ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study which reports on the emergence of community network based services and initiatives by providing a rural village with access to broadband, offering Internet access to residents in their homes and at public locations. It also reports on the projects in Wray a small, relatively remote village in the north of Lancashire, UK-aiming at using and developing new media to improve or supplement people's everyday experience of community life. Communities, small-scale social groupings of various kinds, appear crucial to social life, and undoubtedly the word 'community' is a 'feel good' word; however, social, economic and technological changes have altered the nature, importance and influence of 'community', so exactly what the expectations are for a community network is open to some debate. A 'community' is a 'place', 'a space which is invested with understandings of behavioural appropriateness, cultural expectations, and so forth'. The Living Lab approach has being used to great effect within the Internet security project.
