ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the work of community activists The Goulburn Group (TGG) in rigging up a wi-fi network, providing free internet access to the public, in Goulburn’s main street. It offers a narrative based on interviews, site observation and project document analysis. The chapter draws on field research and interviews with key actors in Goulburn, including the perspectives of members of TGG, local officials and business figures who supported the enterprise, as well as the views and rationales of those who opposed the development. Then the chapter also focuses on the network’s materiality: the physical site, the equipment, the design artefacts used by TGG to indicate both network coverage and support for the enterprise. It also provides information on the civic, commercial and association transactions associated with the enterprise as material, mappable and complex.
