New and Notable Works
on Community Networking

A master's thesis by Neil Guy, M.A., Simon Frasier University. Entitled, "Community Networks: Building Real Communities in a Virtual Space?" this thesis focuses on questions of human community in relation to the networked environment.

Guy conducted interviews with volunteers of several community networks in British Columbia, Canada, and concluded that a gap exists between the views of these volunteers and those of community networking advocates. While volunteers focus on the creation of public space within the information infrastructure, advocates center more on the ways CNs help to build local communities.

Guy is the Vice President of the Vancouver Community Network.

A new paper by Joan Durrance, Ph.D. and Professor of Information at the University of Michigan's School of Information. Entitled "Reinventing the Community Information Professional: Strategies and Approaches Used to Develop Community Networking Knowledge," this piece describes the work of the University of Michigan Community Networking Initiative in training future community information professionals. Durrance stresses the ways by which librarians and library and information science educators can contribute to the development of community networks. 

This paper was prepared for the 1997 conference of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE).