Digital Commons Network^™

Communications Breakdown: Revisiting The Question Of Information And Its Significance For Community Informatics Projects, William Tibben

Faculty of Informatics - Papers (Archive)

The gap between those who understand the complexities of community requirements and the information technologists who can build the technologies represents a central focus of concern with Community Informatics (CI) research. This paper explores how different assumptions about the utility of information leads to poor communication between researchers and practitioners. Braman’s four-part hierarchy is a useful vehicle to investigate this as she seeks to include a range of actors such as policy makers, technologists and community members. A number of case study examples are explored to illustrate the value of Braman’s work for CI.