Tiivistelmä - Abstract

New Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) provide both communities and individuals with a range of novel possibilities from new skills and career opportunities to improved sources of information and tools for communication and public participation. However, the fruits of technological progression are unevenly distributed. What is more, the aspired goal of technology furthering democracy remains yet to be reached.

The Evolution of eCommunities project attempts to answer the following questions among others:
● What are the influences of local net communities on the life of corresponding geographical districts and on the degree of participation of their residents?
● What kinds of new forms, practices and types of narration can net communities create?

The report presents several examples of citizen innovativeness: voluntary correspondents developing reality-based and life-like journalism concerning their own residential district, the gypsies describing their history and answering questions concerning their culture and active citizens brainstorming and creating new tools for discussion and civic participation on the net. The report also shows how a mobile camera phone can prove to be useful for local communities in their web-mediated communication.

The Evolution of eCommunities project is built on the collaboration of citizens and researchers. The project, applying the action research approach, bases its analyses on the concepts of digital empowerment, sociocultural animation, deliberative democracy theory and media pedagogy.