Will new forms of cyberspace media usher in a brave new egalitarian age or will the distance between economic haves and have-nots grow ever larger? Will "virtual communities" prosper while geographical communities and neighborhoods wither? Will a harmonious "global village" emerge or will humankind splinter into millions of interest groups each locked in conflict? Can we think of these questions, not simply as invitations to muse, but as challenges to lead.
The new technology is critical because it has the potential to substantially change how we receive information and, perhaps most importantly, how we communicate with one another. While new communication technologies are increasing their prominence, a strong concern for "community" is simultaneously arising from many quarters. These critical questions – on what constitutes a civil society – are currently being voiced by scholars such as Robert Putnam, Benjamin Barber, John McKnight, Amitai Etzioni, and many others. These themes, moreover, are increasingly being taken up in the popular press and by citizens themselves. There is an urgent need to identify which community values people hold as important and which community values people feel are threatened by computer and communication technology, what assumptions people make, what expected and unexpected barriers have been encountered, what benefits arose, and what opportunities do people perceive.
Visionaries, hucksters, social critics, politicians, and cyber-pundits of all stripes -- both amateur and professional -- have been generous with their theories and prognostications on what computer-mediated communication will mean for children, families, neighborhoods, civic life, and society. Unfortunately the most sensational rather than the most imaginative voices have dominated the popular media. We need an informed discussion that includes technologists, researchers, policy-makers, business people, social science providers, educators, journalists, and the citizenry. As the need to establish cyber-rights and responsibilities is attracting the attention of legislators worldwide, it is critical that all segments of society become aware of what they have at stake. Only with an informed electorate can we hope to balance the public interest with the powerful and influential political interests that are attempting to warp cyberspace in their direction.
The objective of CPSR's "Community Space and Cyberspace" conference and the readings in the book is to help broaden and facilitate that discussion: To bring together a wide range of people and to create an amenable setting for an ongoing thoughtful, creative, informed, and useful dialogue. Since networked technology is still very young, there may yet be a significant opportunity to influence its course. It is our hope that each attendee and reader of these proceedings will be better motivated and prepared to understand, anticipate, and meaningfully engage in issues and actions revolving around community use of networking technology after attending this conference.
The work does not end when the conference ends. It begins.
Carl Page and Doug Schuler