This paper introduces a research project that focuses on a purpose built community intranet installed in a new housing development in Melbourne, Australia. The prospects for the success of the community intranet in linking residents to one another, increasing participation in local civic organisations, encouraging reciprocity, and thereby fostering social capital, are surveyed in both a priori and empirical terms. The paper concludes with the questions to be used in the case study to assess whether or not these prospects are realised in the case at hand.