Editing Community informatics (section)

==Background==
Most humans live in communities. In some urban areas, community and neighborhood are conflated but this may be a limited definition.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wellman|first1=Barry|last2=Leighton|first2=Barry|title=Networks, neighborhoods, and communities: Approaches to the study of the community question|journal=Urban Affairs Quarterly|date=March 1979|volume=14|issue=3|pages=363–390|doi=10.1177/107808747901400305|s2cid=143885156 }}</ref> Communities are defined as people coming together in pursuit of common aims or shared practices through any means, including physical, electronic, and [[social network]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Strath|first=B.|year=2001|title=Community/society: History of the concept =International Encyclopaedia of the Social & Behavioural Sciences|publisher=Elsevier Science Ltd|pages=2378–2383|location=Oxford}}</ref> They proliferate even while the ability to define them is amorphous.

Cultures ensure their growth and survival by continuing the norms and mores that are the bases of their way of life.<ref>{{Cite web|title = What keeps societies together – Richard Sennett and Richard David Precht discuss in Berlin|url = http://www.cafebabel.co.uk/berlin/article/what-keeps-societies-together-richard-sennett-and-richard-david-precht-discuss-in-berlin.html|website = Cafebabel|accessdate = 2015-11-12}}</ref> Communities can use the infrastructure of ICTs as a method of continuing cultures within the context of the Internet and the World Wide Web.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Cyberpower {{!}} Public Sphere Project|url = http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/print-pattern.php?begin=25|website = publicsphereproject.org|accessdate = 2015-11-12}}</ref> Once a cultural identity is defined within the context of these technologies, it can be replicated and disseminated through various means, including the sharing of information through websites, applications, databases, and file sharing.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Common Ground: Holding Community Together {{!}} Holly Lisle: Official Author Homepage|url = http://hollylisle.com/common-ground-holding-community-together/|website = hollylisle.com|date = 24 December 2009|accessdate = 2015-11-12}}</ref> In this manner, a group that defines its cultural identity within the construct of technology infrastructure is empowered to hold valuable exchanges within the spheres of economics, political power, high and popular culture, education, and entertainment.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Constructing Premium Network Spaces:Reflections on Infrastructure Networks andContemporary Urban Development|last = Graham|first = Stephen|date = 2000|journal = International Journal of Urban and Regional Research|doi = 10.1111/1468-2427.00242|volume=24| issue=1 |pages=183–200}}</ref>

Since the inception of the Internet and the World Wide Web, we have seen the exponential growth of enterprises<ref>{{Cite web|title = HOW THE INTERNET CHANGED THE WORLD – Business Growth Fund|url = http://www.businessgrowthfund.co.uk/how-the-internet-changed-the-world/|website = Business Growth Fund|accessdate = 2015-11-12|language = en-US|first = Jon|last = Rhodes|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151115041355/http://www.businessgrowthfund.co.uk/how-the-internet-changed-the-world/|archive-date = 15 November 2015|url-status = dead}}</ref> ranging from electronic commerce, social networking, entertainment and education, as well as a myriad of other contrivances and file exchanges that allow for an ongoing cultural enrichment through technology.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://www.arifyildirim.com/ilt508/sinikka.sassi.pdf|title = Cultural differentiation or social segregation? Four approaches to the digital divide|last = Sinikka|first = Sassi|date = 2005|journal = New Media & Society|doi = 10.1177/1461444805056012|volume=7|issue = 5|pages=684–700| s2cid=6585755 }}</ref> However, there has been a general lag as to which populations can benefit through these services through impediments such as geographic location, a lack of funds, gaps in technology and the expertise and skills that are required to operate these systems.<ref>{{Cite book|title = High Technology and Low-income Communities: Prospects for the Positive Use of Advanced Information Technology|url = https://archive.org/details/hightechnologylo00dona|url-access = registration|publisher = MIT Press|date = 1999-01-01|isbn = 9780262691994|first1 = Donald A.|last1 = Schön|first2 = Bishwapriya|last2 = Sanyal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title = Community Technology Centers: Narrowing the Digital Divide in Low-Income, Urban Communities|url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227652465|journal = Journal of Urban Affairs|pages = 279–290|volume = 23|issue = 3&4|doi = 10.1111/0735-2166.00089|first1 = Lisa J.|last1 = Servon|first2 = Marla K.|last2 = Nelson|year = 2001| s2cid=154917372 }}</ref>

To date there has been very considerable investment in supporting the electronic development of business communities, one-to-many social tools (for example, corporate intranets, or purpose-built exchange and [[social networking service]]s such as eBay, or Myspace), or in developing applications for individual use. There is far less understanding, or investment in human-technical networks and processes that are intended to deliberately result in social change or community change, particularly in communities for whom electronic communication is secondary to having an adequate income or social survival.

The communal dimension (and focus of Community Informatics) results in a strong interest in studying and developing strategies for how ICTs can enable and empower those living in physical communities. This is particularly the case in those communities where ICT access is done communally, through [[Telecentres]], information kiosks, community multimedia centres, and other technologies. This latter set of approaches has become of very considerable interest as Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) has emerged as significant element in strategic (and funding) approaches to social and economic development in [[Less developed country|Less Developed Countries]]. ICT4D initiatives have been undertaken by public, NGO and private sector agencies concerned with development such as the [[United Nations Development Program]], the [[World Bank]], the [[Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation]] (SDC), the [[MS Swaminathan Research Foundation]]; have emerged as a key element in the poverty alleviation component of the UN's [[Millennium Development Goals]]; and as important directions for private sector investment both from a market perspective (cf. the "[[Bottom of the Pyramid]]") and from companies concerned with finding a delivery channel for goods and services into rural and low income communities.

While the progress of ICT4D has been remarkably fast in general as communities become more information-based, digital divide appears to be a great challenge to its proponents. Although access to information technology in North America and Europe is high, it is the complete opposite in other regions of the world, particularly in Africa and in some parts of Asia. For instance, in the ASEAN region alone, there are countries who are leaders in digital technology such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand while on the other side of the pole are countries who have very poor access to and development in digital technology including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam.<ref>Reference: Flor, A. & Flor, B. (n.d.). ICT4D: Information and communication technology for development. PDF. Retrieved from the UPOU Website: https://myportal.upou.edu.ph</ref> The effectiveness of ICT as a tool for development is highly contingent on the capacity of all countries to accommodate and maintain information and communications technology.

There is thus growing interest in Community Informatics as an approach to understanding of how different ICTs can enable and empower marginalized communities to achieve their collective goals.