Umbrella's for every city?

The concept of digital service provision for citizens and city visitors, probably needs to be funded as a FREE public service, as most if not all commercial ventures to achieve it have so far failed.
BT introduced street kiosks in the belief that people would pay to use them to locate Internet and services. With hindsight this was naive wishful thinking. The fact that the Internet is difficult to use for many people, that it was built as a desktop PC user interface, and that often searches are less than specific, all become factors for a poor user experience, a fact compounded by the need to insert more pounds!

see: BT Ditch public kiosk plans

The Umbrella kiosks are not only FREE to use, most importantly they have systems built into the user interface to assist the user to more easily operate and connect to Internet based services.

The twin approach of Free usage and tailored usability features are the key to providing a really useful public service

Architecturally designed the umbrella kiosks fit into most street locations and add value with their appearance and the services they provide. In Aberdeen planning permission to locate them was made simple due to these facts. The kiosks are outside listed buildings and far from detracting value they add something and even something more at night.