5. Community Networking

If a community is any collectivity of people who share something, then community networking will be any communication framework through which information about those shared interests can travel and be shared. Many local communities want or need to run their own communication systems. In his essay, Steve Cisler introduces some computer based community projects. However, as our examples show, community networking strategies can take many forms. The characteristic of a non-commercial networking project will be its integrated way of working with the needs and abilities of its users, a choice of technology that is most appropriate to its context, and attention to the working processes and ownership of the project as a whole. Despite this rigor however, projects face many external challenges and often need to fight for survival and credibility in an environment primarily driven by corporate interests.