Abstract. Social capital is the collective value of the relationships between people, including their level of trust and respect for each other. It accumulates through social interactions such as communication and shared activities. In communities with higher levels of social capital, members often experience better health, better education and economical outcomes, as well as better collaboration and sharing. One way to enhance the level of social capital in a community is through increased community awareness and community information exchange. Unfortunately, as a community grows in size and becomes more geographically dispersed, people’s levels of community awareness typically decline. This research introduces “What’s Happening,” a computer system designed to promote and enhance community awareness in a large, distributed academic organization. The article describes the design evolution and resulting system functionality of What’s Happening. The article also reviews use of the deployed system and evaluates its perceived utility. What’s Happening appeared to be effective in enhancing community awareness, but it did not achieve as significant a level of use as hoped.