Free Wi-Fi, work area coming to Greater Cincinnati

The project, called The Nodes Project — which stands for “Neighborhoods of Design Engagement" — was featured in a segment by Local 12, showcasing the outdoor living/play space with a focus on the need for digital access for everyone.

Designers at UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP), library officials and the community group embarked on the project based on reccomendations by an interdisciplinary DAAP team, including Claudia Rebola, Vikas Mehta, and Ming Tang, with the Price Hill pilot being a collaboration between designers Anca Matyiku and D.J. Trischler, both assistant professors at DAAP.

The purpose of The Nodes Project is to increase digital equity through free public Wi-Fi, access to digital public library content, and attachment to the local community.

Funding for the Wi-Fi network was a combination of crowdfunding and city dollars awarded to the community group Price Hill Will and the outdoor cube style furnishings were funded by the Center for DAAP Research and Innovation. The center is a hub for faculty, students, and industry partners to do research and innovation in the capacity areas of health and wellbeing, creative entrepreneurship, urban systems, digital culture, and sustainable living.

"We hope that this is a space that people can kind of connect in, and maybe even strangers who don't know each other would come in here and know each other because they're sitting at these," Trischler told Fox 19.

This Nodes location is one of several expected to be installed at a later date.

“The goal is to assess this version over the summer and seek ways to improve and expand into other areas of the city and county,” says Trischler.

Watch the Local 12 segment. 

Feature photo at top provided by DAAP.