Moving from MOOsburg

In this paper, we describe a ten-year project to develop a 'next-generation' computational infrastructure for community networks. Our design work was inspired by the paradigm of web-based hypermedia exemplified by the Blacksburg Electronic Village. We incorporated user interface ideas from multi-user domains, virtual environments, and geospatial information systems, and tried to emphasise place-based user interactions and applications. We called this infrastructure for community networking MOOsburg. As the project progressed, we have continuingly reweighed the original orienting design issues and trade-offs, and we have revised and refined our design approach. In our reconstruction, an important theme in this design work, one that transcends and integrates the specific design approaches we investigated, was support for greater coherence in collaborative community activity.