The Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN): A Research Partnership and Agenda for Community Networking in Canada

The Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN) is a collaborative partnership amongst academic researchers in Canada, international researchers in Community Informatics, the three principal federal government departments promoting the "Connecting Canadians" agenda, and community networking practitioners in Canada. CRACINs substantive goal is to review the progress of community-based information and communications technology (ICT) development in the context of Canadian government programs promoting the development and public accessibility of Internet services. Central issues to be explored include the sustainability of community networking initiatives, along with an examination of how the Canadian community-based initiatives contribute to: the amelioration of "digital divides"; the enhancement of economic, social, political and cultural capabilities; the creation, provision, and use of community-oriented learning opportunities; and the development of community-oriented cultural content, open source software, learning tools and broadband infrastructures. The over-arching goal of our research is to begin the systematic documentation and assessment of the development of community-oriented ICT capacity and services contributing to local learning, to the strengthening of relations in and between communities, and more generally to community-focused social and economic development in Canada

Spectrum Matters: Clearing and Reclaiming the Spectrum Commons (Chapter 9)

In Marita Moll and Leslie Regan Shade (Eds.), For Sale to the Highest Bidder: Telecom Policy in Canada (Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2008).Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) - Initiative on the New Economy Public Outreach Grant; Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN); Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative (CCPA

Community Networking and Civic Participation in Canada: A Background Paper

Subsequently published as: Longford, Graham (2005) “Community Networking and Civic Participation: A Canadian Perspective,” in Geoff Erwin, Wallace Taylor, Andy Bytheway, and Corrie Strumpfer, eds., CIRN 2005: 2nd Annual Conference of the Community Informatics Research Network – Proceedings, Cape Town: CIRN 2005 Conference Committee, 355-376.Social scientists and policy makers have been grappling for a number of decades with an apparent decline in civic participation in many western liberal democracies. The mass media and the rise of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are often implicated in explanations for the decline. On the other hand, some have claimed that new ICTs hold the potential to help reverse this trend by revitalizing and strengthening democratic participation and community involvement. This paper explores the relationship between new ICTs and civic participation by examining the role played by specific kinds of ICT-enabled community organizations, namely community networks, in fostering civic participation in local, geographically-based communities in Canada. It will be shown that community networks foster civic participation in the emerging knowledge-based economy and society (KBES) by providing both access to the internet (‘connectedness’ in the technical sense) and opportunities for its effective use by individuals and communities to communicate and interact with one another electronically (‘connectedness’ in the social sense).Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) - Initiative on the New Economy Public Outreach Grant; Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN)

Community Networking and Civic Participation: Surveying the Canadian Research Landscape

This paper explores the relationship between new ICTs and civic participation by examining the role played by specific kinds of ICT-enabled community organizations, namely community networks, in fostering civic participation in local, geographically-based communities in Canada. Existing research and anecdotal evidence suggest that community networks foster civic participation in the emerging information society by providing access to new ICTs for those threatened by digital exclusion, and by providing, via training and other services, opportunities for their effective use within communities to promote communication, information sharing, community involvement, social development and local learning. The paper documents community networkings achievements in civic participation by reviewing the growing research literature on community networks, and by examining a number of case studies from an on-going research project of the Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN). Early results from CRACINs research reveal a number of noteworthy successes, while raising questions for future research as well. The paper also finds that community networks in Canada currently face a number of challenges that jeopardize their ability to sustain, let alone advance, the gains made in recent years

From the “Right to Communicate”to “Consumer Right of Access”: Telecom Policy Visions from 1970-2007 (Chapter 1)

In Marita Moll and Leslie Regan Shade (Eds.), For Sale to the Highest Bidder: Telecom Policy in Canada (Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2008).Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) - Initiative on the New Economy Public Outreach Grant; Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN); Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative (CCPA

Enabling communities in the networked city: ICTs and civic participation among immigrants and youth in urban Canada

There have been numerous possible scenarios depicted on the impact of the internet on urban spaces. Considering ubiquitous/pervasive computing, mobile, wireless connectivity and the acceptance of the Internet as a non-extraordinary part of our everyday lives mean that physical urban space is augmented, and digital in itself. This poses new problems as well as opportunities to those who have to deal with it. This book explores the intersection and articulation of physical and digital environments and the ways they can extend and reshape a spirit of place. It considers this from three main perspectives: the implications for the public sphere and urban public or semi-public spaces; the implications for community regeneration and empowerment; and the dilemmas and challenges which the augmentation of space implies for urbanists. Grounded with international real -life case studies, this is an up-to-date, interdisciplinary and holistic overview of the relationships between cities, communities and high technologies