In this article we explore the development of MyKnet.org, a loosely structured system of personal homepages that was established by indigenous communities in the region of Northern Ontario, Canada in 2000. Individuals from over 50 remote First Nations across Northern Ontario have made this free of charge, free of advertisements, locally-driven online social environment their virtual home. MyKnet.org currently comprises over 25,000 active homepages and strongly reflects the demographic and geographic profile of Northern Ontario. It is thus youth-based and built around the communities’ need to maintain social ties across great distances. We draw upon encounters with a range of MyKnet.org’s developers and long time users to explore how this community-developed and community-controlled form of communication reflects life in the remote First Nations. Our focus is on the importance of locality: MyKnet.org’s development was contingent on K-Net, a regional indigenous computerization movement to bring broadband communications to remote First Nations. MyKnet.org is explicitly community-driven and not-for-profit, thus playing an important role in inter- and intra-community interaction in a region that has lacked basic telecommunications infrastructure well into the millennium.

Emotional expressions is the lifeblood of any organisation or community. However, it has been a relatively neglected dimension of organisational and management theory and community research until the last few years. This paper reviews recent approaches, research issues and trends in emotion research and then applies insights from this body of research to the area of community sustainability. A particular focus is the gendered nature of emotion and how emotion facilities connections within communities. Utilising examples from my case study research in a woman’s community organisation in Melbourne, Australia, it contrasts the barren emotional landscape of many organisations with the vibrance and warmth of a feminist community organisation, and considers how information and communication technologies (ICTs) can serve to either facilitator or to constrain this emotional expression. It draws implications on the vital role of emotion in sustaining communities.<br>Presented at: Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) Colloquium; 2004 Sep 30; Prato, Italy. 31 leaves.