This proves the following conclusion: 176

Understanding Offer

- offer demand - content - urgency of user’s need

Very small amount of people uses free Wifi outdoors

Usefulness Difficulty of access

-

wrong locations wrong environment difficult authorization no communication no trust invisible hotspots bad maps

In the end the use of Wi-Fi can be formulated in Usefulness/Difficulty of access equation. If the service is needed very much, user will find way to get it despite all the inconvenience in its design. The contrary is true as well — if it’s easy to access service (like when it’s automatically connecting in cafes) people tend to use it even if they had other options like 3G. In the end those elements should be always balanced.

177

Existing Service Problems

1.

The existing position of spots is not the best from the users point of view; each citizen has the unique knowledge of the city and some of them would really like to share it and take help decision-making process

beries and become anxious because of that 10. Public connectivity can be used by most various types of users, but some of them (like digital divided groups) need more "care" than others

2.

Citizens don't appreciate the built infrastructure and Comune's efforts invested in it

3.

Citizens don't know the real situation with OpenWifi; it's hard to find any information

11. People would like to stay away from certain groups of others; consideration that Wi-Fi can improve the situation with undesirables doesn't work anymore - everyone has cellphones even if they were stolen

4.

Comune is afraid to become competitors with the Telecom operators; Comune is seriously limited in budget

12. Minutes wasted on registration and authorization are enough for people to drop idea of using service

5.

People often don't even know about the presence of Wi-Fi in the place they're

6.

People don't know how to find out, where is Openwifi Milan, some of them don't have internet to make preliminary research

13. When is starts like that users' expectations of service drop as well from the very beginning

7.

Different uses (phone call/email checking/watching video/listening music/chatting) require different physical settings; users with different devices have varying ergonomic needs

14. Some people drop the idea of using public Wi-Fi just as soon as they see the landing page requiring registration, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even read the offer 15. The style of PUBLIC service is not that appealing to people who're overwhelmed by commercial offers language

8.

People will spend time at the place if they need it despite any design, but they will be uncomfortable; existing design interferes users' behaviour

16. People don't have time/will/power (especially at the street) to get into too much information and learn new rules and interfaces

9.

When using expensive devices and being completely focused on the virtual world, people become more vulnerable to rob-

17. Being "free" is not enough for the offer to be desirable for people to switch from the one they're using

178

Design Principles

1�

Involve citizens crowdsourcing power to plan better infrastructure/Put spots where they’re really needed

2� Communicate the value of infrastructure to people 3� Communicate clearly all the steps and state of existing development 4� Think of the possible partnerships where Comune is seen as a facilitator of processes for the common good, not a competitor 5� Make infrastructure clearly visible to people in the city 6� Provide full and precise communication materials (maps, signs, apps), keep them updated and accessible not only online 7�

Choose places meaningful for citizens

8� Choose or create the proper supportive environment for various usages of infrastructure 9� Ergonomic concerns should be the most important, goals of public “rotation”, etc, should not be achieved through bad design

10� Preserve safety of created spaces 11� Support needs of diverse groups of users 12� Be inclusive, but manage consequences: help to release social tension originating from the heterogeneity of people in public 13� Respect people’s time over anything 14� Build and support users’ trust in service 15� Communicate the offer fast and clear 16� Keep it calm and engaging 17� Keep it supersimple 18� Add a new demanded value to the offer besides its commercial benefit and communicate it clearly 19� Keep it transparent (especially when working with citizens’ money) 20� Use the Social Media power to promote the infrastructure

179

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT Premises and concept Service description User experience Future development

Service Approach to Infrastructure Working on the level of redefining infrastructure possibilities to enable other services

Infrastructure sets the basic level for all other city structures to be built on, however it gets the least attention from design point of view, and apparently even is not that popular between young engineers generation.

But according to the last trends prediction this situation is to change. Telecommunication companies are the important partners to other industries, as they hold a natural position of power in the value chain. They also hold huge amounts of data which can serve other companies and improving the network user experience by transform-

“the dumb pipes into value-adding smart pipes” [34], and becoming users’ companions. ing

Telcos will start leveraging areas of strength — infrastructure, data services, scale — to be the natural backbone of vertical services and solutions. But digital transformation is catalyzed in the front office, not in the back office.

The front end is all about the consumer experience, service delivery, and engagement. So the the infrastructure should also have the proper interface to change our perception and ways of how we are connected.

182

“Without a good router to provide reliable Wi-Fi, your Dropbox file-sharing application is not going to sync sync��� The talent — and there’s a ton of it — flowing into Silicon Valley cares little about improving these infrastructural elements� What they care about is coming up with more web apps�” [35] “While people assume it will be led by the sexy startups, it’s the telcos that will provide the infrastructure that will bring to life people’s visions of living services and connected devices devices�”” [34]

Concept apps/services

devices/environment

infrastructure

183

Focusing on the Offer Unlike in 3G offer in urban Wi-Fi is rarely emphasized while its crucial for experience

Good Wi-Fi Service Approaching infrastructure as a service the element of offer design was selected to focus on. It seems to be the least developed or at least considered to be designed one. All the other factors are more or less explored in different ways in various projects, but offer is the core of service and still its possibilities are left unexplored. It is especially strange as people are pretty much ready to ignore many uncomfortable details when they really need the service.

So focusing on making it more useful is extremely important.

It is also the element which requires lest investment and changes in the system, taking advantages of already existing infrastructure and rearranging the way it is used.

184

Concept

1. Meaningful locations (urban planning)

2. Supportive environment (product design)

Ubiquitous connection is not Wi-Fi’s case, instead every spot should be carefully selected to emphasize the properties of urban space and serve users’ needs� City furniture design should be adapted for new uses including people interacting with devices: needing shade for screen, place to put device, chargers, etc�

3. Information about service (communication)

Wi-Fi is invisible till you’re already connected, so it needs to be shown in physical signs, in the maps, which also should be available offline�

4. Usefulness of offer (service design)

Offer depends on the goals set when planning the network in present project the final challenge was formulated:

How can a city-wide Wi-Fi fulfill the needs of multiple user groups?

185

Offer = traffic rules + bandwidth Current traffic offer is underestimated by users and promoted inadequately by provider

Current Openwifi Milano traffic offer is formulated in a way which users don’t really understand well. They just get the first part “300Mb/day” without realizing the rest. Any 3G operator would market the very same offer as unlimited internet.

Structure of offer “300Mb + 1 hour” is also complicated to understand and find reasonable explanation for it. According to official representatives of service they shape offer this way as they don’t want to compete with 3G. However in the changing environment where 3G operators need to offload question of competition is not actual anymore. Working together with 3G is the new approach to be taken. And in this case different plans can be developed. For example O2 Wi-Fi in London offered by Telefonica 3G operator gives monthly limit of 10Gb without any daily restrictions.

Another way to deliver traffic limit differently is started by AT&T in form of sponsored data. In this case partners can pay for users’ traffic when they access their content. This could increase daily limit for user without additional costs for service provider.

More than that in many cases access to the global Internet may be not even needed. Locally stored content can be provided to users from servers inside the network. This system already exists in Milan allowing access to most of Comune services, however it is not including for example MediaLibraryOnline — the open database of Milnese libraries which have a lot of music and video content. If it could be downloaded or streamed from within city wireless it would reduce a lot of costs from users accessing Internet to get some entertaining content.

186

Concept

1

300Mb = 1/4 + 5 1 hour at highest speed

TV-episode

movie

Milan Gmaps

or

10

or

70

or

1h

Youtube videos

mp3 songs

design research (photos)

+ REST of the day at 192kbps

up to 2,4Gb/day! (or 72 Gb/month in 3G terms UNLIMITED compare TIM: 25 euro/20Gb)

187

Bandwidth

Numbers of users in 3 various locations and networks in the city during day Bandwidth defines the speed of connection. It is very important for public WiFi as in the populated hotspots it is being divided between users. For outdoor Wi-Fi, speed also defines the time that user will need to spend there if he wants to download something.

It might seem that Wi-Fi use in the city should be similar to that of electrical grids when in the peak hours it is loaded up to the limits of facilities while in the other hours theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re underused, but it is different for internet connection structured as OpenWifiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one. In reality the bandwidth is divided between amount of connected users.

Unlike other networks (Freeluna, for example) Openwifi is not restricting bandwidth per user. Instead they think that 300Mb/day traffic limit serves this need as after exceeding it user leaves the network letting others access.

They say that traffic limit in this way provides everyone the highest quality of service (speed). But in fact this natural flow of things make the service inconsistent and OpenWifi admits it saying in their twitter that in the best conditions users can get 30Mbps speed while other times 4-5Mpbs (in reality

188

Concept

2-3Mbps were measured by different scans). It is easily understood by graph in which the “whole” bandwidth is divided between different numbers of users. Difference in speed will be very well perceived through time needed to download any content (making people to stay longer in the space).

Besides that many hotspots due to their location don’t even get to be used by many users, so there is a big difference between speeds in various places. This inconsistence in the end severely affects the user experience.

189

Understanding demand through user needs

Socializer

Walk

extra need

main need

Hanger out

Fun use traffic bandwidth

Social

entertainment: watching videos, listening to music

social networks and communication needs

general us emails, se

enough for one movie

enough for checking photos and videos online

for urgent

streaming use - speed sufficient to watch videos

enough for video chats

to load m

easy acce

190

ker/Shopper

Info

Traffic addicted

Load

Productivity seeker

Work

se to check notifications, earch maps, check, etc

downloading content

use for various working purposes

t short use

traffic for one movie at least

traffic not limited for one day

fast speed not to stay long waiting for download

high speed for productivity

maps fast

ess most of all!

191

Restricting the bandwidth for different purpose uses can improve overall experience Piazza Argentina daily change:

9:00

10:30

12:001

3:30

15:00

16:30

18:00

20:30

If bandwidth is divided between all users when there are only few people with existing traffic the speed exceeds their real needs� On the contrary in the crowded hours it’s not enough for other usages like streaming video� New approach suggests changing technical offer in a way which is more suitable for real users needs needs� Most of users probably will still use the basic “social”option, but it will allow introducing new kinds of internet behaviour outdoors as well well� It should be done together with different traffic rules because having high speed doesn’t help much if you don’t get enough opportunity to use it� 192

Concept

Lunch

Aperitivo

Info

Social

Download

Work

Fun

New offer can attract different groups of users engaged in various online activity for maintaining healthy diversity of outdoor spaces� If bandwidth changes according to offer selected by each user, not to natural division between everyone connected, offer becomes consistent — users of one option always get the same quality of service during different times of

the day and don’t get frustrated by the service� In different hours the distribution of active offers might be changing — during lunchtime more users could be just passing by willing to check social networks, etc, while in the not so popular hours the bandwidth might be better distributed between those that really need it for other activities: working, downloading content�

193

Platform for Urban Engagement Central part of Internet in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s communications can be used to create larger platform of urban services

Com

News Portal As Internet plays central role in contemporary communication, urban Wi-Fi service can create a platform for other urban services involvement. OpenwifI and Freeluna try some kind of involvement of partners when Openwifi promotes its sponsors on the signage and Freeluna puts ads for people. Here the system can be different. As it will be understood which user prefers which kind of activity partners will be able to better target their audience with offers.

And offers can be promoted in a form of credit points in the system.

Knowing the audience, other sponsors can pay for users content or create the whole sponsored spots for specific online service. And can they get back not necessarily money, but many other values that citizens have. Open- and crowdsourcing citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; knowledge can give more than money providing data for partners to develop their services on.

194

Media Library Online

Concept

Libraries

mune

Fun,

Time

Skills

com mun ica

tion

, fun

ledge Know

Service/ Platform

Traffic addicted

t

y

ills sk e/

sa fet

en ym

njo

Fu n,

ey

on

M ye

Cit

Tim

Hanger out

City Museums

Productivity

Money/skiils

Productivity seeker

ATM

Socializer Walker/Shopper

BikeMi

195

ETEREA

196

ETEREA

fits the city fits you.

Service

ETEREA — the best connection at the right time and right place� 1. For the user it is a way to get the best connection that adjusts to their real needs in public spaces.

2. For other services it’s a platform to promote their offers and improve them based on user response.

3. For the city it is a tool for better citizen engagement and understanding in planning.

ETEREA is a living urban connection landscape that adjusts to user needs and combines those need with physicality of spaces� Doing that it also creates structural platform for other services to connect with it� ETEREA gives back to the city vast amount data to better analyze the city planning�

197

For the Users OPTIONS: First of all anyone can connect for free 100Mb/day� 100Mb/day This makes access easy for everyone eliminating frustration in situations when Internet access is urgently needed and even simplest registration seems to be an unnecessary obstacle to it� er that if you need more, you can register for service (and After log in once in a lifetime!) and use up to 500Mb/day with the 3Mbps speed, which is enough for most of the uses, including Youtube videos� Registering can be your only single interaction with the service if you wish��� or you can explore more options: have fun, work and download content, for which ETEREA provides special conditions in certain time in certain places� Basicallyy you always have the same 15Gb a month as you would get having it in 500/day portions, but they can be spread differently and you can get them faster if you want want� There’s hourly subscription option which allows reaching the highest speed 10Mbps for one hour a day (with this option you can download up to 4,5Gb in that hour)� Then daily option which increases daily traffic limit to 2Gb and speed to 5Mbps — it’s perfect to watch streaming videos or listen to music� Weekly subscription allows using 4Gb of traffic with 7,5Mbps 198

Service

speed, it’s good for work as things happen fast and within one week you can choose whichever day to consume more or less traffic� If managing it all seems too complicated there is an app for that! Your personal planner lets find your own perfect way to use internet focusing on the things you have to do and let computers figure out all the rest� Yes, you have to pay for it, but not with money� Credits system is based on engagement of users with the system and their contribution to overall urban services that partner with the platform� LANDSCAPE EXPERIENCE: to connect with ETEREA you can search depending on what you want to do or where and when you want to be be� As an urban connection landscape, ETEREA lives with rhythm of your city, which means it’s not homogenous and changes in time, every spot is different and has it’s unique pattern of offer� You can access basic service at any time and any spot, but other options follow city schedule (which is your rythm as well)� It’s very easy to understand — just like in your favorite bar you probably will not work in the lunch hours in the crowded spot� However there always will be better place for you to do it, somewhere very close, and ETEREA will suggest such a place and guide you to it� 199

For Partners ETEREA emphasizes the central part of internet as main contemporary communication medium and organizes many partner’s activities around it� Wi-Fi connection is already used as a promotion tool by existing systems — Openwifi milano puts all the sponsors’ names on its signs while Freeluna streams adds to users, but ETEREA wants to create synergy of partnership where users are not annoyed by sponsors presence, but on the contrary engage in interaction with them as providers of valuable offers offers� Credits system opens up opportunities for this kind of engagement� There are many ways in which it can happen: simple context aware offer mechanism like Google Offers or Groupon promoting on the platform and providing credits for use of their services� Otherwise some sponsor may even be interested in paying for traffic of users at some specific spots, like streaming video from Amazon won’t require any credits when connected from “mostly entertainment” spot in some park� Also local services like media library, already existing in Milan, can connect to ETEREA adding their servers and providing access to content from any public space without even need to pay for outer Internet access�

200

For Urban Planning ETEREA users will provide a lot of data about their internet preferences� This data treated in anonybehaviour and spaces preferences mous aggregated way is of great interest to many players planning� Frist of all, it of course will interested in better city planning help to see how Wi-Fi is used and where� Unlike existing systems like Openwifi and Freeluna this data will inevitably be transparent and accessible to users as it is in a way that system’s designed� However they will see only partial visualisation and full access will be granted on demand to interested players� Service also adds possibility to crowdsource citizens’ knowledge of the places places� It has section to improve the maps of public spaces where all the little details like kinds of benches, plugs, water fountains, etc� are added to create database of how comfortable are different spots for Wi-Fi use, but the same data can be used for many other city uses� Additional options can include performing researches through surveys for which users can get credits and all other ways of engaging people in sharing their knowledge�

201

Options: Connect automatically

info

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; immediate access to what you need

Or register and login once:

urgent connection when you just need to check that thing! no registration 100Mb/day limit

basic connection will serve most of your needs

enough fo networks online vid

500Mb/da speed up

Then manage your 15Gb/month a

have fun: watch a movie, listen to music for 2 credits

Connect good speed and traffic limit for streaming 2Gb/day speed up to 5Mbps

202

work â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

manage in a wee great sp

or social s and watching deos

ay to 3Mbps

as you wish:

turbo mode — superfast 1 hour for 4 credits

t to

— traffic ek with peed

the best option to download a lot or just enjoy speed 1 hour/day speed up to 10Mbps

for 3 credits

the whole week with no usual daily traffic limit 4Gb/week speed up to 7Mbps

203

Offers and Credits For the special options users have to pay by credits which they get inside the overall city system� Credits can be gained in different ways: user can perform a simple task to improve the service (add photos of the spot, add review, edit maps); task of that kind but required by some partner (solve problem online, or offline: report parking situation in the street, for example); they can exchange the knowledge: share their use statistics in more details than normally, answer some city survey questions; or acquire partners’ products and services with special offers (buy Wired magazine, ATM subscription, library card — and get credits in ETEREA) Also there is an opportunity to provide specially tailored service for special categories of users: student coming from other places, low income citizens, etc� Credits system on the user side is designed to control the consumption of bandwidth� The need to pay with credits makes people understand that they’re using special offers, which are not guaranteed for everyone everywhere� It helps to avoid perception that the best quality service can be distributed to everyone, but is not yet implemented� On the other side it gives connected partners opportunity to promote their products and services aiming at the exact target: whether chosen by kind of offer it is (work/fun/content related) ot by specific location in the city� 204

Service

info

— immediate access to what you need

basic connection will serve most of your needs

have fun: watch a movie, listen to music

No credits needed

=

2 credits: Add photo of Piazza Take a survey Listen to the last albums on iTunes Rent Amazon movie etc...

Connect to

work —

manage traffic in a week with great speed

=

3 credits: Try cloud software Extend GDrive & work for free Bring friends & work together Edit Piazza Lima map etc...

turbo mode —

superfast 1 hour

=

4 credits: Download e-books Download new apps for free Mondadori discounts for you Subscribe to Media Library etc...

205

Size and features of each space define the number of basic connection “slots” there

Piazza Argentina

Grid of average connections/meter

Each space has its defined number of possible connections for which basic quality of service can be guaranteed� The shape of space is projected on the grid of average basic connections rate to define how many of them should be deployed in each spot�

206

Users occupy different number of “slots” depending on selected option

1 basic connection “slot”

connected basic user “occupies” 3Mbps bandwidth

connected “work” user “occupies” almost 3 times more bandwidth: 7,5Mbps

Connected users of different options are rendered in shapes with increasing area which communicates idea of the difference in bandwidth that they’re using�

207

Options priorities define which users get guaranteed service

Top priority, always guranteed service

Options with fixed speed, but not necessarily available at all spots in the moment

Intro use is provided when all the registered users are served and bandwidth is still left

Priority of service is to guarantee quality of basic connection to everyone� Other options can be activated in different spots in the hours when there are not many basic users and facilities are underused� But as soon as it gets more crowded if there is no “slot” for basic user left, one of special options users will have to decrease his bandwidth consumption to provide “space” for others� 208

Spaces’ Priorities Codes

Depending on features of space its use will be different: some have more people connecting for basic needs, some are more This will define spots “priority” code which regulates which special options users will be first asked to reduce their bandwidth when all the slots in the spot are occupied� This can be defined by the statistics of use of each spot and changed with user demand or on the contrary for some spaces it can be regulated by the system to alter its use pattern�

When a higher priority user would like to connect, the lower one will have to reduce bandwidth for one “step” (2,5Mbps)� Priority codes can also be changing in time for each space and will depend on the statistics of users preferences so users can even influence them, for example, coming to place in group of the same option users�

209

Graphics communicate real use situation at every spot in each moment

10 am

2 pm

The resulting picture for each space is combined of its material boundaries (which are altered by the real limits of Wi-FI signal spread in it) and elements representing users’ “auras”� In this way the picture of use in every moment is immediately clear for people, they can understand how many spots are left and whether some special option can be activated� This representation will be changing in real time�

210

6 pm

It will be immediately clear from map which spot is better for user

As tangible environment varies in each space, their Wi-Fi use will be also different� This will be simply represented on the map where user can see the whole “landscape” and decide if there is a spot which fits his preferences better� When there is no possibility to activate some option that user wants, he will see the landscape and the closest spots that are good for his preferences� Additional routes on map are added to suggest the shortest way to pass from one spot to another� 211

App/Website The main interaction with service is performed through application or web-interface

On the very first step of Intro option user doesn’t even need to interact with the service directly, he can just connect to Wi-Fi network and use it for 100Mb. The network will recognise each device and limit traffic to it.

Then, to get better traffic and speed registration is required. For registration user can choose any name and password he wants. On the basic level of use this step of registration can be the single direct interaction moment with system. Otherwise user can proceed to his profile page or download app to control his daily traffic consumption and get more information about other options.

Also app and website contain full information about location of spots and environment.

For the additional options the app and website are core elements. They allow understanding and managing monthly consumption as well as accessing marketplace which is needed to get more credits for options. Through the app users can actively participate in platform improvement when they edit the spots’ plans, add photos and reviews of them. It is the main tool to navigate in ETEREA “landscape” whether just browsing, searching for spot nearby or for specific options of it.

Behind the direct interactions with the app it has also background functions and push-notifications when it suggests user in the city to check some spots if he’s nearby, reminds the best timing for options around, analyzes traffic consumption and suggests best offers to get credits based on user profile, context and location.

212

User Experience

213

The first default screen of app allows tapping on option to connect to it immediately (when at spot already) or to initiate the search for best place away from itďż˝ It also provides direct access to other main elements of appďż˝

214

“Landscape” is in fact the main representation of service� It combines the physical map with the layer of hotspots and visualization of their current state� In this way picture of city situation is immediately understandable for user who can decide where to go�

215

User Experience

216

User Experience

Based on statistics it allows to see average situation in the spot in different hours

217

User Experience

Tangible environment is very important for WiFi users comfort, that is why the app has special map section with all crucial elements of spacesďż˝ This maps will be crowd-sourced with users getting credits for their improvementďż˝

218

User Experience

219

User Experience

Offers can be viewed also from this section emphasizing connection of environment and Internet useďż˝

220

User Experience

All the main elements and userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current consumption can be always viewed from app menuďż˝

221

Market with offers can be visualized in different ways, the simplest one is the feed of offers related to each options with the best suggestions highlightedďż˝ User can sort them by kind (online/offline, data sharing, tasks, partners offers) or by place and see them on the mapďż˝

222

Different sorting options allow finding best offers whether depending on location or credits and activities preferencesďż˝

223

User Experience

224

User Experience

User account is in fact a planning tool reflecting the previous use and suggesting better options and offers for the futureďż˝

225

Other Touchpoints Physical points help to find Wi-Fi without any connections and “integrated” promote offers through partners

Totems represent current situation at spot and let people understand service even if they don’t have their devices� 226

Maps are needed for those who don’t have current 3G connections, even without it they can find the spots in the city and get Wi-Fi� Also in case of 3G presence users can scan QR codes of each spot and see the current situation there�

User Experience

Meet another Cool Nerd and re a d his i ncredible st or y

4 credits inside!

Offers are spread around various media sources both offand online� They reach different audiences� After finding the offer user just scans it with the app and gets credits in the system�

2 credits!

Online offer will automatically take to user’s Eterea page�

227

New User Journey Passing from awareness to becoming regular user

gets more info from physical points

occasionly

got to know from physical infospots

saw it in digital services

learned from partners offers

228

saw the sign and stopped because of it

came on purpose knowing about Wi-Fi

user in the spot

notices Wi-Fi in device

already knows about Wi-Fi here

As it was seen in research, majority of people don’t realize being present in Wi-Fi hotspot now� Physical signage and info materials should solve this problem�

User Experience

Passage from intro usage to basic and further to exploring full functionality of the app is a crucial moment� With notifications solution user won’t get overwhelmed with too much information when it’s not yet needed�

connects automatically to info offer

traffic limit notification

leaves

navigates till traffic/speed notification registers for basic service gets more info about service

explores all options

tries from starting credits amount

becomes regular user

229

Returning User Journey Managing offers and options for the best results

For the returning users problem of spot identification is not that big anymore as they have access to online database or may get printed maps from other spotsďż˝ required option available

passes by

connect

on the spot

the neariest

uses app to find Wi-Fi

for selected option

best suggested

230

required option not available

The mom able can of view Also eac this requ change i

User Experience

Options to gain credits may vary from submitting anonymous personal statistics to improving environment at the spot� Service also opens up great possibilities for partners to be sponsoring traffic and promoting their offers at the same time�

navigate with selected option as long as needed

pay required amount of credits

get new credits

exchange the data

do some “work” (online/offline)

get offers from partners

t to it interrupted navigation because of changing conditions connect to available one instead report it (+1 credit)

payment is readjusted dependign on “consumption”

get other place/time suggestion

ment when required option is not availn be difficult from user satisfaction point w, so credits compensation is provided� ch case gets reported to the system and if uirement repeats, spots priority code will in the future�

231

Eterea & the City Passing easily from info to basic user Sveta is a guest of the city, she gets automatic connection without any need to log into service

Info

232

User Experience

She decides to register for service to get more traffic for days of her stay in Milanďż˝ It allows her to explore the city better and share her experience with friends and family back homeďż˝

Basic 233

Regular users can find Eterea offers from different partners Priyanka is a regular user of service� She always finds offers of different partners and uses them in system� This time she got it from the magazine that she buys monthly�

Work

234

User Experience

Simple QR code scanning gives her new credits to use in various situationsďż˝

She also finds out from the user profile that the weather will be good next days and decides to invite her coworker to spend some nice time working in the park instead of sitting in the officeďż˝

235

Options can be activated easily and fast whenever user gets some spare time outdoors

Fun

Matteo is stuck in Piazza Argentina waiting for a date� Usually in this situation he would get quite sad and frustrated� But he’s a regular user of Eterea and this square has Wi-Fi connection, so his time outdoors won’t be ruined�

236

User Experience

With Eterea’s “fun” option he can spend this time watching the last episode of series that he missed the night before� It’s so easy to activate the option and speed and traffic are perfect to enjoy streaming video even in high quality�

237

Eterea aims to improve the quality of outdoor experience through Wi-Fi infrastructure

The main goal of Eterea is to create the better urban experience for multiple users� However it is the service that aims to stay in the “background mode”� It creates options for people to get connected and spend time in the more efficient way leaving time to enjoying the city life� The main focus is on the city, Wi-Fi is not the goal, but a necessity of basic level which has to be provided to open access to other urban possibilities� 238

All the applicable design principles formulated after research were followed in the resulting service

1�

Involve citizens crowdsourcing power to plan better infrastructure

2� Communicate the value of infrastructure to people

12� Be inclusive, but manage consequences: help to release social tension originating from the heterogeneity of people in public

3� Communicate clearly all the steps and state of existing development

13� Respect people’s time over anything

4� Think of the possible partnerships where provider is seen as a facilitator of processes for the common good, not a competitor

14� Build and support users’ trust in service 15� Communicate the offer fast and clear

5� Make infrastructure clearly visible to people in the city

16� Keep it calm and engaging

6� Provide full and precise communication materials (maps, signs, apps), keep them updated and accessible not only online

18� Add a new demanded value to the offer besides its commercial benefit and communicate it clearly

7�

Choose places meaningful for citizens

8� Choose or create the proper supportive environment for various usages of infrastructure 9� Ergonomic concerns should be the most important, goals of public “rotation”, etc, should not be achieved through bad design

17� Keep it supersimple

19� Keep it transparent (especially when working with citizens’ money) 20� Use the Social Media power to promote the infrastructure

10� Preserve safety of created spaces 11� Support needs of diverse groups of users

not applicable

239

System Map The main goal of the service is to provide Internet access to users, but there is also ecosystem of partnerships built around it

The main actors of the system are global Internet services, Internet providers, platform and users. To get Internet connection users have to pass through this gateways usually paying money.

However in case of Eterea they are getting involved in different other activities allowing to exchange value which in the end will generate financial benefit for the service. Besides that global Internet access necessity can be decreased if the local servers of municipal institutions will join the network. For example Online Media Library existing in Milan could provide access to its contents from the urban Wi-Fi. In this way it would be more accessible for citizens who don’t have home connection or don’t go to the libraries. And at the same time if users get content, downloading movies for example, from local network they would use less global Internet access reducing costs for the service. Other urban services like transportation info are also very important for all citizens and having fast access to it could improve urban experience a lot.

Partners participate in the system cause it will provide visibility to specific targets of users also properly located in the city. They get in exchange money or engagement from the users and provide financial support to Eterea.

Besides engaging with partners’ offers users can participate in activities within platform — editing crowdsourced maps, providing their data for studies. All this acquired information then can be used to generate profit for platform whenshared with some interested parties: urban planners, city services, etc.

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Service the Internet Internet traffic

Global services (Facebook, Google, Instagram, Spotify, etc)

Money Content

Global operators (British Telecom, etc)

Local content providers (Fnac, Mondadori)

Local connection providers

Local digital services (Municipal info, ATM,etc)

Participation

Services

Information ETEREA

Platform/ Service

Users Partner

Partner

Partner

Partner Partner

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Relation to Existing Services and Further Development Eterea is a concept of redefining WI-Fi offer and it can be adapted to different systems

Openwifimilano

Openwifimilano Openwifi milano

ETEREA

ETEREA

Freeluna

FON

The core of Eterea is its approach to user needs and the way its offer satisfies them. Other elements like improved communication strategy, multiple touchpoints and system of partnerships all emerge from new understanding of connection role in people’s lives. This allows Eterea to be replicable on different levels.

To function fully and involve all important urban partnerships Etere needs to hold some top level position as being a part of city-wide municipal Wi-Fi, or an option emerging from partnership of different players of the market, or on the contrary — even higher level entity, association, for example, which would unite different players and make them all function in synergetic way.

At the same time Eterea as an independent service can have competitive advantages over existing ones which may allow its growth as a higher level entity.

Huge Internet companies — Google, Facebook, etc — now develop various projects of increasing Internet penetration in the world. It is a logical move

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ETER

Free

Service

ETEREA

REA

eluna

FON

Openwifi milano

FON

Freeluna

Google/Facebook/etc Wi-Fi

ETEREA

which is supposed to bring them more users and revenue. However their plans are very large scale and expensive, aiming at bringing Internet to far away lands where normal communication channels turn to be too costy now. At the same time even such a global city as Milan has thousands of underserved users.

Focusing on them and making their connectivity experience more efficient could increase their online activity generating revenues for digital services all over the web. In this way Eterea can be seen as a way to reorganize existing structures in order to increase their productivity. Instead of developing huge new infrustructural approach it renders the existing one more sustainable and satisfying for users.

The form of developed solution is not necessarily final. Some user testing can show in which way is it better to shape the offer. This can also change for the city in different periods depending on the digital culture level. But the main idea of deep focus on connection between users, urban spaces and capabilities of infrastructure is what should shape various network development initiatives.

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Conclusions From the beginning of theoretical research it was clear that Wi-Fi should be developed in a different way from other city infrastructures as it has new levels of flexibility. Field observation demonstrated how different is the city and users and that they really need that tailored approach to the offer. The project part tried to put together emerging technical possibilities and user needs.

As a result suggested solution would:

• • • • • • •

lead to the increase in efficiency of the service provide the best options for users develop useful partnerships and mutually helpful value exchange promote new approach to traffic consumption make the system more sustainable bridge the gap between engineering approach and user-centered design leverage the central role of Internet communication to build new ecosystem of connected urban services

However Eterea — is development of only one of possible solution idea and many more of them were generated during the process. It explores only the small part of offer realm, while there are numerous possible improvements in the way Wi-Fi is delivered in urban public spaces that can be made to enhance user experience.

The further work will be focused on finding opportunities to apply on different levels the knowledge and understanding of situation acquired in this thesis process and all the collaboration offers are mostly welcome.

But the most important part of this work was practicing learning from people, developing empathy to them and then understanding technical side of question and possibilities to solve users problems through it — human-centered approach to the distribution of technological innovation, which is the exact aim of my professional design practice.

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idea per page

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Forlano L. When Code Meets Place: Collaboration and Innovation at WiFi Hotspots Columbia University 2008

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ythesis.tumblr.com

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p� 77 http://www�visitestonia�com/en/multimedia/about-estonia/what-arepeople-saying-about-estonia?site_preference=normal p� 78 Luca Bruno, Michael Sohn, AP p� 81 http://digital-agenda-data�eu/charts/ p� 85 http://www�greengeek�it/portfolio-view/671/ https://play�google�com/store/apps/details?id=it�rndlab�chefuturo https://play�google�com/store/apps/details?id=it�condenast�wired�wiredwifi p� 91 Freeluna app screenshot p� 95 A Day in the Life of a Bench by Max Degtyarev p� 159 http://info�openwifimilano�it/ https://maps�google�it/maps/ms?msid=202002587932397342590�0004c50846c5 2cc78f328&msa=0&dg=feature p� 161 http://www�windowsphone�com/it-it/store/app/open-wifimilano/77d61d53-7645-4447-a052-d734a834797c

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