The Vancouver Community Network, Social Investing and Public Good Models of ICT development

Abstract

This paper links discussions of community access to ICTs to discussions of sustainability in the non-profit community and the viability of public good models of ICT development. It addresses the concepts of public goods and social entrepreneurship and their relationship to new funding sources for non-profit organizations. The paper examines the Vancouver Community Network’s investigation of for-profit service models to diversify the organization’s revenue stream. The paper suggests that the VCN has the potential to develop a project that may provide the basis for a new generation of community networking in Canada, based upon a new organizational structure model.