Advances in computer hardware and the global network infrastructure offer constantly expanding possibilities of social and creative human interaction. In order to be realized, however, these possibilities have to be designed and coded as software. This means software is becoming a crucial catalyst for the emergent information economy and its social and cultural structures. To what degree does software determine the structures and potentials of technically based communities? What form will the social design of future political processes take? Will political representation in the future be no less virtual than online voting? How can software be used to catalyze, and not just support, social processes? How do social standards of commitment and responsibility work in an environment in which anonymity and fluid identities are given?