Public Wi-Fi as Urban Infrastructure - the Australian Case

这项研究将公共提供的Wi-Fi定位为城市和市政基础设施的一种类型，并询问地方政府是否有充分的理由对公共Wi-Fi进行公共投资。澳大利亚在提供公共无线互联网接入方面落后于世界大部分地区，但投资的激增正在缩小差距。这项基于现场的研究旨在通过检查网络使用对社会、经济和公民的影响来评估提供公共Wi-Fi的理由。该项目旨在填补有关公共Wi-Fi网络的投资理由、使用和影响的主要经验和知识空白，并为城市和通信政策的发展提供信息。

This research positions publicly provided Wi-Fi as a type of urban and civic infrastructure and asks whether there is a sound case for public investment in public Wi-Fi by local governments. Australia lags behind much of the world in providing public wireless internet access, but a surge of investment is closing the gap. This field-based research aims to appraise rationales for public Wi-Fi provision by examining the social, economic and civic impacts of network use. This project aims to fill major empirical and knowledge gaps about investment rationales, uses, and impacts of public Wi-Fi networks, and inform development of urban and communications policies.