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Resources

Community Informatics is an emerging field with a growing number of organizations, online publications, interest groups and activities. Below is a list of many valuable resources which either participate in or relate to the field of Community Informatics.

Interest groups

The Art of Engagement
The Art of Engagement is a social networking site that includes artists around the world who are creating work related to social and environmental justice. Artists' profiles are featured along with images and videos.

The Committee for Democracy in Information Technology (CDI)
The Committee for Democracy in Information Technology (CDI) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that promotes social inclusion by using information technology as a tool for building active citizenship. Through its Information Technology and Citizen Rights Schools (ITCRSs), created mainly in partnership with community organizations, CDI implements educational programs both in Brazil and abroad, aiming at mobilizing excluded segments of society and helping them to transform their reality. (English language version available)

The Communication Initiative Network (CI Network)
The CI Network is an online space for sharing the experiences of, and building bridges among, the people and organizations engaged in or supporting communication as a fundamental strategy for economic and social development and change. Here you can participate in an open dialogue on how people affect change through use of ICTs.

The John Dewey Society's Commission on Social Issues
Founded in 1935, the John Dewey Society exists to keep alive John Dewey's commitment to the use of critical and reflective intelligence in the search for solutions to crucial problems in education and culture.

Publications

Bertram (Chip) Bruce's Blog – online publication
Faculty member Chip Bruce regularly updates a blog with information on his work, life, and Community Informatics related issues.

Center For Information Policy Research (CIPR) – online publications
CIPR, located at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, School of Information Studies (UWM-SOIS), facilitates information policy research through its lecture series, research agenda, consulting and outreach activities, and its information ethics fellows program. Here you can learn about free upcoming lectures, view archived lectures, access research papers and learn about other information policy/ethics organizations.

Community Informatics: the research literature (pdf) – bibliography, online publication
Community informatics began as practical activity in communities. How is it also a field of research? One way to answer that is to identify the literature that is the record and the discourse of researchers. With this initial bibliography, the Community Informatics Initiative hopes to start a collection that will help advance our field. The initial entries are the scholarly works—books, book chapters, conference proceedings, journal articles, and theses—that have been used in community and social informatics courses at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science since 2005.

Extending Library Services to Empower Youth (ELSEY) - online publication
Extending Library Services to Empower Youth (ELSEY) began in 2009 with the goal of revitalizing the library collection in the Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center. ELSEY has extended its reach beyond the CCJDC library to include presentations and information distribution, and will continue in its efforts to make more individuals aware of the rewards of maintaining library systems and providing information literacy programming to youth located in juvenile detention centers.

Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement - online publication
Gateways provides a forum for academics, practitioners and community representatives to pursue issues and reflect on practices related to interactions between tertiary institutions and community organizations; academic interventions in community; community-based projects with links to the tertiary sector; and community initiatives. The journal publishes evaluative case studies of community engagement initiatives, analyses of the policy environment and theoretical reflections that contribute to the scholarship of engagement. It publishes both refereed and unrefereed articles.

Infed - online publication
Infed.org provides a space for a range of different writers to explore informal education, lifelong learning and social action.  The site contains a long list of categorized full text articles.

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) – online publications
This link will take you to free e-books on topics in community development. These digital resources are made available by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Canadian government corporation committed to helping developing countries use science and technology to find practical, long-term solutions to the social, economic, and environmental problems they face.

Journal of Community Informatics – online publication
The Journal of Community Informatics provides an opportunity for Community Informatics researchers and others to share their work with the larger community. Through the application of a rigorous process of peer review knowledge and awareness concerning the community use of Information and Communications Technology is, in this way, being brought to a wider professional audience.

Metro East Digital.org - online publication
Metro East Digital (formerly DigitalESL) has been engaged in the Metro East region of Illinois since 1999, working to bridge the digital divide and facilitating effective use of information and communications technologies to achieve community development goals.  Metro East Communities include: Alorton, Brooklyn/Lovejoy, Cahokia, Centreville, East St. Louis, Madison, Venice, and Washington Park, Illinois.

Public Sphere Project: Liberating Voices – online publication
The Public Sphere Project is an initiative of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR). Its goal is to help promote more effective and equitable public spheres all over the world. It is intended to provide a broad framework for a variety of interrelated activities. Here you can view and post threads on a variety of topics.

What is Community Informatics (and Why Does It Matter)? – print publication
This links to a book of the same title by Michael Gurstein.

Speaker series

Center for Writing Studies Colloquium Series – speaker series
Each academic year the Center invites several well-known scholars to campus to speak as part of our colloquium speaker series. The colloquia run for one and one half hours, with a 45-minute talk followed by a question and answer session. Center graduate students also present their research at the colloquium series twice a year at the Graduate Research Forum.

Typically, talks are held on a Thursday afternoon in room 126 of the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences. The Center hosts a lunch on Thursday with graduate students and/or faculty, a dinner with faculty members on Thursday night, and a breakfast with graduate students on Friday morning.

Digital Divide Speaker Series
Archives from the digital divide speaker series at UIUC.

Professional organizations

Association For Community Networking (AFCN) – professional organization
Association For Community Networking (AFCN) is an educational nonprofit corporation dedicated to fostering and supporting community networking. On this site you can apply for membership and participate in forums with community networking experts and other AFCN members.

The Association of Internet Researchers – professional organization
AOIR is an international academic association dedicated to the advancement of the cross-disciplinary field of Internet studies. This site gives you access to the association's mailing list, research wiki, publications, newsletter and information on activities and conferences.

The Benton Foundation – professional organization
The Benton Foundation's mission is articulate a public interest vision for the digital age and to demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems. Visit their Web site to learn about projects such as Sound Partners, a community health project and OneWorld.net, an online international news network.

Communication and Information Technologies Section of the American Sociological Association – professional organization
CITASA focuses on the social aspects of computing, the Internet, new media, computer networks, and other communication and information technologies; along with the design and use of technology in teaching and research.

Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) – professional organization
The Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) is an international network of researchers, practitioners and policy makers concerned with enabling communities through the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and specifically with research and practice in Community Informatics and community networking or community technology practice. This site hosts a forum where registrants can participate in discussion, access the Community Informatics Journal and other publications related to community informatics, and sign up for the CIRN list serv.

Community Technology Center Network (CTCNet) – professional organization
CTCNet is a national membership network of community technology centers (CTCs) and other non-profits that provide technology access and education to underserved communities. This group provides resources to members, such as a manual for CTC set-up, a quarterly newsletter, and hosts a member conference. Prairienet is a member of this network.

Other resources

Community Development Toolbox – decision making tools
The Community Development Toolbox is a website which lists a number of resources for Community Development such as: Strategic Planning, Community Programs for Youth, Conducting a survey in your community, etc.

A Librarian at Every Table – online resource
This is a mailing list that explores how new technologies have affected the role of librarians. Here you can sign up for the mailing list, find links to community-building organizations and read books, articles and other publications that focus on how librarians can participate in community initiatives.

Program in Science and Technology Studies (STS) – directory, online resource
This is a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) program that exists to support research, academic collaboration, and interdisciplinary graduate training in the study of science and technology. On this site, you can learn about courses, lectures and faculty.

URP Toolbox – decision making tools
The URP Toolbox is a free resource of principles and strategies to enhance meaningful stakeholder involvement in decision-making. Stakeholders include not only communities, but also scientists and decision-makers. Meaningful involvement of all stakeholders occurs through a commitment to social learning - learning on the part of communities, other stakeholders and institutions.

http://ourblocks.net/ – online resources
Provides a ready reference on how to build and sustain communities, from the ground up. They are also looking for volunteer editors to help develop their listings.

Campus Community Interface Initiatives
The Campus Community Interface Initiatives office (CCII) serves as a resource and point of contact bringing together the civic interest of University of Illinois faculty staff and students with the various community organizations and agencies interested helping to foster a high quality of life for underrepresented individuals and groups via programs focused on education, health and wellness, and the arts. The office also works on fostering positive relationships between the students and the  Champaign-Urbana community.