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Electronic Access to Community Resources

(Note: This page currently under revision.)

Many forms of human organization based on shared information now have on-line versions, through the World Wide Web, through earlier text-based systems, or simply through e-mail. Community Networks (also Public or Public Access Networks) are generally directed at serving the common interests of geographically defined communities through electronic communication among citizens, government, private organizations and local business. As information providers, they must address the issues of content and access. Content varies from material of interest mainly to a geographically-defined community or region to material of more general interest, relating perhaps to cultural affiliation or civic discourse. Access refers to the physical means by which users are connected to the network, and community networks must choose the degree to which they attempt to provide that access themselves and the degree to which they rely on (or have their users rely on) commercial means.

Community networks seek to provide low-cost access to services of value to the public, and so usually operate as non-profit organizations supported by grants, private donations and/or subscriber fees. Some of them accept commercial advertising as well. Sources of support for DCN are listed on our homepage.

Organizations and Projects

The National Information Infrastructure (NII) is a conceptual view of an open platform extending the notion of community networks to the national level. There are many associated political, economic and legal issues regarding privacy, access, censorship, and the coexistence of commercial and civic activity. For a public interest perspective on these matters, see Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, CPSR.

Federal government interest in the NII is expressed through the National Telecommunications Infrastructure Agency (NTIA), an agency of the Department of Commerce. NTIA is one source of funding for community networks.

Freenets are community networks with special emphasis on no cost or low cost, public access terminals and the use of non-commercial software.

For an organization devoted to networking in support of civic discourse, see the Center for Civic Networking, CCN.

The CalTrans-funded Smart Communities project is directed at developing a model for the enhancement of community functions through electronic technology. Its Web page contains information about the project (including the roles of UCD and DCN), related links, and an excellent catalogue of community network applications.

 

Examples

The following examples illustrate the diversity in community networking.

Papers

The Internet has already generated more commentary than anyone can hope to read. Many references to community networking literature can be found at the organizational sites given above. Here are some examples of the on-line literature:

Surveys and Indexes

The following resources are good starting points for further investigation. To find out more, use any of the available global search engines with search strings such as "Community Network" or "Public Network".

 

This page benefits from the combined knowledge of DCN staff and volunteer people. Recent contributors are Jason Coffer, Steve McMahon and Vicki Suter.