Connecting Canadians

Investigations in Community Informatics

Edited by Andrew Clement, Michael Gurstein, Graham Longford, Marita Moll, and Leslie Regan Shade
Publisher: Athabasca University Press
Ebook (Kindle) : 9781771991124, 518 pages, July 2012
Paperback : 9781926836041, 520 pages, June 2012
Ebook (PDF) : 9781926836058, 518 pages, July 2012
Ebook (EPUB) : 9781926836423, 518 pages, July 2012
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Table of contents

List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xi

1 Connecting Canadians? Community Informatics Perspectives on Community Networking Initiatives Graham Longford, Andrew Clement, Michael Gurstein, Leslie Regan Shade 3

Part I Context
2 Toward a Conceptual Framework for a Community Informatics Michael Gurstein 35
3 Keeping in Touch: A Snapshot of Canadian Community Networks and Their Users - Report on the CRACIN Survey of Community Network Users Marita Moll, Melissa Fritz 61
4 Canadian and US Broadband Policies: A Comparative Analysis Heather E. Hudson 90

Part II Conceptual Frameworks
5 Information Technology as Political Catalyst: From Technological Innovation to the Promotion of Social Change Serge Proulx 105
6 "The Researcher Is a Girl": Tales of Bringing Feminist Labour Perspectives into Community Informatics Practice and Evaluation Katrina Peddle, Alison Powell, Leslie Regan Shade 117
7 What Are Community Networks an Example Of? A Response I Christian Sandvig 133

Part III Community Innovation I: Participation and Inclusion
8 Systems Development in a Community-Based Organization: Lessons from the St. Christopher House Community Learning Network Susan MacDonald, Andrew Clement 143
9 Vancouver Community Network as a Site of Digital and Social Inclusion Diane Dechief 162

Part IV Community Innovation II: Wireless Networking
10 Community and Municipal Wi-Fi Initiatives in Canada: Evolutions in Community Participation I Alison Powell, Leslie Regan Shade 183
11 Wi-Fi Publics: Defining Community and Technology at Montréal’s Île Sans Fil Alison Powell 202
12 Wireless Broadband from Individual Backhaul to Community Service: Co-operative Provision and Related Models of Local Signal Access Matthew Wong 218

Part V Rural and Remote Broadband
13 "We Were on the Outside Looking In": MyKnet.org - A First Nations Online Social Environment in Northern Ontario Brandi L. Bell, Philipp Budka, Adam Fiser 237
14 A Historical Account of the Kuh-ke-nah Network: Broadband Deployment in a Remote Canadian Aboriginal Telecommunications Context Adam Fiser, Andrew Clement 255
15 Atlantic Canadian Community Informatics: The Case of the WVDA and SmartLabrador Katrina Peddle 283
16 Reverse English: Strategies of the Keewatin Career Development Corporation in Discourse Surrounding the Knowledge-Based Economy and Society Frank Winter 306

Part VI Libraries and Community Networks
17 Community Networks and Local Libraries: Strengthening Ties with Communities Nadia Caidi, Susan MacDonald, Elise Chien 341
18 The Library Ideal and the Community Network: Prospects for New Technologies in the Public Library I Marco Adria 367

Part VII Public Policy
19 Community Networking Experiences with Government Funding Programs Service Delivery Model or Sustainable Social Innovation? Susan MacDonald, Graham Longford, Andrew Clement 393
20 Communautique: Action and Advocacy for Universal Digital Access Nicolas Lecomte, Serge Proulx 418
21 There and Back to the Future Again: Community Networks and Telecom Policy Reform in Canada, 1995-2010 Graham Longford, Marita Moll, Leslie Regan Shade 439

Appendix A: Community Partners and Case Study Sites Graham Longford 473
Appendix B: A Brief History of the Community Access Program: From Community Economic
Development to Social Cohesion to Digital Divide Marita Moll 485
Appendix C: The Federal Connecting Canadians Initiative, 1995-2007: A Brief Overview Graham Longford, Marita Moll 491

Glossary
Publication Credits
List of Contributors

Description

Connecting Canadians represents the work of the Community Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN), the largest national and international research effort to examine the burgeoning field of community informatics, a cross-disciplinary approach to the mobilization of information and communications technologies (ICT) for community change.

Funded for four years by the SSHRC's Initiative for the New Economy, CRACIN systematically studied a wide variety of Canadian community ICT initiatives, bringing perspectives from sociology, computer science, critical theory, women's studies, library and information sciences, and management studies to bear on networking technologies. A comprehensive thematic account of this in-depth research, Connecting Canadians will be an essential resource for NGOs, governments, the private sector, and multilateral agencies across the globe.