Community informatics: hope or hype?

Community informatics is a promising strategy for taking advantage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to further goals of community development. It is important, however, that proponents of this approach recognize that it is based on the assumption that technology in itself can lead to positive social development. This "techno-utopianism" is subject to various critiques, which can be grouped into three categories: methodological, philosophical and ideological. Reflecting on the implications of these critiques, we can develop several recommendations for "democratizing" community informatics. In order to retain the "hope" that ICTs can help lead to greater social, political, and economic equity, it is necessary to not succumb to the seductive "hype" that surrounds these technological developments. This perspective could lay the groundwork for an "ethics of community informatics".