CITIZEN SUPPORT

摘要

For the Syrian refugees at Budapest station, charging a phone can be tricky. There's one outlet in the train station, another in the nearby migration aid offices, a few power lines offered up by satellite news trucks on the scene. Local businesses are a gamble - some have started charging high prices for the privilege of plugging a phone in. So since last week, Kate Coyer of the Civil Society and Technology Project at Central European University in Budapest and her colleagues have been plugging power strips into the area's few available public outlets, so more people can use them. For internet, the group turns volunteers into walking Wi-Fi beacons. For about $100, you can pick up ready to use Wi-Fi hotspot and prepaid SIM cards, pop it all into someone's backpack, and send them out into the crowd. The networks last for about 6 hours on one charge, and can support around a dozen users at a time.