"Firstly, if the Community Network is built continuously by these acts, not by the community sector consortiums or property developers that engineer the network as infrastructure, and certainly not by the network as computer technology, the centre of attention is necessarily dispersed and distributed to the actors – to the network’s multitudinous “nodes” – where the action begins and ends. The focus is on community networking (as a verb; a doing thing), rather than a Community Network (as a noun; an infrastructure thing).

The new organization of communities and the new possibilities afforded by the Internet allow a shift in power. (Wellman 2000).

Communities have long been seen as a spatial limitation of a group which shared strong ties. Wellman argues that the development of technology supported communication has potentiated a movement towards the development of ties which are physically more distant.

It also allowed for the development of different kinds of groups which were more specifically themed, such as a shared interest.