Here, in the industrial center of Italy, there exists a place to meet, to eat, to stroll, to talk, to propagandize, to relax, and at the very edges there are places to sell and shop and to worship. My vantage point that evening was the veranda of the Milan city offices that overlooked the square. A group of us were attending the first meeting of the European Alliance for Community Networking. Many of us hoped that the electronic environments we were building would resemble in some ways the piazza of Milan, Italy. In the midst of the forces of globalization, exemplified by the Internet, the local community networks are also searching for their own identity, a central theme common to all of them, as well as economic stability.
Community networks are part of electronic public space.
Many encourage the production of locally produced web material and databases or foster local discussions through systems such as local Usenet groups, FirstClass, Caucus computer conferencing, or regional mailing lists. The most numerous electronic public spaces are public access points in libraries, telecenters, neighborhood learning centers, youth organizations, museums, and community technology centers. Integrated into many networks and access locations are training programs to help the public make use of the equipment and networks. This hybridized online and physical space is a manifestation of the electronic commons. The ideal of an electronic commons or public space is not new.