The author proposes a citizen-and community-oriented approach to using information technology, whereby people are considered as participant members of the society. This empowering approach views people as subjects and actors who have abilities to develop, not as objects who lack these abilities and need one-way help from authorities. Empowerment…

This article focuses on some ideas from social and political philosophy concerning the ideal of freedom that may be useful for thinking about issues associated with the rise of network societies. The tendency for "freedom" to mean very different things to different people has carried over to the context of thinking about issues associated with new…