why-oh-why-fi foibles
Wi-fi on the Fulton Mall. I never thought it would happen.
This is good for Fresno, good for the Mall, good for Downtown, embraces technology, all good. Right? RIGHT? I love a good theory. I love free wireless connections that allow me to spread geekery far and wide. Plus I'm a big proponent of Safe Surfing. I'll get to that part in a bit...
Here's an illustrated tour of how me and my powerbook fared on the Mall this evening.
Turn on laptop - open wireless connection.
Wait....
Respond to invitation to join "cityoffresnofreewifiproject" with a resounding OK. (whee! getting excited now...)
DOH! what's this?
I know a thing or two about security and this does not make me happy. So I view the certificate in an attempt to figure out what the problem is:
Uh - "unknown reasons" is a bit vague for me. Basically I am being asked to OK connecting to a website with an invalid security certificate and that website will connect me to an open network. It's provided for free by the City so I should not worry. Right? RIGHT?
"Hi, I'm Sally from Planned Parenthood. I have free condoms for you. The packages have all been ripped open but I'm sure they're fine. Trust me. i'm from Planned Parenthood. And they're free!!!"
You get the point...
I am willing to engage in risky behavior for the sake of community education. I clicked OK. Then I was routed to a lovely (!!????) webpage. Gotta find a tiny button at the bottom of that page before your connection is hot. Illustrated guide below:
More questions:
How many tech companies does it take to strap an antenna onto a clock tower?
4, evidently. See above.
How was the connection itself?
Okay - a bit spotty, limited area.
How did I feel during my wi-fi experience overall?
I'm curious - does anyone know how much $$ the City of Fresno spent on the wireless system for Fulton Plaza? I honestly think it's a great enhancement and look forward to using it often - after the glitches are gone.
Oh yeah - when I got home I wrote some code. You can filter events in the Fresno Famous calendar by category now.
yes, yes, and yes
kurtz,
You are correct on all counts.
signed,
suzi (aka Minion and Playground monitor)
????
Wi-Fi?!? Powerbook?!?
Does this have anything to do with that damn Intra-net thing that commie Al Gore claims to have invented to help keep me from driving my Hummer to my daughter's soccer match?!?
Computer-boxes are the Devil's Playground!
..'und vot do you see ven I hold up diss picture, johnny?
...coool. now I know what WiFi is, (kind of.)
and I really happen to like the City WiFi page, which sort of has this interesting collage of Miami with speedboats along the top, crops down the right side,
(but a REALLY cool sort of tilted face on shot of the Hoover dam, with a whole bank of bacon strips coming at you down the left...)
(...somebody in the art department inhaled.)
Gonna go throw on some 'Dead and look at the rest of the city web-pages,,, dude...
suzi is my hero
I'd like to see many more Suzi diagrams in her future blog posts. This enhances the FF experience one-hundred fold.
A Teaching Moment
Suzi, what a great example to all of us other neo-bloggers!
My wife is an educator/administrator. She regurlary urges her colleagues to look for opprotunities to teach, or Teachable Moments. Suzi, seems to have spotted a teachable moment.
Let's see if we can engage someone from the Parks Dept. into this conversation. Maybe they'll learn that there are folks out here in the community who would love to help them in their efforts, so they don't always have to go it alone. And, we can learn what their challenges are in getting stuff like Fulton Mall Wi-Fi up and running.
Anyone from Parks and Rec. out there?
Craig
What is an authentic community?
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