I am a community. My definition of community could now be multi dimensional far beyond the confines of geography, race and religion. I can find and connect to other individuals in my community more effectively. Community focused services could be organized more effectively. Power of network can be brought to community development.
Most directories are build and owned by businesses.
Directory data has been acquired mostly without the owner's knowledge. These Directories often contain out-dated information. Data is confined within the walls of proprietary databases. Datasets cannot be pulled out to perform further analysis. There have been extremely valuable efforts put in building open directories such as dmoz.org, but the ultimate results set lead you to a set of URLs.