Community Networking: the Electronic Hometown

Resource List

Note that this list is intended to include only resources that will be useful to the students in this class, which is a general survey of the community networking movement. Contributions are welcome but subject to my discretion. Thanks!

Association for Community Networking (AFCN).: AFCN is the new (founded October 1997) organization of U.S. CNs.
Avis, Andrew. (1995). Public spaces on the information highway: The role of community networks.: This thesis provides an excellent and very thorough analysis of the theory and practice of community networking. It includes a comprehensive literature review (chapter 2) and two case studies (chapter 4): Chebucto Community Net and National Capital Freenet. It also analyzes three potential benefits of community networking: increased participation in the democratic system, increased access to education, and community development.
Baker, Paul M.A. (1997). Community networking references - background: This site lists links to CN societies, journals, books, and articles, as well as other lists.
Beamish, Anne. (1995). Communities on-line: Community-based computer networks.: This thesis provides a useful introduction section, easier to read than Avis's.
Bishop, Ann. (1997). Community information systems--Course description.: This is the syllabus for a course on CISs in general, including a lecture on CNs and a semester-long, hands-on project working for PrairieNet.
Blacksburg Electronic Village. (1998). Research.: BEV has done a really phenomenal amount of research into its own effectiveness, probably as both a cause and effect of its use of permanent network media instead of phone lines. Prepare to be impressed.
Bowen, Wally. (1996). Community networks at the crossroads.: In this essay, Bowen addresses the question of whether CNs should focus on local content or provide Internet access. He endorses a combined approach.
British Columbia Community Networks Association (BCCNA): BCCNA is the British Columbian equivalent of AFCN, but it had a few months' head start.
Bromberg, Heather. (1996). Are MUDs communities? Identity, belonging and consciousness in virtual worlds. In Shields (1996). 143-152.: This article thoughtfully addresses the way in which computer-mediated communication (specifically electronic role-playing games, but many of her findings generalize to CNs) allows people to experiment with who they are, effectively becoming someone else while online.
Chebucto Community Net. (1997). The Chebucto Suite information page.: Look here for information about Chebucto Suite, the CN software package that's free of charge and uses Internet standards.
C|net. (1997). 20 questions: How the Net works.: Want to know what the Internet is and how it works? Look no further.
Doctor, Ronald D. & Ankem, Kalyani. (1996). An information needs & services taxonomy for evaluating computerized community information systems.: This is a very brief paper which introduces a quantitative method for evaluating CNs and then proceeds to evaluate four of them: Victoria Free-Net, Big Sky Telegraph, Blacksburg Electronic Village, and Mobile Free-Net.
Dyrkton, Joerge. (1996). Cool runnings: The contradiction of cybereality in Jamaica. In Shields (1996). 49-57.: This article describes the establishment of computer-mediated communication in a country where almost no one had a telephone, much less a computer. It demonstrates the potential of CNs in extremely rural areas.
Falk, Bennett. (1994). The Internet Roadmap. San Francisco: Sybex.: This is a well-written book on the Internet intended for beginners. While a few of the topics it addresses are not as relevant now as they were in '94, chapter 1 ("What is the Internet?") is quite good. On reserve at Burling Library.
Figallo, Cliff. (1995). The WELL: A regionally based on-line community on the Internet. In Kahin & Keller (1996).: This is an excellent article about the WELL, particularly its foundation and administrative philosophy. Don't let its commercial status fool you: the WELL is a very idealistic organization!
Graham, Garth. (1996). What community networks are all about. Telecommunities Canada.: In this article, Graham argues that CNs offer three kinds of access (to technology, to service, and to social interaction) and that they should have four major concerns (community, commons, content, and carrier). It's rather heavy going, so I recommend skimming it.
Gregson, Kim. (1996). Review of existing community networks.: This list gives short descriptions of 30 CNs. You may find it useful in choosing a site for your project, but keep in mind there are approximately 200 CNs out there, not just 30!
Guy, Neil K. (1996). Community networks: Building real communities in a virtual space?: This is a master's thesis for a degree in geography, and as such it focuses to a large extent on geographical issues. This paper is massive -- it includes an extensive literature review, technical background info, and a history section along with case studies of seven Canadian CNs (Campbell River, Mount Arrowsmith, Nanaimo, National Capital, Nechako, Prince George, Vancouver, and Victoria)!
Hall, Ginger, & Long, Jennifer. (1997a). About the WELL - press information.: This press release is a great introduction to the WELL's history and present structure. It also includes links to other WELL pages.
Hall, Ginger, & Long, Jennifer. (1997b). Enter the WELL - Member Agreement.: This is an excellent example of a statement of member rights and responsibilities for a commercial (yet idealistic) electronic community.
Kahin, Brian, & Keller, James, Eds. (1996). Public Access to the Internet. Cambridge: MIT Press.: Most of the articles in this anthology are ludicrously out of date, but the Figallo article on the WELL is excellent. On reserve at Burling Library.
Lemos, André. (1996). The labyrinth of Minitel. In Shields (1996). 33-48.: Minitel was arguably the geographically largest CN project in the world, encompassing most of France. Tiny dedicated terminals that sat beside a home phone allowed access to news, weather information, classified ads, and anonymous bulletin boards. This article describes the rise and fall of Minitel.
Nixon, Renée Helen. (1997). In concert with libraries: Three Rivers Free-Net. Connections, October 18, 1997.: This is a brief but informative profile of Three Rivers Free-Net, in Pittsburgh, PA, written by an outside observer. As such it provides a useful model for your projects.
Organization for Community Networking (OFCN).: OFCN was founded by NPTN veteran John Kurilec to be the definitive clearinghouse for CN information.
Resource center for Cyberculture Studies: CNs are only a tiny part of Cyberculture, but this page includes some useful CN-related links.
Schuler, Doug. (1994). Community computer network surveys.: Schuler did a research project in which he asked users of a lot of different CNs to fill out a survey. There's only one informant per CN, so take it with a grain of salt!
Schuler, Doug. (1995). Creating public spaces in cyberspace: The rise of the new community networks. Originally in Internet World, December, 1995.: This article is an excellent, brief summary of CN history up to its state at the end of 1995.
Schuler, Doug. (1996a). How to kill community networks: Hint: We may have already started...: Behind this tongue-in-cheek title lies a brief and very readable essay which identifies three attitudes which, if adopted, can effectively kill a community network. The attitudes are summarized as, "Community networks are utilities, like electricity or gas," "The lack of money is the biggest obstacle to their success," and "Community network projects are technological projects."
Schuler, Doug. (1996b). New Community Networks: Wired for Change. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.: Currently the definitive book on CNs. Excellent reading. The link above leads to the book's Web site; if you'd like to borrow the book itself, let me know.
Shields, Rob, Ed. (1996). Cultures of Internet: Virtual spaces, real histories, living bodies. London: SAGE.: This is an eclectic anthology of articles covering a wide variety of Internet-related topics, some of which are relevant to CNs. On reserve at Burling Library.
SoftArc, Inc. (1997). Product info.: From this page you can read about FirstClass (BBS software) and the new FirstClass Intranet Server.
Stallings, Ben. (1996). A critical study of three Free-Net community networks.: This is the research paper from my 1996 internship at NPTN, in which I studied CFN, GLFN, and WC-SGFN.
Telecommunities Canada: TC is an umbrella organization similar to AFCN.
Twin Cities Free-Net. (1997). Continuously updated archive of recent posts to the Communet mailing list.: Communet is a very popular (and therefore noisy) mailing list for community networkers. With this Web page you can search for specific key words and save yourself the trouble of reading everything! See University of Vermont, below, for older posts.
University of California at Davis, Division of Information Technology. (1996). Davis Community Network Project.: The DCN project was extremely ambitious, stretching the very definition of community networking far beyond the modest BBS definition we're working with in this class. The university and local government were far more involved with this project than with any other I've seen. This final report is difficult reading (I recommend the executive summary), but it potentially provides a very valuable model for future CN efforts.
University of Michigan School of Information Community Networking Initiative. The Community Connector.: This site tries very hard to be the authoritative source for CN information. Like most such sites, this one doesn't have necessarily more information, just different. If it feels like a magazine that's because it is one.
University of Missouri Outreach & Extension. (1998). 1998 Community Information Network Conference.: There's a conference on CINs (more similar to civic networks, but with some CN features) coming up, March 22-23 (during Spring Break), at a resort in Osage Beach, MO. You might be interested!
University of Vermont. Communet mailing list archives.: Like the Twin Cities Free-Net's continuous archive of recent posts, this page allows you to search Communet for particular key words.
Virnoche, Mary E. (1995). Internet access and use: Boulder community network users.: This brief paper reports results from a survey of BCN users. It provides an excellent model for your projects.
Woolley, David R. (1996). Choosing Web Conferencing Software. Twin Cities Free-Net.: This article describes the various types of Web-based conferencing software and what features you should consider when choosing a product to use. Woolley is a conferencing pioneer and Knows Of What He Speaks. The page also has a link to a comprehensive list of Web conferencing software, both commercial and free.

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