Blogging from the Park
Appropriately I am sitting in sunny Bryant Park making use of the park’s free wifi to type this post.
I say appropriately since I am on my way to the Access to Knowledge Project hosted at the Yale Law School by the Information Society Project. Access to knowledge is governed by the codes, legal and digital, that govern content. It is equally dependent on communication networks.
The idea that wifi access should be, at least in some places, as publicly available a service as a drinking fountain, is compelling. Yesterday I used the wifi network at Johannesburg International Airport, a subscription service, I just happened to have free minutes. Even with the many South African and foreign business travelers thronging the airport I didn’t see enough laptops being toted, to represent a serious free rider problem. Perhaps free wifi would be equally appropriate in Johannesburg International.
Both the free and subscription wifi networks are open communication networks, demanding adherence only to a limited set of technical protocols to let me speak and listen. Something of this elegant simplicity should inspire the emerging open knowledge architectures.