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The Journal of Community Informatics http://www.ci-journal.net/ (JoCI) is pleased to announce the online availability of its Inaugural Issue http://ci-journal.net/viewissue.php .  JoCI is a peer-reviewed Open Archive on-line quarterly journal for and by the Community Informatics research community and produced under the auspices of the Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) http://www.ci-research.net  

This Inaugural Issue of JoCI is an invitational response by members of the Editorial Group to give a context to our enterprise through position papers, scholarly papers and other materials.

The issue includes:

• An introduction (in part through video) to the work of K-Net, an aboriginal group in Northern Canada which is innovating in the use of ICT for education, for administration, for health and perhaps most importantly, is demonstrating the way in which ICT truly can enable AND empower communities to move beyond traditional barriers and impediments to find a new and more equitable role in the Information Society. (Beaton)
• A description of an ambitious current research project examining the impacts and outcomes of government support for community technology in Canada with an overall objective of providing insight toward the future of such programs and their impact on the larger society (Clement, Gurstein, Longford, Luke, Moll, and Shade)
• A presentation of a most important rural ICT initiative whose current success is transforming large areas of rural India (Jhunjhunwala, Ramachandran, and Bandyopadhyay)
• An analysis and plan for using a major university in a Less Developed Country (South Africa) as a base for a highly innovative program of CI for community transformation (Erwin and Taylor)
• A highly significant analysis of the current state of the art with respect to Telecentre development in Latin America and where it might go from here by three key actors in these developments. (Menou, Delgadillo and Stoll)
• A fine paper examining the theoretical background to community use of ICT in the context of Human Capital development and giving most useful directions for future research as well as community practice towards this end. (Pigg and Crank)
• A most original and insightful critique of current thinking and approaches to ICT for Development (Robinson)
• A path breaking approach to applying an analysis drawn from the methods and insights of Social Anthropology to ICT design and development as a response to rural poverty (Salvador)
• A brave and insightful analysis of the opportunities and risks that are attendant to ICT in a most important but largely unknown part of the world. (Stafeev) and
• A document presenting the current "state of play" for a leader in supporting ICT use by women in local communities (Webb and Jones) .

The second issue which will appear January 1, 2005, will consist of peer reviewed papers on "Sustainability and Community Technology" presented at the recent CIRN Prato conference http://www.ciresearch.net/conferences on this subject. The papers will be revised and edited as per conference feedback and a second round of peer reviews.  The third issue scheduled for April 1, 2005 is currently soliciting articles. The fourth issue, scheduled for July 1, 2005 has the tentative theme "Gender and Community Informatics" and will be edited by Lesle Reagen Shade of Concordia University.

Each issue will include, in addition to peer reviewed articles, a Review section, documents and reports of CI significance, and commentaries on peer reviewed papers by leading CI practitioners and those with a policy interest in CI and related matters.