New Work City uses a system built by NYC Wireless on the WifiDog platform. It requires users to create and use a login when connecting, which can be useful down the line in building out profiles and other social features.
It also allows us to build a landing page after people log in, which we use for a buy button for dropins, headlines from our blog and twitter, and a calendar (screenshot here: http://www.nwcny.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/nycw-nwc.jpg) I wrote a quick post about it here: http://www.nwcny.com/blog/2009/01/nycwireless-at-new-work-city/ WifiDog should fulfill your bullet point list of needs, except perhaps for OpenID support. Keep us posted! Tony Bacigalupo New Work City On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 9:17 PM, Will Norris <[email protected]> wrote: > > I've been talking with Tara and Chris about setting up a better system > for the wireless network at Citizen Space. It is one of the few > (only?) spaces in San Francisco that still offers free drop-ins (at > least for the time being). As such, they've never had a good system > for tracking who is using the space. There is a physical guest book > by the door, but few people actually use. So we've been talking about > changing the network to require users to fill out a basic form before > they can access the net (similar to how most public wifi hotspots > work). Before I spend too much time on this, I wanted to survey the > community a bit... > > What are other spaces doing to control internet access at their > spaces? Do you require authentication of any kind to get online? Is > it simply a password written on a whiteboard in a public area of the > space? Do you have individual logins for each person? > > How are others tracking drop-ins? If you are charging for drop-ins, > then you pretty much have to track them in order to bill them. What > about those that allow free drop-ins... do you have accurate records > of who is using the space and when? > > > > Some preliminary brainstorming for a solution at Citizen Space: > - paying residents should be able to get online with as minimal a > barrier as possible > - drop-ins should be forced to "authenticate", which would likely > include filling out a basic form with contact information and a brief > explanation of why they're at the space (ie. just to work, for a > meetup, barcamp, etc). > - after authentication, drop-ins should be allowed internet access > for a set period of time (24 hours?). The next time they get online, > they should have to resubmit the form, but it should probably be pre- > populated with the values they used last time, to make it as simple as > possible > - ideally, OpenID should used for any kind of authentication. This > creates a potential technical challenge at the firewall, but I think I > can come up with something > > > My twitter followers offered up the following possible packages: > - NoCatAuth [http://nocat.net/] > - pfSense [http://pfsense.org/] > - Wifidog [http://wifidog.org/] > > Right now, I'm leaning toward Wifidog. It seems to either do > everything I want, or have the flexibility that I can add it in. It > has the additional advantage of being specifically designed to support > a network of access points. That means, in theory, multiple coworking > spaces could be connected so that users of one space could login and > use the internet at other spaces. So my second set of questsions, > regarding this: > > Would others be interested in whatever solution we come up with, for > using at your own space? I imagine some of you may be perfectly happy > with whatever solution you've got, but there may be others looking for > something better. If so, do you have any developer resources or > expertise you'd be willing to contribute toward this effort? Would > other be interested in being part of a larger network of coworking > spaces like this? This ties in directly with the "coworking visa" > idea that's been discussed, just on the electronic side. I think this > larger network is much farther down the road, but something to keep in > mind. > > So that's a lot to digest I guess, but I'd love to hear any feedback > or thoughts people have on this subject. Once we get an idea of what > people are doing, and a plan for moving forward, we can record all of > this on the coworking wiki. > > -will > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
