LIS 590 C1 is a graduate level course that explores contemporary research and theory in the use and application of  information and communication technologies (ICTs) in geographically based communities. Topics may include: differences in access and use of ICTs by region and sectors of the population; use of ICTs for information dissemination and distributed knowledge; social capital and social networks; e-learning in the community; co-evolution of technology and use; cultural differences in attitudes to and use of technology; analysis, design and evaluation of community systems.

This course is a seminar course exploring research and theory about community informatics, which may be loosely defined as the intersection of communities and information technology. The purpose of this course is to gain a grounding in what CI entails and what theories inform CI research and practice. Students are expected to be engaged in discovering this topic in a collaborative manner that will entail participation and discussion of assigned readings as well as bringing new material to class.

The course may be taken for 0, 2 or 4 units. All participants are expected to read the assigned papers and participate knowledgeably in discussion. Those taking the course for 2 or 4 units will be expected to lead discussion on a rotating basis.

Class:  With at least one other student, lead discussion for 2-3 weeks of the course, provide 1 page summary of each of the week’s papers; this may include introducing and/or leading discussion when guests join to give lectures. Participation in class and in online discussion as required.

Minor Project: Book or Research Method review (1-2K), or an annotated bibliography on a topic (at least 20 resources on community informatics)

Major Project: Major paper on a research topic (5K) and in-class presentation on the same topic

Now or soon on reserve at LIS

Keeble, L. & Loader, B.D. (Eds.) (2001). Community Informatics: Shaping Computer-Mediated Social Networks
Purcell, P. (Ed.)(2006). Networked Neighborhoods: The Connected Community in Context. London: Springer.
Gurstein, M. (2000). Community informatics: Enabling communities with information and communications technologies. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing.

Syllabus

Guests: Ann Bishop, Kate Williams, Abdul Alkalimat, Jon Gant

Bieber, M., Gurstein, M., Civille, R., White, N., Silver, D. & Kolko, B. (2002). A White Paper Exploring Research Trends and Issues in the Emerging Field of Community Informatics. http://www.is.njit.edu/vci/vci-white-paper.doc
Gurstein, M. (2006). Notes towards an integrative agenda and community informatics theory. CRACIN working paper number 14. http://www3.fis.utoronto.ca/research/iprp/cracin/publications/pdfs/WorkingPapers/CRACIN%20Working%20Paper%20No%2014.pdf
Schuler, D. (1996). Community and technology – a marriage of necessity. Chapter 1 in New Community Networks: Wired For Change. Available online at: http://www.scn.org/ncn/.
Bishop, A. & Bruce, B.C. (2005). Community informatics: Integrating action, research and learning. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 31(6). http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Aug-05/bishopbruce.html

See also
Gurstein, M. (2000). Community informatics: Enabling community uses of information and communication technology. In M. Gurstein (ed.), Community informatics: Enabling communities with information and communications technologies (pp. 1-31). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing.

Wellman, B. (1999). The network community: An introduction to networks in the global village. In Wellman, B. (Ed.) Networks in the Global Village (pp. 1-48). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Day, P. (2005). Sustainable community technology: The symbiosis between community technology and community research. The Journal of Community Informatics, 1(2).  http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/217/177
Srinivasan, R. (2006). Where information society and community voice intersect. The Information Society, 22(5), 355-365.

Gurstein, M. (2003). Effective use: A community informatics strategy beyond the digital divide.
First Monday, 8(12).
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_12/gurstein/index.html
Loader, B. & Keeble, L. (2004). Challenging the digital divide? A review of online community support. http://www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/eBooks/1859351980.pdf
Warschauer, Mark. 2002. Reconceptionalizing the digital divide. First Monday, 7(7). http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_7/warschauer/index.html
Mossberger, Karen, Caroline J. Tolbert and Michele A. Gilbert.  (2006). Race, Place, and Information Technology.  Urban Affairs Review 41(5):  583-620.   
Kvasny, L. (2005). The role of the habitus in shaping discourses about the digital divide. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Vol. 10, No. 2. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue2/kvasny.html.

See also
Pew Internet and American Life reports
Who is online: US, Feb-Mar 2007 (Pew):   http://www.pewinternet.org/trends/User_Demo_6.15.07.htm
For the most recent data, click on "Who's Online" on the Pew page:   http://www.pewinternet.org/
Haythornthwaite, C. (2007). Digital divide and e-learning. In R. Andrews & C. Haythornthwaite, Handbook of E-Learning Research (pp. 97-118). London: Sage.
Warschauer, M. (2003). Technology and Social Inclusion. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Katz, J. & Rice, R. E. (2002). Syntopia: Access, Civic Involvement and Social Interaction on the Net. In B. Wellman & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), The Internet In Everyday Life (pp. 114-138). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Brashears, M. E. (2006). Social isolation in america: Changes in core discussion networks over two decades. American Sociological Review, 71, 353-375. http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/June06ASRFeature.pdf
Schuler, D. (in press). Community networks and the evolution of civic intelligence. AI & Society. http://trout.cpsr.org/program/sphere/civic-intelligence/civic-int-cn-preprint-final.pdf.

See also
Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: America's declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6(1), 65-78.

Bordieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241-258). Greenwood.
Pigg, K.E., & Crank, L.D. (2004). Building Community Social Capital: The Potential and Promise of Information and Communications Technologies The Journal of Community Informatics, (2004), Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 58-73
Alkalimat, A. & Williams, K. (2001). Social capital and cyberpower in the African-American community. Chapter 12 in Keeble & Loader, p. 177-204.

See also
Coleman, J.S. (1988). Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 94, Supplement: Organizations and Institutions: Sociological and Economic Approaches to the Analysis of Social Structure. (1988), pp. S95-S120.

Kavanaugh, A.L, Reese, D.D., Carroll, J.M. & Rosson, M.B. (2005). Weak ties in networked communities. The Information Society, 21(2), 119 - 131.
Wellman, B. (2001). Physical place and cyber place: The rise of networked individualism. Chapter 3 in Keeble & Loader.
Lin, N. (draft 2005,). A network theory of social capital. In Castigline, van Deth, & Wolleb, Handbook of Social Capital. Oxford Univ. Press. http://sociology.nccu.edu.tw/Chinese/speech/paper-final-041605.pdf
Haythornthwaite, C. (2005). Social networks and Internet connectivity effects. Information, Communication & Society, 8(2), 125-147.

See also
Huysman, Marleen & Wulf, Volker (2005). The role of information technology in building and sustaining the relational base of communities. The Information Society, 21, 81-89. [special issue]
Diani, M. & McAdam, D. (2003). Social movements and networks: Relational approaches to collective action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 - Mario Diani, chapter 1, Introduction: Social movements, contentious actions, and social networks: From metaphor to substance?
 - Florence Pacy, chapter 2, Social networks matter. But how?

Guest Lecture: Jon Gant, Associate Professor, GSLIS

Stoecker, R. (2005). Is Community Informatics good for communities? Questions confronting an emerging field. The Journal of Community Informatics,  1(3), 13-26.
Jankowski, N.W., Van Selm, M. & Hollander, E. (2001). On crafting a study of digital community networks: theoretical and methodological considerations. Chapter 8 in Keeble & Loader.
Rambaldi, G., Chambers, R., Mccall, M. & Fox, J. (2006) Practical ethics for PGIS practitioners, facilitators, technology intermediaries and researchers. Participatory Learning and Action, 54. http://www.ppgis.net/pdf/ch14_rambaldi_pp106-113.pdf

See also

Hampton, K. N., & Wellman, B. (1999). Netville online and offline: Observing and surveying a wired suburb. American Behavioral Scientist, 43(3), 475-492.

Extra Reading on GIS and CI recommended by Prof. Gant

What is GIS?
http://www.gis.com/whatisgis/index.html
http://www.gis.com/whatisgis/whyusegis.html
http://www.gis.com/whatisgis/gisanalysis.html

Overview of Community Mapping
http://www.iapad.org/
http://www.iapad.org/participatory_gis.htm
http://www.iapad.org/ppgis_principles.htm

Kingston, R. (2007). "Public Participation in Local Policy Decision-making: The Role of Web-based Mapping." Cartographic Journal 44(2): 138-144.
Roush, W. (2005). "Killer Maps." Technology Review 108(10): 54-60.

Bishop, A.P., Mehra, B., Bazzell, I. & Smith, C. (2003). Participatory action research and digital libraries: Reframing evaluation. In A.P. Bishop, N.A. Van House,& B.P. Buttenfield (eds.), Digital Library Use. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Hampton, Keith, & Barry Wellman, (2002). The not so global village of Netville. In B. Wellman & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), The Internet In Everyday Life (pp. 345-371). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Merkel, C.B., Clitherow, M., Farooq, U. & Xiao, L. (2005). Sustaining Computer Use and Learning in Community Computing Contexts: Making Technology Part of “Who They are and What They Do� Journal of Community Informatics, 1(2).

See also
Kavanaugh, A., & Patterson, S. (2002). The impact of computer networks on social capital and community involvement in Blacksburg. In B. Wellman & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), The Internet In Everyday Life (pp. 325-344). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Guest Lecturer: Paul Adams, Director of Community Networking, Community Informatics Initiative, “International Service Learning: Example of Sao Tome, West Africa�

Williams, K. (2007). Using IT in Manchester England: A study of social networks, social capital and social excluded communities. (slide paper, available from author)
Hagar, C. & Haythornthwaite, C. (2005). Crisis, farming & community. Journal of Community Informatics, 1(3). Available online at: http://ci-journal.net/viewarticle.php?id=89&layout=html
Johnson, C.A. (2004). "Choosing people: The role of social capital in information seeking behaviour", Information Research 10 (1). Available at: http://informationr.net/ir

See also
Johnson, C.A. (2007). Social capital and the search for information: Examining the role of social capital in information seeking behavior in Mongolia. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(6), 883-894.

Hess, C. & Ostrom, E. (2007). Understanding knowledge as a commons: From theory to practice. Cambridge, MA: MIT
 -  Levine, P. Collective action, civic engagement, and the knowledge commons. Chapter 9 in Hess & Ostrom. (pp. 248-275).

See also
Chapters 1, 2, 3 (pp. 3-81)
 -    Hess & Ostrom, Introduction: An overview of the knowledge commons
 -    Bollier, D., The growth of the commons paradigm
 -    Ostrom & Hess, Framework for analyzing the knowledge commons

Bruce. B.C. & Bishop, A.P. (in press). New literacies and community inquiry. In Handbook of Research on New Literacies. http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~chip/pubs/07handbook/hb.pdf
Carroll, J.M. and Farooq, U. (2005). Community-based learning: Design patterns and frameworks. In H. Glllersen, K. Schmidt, M. Beaudouin-Lafon, and W. Mackay (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (Paris, France, September 18-22, 2005), pp. 307-324. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. http://www.ecscw.org/2005/paper16.pdf
Selfe, C.L., & Hawisher, G.E. (2004). Literate lives in the information age: Narratives of literacy from the United States. Mahwah, N.J. : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Introduction (read primarily for pages 1-14; skim through the rest) and Chapter 1.

See also
Jenkins, H., with Clinton, K., Purushotma, R. Robinson, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Chicago, IL: MacArthur Foundation. http://www.digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF
Kvasny, L., Kranich, N., and Schement, J. (2006). Communities, Learning and Democracy in the Digital Age. Journal of Community Informatics, 2(2). http://www.ci-journal.net/viewarticle.php?id=193. [3 pages]

Discussion of our own cultural ecologies and computing lives, following on the readings in Selfe & Hawisher.

Final Papers Due

Bridging Difference
Flowers, L. (2003). Talking across difference: Intercultural rhetoric and the search for situated knowledge. College Composition and Communication, 55(1), 38-68.
Gutiérrez, K., Baquedano-Lopez, P., & Tejeda, C. (2000). Rethinking diversity: Hybridity and hybrid language practices in the third space. Mind, Culture, & Activity: An International Journal, 6 (4), 286-303.

Social Movements
McAdam & Scott  (2005). Chapter 1 in Social Movements and Organization Theory
McAdam, D. and W.R. Scott. (2005) Organizations and movements. In:  G.F. Davis, D. McAdam, W.R. Scott, and M.N. Zald (editors), Social movements and organization theory, 4-39. NY: Cambridge University Press.
Rheingold, Smart Mobs
Hargrave, T., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2006). A collective action model of institutional change. Academy of Management Review, 31(4): 864-888. (http://webpages.csom.umn.edu/smo/avandeven/Hargrave&Vandeven%20CA%20AMR%2011-22-04.pdf)