Eterea — New urban Wi-Fi Landscape, part 0:
Intro
My Product Service System Design Master thesis project Eterea focuses on the way to reorganize Wi-Fi service in the city to make it more suitable for real user needs and solve number of problems through it. “Etereo” in Italian means “celestial, airy, immaterial, ethereal”, and the project aims to emphasize importance of understanding of intangible services and systems and their immaterial affordances which however affect very real and sensible user experiences.
Eterea is a new way of thinking of Wi-Fi offer in the city. It aims at bringing together physical and virtual aspects of spaces for the best user experience.
As Internet is changing our lives and the ways we relate to the world we constantly need to connect wherever we are. It is even said now that being urban is being online. City Wi-Fi infrastructures are experiencing new growth with spread of mobile devices and smart cities promise. In Italy it is rising with legal changes and in Milan especially with EXPO-2015 preparations.
Complexity of this new infrastructure should not be underestimated. Normally in design we work with affordances of tangible objects, but with Wi-Fi service there are three levels of affordances: the one of usual physical space, another of electromagnetic field and the affordance of the virtual space affecting our behavior in it. They all should be taken in account to satisfy users.
Another important point is the balance between usefulness of service offer and difficulty of access to it. Proposed solution especially focuses on the offer component redefining it for multiple user groups. With Eterea they will be able to choose the right connection at right time and right place to satisfy their specific needs. This concept was developed after many field observations followed by deep research of existing offer in the city which helped to identify real user demands and gaps in existing services. The crucial user groups were defined to focus on delivering proper solution to those who need it the most.
Eterea is also emphasizing the central role of Internet as a contemporary communication tool and builds a platform for other partners to enter and integrate their services. In this way it is engaging multiple actors to improve the overall connected urban experience.
Check other chapters of Eterea — New Urban Wi-Fi Landscape story:
part 2: Ethnographic Research in Milan
part 3: Field Research Synthesis
Or the external resources:
Book design on Behance
Full book available on Issuu:
Presentation slides:
Video of presentation during #nevicaat14LAB #colLAB:
