Peter van den Besselaar

University of Amsterdam, Department of Social Science Informatics, oetersstraat 15, NL-1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Information and communication technology (ICT) is used intensively in the economy and in organizations. However, since the late eighties, it has been recognized that ICT also can be used to support community life, and community networks have emerged as extensions of public domain within cyberspace. A community is an association between people, which is not coordinated by money (the market) or by power (formal organizations) but through communication based on shared norms and interests. Communities are often defined as local [Ishida 1998a], but this locality can be in geography (villages and neighborhoods) as well as in information space (special interest groups, using the Internet as a medium). Community networks are meant for rebuilding community life by improving communication, economic opportunity, participation, and education [Schuler 1995]. To do so, community networks offer various functions, such as access to community services and information, tools for communication, and discussion platforms

The development of community networks and digital cities can be studied from the wider perspective of coordination mechanisms in society. In modern societies, various mechanisms exist for the coordination of social, economic, and political life. On a somewhat abstract level, three classes of mechanisms can be distinguished: markets, hierarchies (formal organizations), and social networks (or communities, e.g., families, neighborhoods, special interest groups) [Thompson et. al. 1991]. Which of these mechanisms are appropriate in a certain situation depends on the transaction costs (coordination costs) involved [Ciborra 1993]. As transaction costs are mainly for information and communication, they are expected to change because of the use of modern information and communication technologies (ICT). Markets are developing into electronic markets [Malone et. al. 1987], using the new technology for reducing costs of gathering information and coordinating market transactions. At the same time organizations

Also the role of communities and social networks in society depends on their relative efficiency. In pre-modern, traditional society, local communities carried all the different functions needed for the reproduction of the community. During the historical process of modernization and differentiation of society, traditional communities have lost many of their social functions, which have been taken over by the market, and by government. However, with the emergence of ICT-based community support systems, transaction costs in communities and social networks may decrease. Modernized, social networks may become more important again for society.

Many important functions can be mentioned for communities, that make it worthwhile to create community support systems: mutual support, participation in society, participation in decision making, identity formation, and so on. I want to stress another possible function. After decades of high unemployment, it has been argued that modern society is characterized by a trade off between employment, liberty, and equality. In [Van den Besselaar 1997] we have shown that a high level of employment in the private sector requires a relatively large income inequality. At the same time, a large role of the state is implied, if jobs in the public sector have to solve the unemployment problem. One can argue that the market and the state are no longer able to solve the unemployment problem in societies that are characterized by equality and liberty. Advocates claim that community networks may strengthen local economy, and also support a social (non-monetary) economy [Schuler 1996]. If this is true, community netw

Whether community networks succeed in improving community life, depends of course on the design of the community systems, but also on contextual factors. For example, Van Alsteyne and Brynjofsson have demonstrated that the use of the Internet by scientists can result in widening access, as well as in a balkanization of science [Van Alsteyne , Brynjolfsson 1997]. Science, as other social systems, behaves as a complex adaptive system [Cohen & Axelrod 1998], and the effects of technological change therefore may be counter-intuitive. Community networks add additional layers of communication to existing communities, which may reinforce the social network, but also lead to new communities, and to a change or disintegration of existing communities.

Therefore, it cannot be concluded from the mere technological possibilities that community life will benefit from adopting ICT-based community networks. This uncertainty opens up a whole research agenda into the use, the effects and the design of community networks, and other forms of community computing. Under what conditions will these new media for communication and interaction transform and create sustainable communities? What tools (for filtering, awareness, decision making, information search, chat) are useful in various situations? What infrastructures are appropriate in which contexts? Do modern means of communication create new hybrid communities, less based on real space and more on information space? What does this imply for the design of community systems? Because it is uncertain how community networks and community support systems will influence society [Cohen & Axelrod 1998], it is relevant to study the functioning of existing community systems, and how these community systems affect

Elsewhere, we analyzed the development of a large community system, and the results indicate that CNs and Digital Cities do support communities, but these systems currently are mainly recreational [Van den Besselaar, Beckers 1998]. Although Digital Cities may become sustainable, their role in the reproduction of society is still very small. The actual level of activity around civic, political and economic and work-related topics is low. Organizations that are present in CN's are still unsophisticated users [Kole 1998], and the digital space is not yet a part of their organizational culture. In sum, the level of economic, work-oriented, and professional activities is low. Digital citizens generally do not use the CN for work related issues. In other words, the relevance of CNs is not (yet) clear for this type of use.

We are still in the beginning of the diffusion of community networks. In the future, CN's may meet their promises. However, given the socio-economic system in which these systems are implemented, may heavily constrain the distribution of benefits. On the other hand, CNs and related technologies may become the seeds of a next step in the evolution of social coordination mechanisms. Apart from research (see above), this depends heavily on social activism.

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