Communities in Action

ICTs have become a very powerful community resource, viewed by many authors in this volume as two-way mechanisms, facilitating the perpetuation of and reflecting esteemed community values. The contents of this volume make it clear that ICTs have a huge capacity for incorporation into different forms of community action, including social change, community learning, community connection, and community development. Through studying the papers in this volume, readers can learn about multiple forms of ICTs and action and how action is understood, and improve their grasp of the complexities of social-technical relations.The chapters in this volume began life as papers at the Conference on 'Community Informatics - prospects for communities and action' in 2007, the fourth successful community informatics conference held at the Monash University Centre, Prato Italy. This book creates a platform for exchanging experiences, case studies, and possible solutions to address the difficulties in deploying ICT in many contexts, and will be of interest to all researchers and practioners who engage with ICT, particularly those in the community and developmental informatics field.