Some are beginning to provide their services electronically and to offer ways that people can communicate with them. For instance Newham Council's web site has a feedback form which people can use to complain or comment about any of the council's services. There is often reluctance amongst Councils to host public discussion forums on their servers in which the Council will face criticism. It is clearly much easier for people to feel safe in voicing their opinions in a place which is seen as belonging to a whole range of organisations. In many localities people are looking at how their communities could benefit from the opportunities offered by information and communication technologies.
Residents use email much more than build personal home pages or read online newspapers.
A recent survey discovered that Blackburgians spend an hour a day with email and only two hours a week on the web. In the US some fully formed community networks are in operation. There are a lot of places in Europe where different aspects of community networks are being put into practice and there may be some places where all of it is being done. Services are basically informative, often coupled with conferences where citizen ask questions and public officers answer. The evidence is clear that the community networks movement is growing everywhere and there are many initiatives on the verge of happening.