Community Networking and Perceptions of Civic Value
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Anna Malina
Abstract
Important questions revolve around whether the design and implementation of electronic networks will help re-invent conventional power constructs or whether they will encourage entirely new and more equitable practices in civic society. The main goal of this paper is to critically examine the concept of community networking and associations with civic usefulness and community development. This paper will specifically look at findings from a case study of a community network in Edinburgh, Scotland: the Craigmillar Community Information Service (CCIS). First, the paper discusses the character of community networks and reflects on the notions of civic usefulness that accompany them. Second, the paper examines definitions of community and considers how the legacy of community development work in the UK may have fed into automatic discourses about the civic worth of electronic community networking. Third, with reference to theoretical frameworks and new data, this paper summarizes empirical findings from the case study mentioned above, outlining perceptions of the community network and its civic value.
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction to Theme Issue: Emerging Electronic Networks and Democratic Life
- The Web as a Space for Local Agency
- Politics is E-verywhere
- Political Parties Online: Digital Democracy as Reflected in Three Dutch Political Party Web Sites
- Community Networking and Perceptions of Civic Value
- Network Democracy and the Fourth World
- Designing E-Democracy in Scotland
- The Social Shaping of a Technological Idea: How a Community Network Database was Conceived
- Contributors
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction to Theme Issue: Emerging Electronic Networks and Democratic Life
- The Web as a Space for Local Agency
- Politics is E-verywhere
- Political Parties Online: Digital Democracy as Reflected in Three Dutch Political Party Web Sites
- Community Networking and Perceptions of Civic Value
- Network Democracy and the Fourth World
- Designing E-Democracy in Scotland
- The Social Shaping of a Technological Idea: How a Community Network Database was Conceived
- Contributors
