Is Community Informatics Good for Communities? Questions Confronting an Emerging Field

Abstract

This paper addresses a number of questions confronting the emerging field of community informatics. First, is it a field of study or a field of practice? Second, is the focus of community informatics on communities, information, or technology? Third, does community informatics serve elites, academics, community workers, or community workers? The paper moves from these questions to develop an empowerment model for community informations, emphasizing a community development approach combined with an information focus and a participatory process. It concludes with the question of whether community informatics should strive to be a supporting field rather than develop as an independent arena of study or practice.

Fire, Wind and Water

“…The field of Community Informatics (CI) is relatively young within the entire Informatics area, with the first hard copy CI literature published in 2000 (Stoecker, 2005). The analysis of SNTs typically falls within this field, with some specialized research into crisis informatics (Palen et al, 2009).…”

“…CI literature covers a range of topics, including social capital, the digital divide, virtual communities, community technology centers and social networking. The two main elements in CI are information and communication technologies (ICTs), and 'community' (Day, 2002;Stoecker, 2005;O'Neil, 2002). CI is a strategy or an approach that seeks to use ICTs to serve communities (Stoecker, 2005), links community development efforts (such as social and economic development) with the emerging opportunities presented by ICTs (O'Neil, 2002;Room & Taylor, 2001), and considers how ICTs are used by geographic communities (O'Neil, 2002).…”

“…The two main elements in CI are information and communication technologies (ICTs), and 'community' (Day, 2002;Stoecker, 2005;O'Neil, 2002). CI is a strategy or an approach that seeks to use ICTs to serve communities (Stoecker, 2005), links community development efforts (such as social and economic development) with the emerging opportunities presented by ICTs (O'Neil, 2002;Room & Taylor, 2001), and considers how ICTs are used by geographic communities (O'Neil, 2002). It is essential that ICT initiatives are based on the needs of the local community (Day, 2002).…”

“…It is essential that ICT initiatives are based on the needs of the local community (Day, 2002). Two distinct areas of CI have been identified by authors seeking to define the field: the practical application of ICTs to facilitate community processes and assist in the achievement of community objectives, and the scholarly research and practice of "systematically approaching Information Systems from a 'community' perspective" (Stoecker, 2005). With regard to this study, CI is about the three SNTs that citizens in a geographic community have access to during a natural disaster and the type of information shared by citizens and government organizations to aid in emergency management.…”