Today, "community" seems to be everywhere. At home, at work, and online, the vague but comforting idea of the community pervades every area of life. But have we lost the ability truly to understand what it means? The Neighborhood in the Internet investigates social and civic effects of community networks on local community, and how community network designs are appropriated and extended by community members.

Carroll uses his conceptual model of "community" to re-examine the Blacksburg Electronic Village - the first Web-based community network - applying it to...