E-commerce, the web, computers, and information technology in general are often viewed as a technological panacea where all that is needed is better technology to eliminate social and organizational problems, to make organizations more efficient, effective and productive, and to create an effective digital economy. Technological solutions are expected to eliminate barriers to entry, increase the amount of available information, and provide uniform access to information, people, and information based services. There can be little doubt that information technology is transforming social and economic systems, particularly commerce. However, it is still the case that the networks linking people, knowledge, and companies both enable and constrain the impact of this technology. These social and cognitive networks, along with the needs of individuals for privacy, and the needs of companies to protect core intellectual property, are at odds with the open and uniform access assumptions often made about the digital economy. As we move into a digital economy we need to understand how these networks and individual and corporate needs will influence and shape the resulting organizations and markets. Recent work in computational organization science provides guidance for assessing, measuring, monitoring, and predicting organizational change as we move into a digital economy where technological change is increasing information and access in the face of social and cognitive constraints.