Making a community network sustainable: the future of the wired high rise

Much time and money has been committed by governments, private business, and the third sector over the last 5 years in establishing opportunities for underserved populations to gain access to new forms of information and communication technologies, in an effort to overcome the so-called 'digital divide'. This article traces the efforts that have been made to establish a networked community at a single high-rise public housing estate in inner Melbourne, Australia, and considers some of the potential opportunities for and barriers to ensuring the continuity of the network, which is large, complex, costly, and potentially fragile, into the future.