Theorizing mobility in community networks

Community networks emerged in North America during the late 1970s and early 1980s. During the past three decades, paradigms for networked information, services, and collaboration as resources for community development have evolved in many respects. In this paper we revisit a theoretical analysis of broadband Internet community networks [Carroll, J.M., Rosson, M.B., 2003a. A trajectory for community networks. The Information Society 19(5), 381–393], and extend that analysis to mobile/wireless community networks. This analysis is part of the planning for a specific municipal wireless project in the town of State College, Pennsylvania. But more broadly, it is intended to engage and to help focus human–computer interaction (HCI) design perspectives in the development of wireless community networks throughout North America and elsewhere.