Abstract

Many people in the Western world are distressed about a perceived loss of community and community values, and it has been argued that the key difference between strong and weak community lies in social capital, that is, networks of civic engagement and norms of generalized reciprocity. In the context of social capital, the article introduces a research project that focuses on a community intranet installed in a new housing development in Melbourne, Australia. The prospects for the success of the community intranet in linking residents to one another, increasing participation in local civic organizations, encouraging reciprocity, and thereby fostering social capital are surveyed in both a priori and empirical terms. The article concludes with the questions to be used in the case study to assess whether these prospects are realized in the case at hand.