NEW ISSUE - AEN Journal - Information Technology and Ethnic Communities (2.1, April 2007)

AEN Journal: Information Technology and Ethnic Communities
Volume 2, Issue 1-April 2007
Edited by Andy Williamson and Ruth DeSouza
http://journal.aen.org.nz

This issue of AENJ is about potential. It's about the way the internet and mobile telecommunications are changing the way our society thinks, links and functions.

Access to the information and communication channels available through these networks puts us in a new space, where New Zealand's tyranny of distance is both diminished and amplified. The internet makes globalisation a reality but it magnifies the local and it has enormous potential to connect and support communities, particularly those who are otherwise disadvantaged.

In this issue, we've attempted to present a range of perspectives that show the potential for how ICTs can be harnessed by different communities-whether they are communities of place, interest, faith or ethnicity.

We hope that this will energise and inspire, helping ethnic communities generate new collective ideas about the value, function and potential of ICTs. Our hope is that the writing in this issue will inspire and educate, demonstrate some good ideas and help some of us to make fewer mistakes. Above all, we hope it will motivate ethnic communities in Aotearoa to recognise the value of ICTs and seize every opportunity to adopt and use them effectively.

The AEN Journal is an open access online journal, available free at journal.aen.org.nz