Applications of Community Informatics for Building Community and Enhancing Civic Society

Abstract

Community informatics provides new ways of approaching old problems of community development and enhancing civic society. Building on a theoretical analysis, this article discusses research in the area of the efforts of community networks in the USA to achieve outcomes in these two areas using the tools of community telecommunications and networking. The analysis matches the theoretical arguments for how community building and civic society are achieved against the practice of community networks trying to implement the new communications technologies. The analysis shows that achieving these goals is difficult for community information networks and that a full understanding of the nature of community information infrastructures could likely be very helpful in this task.

Keywords:

• Community Networks
• Social Capital
• Civic Engagement
• Technology
• Community Development