A social dynamics of the development of community network: problems raised by two cases of community network development

Introduction. This study investigates the processes involved in the development of a broadband community network in the Northeast USA. A community network project was studied by tracing the developmental processes from network design to the stabilization of information infrastructure. Method. A case study was conducted on the broadband community network. Qualitative data were collected primarily through in-depth interviews, drawing on the retrospective data of diverse stakeholders: strategic policy groups, user groups, technical groups and functional groups. Archival documents from various sources were also collected and analysed to triangulate research findings. Analysis. Qualitative analyses were carried out on the data, which related to ninty-six interviews, 279 archival documents, and twenty-nine survey responses. The data were analyzed with thematic analysis using the Atlas.ti program. Results. The political economy of the development process has biased the development toward private interests and away from the public benefit, and toward lucrative services and intra-organizational connectivity and away from community-oriented uses. Conclusion. This study provides a conceptual base for understanding contemporary and future community networks by illustrating the applicability of the Social Construction of Technology Theory. It suggests that Constructive Technology Assessment would be valuable to include technology users in the technology design process.