Table of Contents
1 Cover
5 Figures
7 1 Why Wi-Fi Matters Why Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi through past and present Wi-Fi is a brand Wi-Fi combines new and old technologies Wi-Fi’s histories are diverse and contested Overview of chapters
8 2 Infrastructure What is an infrastructure? Wi-Fi is self-provided Spectrum as infrastructure Wi-Fi hardware and its precursors Wi-Fi standards Wi-Fi infrastructure and development Conclusion
9 3 Home The domestication of Wi-Fi Imagination Appropriation Objectification Incorporation Conversion The connected home Conclusion – Wi-Fi and the domestication and transformation of the home
10 4 Community Community Community infrastructure cooperatives The rise of community networks Warchalking Community Wi-Fi as open infrastructure Community innovation Community informatics Mesh networks The limits of community-based Wi-Fi networks Community governance and Wi-Fi Conclusion
11 5 City Communication technologies and the city in history Device portability and the diffusion of city Wi-Fi Cafés and the social life of Wi-Fi The politics and economics of city Wi-Fi The promise of public Wi-Fi for access and equity Wi-Fi and smart cities Conclusion
12 6 Problems, Prospects, Possibilities Wi-Fi in the short run Wi-Fi in the long run Wi-Fi’s social futures?
13 Bibliography
14 Index
List of Illustrations
1 Chapter 1Figure 1.1 A mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, provided by the Australian internet network operator NBN...Figure 1.2 Internet everywhere: public Wi-Fi, Talinn, Estonia. Source: authors...Figure 1.3 Square at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. Source: F1 online digitale ...
2 Chapter 2Figure 2.1 Nikola Tesla holding a gas-filled phosphor-coated wireless light bulb circa ...Figure 2.2 ALOHA terminal control unit, 1971. Source: Schwartz and Abramson (2009, p...Figure 2.3 Apple AirPort base station. © Mark Richards. Source: The Computer ...
3 Chapter 4Figure 4.1 ‘Signal Code of Trampdom’, in the Kendrick Gazette (Kendric...Figure 4.2 Warchalking symbols. Top to bottom: open node, closed node, WEP node, mesh node. ...Figure 4.3 ‘Another view of Cantenna II’. Source: Flickr/lungstruck li...
4 Chapter 5Figure 5.1 Immaterials: Light Painting WiFi (2011). Source: