Community Informatics: Integrating Action, Research and Learning.

We just recently talked about this in discussion last Tuesday, but I felt a refresher might be nice. =]



What is "Community Informatics"? What does it hope to accomplish?

Community Informatics is the "practice devoted to enabling communities with information and communications technologies." it is also described as a "multidisciplinary field for the investigation and development of the social and cultural factors..." p. 6 of the Ann Peterson Bishop article.

With the us of CI, one hopes to be able to understand how the knowledge is shared and shaped around a certain community. What makes them different, similar, unique needs, etc.



What is an ICT?

ICT stands for Information and Community Technology and it can be anything from the Internet, computer, etc. They support "collaboration, creativity, learning and new forms of expression and social action" p 6. In my opinion, they help bring a community closer.



Define "pragmatic technology"

The term "pragmatic" means that instead of acquiring research in a lab, one goes out and about and tries to find a solution to solve a certain problem.



CI in real-world life. Three examples:

Prairienet:

Prairienet is a 10 year old community network that uses Web CI applications and available online. It offers various services, such as directories, human and health services information, emergency drop-in childcare, etc. They also try to establish CTC's(Community technology centers) in low-income and non-profit organizations.



Community Inquiry Lab:
The Community Inquiry Lab has produced a software called iLabs, its free and open source and can be used by anyone around the world. iLabs can be used to create websites that "support the communication and collaboration needed to pursue their inquires in classrooms, coomunity centers, libraries, etc." p. 9. It contains software for just about anything needed on the web.


Paseo Boricua:

The Paseo Boricua Community Library project's goal is to "create a distributed community inquiry whose participans come from all walks of life and in which each participant has both something to learn and something to contribute." p. 9.

They want to take care of the digital-divide and enrich library and information science with the experiences and knowledge of the community by offering unique services.