April 2, 2008
For Immediate Release
For an Interview:
S. Jeff Cold
(801) 863-8851
In an effort to provide students an opportunity to interact with community partners, UVSC’s Center for Engaged Learning granted $2,500 to S. Jeff Cold, associate professor of information systems and technology. The money was presented to three teams of Information Systems and Technology students to implement free public wireless Internet access in Utah County.
“Each team was required to find a community partner willing to provide the free public Internet access themselves or organize a consortium of sponsors,” said Cold. “Patterned after a free public wireless Internet access project in Montreal called Il Sans Fil, free public wireless is provided via reprogrammed Linksys wireless access points (WAPs), using OpenWRT and the open-source authentication server WifiDog.”
Team A, consisting of Matt Thibault from Orem, Tyler Voorheis from Pleasant Grove, Utah and Derek Finlinson from Delta, Utah, established free public wireless Internet access at Canyon View Medical Group, a medical clinic in Spanish Fork, Utah. The team’s motivation was to provide free Internet access so patients could enjoy their waiting time. Team A said the project required the team members to adapt and solve technology problems on their own. They spent a total of $445.12.
Team B consisted of Mike Hardy from Lehi, Utah, Mike Gibson from American Fork, Utah, Richard Tregaskis from Orem and Jeremy Shoemaker from Charleston, Utah. Team B provided free public wireless Internet access at Orem Fast Lube. The team said the main skill set they gained from their project was organization because each member had a different schedule and they needed to work together to service the customer’s needs. While waiting for their hardware to arrive, the team built their authentication server in a virtual machine. Team B spent a total of $758.71.
Team C consisted of Chase Toronto from Tangerine, Fla., Jake Hill from Gunnison, Utah, Jeff Trewartha from Orem and Ryan Moat from Duschane, Utah. Team C said their biggest challenge was working with so many different participants in the project: iProvo, Provo Chamber of Commerce, the Provo City Alliance and the Provo Marriott. Team C set up seven different WAPs along Provo Center Street, providing free public wireless Internet access for patrons of downtown Provo, Utah. Team C spent a total of $624.58.
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College Marketing Contact:
Kim Chapman
(801) 863-6807
Written by:
Lisa Rose
(801) 863-8504