Title: Does Public Access Computing Really Contribute to Community Development? Lessons from Libraries, Telecenters and Cybercafés in Colombia
Authors: Ricardo Gomez, Luis Fernando Baron-Porras
Pages: 11 pp.
ISSN: 1681-4835
Source: The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, (2011) 49, 2, 1-11
Publisher: City University of Hong Kong
Date (published): 02/11/2011
Date (accessed): 20/11/2011
Type of information: peer reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) can contribute to local community development and help connect local communities to global issues. Public access computing (PAC) venues such as telecenters, public libraries and cybercafés make ICT more broadly available and extend the benefits of ICT to underserved populations. This paper discusses findings from a study of the contribution of PAC to community development in Colombia, with particular attention to the town of Carmen de Bolívar. This town has a strong tradition of community organization for social development, and a long history of violence that has shaped its social fabric. While the introduction of PAC may not have contributed significantly to community development, use of ICT gives the local population a sense of belonging to a larger, global community, which in turn may help local activities in support of community development. We conclude that personal friendships and entertainment are perceived as stronger benefits of PAC, not community development or social transformation. Future research can explore if personal friendships and entertainment can be indirect contributors to community development."

Title: The “Rede Brasil de Bibliotecas Comunitárias”: a space for sharing information and building new knowledge
Authors: Elisa Campos Machado, Geraldo Moreira Prado, Jailton Lira, Kleber Tadashi
Pages: 13 pp.
ISSN: 1712-4441
Source: Vol. 7 Nos. 1 & 2 (2010/2011) Special Double Issue: The Internet and Community Informatics in Brazil
Publisher: Journal of Community Informatics
Date (published): 26/08/2011
Date (accessed): 19/11/2011
Type of information: report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"This is a report on the experience of creating the Rede Brasil de Bibliotecas Comunitárias (RBBC), an online social network that aims to bring together and share information regarding practices employed in setting up local library collections and making them available to the public; discussing the principles that govern the autonomous management of these spaces; establishing ties and creating exchanges between the different agents and spheres involved in this process; and encouraging society’s participation in the construction of public policy for Brazilian libraries. The work presents the theoretical references that make up the foundation of the proposal, the methodology employed and analyzes the data obtained during the first ten months of the network’s existence."

Title: Evaluating ICT Adoption in Rural Brazil: A Quantitative Analysis of Telecenters as Agents of Social Change
Authors: Paola Prado, Mauro A Câmara, Marco A. Figueiredo
Pages: 25 pp.
ISSN: 1712-4441
Source: Vol. 7 Nos. 1 & 2 (2010/2011) Special Double Issue: The Internet and Community Informatics in Brazil
Publisher: Journal of Community Informatics
Date (published): 26/08/2011
Date (accessed): 19/11/2011
Type of information: peer reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"This quantitative study surveyed 538 adults in isolated rural settings in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, to examine whether telecenters operated by the non-profit organization Gems of the Earth improve digital literacy and promote social change. Using multivariate logistic regression, the study examined how individuals use information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the telecenter, and tested for predictors of their use. The findings confirm that these rural communities use ICTs for entertainment, to engage in civic participation, and to practice professional skills. The findings suggest that digital inclusion impacts these isolated communities by creating opportunities that may foster human development."

Title: Visions of Community: Community Informatics and the Contested Nature of a Polysemic Term for a Progressive Discipline
Authors: Udo R. Averweg, Marcus A. Leaning
Pages: 14 pp.
ISSN: 1544-7529
Source: Information Technologies & International Development; Volume 7, Number 2, Summer 2011, 17–30
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Date (published): 09/06/2011
Date (accessed): 14/07/2011
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"Community Informatics (CI) is an academic field of study that seeks to examine how information and communication technologies (ICT) such as Web 2.0 social media and mobile technologies can be deployed for the benefit of communities. Community is, however, a problematic and polysemic term, meaning different things to different people, and it has inherently political overtones. This article aims to bring to the attention of practitioners in the field of CI the contested nature of the term community, and to examine the historical origin of the term and the multiple ways in which it has been and can be used. In exploring this term, we make use of more literary, historical, and sociological approaches. Such approaches can offer new insights on the topic for audiences from more technical academic disciplines. With such discussion to assist practitioners of CI of the problematic ways in which community has been and can be used, we offer the following recommendations: (1) Use of the term community remains largely unproblematized, and we ought to be more mindful of its history; (2) community should be recognized as a locally contingent position; (3) as a term of reference, its use should be carefully considered within specific contexts; (4) a fuller exploration of the term in the CI discipline is needed; and (5) practitioners in the field of CI will require greater reflection on the term community when addressing ICT practice issues. We hope that these recommendations may lead to more reflexive practice in the progressive discipline of CI"

Title: A Data Divide? Data “Haves” and “Have Nots” and Open (Government) Data
Author: Michael Gurstein
Source: Gurstein's Community Informatics
Date (published): 11/07/2011
Date (accessed): 12/07/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Researchers have extensively explored the range of social, economic, geographical and other barriers which underlie and to a considerable degree “explain” (cause) the Digital Divide. My own contribution has been to argue that “access is not enough”, it is whether opportunities and pre-conditions are in place for the “effective use” of the technology particularly for those at the grassroots.
The idea of a possible parallel “Data Divide” between those who have access and the opportunity to make effective use of data and particularly “open data” and those who do not, began to occur to me. I was attending several planning/recruitment events for the Open Data “movement” here in Vancouver and the socio-demographics and some of the underlying political assumptions seemed to be somewhat at odds with the expressed advocacy position of “data for all”.
Thus the “open data” which was being argued for would not likely be accessible and usable to the groups and individuals with which Community Informatics has largely been concerned – the grassroots, the poor and marginalized, indigenous people, rural people and slum dwellers in Less Developed countries. It was/is hard to see, given the explanations, provided to date how these folks could use this data in any effective way to help them in responding to the opportunities for advance and social betterment which open data advocates have been indicating as the outcome of their efforts."

Title: Re-thinking Telecentres: A Community Informatics Approach
Author: Michael Gurstein
Source: Gurstein's Community Informatics
Date (published): 15/05/2011
Date (accessed): 06/07/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"The interest in Telecentres has ebbed and flowed within the broad technology stream. In Developed countries the various programs which supported the development of telecentres (called by various names in different jurisdictions) have been in considerable retreat in recent years as the initial need for access to low cost Internet access and computers has been to a very considerable extent overtaken by commercial Internet service providers and the continuing reduction in the cost of computer hardware and the availability of low cost or free software.
In Less Developed Countries (LDC’s) the situation is rather more mixed. An initial spate of high level programs in countries such as South Africa and Brazil have foundered for various reasons but often because the sponsors of the centres have adopted a rather naïve approach to engaging the local community as “partners” if not actual “owners” of the centres. Even where Telecentres and Telecentre programs do survive they are often plagued by low utilization and an indifferent response from the communities into which they have been inserted."

Title: The IDRC and “Open Development”: ICT4D by and for the New Middle Class
Author:Michael Gurstein
Source:Gurstein's Community Informatics blog
Publisher:
Date (published):01/12/2010
Date (accessed):02/12/2010
Type of information:blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
„I’m interested to note that the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (or at least the Information and Communications Technology for Development—ICT4D—folks at the IDRC) have decided to hitch their wagon, and not incidentally their not inconsiderable resources to the “Open” movement and launch a campaign for an Open ICT4D meme.
The major document in this initiative defines “Openness” and “Open ICT4D” as follows:
…as a way of organizing social activities for development benefits that favour: a) universal over restricted access to communication tools and information; b) universal over restricted participation in informal and formal groups/institutions; and c) collaborative over centralized production of cultural, economic, or other content.
Certainly it is very hard to fault (or even disagree) with any of the above except that this definition and the following paper seem to not understand that lack of access in most developmental contexts isn’t simply a failure of reasonable people to understand that they should proceed in an “open” rather than a “closed/restrictive” fashion. The lack of access in many if not most cases serves the interests of some quite well including many who gain considerable advantage from lack of transparency, restrictions on use of government data, the use of security designations in inappropriate contexts. In these instances a lack of access is most frequently a function of a lack of power in a particular social and economic context and that articulating the good feelings attendant on an “openness” strategy are as unlikely to change those restrictions as were the thinking of good thoughts sufficient to stop the flow of oil from the BP Gulf catastrophe.
...
One of the significant difficulties of a “peer to peer” approach when linked organically to the “openness” standard is that those going into the peer relations have quite significant differences in power and prestige and access to resources. It is very difficult to conceive of a true “peer-to-peer” relationship as enabling or supporting “openness” when there are marked and systematic economic and social differences between the “peers” as for example, is pervasive within developing countries and particularly acute between developed countries and developing countries.”

Title: From Silicon Valleys to Community Informatics Neighbourhoods—Digital Development Strategies as Though Local Economies Mattered
Author: Michael Gurstein
Source: Gurstein's Community Informatics
Date (published): 02/08/2010
Date (accessed): 03/08/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Many (most) countries in the world have in the decade just passed, developed and at least partially implemented what may be called a “digital development strategy”. These strategies are based on a perception that the kind of economic activity that has resulted from the technical/digital development taking place in Silicon Valley and similar such locales particularly in the US is a necessary element of the economic development strategy for any/every country that wants to be competitive and thus prosperous at this time in economic history.

The perception is that the well funded science and technology programs at the leading universities in the San Francisco and California region—Stanford, CalTech, UC Berkeley and so on attracted faculty and produced students whose leading edge work contributed more or less immediately and directly to the generation of technology innovations which in turn led directly to the creation of start-up technology enterprises. These mixed with fairly ready availability of investment capital, in turn sparked the technology (and commercial) digital revolutions of the Internet and other digital enterprises. In turn these enterprises provided the basis for economic advance and importantly (from a government’s perspective) job creation and enhancements to the national revenue stream through taxes and so on.

This logic is probably correct at least in outline (but would be worth examining in some close detail) however, what is rather less obvious is that this model can (or should) be reproduced not just once or twice but repeatedly in tens and hundreds of locations around the world..."

Title: Technicians, Tacticians and Tattlers: Women as Innovators and Change Agents in Community Technology Projects
Author: Helen McQuillan
ISSN: 1712-4441
Source: The Journal of Community Informatics, Volume 5, Issue 3 (2010)
Date (published): 05/05/2010
Date (accessed): 23/07/2010
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Dominant theoretical and policy perspectives on women and ICT portray women as passive, excluded, disinterested or disconnected from technology. This paper reports on a five year ethnographic study which explored women’s roles, experiences and contribution to a large-scale community technology project in Ireland. It discusses how feminist archetypes were used to develop an interpretive model which examines women’s engagement and agency in ICT, illustrates women’s diverse and active roles and offers a new paradigm for women’s ICT knowledge and expertise. In conclusion it discusses how this model could be applied to other settings to better understand digital inclusion and empowerment processes.

Title: The Last Quintile (20%): Doing Community Informatics for Social Inclusion in Hong Kong
Author: Michael Gurstein
Source: Gurstein's Community Informatics
Date (published): 17/06/2010
Date (accessed): 27/06/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Regulators, policy makers, access suppliers in Developed Countries have a considerable pre-occupation with how to bridge “the last mile” i.e. the gap between the common carrier and the end user’s premises. Here in Hong Kong, where I have been for the last few days at a conference, the concern on the part of regulators, policy makers and not incidentally civil society is how to bridge for the “last quintile” – that is the last 20% of individuals in Hong Kong who are not as yet using the Internet.