Texas Legacy Project for Cyclists

© Time Inc.

INF 382 C, Fall 2009

Meredith Bush, Tiffany Criswell, Michelle Hinojosa, Amanda Keys, Holly Mendenhall

Main Peloton on the Champs-Elysees, Stage 21, Le Tour de France, 2009

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynt/3768828330/

Le Peleton

The Soloist

Kokopelli Trail, UT/COwww.singletracks.com/ blog/2007/04/page/2/

The Bicycle As A Tool

Commuters in Calgary, AB, Canada.

http://www.pedbikeimages.org/pubdetail.cfm?picid=113

Cyclists as Community of Practice

• Shared Jargon• Discourses• Subgroups not visible to “outsiders”• Solidarity on the Streets

– The wave of shared experience– Safety in numbers

Communities of Practice: Quick Recap

• Work or Professional Groups only? (Davenport 2005)

• Social World or Reference Group? (Star 2003)

Photo: Critical Mass, Market Street, San Francisco, CAhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/adolgov/1322769655/

Our Working DefinitionStar (2003):

“a community of practice is a group of people joined by conventions, language, practice and technologies”

Anyone who has ever or ever plans to ride a bicycle in the state of

Texas

Texas Legacy Project for Cyclists:

Information Behavior

© Time Inc.

Information Behavior:Types of Users

- Transportation- Sport- Recreation

Individualism Communalism

Cycling

Tools for Individual and Social Needs:

http://www.ridethecity.org

Cyclists & Safety

- Of the 40% of [sample] cyclists involved in cycle vs. automobile accidents, 100% still regularly ride their bicycles.

Important Influences

-Environmental Activism

-Activism & Legislation

-Urban Planning & Cycling Behavior

-Health & Fitness

Texas Legacy Project for Cyclists:

Noteworthy Distinctions

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Differences and Similarities

-Cyclists, like other hobbyists and athletes, are rarely researched specifically in terms of information behavior and practice.

-Cyclists are highly researched in the areas of safety and city planning, with mostly open-ended information resources.

Simon’s “satisficing” and Bates’s “berrypicking”

-providing information that is “good enough”

-up to the individual to browse and pick what is useful

Texas Legacy Project for Cyclists:

ASK and Sense-Making

© Time Inc.

Cyclists and ASK

- Minimal ASK-Strong community helps “serious leisure” participants, such as cyclists, find information

Sense-Making Cyclists

- Cyclists gather information . . . and then they may or may not use it actively-Different from communities of practice for professionals

ExplorationSelected a variety of interviews to reflect the broad range of cyclists’ concerns:

•Air quality•Road safety•Public land use•Ecotourism•Recreation

Accounts for wide scope of audience by providing myriad resources related to

diversity of interests, encouraging exploration

PromotionPhoenix study finds that cyclists alter their behavior when presented with information and resources

Inferred that cyclists share information eagerly

Portland report posits a direct correlation between feelings of a safe environment and an increased desire

to ride by non-cyclists

Promotion

Inferred that cyclists share information eagerly

In providing copious additional resources, we hoped to engage cyclists, incite the creation of safe harbors, find

communities, and circulate information amongst them.