This paper reports on work from an interdisciplinary project exploring the design of future telecommunications services, networks and applications, particularly focusing on the Internet1. A starting point for this work is our contention that users and technology are co-constructed in the design process and that in some cases it is difficult to distinguish between designers and users since users may play a variety of roles. Some academics argue that the future of the Internet depends on controlling and limiting what users do. Others argue that the future of the Internet will depend on maintaining its openness and enabling users. In our project we seek to critically explore these assertions and empirically examine the role of the user in internet design. This paper outlines some key concepts and presents two case studies to support our approach.