Frequently Asked Questions

What features do Community Networks usually have?
by Niki Fallen

Community Networks are as diverse as the communities for which they exist. Generally, community networks value collaboration and participation, and are non-commercial. According to Doug Schuler ¹, they must be "designed, used, administered, and owned by the community". According to Amy Borgstrom², they often provide training in Internet usage, general computer skills, and basic research skills, especially for members of the community, non-profit organizations, and other community groups. Some community networks endeavor to help provide public access sites for community members to access community and other Internet resources, while others focus mainly on content. Many have, historically, provided free or low-cost accounts on the network's servers, but with the advent of free electronic mail, this may diminish. Some community networks even provide free or low-cost consulting in the form of web design/development for non-profits.

While some community networks have a large hardware component, like the Blacksburg Electronic Village did at its inception³, a large part of most community networks is their online presence, which is generally in the form of a web site. The web site is the portion most community members will see, and generally provides community information content from both official and non-official sources. This content often includes a reflection of the special interest groups in a community, community members' personal commentary or web sites, and a forum for two-way communication (a chat forum, bulletin board system, discussion group, etc.). Some basic information content areas represented on community networks include:

Information about community needs (like education, environment, health, housing, jobs, social services, and transportation)
Government and law resources (local, state, and federal)
Information to facilitate community involvement (in the form of civic engagement, community groups, neighborhood cohesion, and volunteerism)
The community's economy (consumer issues, demographics, economic development policies and initiatives, local business, the non-profit sector, and tourism)
Specific information for children, parents, seniors and teens
Sources of information within or of use to the community (event calendars, libraries, and local weather)
Other resources such as local arts and entertainment, religious organizations, sports/recreational and arts/entertainment events
Local stories of both success and failure, and lessons learned that would be of use to other non-profits in general or community networks specifically.⁴

Generally, a community network should try to tap into a community's special needs/interests/resources/talents somehow. In successfully doing so, a community network can establish itself in a particular niche in the community, and help to guarantee its place as a truly unique and useful community resource. For example, the LINCT Coalition, a Long Island community networking initiative, has started a TimeDollar barter system, in which people can use community service points in order to receive goods/services within the community; and at TINCAN, in Spokane, Washington, they have created the Virtual Civic Moo, which has recreated the entire town in a multi-user virtual world, complete with artifacts that provide access to useful local data that can be used during discussions.⁵

1. Doug Schuler (1996). "How to Kill Community Networks (Hint: We may have already started...)" http://www.scn.org/ip/commnet/kill-commnets.html
2. Amy Borgstrom (1998). "Community Networking in the U.S.: At the Crossroads?" http://www.seorf.ohiou.edu/~acenet/Barcelona_presentation.html.
3. Andrew Cohill "Success Factors of the Blacksburg Electronic Village" (chapter 12) Community Networks, Lessons from Blacksburg, Virginia, Boston MA, Artech House, 1997, pp. 297-318
4. Community Connector "Best Practices" links in the Community Information section: http://www.si.umich.edu/Community/comminfo.html
5. Andy Carvin (1998). "Rethinking Community Networking as Networked Communities." http://edweb.gsn.org/cinconference/cinspeech.html.

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