An article at thepheonix.com by Matt Jerzyk explores the economic and political impact of the state-wide RIWINs wireless program in Rhode Island.

Unplugged

Rhode Island is poised for a wireless leap forward with the first-in-the-nation statewide network
By MATT JERZYK
May 24, 2007 11:32:17 AM

When Rhode Island boomed, it was because it was ahead of the curve — both with its involvement in the nefarious trans-Atlantic slave trade, and later, when Samuel Slater introduced the water-powered mill in Pawtucket.

In fact, an argument can made that just as the Industrial Revolution was sparked in Rhode Island, so, too, did the withering of the Industrial Age, with the loss of the manufacturing infrastructure that once made Providence the richest city in America, begin here. As it often goes, the first to flourish was the first to decline.

This is a story about people who hope to change all that...

Read the entire article: http://thephoenix.com/Article.aspx?id=40549