The idea of user-developed wireless networks is great in so many ways. First of all, whether the commercial space is ready for it or not, such open wireless access is how the whole thing will have to work for it to avoid ultimately being no more significant than Compuserve or the old Prodigy – which were important but couldn’t really last in the face of the internet. But it’s also pretty cool that the guy in London is using Web Stalker as his network mapping system. Web Stalker was an art project. An award winning art project – and very cool, if inscrutable. What I like about it is that it reaches back to an earlier era on the web – when people were still getting used to browsers in the first place, Web Stalker came along as an alternate browser, deconstructing an idea that had barely taken root in the public consciousness. Kind of like the wireless project itself.
Michael Boyle's weblog
