CRACIN Canadian Research Alliance for

Community Innovation and Networking

Andrew Clement

Michael Gurstein

Marita Moll

Leslie ShadeInformation Policy Research Program

University of Toronto

cracin.ca

SSHRC INE, Ottawa

January 23, 2004

Community Networking in Canada

1970’s Community Memory, Telidon projects 1980’s Bulletin Boards, first FreeNets 1995- Connecting Canadians:

Schoolnet Community Access Program(CAP), UrbanCAP, VolNet,

LibraryNet, Smart Communities (IndCan) Community Learning Networks (HRDC) Broadband for Remote and Northern Development

2004 end of CAP, Smart Communities?

Whither Community NetworkingDemise? or Regeneration?

Research Challenges Do CN initiatives offer significant public benefits? What are

they? For whom? How? Should they continue to receive public funding? How

provided? What CN forms are viable? Under what conditions? What are

the critical ingredients? How can CNs be made sustainable? Do CNs represent proto-institutions for public information and

communications services in a networked society? What have been the “effective uses” that have emerged or

not emerged from the CDN initiatives and why? What lessons do the CDN CN initiatives have for Community

Informatics world-wide?

Case study sites

Vancouver Community Net

Alberta Library/Supernet

K-Net Services (Sioux Lookout)

St. Christopher House (Toronto)

Sm@rtSites (Ottawa)

Communautique (Montreal)

Western Valley Development Authority

Government Partners

Canadian Heritage Strategic Research and Analysis

Human Resources Development Canada Learning Policy Directorate Office of Learning Technologies (OLT)

Industry Canada Electronic Commerce Branch Information Highway Applications Branch

Research Themes

Digital divides Local capabilities Social services Local content Learning

Participation Governance Open Source Broadband Sustainability

Outtakes

Canadian Internet Policy

Ensure universal access to essential services at reasonable cost (IHAC, 1994-97)

Reinforce Canadian sovereignty and cultural identity (IHAC)

Connect Canadians! (Throne speech, 1997) Eliminate “digital divides”! (NBTF, 2001) Be innovative! (“Innovation agenda” 2002)

Public internet promotion Federal programs for public access

(‘Connecting Canadians’): Community Access Program (CAP) Schoolnet, LibraryNet, VolNet, UrbanCAP Smart Communities Community Learning Networks Broadband for Remote and Northern

Development + Provincial programs

e.g. Alberta SuperNet

Aims of the research project Assess effectiveness of CN initiatives in

fostering local learning community relationships community social and economic development

Share information between academic, government and community partners

Enable ongoing self-assessment by CNs Investigate ways to sustain CN initiatives

CRACIN partnerships

Research Collaboration

Government Partners

CanadianScholars

Policy and Research Institutes

InternationalScholars

Academic Partners Community Partners

Community PartnersTelecommunities Canada

Canadian Academic Collaborators Marco Adria (University of Alberta) Nadia Caidi (University of Toronto) Arthur Cordell (Industry Canada / Carleton) Bruce Dienes (Capflex / Acadia) Serge Proulx (Université du Québec à Montréal)

Applicants Andrew Clement (PI) (University of Toronto) Michael Gurstein (New Jersey Inst. of Technology) Marita Moll (Telecommunities Canada) Leslie Shade (Concordia University)

International Academic Collaborators Bieber, Michael (New Jersey Institute of Technology) Day, Peter (University of Brighton) Finquelievich, Susana (Universidad Buenos Aires) Kubicek, Herbert (University of Bremen) Loader, Brian (University of Teesside / CIRA) Mansell, Robin E. (London School of Economics) Robinson, Scott (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) Schuler, Doug (Northwestern University) Taylor, Wallace (Central Queensland University / COIN) van den Besselaar, Peter (NIWI-KNAW – Royal Netherlands

Academy of Arts and Sciences) Williams, Robin (University of Edinbrough / RCSS)

+ Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) - Int’l

Projects

1. Immigrant Populations and Community Networks

2. Institutional Development and Community Organizations

3. Community Learning and Human Capital Development

4. Technology Choice and Infrastructure

Projects

5. Civic Participation and Community Service

6. Rural Community Broadband Development

7. Language and Local Cultural Content Creation

8. Smart Communities and Community Networking

9. Intergenerational Story-Telling

Study site linkages (selected)

Vancouver Community Net (VCN)

Alberta Library/Supernet (ALS)

St. Christopher House (SCH)

K-Net Services

Sm@rtSuites (SS)

Communautique

Western Valley Development Authority

(WVDA)

Excerpt: projects, case studies, issues

Case> studies>

+ lead> researchers>

Issues

#1 Vancouver Community

Net (BC)

Royce Gurstein

#2 Alberta

Library/ SuperNet (AB) Pana Adria

#3 K-Net Smart

Community (ON)

Beaton Clement

Digital divides 1 6 6; 8; 9 Local capabilities 3 3; 5; 6 3; 6; 8; 9 Social services 6; 5 6; 8 Local content 1 7; 9 Learning 1; 3 3 3; 7; 9

Broad-based studies Evaluative survey (Lead: Marita Moll) Community Networks as public goods

(Lead: Arthur Cordell) Community networking and libraries (Lead:

Nadia Caidi) Community Informatics: From Theory to

Practice (Leads: M. Gurstein, M. Bieber) Legal and Policy Issues around CNs (Lead:

Centre for Innovation Law and Policy)

Methods Institutional and policy analysis

Dutton’s ‘ecology of games’

Participatory action research Case studies Qualitative and quantitative

CLN evaluative framework Modular evaluation instrument

Dissemination Thematic workshops Expansion of online community networking

handbook Establishment of the first international

journal on Community Informatics Tables d'Hôte series for government policy

community Online research repository Academic and community-based publishing

and presentation

Next steps:

Project launch Evaluation framework Workshops

See: Information Policy Research Program

http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/research/iprp