What's SIGCHI's role in strengthening communities?

On September 11 we saw how a tightly knit group worked together to penetrate the US and carry out a carefully orchestrated attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. We also saw how citizens spontaneously organized themselves to care for victims and their families, and support each other. How can the CHI community build on its knowledge of computer-mediated communication and socio-technical systems design to build a more cooperative society? The aim of this discussion is to develop a research and action agenda for CHI that strengthens communities locally, nationally and internationally. The underlying premise is that such socio-technical systems can be assessed and improved so that they more effectively facilitate information exchange, emotional support, and consensus building.