Readings and Project 2 The SF Chronicle article and the NY Times article both dealt with free wireless access in major cities. Im particuar, the SF Chronicle hints a few of the challenges of providing such access--the maintenance, funding, and accessibility are all issues that must be dealt with before free internet can truly be provided. In the same vein, all of these issues are very pertinent to the New Songdo City project as one of the city's notable features is that it will be "wired" from the ground up.
To start, while the SF Chronicle article mentions that free-wireless will enable those with limited means to finally access technology, it forgets that those very same people probably also lack the ability to purchase the very products (computers, wireless careds) to take advantage of the technology and may also not have the know-how to utilize it. One of the challenges New Songdo faces is that not every resident (imagine an 85 year old grandmother) or visitor may be "tech-savvy" enough or have the financial resources to really take advantage of the city's tech-offerings. This is something we must remain aware of when designing our project for this city.
Moreover, past forrays into free Internet access have failed. For instance; NetZero had started off with an advertising fee model and have now tried to switch to a low-cost, subscriber fee-based revenue model. The question of who will maintain the quality of the infrastructure and fund its operation for New Songdo is an issue that we haven't quite gotten all the answers to. Since a long-term commitment to maintenance is important to and tech-centric design, we should also not forget other more "organic" and non-wired ways of integrating learning into the city. We don't want all of the learning spaces to become defunct once the electricity goes out at New Songdo!