[Asis-l] Community Informatics and Community Archives

[Bob Allen]

http://cirn.wikispaces.com/Conference+Call+2013


In 2013 the Prato Conference is being jointly organised by CIRN, the 
Center for Information as Evidence <http://legacy.gseis.ucla.edu/cie/>, 
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and theCentre for 
Organisational and Social Informatics 
<http://infotech.monash.edu/research/about/centres/cosi/> at Monash 
University. It will explore the rich synergy of experiences and 
viewpoints amongst Community Informatics and Community Archives researchers.

Community Informatics is primarily concerned with improving the 
wellbeing of people and their communities, through more effective use of 
ICTs. Community Informatics foregrounds social change and transformative 
action in emergent social-technical relationships rather than prediction 
and control. This orientation also has much in common with Development 
Informatics.

Community-centric archival research, education and practice are 
concerned with empowering communities in support of such desirable 
objectives as democracy, human and civil rights, self-determination, 
sustainable development, and social inclusion. Recordkeeping and 
archiving are fundamental infrastructural components supporting 
community information, self-knowledge and memory needs, thus 
contributing to resilient communities and cultures.

The 2012 Prato Conference was the first time that people from Community 
Informatics and Community Archives came together. Much of the research 
that CI people were reporting was of great interest to archivists 
because it addressed memory and identity infrastructures and how 
technologies can support them. New approaches to archival research, 
education and practice that support community-based scholarship provide 
an alternative lens for looking at Community Informatics research, 
education and practice. Community Informatics researchers gained new 
insights into the characteristics, motivations and interests of diverse, 
often underrepresented communities.

2012 Conference participants identified a strong nexus between the two 
areas of research in which closer interaction could result in 
significant support for each other's activity. There also appears to be 
a strong alignment in values around the principles of transformative 
research, social justice, and giving voices to those who currently lack 
a voice.

Some topics to consider for conference papers, and presentations or 
special workshops.

  * How can Community Informatics and Community Archives inform each other?
  * How might such cross-fertilization or convergence (professional,
    practical, conceptual) be encouraged?
  * The dark side of community activity; dealing with suspicion, trauma,
    failure or hostility and their legacies.
  * How do we use and tell stories ethically and effectively?
  * Addressing incommensurability in community-based research.
  * Community-aware management, storage and ownership of community data
    and technology.
  * Participatory methodologies in Community Informatics and Community
    Archives research
  * The relationship of other frameworks such as Citizenship Journalism
    or Community-based research to Community Informatics and Community
    Archives
  * Working with the hard end of the Information Sciences.

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