The Emergence of Digital Infrastructures from the Bottom-up: A Communities as Systems Perspective

This research focuses on the emergence and development of bottom-up innovation (BUI) in communities. Based on a multi-method case study we examine the emergence of "HomeNets" (user created home networks) in Belarus. Drawing on a theoretical lens, informed by activity theory and the concept of self-organizing systems, we illustrate how HomeNets emerged and co-evolved in non-linear and unintended ways, as a "runaway" object, beyond the narrow boundaries of the initial innovators. We identify the role of self-organizing processes and internal-external dynamics in the development of HomeNets and how they propelled further BUI. The paper also contributes to knowledge by discussing how community BUI processes are fundamentally different from innovation in conventional organizations.