San Francisco Mayor Joins Students in Launch of WiFiAnywhere Program

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was joined by Balboa and John O'Connell High School students today to announce the launch of WiFiAnywhere -- an innovative campaign to connect and inspire youth through wireless digital media. The pilot initiative -- which is part of San Francisco's Digital Inclusion strategy to focus on the city's most underserved neighborhoods, as well as the estimated 200,000 San Francisco residents without information technology access -- comes on the heels of the effort to bring universal wireless internet access to all San Franciscans.

"Free citywide wireless internet access will go a long way to address the connectivity needs of underserved communities," said Mayor Newsom. "The gap between San Franciscans with internet access and those without holds deep and serious ramifications for our city. By ensuring that students at our public schools have access to the Internet regardless of where they live or their income level, we will start to bridge the digital divide," continued the Mayor.

The program will enable youth studying digital media and movie making to expand their capacity by connecting them with new content and tools through wireless internet access.

WiFiAnywhere is being unveiled in partnership with the Unified School District, DTIS: Project Tech Connect, Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) and San Francisco State. Nokia's generous contribution of approximately 10 camera phones and 60 Internet tablets will help to integrate the next generation of WiFi cameras and Internet Tablets into three local after-school and in-school, youth media programs: BAVC's Digital Pathways Program at John O'Connell High School, the Media Academy at Balboa High School and BAVC's advanced youth video artists program.

Students from these programs will use the devices to create and show video documentaries about their lives. These projects will be featured on a Web site that showcases the creative and educational ways to deploy hand-held media devices. Participants in the WiFiAnywhere initiative will also be able to connect to students in sister cities and take part in video-blogging contests where they report on the people and places that make up their community.