Kate Williams

Following the “community” thread from sociology to information behavior and informatics: Uncovering theoretical continuities and research opportunities

The authors review five paradigms from the discipline of community sociology (functionalism, evolution, conflict, interactionism, and exchange) to assess their potential utility for understanding everyday life information behavior and technology use. Their analysis considers the ways in which each paradigm defines the concepts of community, information, and technology. It also explores the insights offered by each paradigm regarding relationships between community and both information and technology. Accordingly, the authors highlight the ways in which existing information behavior and informatics scholarship draws from similar conceptual roots. Key insights drawn from this research, as well as remaining gaps and research questions, are examined. Additionally, they consider the limitations of each approach. The authors conclude by arguing for the value of a vigorous research program regarding information behavior and technology use in communities, particularly that which takes the community as the central unit of analysis. They consider key questions that could drive such a research program, as well as potentially fruitful conceptual and methodological approaches for this endeavor.

Communities in Disasters: Helpless or Helping?

Development faces the challenge of an unexpected rise in disasters of all kinds. Prompted by two popular books about disasters (Klein 2007; Solnit 2009), we review the North American scholarly literature on disasters to answer three questions. Practically, how do local communities respond to disasters? Theoretically, what is the relationship between local social networks and disaster response/recovery? For policy, whom should we count on to carry this out? The primary finding is that communities, however devastated, are not helpless, but helping, and in particular stages. Outside social forces can help, but disregarding local networks and processes impedes disaster response/recovery.

Identifying claims in social science literature

The Claim Framework was developed to capture how scientists communicate findings from an empirical study. Although the framework has been evaluated in biomedical literature, the framework has yet to be examined with respect to social science literature. Our goal is to fill this gap and explore the degree to which the Claim Framework can capture claims made in two social science research areas: Community Informatics and Information and Communication Technologies for Development. This poster presents preliminary results on the number and location of claims in full-text social science articles compared to claims in biomedical articles.

What is community informatics?: a global and empirical answer

Various definitions of community informatics have been advanced [1, 2, 3], each relatively prescriptive but all centered on the interaction between local, historical community and either information or information technology. The IT revolution continues to unfold and intersect in new ways with local communities, leaving the field in a state of flux. We are carrying out a systematic collection and analysis of the literature in order to obtain an empirical (rather than prescriptive) definition of the field. Moreover, librarians and LIS scholars participated in early community information systems work [4, 5], but what role do they play today? To the best of our abilities, we are seeking global rather than country-bounded answers, and we invite others to join us in order to complete this task.

The cybernavigators of Chicago public library and the 'informatics moment': the information revolution in civil society and people's everyday lives

Community informatics research examines how people in their everyday lives, in civil society, are navigating the information revolution. An empirical study is underway in Chicago, USA, of the process whereby public library patrons get help with using computers and the internet. This involves the public library providing 1) networked public access computers and 2) helping staff called CyberNavigators. The focus here is on the latter, and four key findings have emerged. First, the process of getting help from a CyberNavigator is a particular instance of a central process in the information society that we call the informatics moment. Second, this informatics moment entails four types of digital literacy work. Third, social capital is a critical contributing factor. And finally, by means of this informatics moment and the staffing arrangement that has evolved to support it, the conscious invention of the branch public library of the future is underway.

Tech learning potluck

We will share experiences of learning and teaching technology, exploring pedagogies, barriers to learning, and recurrent misconceptions that arise in learning to use computer applications. To ground the discussion, we will start the event by each taking turns in both learning and teaching how to do something with a particular application.