The combination of Web writing and community service is, in many ways, quite natural and appropriate. Much of the early optimism about the Internet and the Web centered on its potential to involve and inform people, to democratize social and political institutions by enabling greater responsiveness to citizens’ input. As a one-to-many publishing medium, the Web theoretically empowers individuals and small groups to reach large audiences. In actual practice, of course, the sites of individuals and small groups are much less likely to be accessed than those of large corporate and media entities. Much of the Web has been taken over by commercial interests; as Michelle Sidler puts it, the Web "is a site of commercial and popular exchange, often promoting the hegemony of corporate culture and offering little civic reflection or critical engagement" (1-2).

Assignments that combine Web writing with community service can engage students in projects that capitalize on the initial democratic promise of the Internet. Because of its reach into millions of communities, homes, libraries, and schoolrooms, the Web provides a means for students to address target audiences with useful information, for instance about local events and issues, social services, or legal rights. Of course, this potentially valuable activity is compromised by the fact that in many instances the target audience, those who would benefit most from the information, are precisely the ones least likely to have access to computer technology. "Falling Through the Net," a study done in the year 2000 by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, reports that, despite gains since their 1998 study, "noticeable divides [in Internet access and computer ownership] still exist between those with different levels of income and education, different racial and ethnic groups, old and young, single and dual-parent families, and those with and without disabilities."

Assignments need to be designed with this divide in mind, either by directly addressing disparities in access and computer skills (as Regan and Zuern’s project does), or by using the Web in a different way—for instance, to promote community service and social service agencies (as two of the projects discussed in this article do). I use the term "community service" broadly, then, to encompass both projects in which students work directly with members of the community and those in which students use the Web as a publishing medium, serving the community by delivering valuable information or promoting community involvement and volunteerism, particularly among other students.