Our original idea focused on the theft store as the main “subject” but our new idea seems more stronger. After talking to Kevin Easterling, he informed us that the reach of the community based wifi project expands beyond the thrift store and that that is not the main aspect.
Broadly, our film will follow the topic/issue of affordable and accessible broadband in the Lehigh Valley. Through interviews with Kevin Easterling, other Rider Pool fellows, Allentown community members, and possibly a sociologist, we will investigate the significance of the revolutionary concept of the “community wireless network” and how/why it is unique to Allentown’s “digital desert communities”. For B-roll, we are thinking of filming Center City Thrift, which serves as one of the hubs for the community access to wifi. Maybe this could be our film’s hook. We are also thinking of getting b-roll of his meeting with the Collective Impact Fellowship which is a program through the Rider Pool Foundation. We are still revising our initial idea, but the film will still nuance the theme of community through Easterling’s project of community based wifi.We might need to think of another film title besides “Center City Thrift”.