Community, Participation and Virtual Spaces: Design Considerations for Inclusivity

Communities consist of layers of information flows, connection, communication, and meaning, which present a variety of opportunities for engagement. Governments have explored post-Web 2.0 platforms to extend city presence into immersive environments. While innovative, a significant amount of the design intent can be achieved through simpler approaches, such as augmented social networking. New information and communication technologies, (ICT) have helped expand the notion of community to broader constituencies. Communities either in the sense of a city as a whole, or as subsets of groups within a city, can function as agoras, the marketplace in ancient Greece-centers of information and commerce. In this paper we articulate a feasibility assessment framework for virtual public community and apply it to efforts by the cities of Decatur, GA, US and Trikala, Greece.