Search our Site

A well written article on one of our community wireless grantees, Booker T. Washington Community Center was published on Wired.com yesterday.

One of the very cool things is that they are using these wifi mesh networking devices from Meraki. Michael McCarthy, the project manager for the wireless initiative, loves them. Google does too, apparently.

My quibble with the content of the article is this: Can we stop comparing the need for the Internet to housing and water and food?

Academic debates about the reality and cost of the so-called digital divide — and the ability of individuals to fight economic disadvantage with nothing more than a computer and an IP address — seem to crumble in a place like this. Like water and heat, internet is a clear necessity in the modern world, opening doors to education, employment and engagement.

This is not Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs—which isn’t a ladder by the way. Let’s not focus on whether or not low-income communities are worthy of wireless, but what they can do with it.

I’ve posted about community wireless here on the blog earlier.

Thank you to Wired for covering community-based, community-driven wireless infrastructure initiatives. These initiatives may not be the next Google initiative, but they can be as life changing in their own way for the people that are receiving the benefit.