Selling cyberspace: Constructing and deconstructing the rhetoric of community

Abstract

Community networks like the Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV) are presented to various audiences—the press, potential and current funders, users, civic representatives—via a number of discourses. The dominant discourse used by the developers of the BEV is that of community, one that is inclusive, engaged, and civic‐minded. However, when juxtaposing the rhetoric with the historical development and programs of outreach, the notion of community becomes blurred. Although the “Vision Statement” promises free access, civic forums, and a bustling digital public sphere, the implementation of the BEV reveals a highly commercialized agenda. By building an electronic shopping mall under the banner of an electronic town hall, the developers of the BEV represent a legitimate if not somewhat disingenuous precursor to the dot.com craze that followed.