In the first chapter, "Social Constructionism and the Inner City," Alan Shaw focuses on the challenges facing underprivileged urban communities. He describes a set of new tools and activities that he created to support growth and development in a Boston inner-city neighborhood known as Four Corners. Shaw developed a computer networking system called MUSIC (Multi-User Sessions in Community) that neighborhood residents used to discuss community issues and organize community activities. Using a theoretical framework that he calls "social constructionism," Shaw examines how such tools and activities support not only the development of individuals within the community but the development of the community itself.