Community Networking (CN) projects bring local people together to discuss their community's issues and opportunities, learn about Internet technology, and decide upon and create services to address these community needs and opportunities. CN is comprised of a wide variety of groups that make up a community (eg., libraries, Universities, K-12 schools, local government, businesses, media, individuals), with special focus on including those who are traditionally left out of community decisionmaking in general, and technology decisionmaking in particular (eg., low-income, minorities, senior citizens). CN projects value collaboration and participation, and are usually noncommercial.

CN projects usually provide training on the use of the Internet, general computer skills, and basic research skills. Most projects provide public access sites in libraries, schools, businesses, and nonprofit organizations, as well as free or low-cost access accounts. Many projects also provide free or low-cost Web design & development for nonprofit organizations, and provide a matchmaking service between nonprofits' technical needs, and CN volunteers' technical abilities.

An "online presence" is usually created by the CN project, that is a reflection of its particular community. This "presence" is nowadays usually on the World Wide Web, and typically provides: "official" and not-official community information; news and events; community members' poetry, stories, commentary; some kind of discussion capabilities (eg., discussion groups, chat).