Evaluation of The Kelurahan Free Internet Program to support e-learning and e-marketing in Cilegon City

Abstract

The Kelurahan Free Internet Program is a program to provide free wifi in public facilities (wifi points) spread across 43 urban villages which is aimed at supporting economic and educational activities in the City of Cilegon during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study is aimed at obtaining information on how students and businesses can use the free internet in online learning activities and online marketing. The research method used is descriptive method using a qualitative approach. The research was conducted at 3 (three) wifi points with 3 respondents in each point including students, micro and small business actors and free internet managers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and a list of questionnaire was compiled for the interview which was developed based on the related literature. The results of this study indicate that the free wifi program has been used by students and some business actors, both for online learning, online marketing or other uses. However, this has not been supported by good management, especially in the aspect of regulating operational hours, changing passwords periodically, monitoring usage and program assistance. For this reason, it is necessary to provide technical training for managers, use of wifi points for assistance to business actors as well as periodic monitoring from related agencies.Keywords: free wifi, online learning, online marketing.