Connecting Canadians Investigations in Community Informatics

Connecting Canadians represents the work of the Community Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN), the largest national and international research effort to examine the burgeoning field of community informatics, a cross-disciplinary approach to the mobilization of information and communications technologies (ICT) for community change.

Funded for four years by the SSHRC’s Initiative for the New Economy, CRACIN systematically studied a wide variety of Canadian community ICT initiatives, bringing perspectives from sociology, computer science, critical theory, women’s studies, library and information sciences, and management studies to bear on networking technologies. A comprehensive thematic account of this in-depth research, Connecting Canadians will be an essential resource for NGOs, governments, the private sector, and multilateral agencies across the globe.

About the Editors

Andrew Clement is a professor in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, with a cross-over appointment in the Department of Computer Science. Michael Gurstein is the director of the Center for Community Informatics Research, Training, and Development in Vancouver. Graham Longford has been a research fellow and coinvestigator for CRACIN and CWIRP. Marita Moll is a researcher and freelance writer who writes about telecommunications policy and community networking in Canada. Leslie Regan Shade is an associate professor in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto and during the CRACIN research at the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University.

Table of Contents

1. List of Illustrations
2. Acknowledgements
3. 1. Connecting Canadians? Community Informatics Perspectives on Community Networking Initiatives / Graham Longford, Andrew Clement, Michael Gurstein, Leslie Regan Shade
4. Part I. Context
   1. 2. Toward a Conceptual Framework for a Community Informatics / Michael Gurstein
   2. 3. Keeping in Touch: A Snapshot of Canadian Community Networks and Their Users – Report on the CRACIN Survey of Community Network Users / Marita Moll, Melissa Fritz
   3. 4. Canadian and US Broadband Policies: A Comparative Analysis / Heather E. Hudson
5. Part II. Conceptual Frameworks
   1. 5. Information Technology as Political Catalyst: From Technological Innovation to the Promotion of Social Change / Serge Proulx
   2. 6. “The Researcher Is a Girl”: Tales of Bringing Feminist Labour Perspectives into Community Informatics Practice and Evaluation / Katrina Peddle, Alison Powell, Leslie Regan Shade
   3. 7. What Are Community Networks an Example Of? A Response / Christian Sandvig
6. Part III. Community Innovation I: Participation and Inclusion
   1. 8. Systems Development in a Community-Based Organization: Lessons from the St. Christopher House Community Learning Network / Susan MacDonald, Andrew Clement
   2. 9. Vancouver Community Network as a Site of Digital and Social Inclusion / Diane Dechief
7. Part IV. Community Innovation II: Wireless Networking
   1. 10. Community and Municipal Wi-Fi Initiatives in Canada: Evolutions in Community Participation / Alison Powell, Leslie Regan Shade
   2. 11. Wi-Fi Publics: Defining Community and Technology at Montréal’s Île Sans Fil / Alison Powell
   3. 12. Wireless Broadband from Individual Backhaul to Community Service: Co-operative Provision and Related Models of Local Signal Access / Matthew Wong
8. Part V. Rural and Remote Broadband
   1. 13. “We Were on the Outside Looking In”: MyKnet.org – A First Nations Online Social Environment in Northern Ontario / Brandi L. Bell, Philipp Budka, Adam Fiser
   2. 14. A Historical Account of the Kuh-ke-nah Network: Broadband Deployment in a Remote Canadian Aboriginal Telecommunications Context / Adam Fiser, Andrew Clement
   3. 15. Atlantic Canadian Community Informatics: The Case of the WVDA and SmartLabrador / Katrina Peddle
   4. 16. Reverse English: Strategies of the Keewatin Career Development Corporation in Discourse Surrounding the Knowledge-Based Economy and Society / Frank Winter
9. Part VI. Libraries and Community Networks
   1. 17. Community Networks and Local Libraries: Strengthening Ties with Communities / Nadia Caidi, Susan MacDonald, Elise Chien
   2. 18. The Library Ideal and the Community Network: Prospects for New Technologies in the Public Library / Marco Adria
10. Part VII. Public Policy
    1. 19. Community Networking Experiences with Government Funding Programs Service Delivery Model or Sustainable Social Innovation? / Susan MacDonald, Graham Longford, Andrew Clement
    2. 20. Communautique: Action and Advocacy for Universal Digital Access / Nicolas Lecomte, Serge Proulx
    3. 21. There and Back to the Future Again: Community Networks and Telecom Policy Reform in Canada, 1995-2010 / Graham Longford, Marita Moll, Leslie Regan Shade
11. Appendix A: Community Partners and Case Study Sites / Graham Longford
12. Appendix B: A Brief History of the Community Access Program: From Community Economic
    Development to Social Cohesion to Digital Divide / Marita Moll
13. Appendix C: The Federal Connecting Canadians Initiative, 1995-2007: A Brief Overview / Graham Longford, Marita Moll
14. Glossary
15. Publication Credits
16. List of Contributors

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