Wireless Park Lab Days

Sept. 13, 2003

Type: event
Starts: Sep 19 2003 at 12:00AM
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Wireless Park Lab Days
September 19th & 20th, 2003
City Hall Park, Lower Manhattan
Noon - 4:00 pm
http://www.nycwireless.net/labdays

About Wireless Park Lab Days
On September 19 & 20, 2003, NYCwireless and the Downtown Alliance will co-sponsor Wireless Park Lab Days, a two-day event that announces the availability of open wireless (Wi-Fi) networks in Lower Manhattan and explores their implications for art, community, and shared space. Produced by Dana Spiegel of NYCwireless, and artists Brooke Singer and Yury Gitman, Wireless Park Lab Days will be held in City Hall Park, the most popular "hotspot" in the Lower Manhattan Wireless Network, each day from 12 noon to 4 pm.

The Lower Manhattan Wireless Network is the latest victory for the wireless community movement, a group of volunteers who work with local organizations to construct a network of computers to share Internet access over radio connections. Through these efforts, public spaces become equipped with community-owned and open wireless hotspots, deterring pay providers from staking claims. In addition to establishing open nodes in public spaces, the wireless community is interested in how a wireless network affects the physical space and how urban Wi-Fi users may influence the notions of cyberspace when it becomes grounded in a specific location.

This two-day event embraces this spirit of the wireless community movement by hosting an exhibition of new wireless art, a "new user" area designed to help people become acquainted with the technology, and an engaging round of NodeRunner, the critically acclaimed wireless scavenger hunt that was recently awarded an Arts Electronica Golden Nica. The wireless art exhibition will include a wide-range of projects and many of the producers will be at the event to discuss their work. The new user area will be staffed with experts in wireless computing from NYCwireless who will help visitors get online and better understand the technology. Wireless Park Lab Days will end on Saturday with a fun, group game of NodeRunner. Game starts at 1:00 pm on Saturday from City Hall Park, so bring your running shoes!