Why community still matters in the digital age

In an era when so many of us have embraced virtual communities on Facebook and Twitter, a groundbreaking study (and I don’t use those words lightly) reminded me that our real, geographic communities still matter more.

These geographic communities face a crisis that threatens our democracy: a growing gap in terms of the quality of information, access to it and the ability to participate in the digital revolution.

But there is also a tremendous opportunity to make more of our citizens fully engaged participants in America’s ongoing democratic experiment.

Those were the major findings of a two-year study unveiled Friday by the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy . The report represents one of the most comprehensive and fundamental attempts to identify the types of information a community needs to not just function, but thrive.

"Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age," http://www.report.knightcomm.org/

By Chris O’Brien

Mercury News Columnist

Full Story: http://www.mercurynews.com/business-headlines/ci_13465890