Community Informatics (CI) can be considered to consist of two interrelated forms:
- Community Information Systems (CIS), which deliver the kind of information storage and analysis functionality usually associated with information systems within formal commercial or governmental organisations; and
- Community (or Civic) Networks (CNs) - physical, procedural and knowledge structures to enhance the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by community members.
CIS are ways of using information technology to address some of the needs of communities. They build upon, and co-exist with, complex informal and formal (non-computerised) pre-existing systems of communication and information storage (Turk and Trees, 2000). Computer-based CIS are becoming much more common because of the increased affordability of powerful hardware and software and the greater availability of relevant data sets, especially as government agencies convert their records to digital form. There has also been a massive increase in the interconnection of computer systems via client-server architecture, local and wide area networks, and especially the development of the World Wide Web (WWW).
Usability of computer systems has been greatly enhanced, making them accessible to a much broader range of users. As well as these 'technology push' factors, there has been 'demand pull' through the desire of community members to have access to technology enabling them to play a more effective role in decision-making processes. This has, in part, been fuelled by demands for greater equity of access to information and by developments in participatory democracy.
CNs have the objective of increasing ICT use by community members (Gurstein, 2000).
They have a long history - dating back to the 1970s. They have been developed
(especially in the USA and Northern Europe) initially as university-based research projects then as
government funded projects and ultimately (in some cases) as commercial ventures.
CNs may have a number of specific aims, such as:
- Providing IT resources to people from lower socio-ecomomic groups ('have-nots');
- Providing training to people who do not currently have IT skills ('cannots');
- Improving access to telecommunications facilities (especially in developing countries or in remote areas of developed countries);
- Increasing access to the WWW for education, information acquisition, entertainment and communication;
- Reducing the disadvantages suffered by members of the community with physical disabilities;
- Increasing the penetration of electronic commerce, both on a business-to-business and a business-to-customer basis;
- Increasing IT-related employment opportunities;
- Facilitating "telework" and IT-related home-based economic activity;
- Facilitating public education and participatory democracy;
- Enhancing social processes at a community level.
The twin facets of CI may be realised in an integrated way through development of a community computer network, which effectively constitutes a distributed CIS, while providing the physical network infrastructure to facilitate the processes leading to increased ICT use.
Culture, values and attitudes towards technology of the system users (and designers) are important factors which can be addressed through the use of a highly participative system development methodology. This should give the system owners more practical power over development processes and provide effective mechanisms to manage the changes in the information situation. Different modes of participation should be adopted for different types of stakeholders, taking into account the social context and the project's goals. It is important that participating users understand the development processes and system design options. Effective ways of incorporating the needs of all stakeholders must be developed. One way of doing this is through examination of the use of potentially richer modeling approaches for systems development in complex cases.
Most importantly, the development of any IS should be considered a social, as well as, a technical process. This applies most strongly in the case of CIS, especially CIS for indigenous communities. A CIS must be culturally appropriate not only in terms of the design of the user interface but also in terms of its deep structure (ontology and epistemology) and the procedures for development and use of the system.
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