About this Hypertext

The format deserves a small explanation. The interplay between technology and community is a vast, interdisciplinary wilderness. As a computer science major and a public policy minor, I have had the opportunity to study small areas of each field and was interested in further exploring the intersection. To attempt to discuss the ways in which the two areas interacted would be foolish and unsatisfying. At the same time, to focus in and research and analyze a very specific part of the overlap would be outside the scope of material discussed in the course. I felt the course gave me a very unique cross-disciplinary experience and a new set of tools to try. I chose a hypertext since it allowed me to focus on the relationship of concepts and to draw as many lines as possible between ideas. Thus, this document explores a few of the ways that community and technology interact and feed off each other. It could potentially be expanded to a hundred times its size, as I add more concepts and draw more connections. At present, however, it contains twenty five smaller documents on subjects that interested me personally, which are linked conceptually.

The reader is encouraged to pick a starting point in the frame of mind of either community or technology and explore. I encourage you to be adventurous: rather than trying to read everything all at once, follow concepts that interest you. You can always return to the index page and chart another path. Note that many links leave this site for the works of others.

I hope you enjoy this, gain fresh ideas for yourself. I would love to hear feedback, thoughts or criticisms. Please contact me at allan@sccs.swarthmore.edu

Allan Friedman
January, 2002