The Community Networks and Digital Ecosystems Relationship

This paper presents the possible relationships between Digital Ecosystem and Community Networks. Community Networks emerged from the '80s and '90s computer based community services and today are acquiring more understandings related to the public and the business worlds. Digital Ecosystems is a new concept emerging before any empirical declination. Therefore it is not clear nor simple to understand how the two entities could help each other. We suggest to analyse and compare them by using the Socio-Technical Infrastructures theory. In order to reach this goal a theoretical framework to support the description of these phenomena is presented by relying upon a set of shared dimensions. This intends to make translatable two realities that have important points of contact and potential synergies, as well as non-secondary differences. What we found is that Community Networks could provide community participation methodologies and ubiquitous broadband infrastructures to enable Digital Ecosystems' advanced services, while those services could increase the potential of CNs. The paper ends with some suggestions for future Digital Ecosystems research: improve the empirical and the policy research, and consider DEs application other than business ones.