The Internet is increasingly viewed as a participatory medium in which interactivity is limited not only to ‘click and buy’ but also functions as a production system. On the one hand there is a constant growth in new platforms for actual interactive models, on the other hand the Net is also increasingly seen, particularly in connection with greater bandwidths, as a passive entertainment medium that offers highly compressed film streams. There are signs that in the future the functionality of the Internet will continue to split up and that an abundance of hybrid formats will develop. The concept of the Internet as a production system is in particular being pushed forward by creative people and artists who no longer use the Net just as a distribution medium but, in addition, employ Internet technology to generate artistic products on the basis of collaboration, participation and global access. With many of these projects the basic idea is both the stimulation of the natural creativity of the individual and a political objective which relies on the idea of the Internet as a democratic medium. The call to DIY that these projects imply increasingly presupposes the user’s engagement with the new technology, requires his involvement and fosters media competence in a very direct way. In this panel artistic projects and interaction models are presented that extend beyond the usual degree of production in virtual space and actually intervene in real structures such as the urban realm or social and economic processes. The following questions will be addressed: What does interactivity mean in contrast with the concepts interpassivity and participation? Is the idea of the Internet as a medium that promotes democracy an illusion or reality? To what extent can artistic interventions also be starting points for a longer-term change in the view of society?