What is community informatics?A global and empirical answerby Kate Williams, Shameem Ahmed, Noah Lenstra, and Qiyuan Liu 刘启元 , University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

4 45

Can we define community informatics not as a social movement or service project, but as a research field? Do we have a global, empirical, picture of informatization in communities? What does the field tell us?

We collected 524 empirical studies of one or more local, historical, organic (place-based) communities and information technology. We found these by reviewing TOCs of 5 social/ community informatics journals and 3 journals in other fields, 1990-present.

INTELLECTUAL SPACE: With articles concentrated in three disciplines, we do see a research community forming.

Four leading journals have published more than half the articles.

POLITICAL SPACE: With 60% of the studies examining the UK and its former colonies, the research community is not yet global. Work in other languages is needed.

Certain regions are overrepresented, others underrepresented.

HUMAN SPACE: Although 50% of people are rural, community informatics studies mostly urban settings.

Different disciplines help create a global picture of informatization by studying rural settings.

SOCIAL SPACE: Community informatics does see the importance of local institutions, focusing thus far on nonprofits.

NEXT STEPS: Citation analysis by university and keyword.

Coding by theory ... methods ... technologies ... findings. Examining cultural heritage organizations, including libraries. Comparing LIS and ICTD. Analyzing conference proceedings and edited volumes. Collecting in other languages, especially Chinese.

Disciplines (number of journals scanned) Articles As percent

Social informatics/community informatics (5) 309 59%

Information Technology and Development (3) 88 17%

Library and Information Science (4) 71 14%

Management Information Science (Business; 3) 30 6%

Museums/Public history (3) 16 3%

Archives (3) 8 2%

Sociology (3) 2 0%

All (24) 524 100%

Country setting ArticlesAs

percentCumulative

percentUSA 171 33%India 42 8%UK 35 7%Canada 29 6%Australia 23 4%South Africa 16 3% 60%China 14 3%Singapore 11 2%Netherlands 10 2%Finland 8 2%Malaysia 7 1% 70%All other single-country studies 131 25%Multiple-country studies 27 5%All 524 100%

Continents(bold = overrepresented)

Articles As percentPercent of world's

population*

North America 200 38% 7%

Asia 103 20% 54%

Europe 90 17% 14%

Africa 48 9% 15%

Oceania 28 5% 0%

Latin America/Caribbean 18 3% 7%

Middle East 10 2% 3%

Multiple-country studies 27 5% n.a.

All 524 100% 100%

* 2008, calculated from from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population

Rural or urban Articles As percentUrban 403 77%Rural 85 16%Both 31 6%Unknown 5 1%All 524 100%

Urban Rural Both Unknown Total

Archives (N=8 articles) 100% -- -- -- 100%

Sociology (N=2) 100% -- -- -- 100%

Management Information Science (Business; N=30) 90% 7% 3% -- 100%

Library and Information Science (N=71) 87% 8% 4% -- 100%

Museums/Public history (N=16) 81% 19% -- -- 100%

Social informatics/community informatics (N=309) 80% 13% 5% 1% 100%

Information Technology and Development (N=88) 49% 38% 13% 1% 100%

Total (N=524 articles) 77% 16% 6% 1% 100%

Articles As percentNo local institution 17 3%Non-profit organization 162 31%Government 125 24%Commercial 85 16%Higher education 67 13%More than one local institution 68 13%All 524 100%

Local institutions involved

Where published Articles As percentSocial informatics/community informatics

First Monday USA 66 13%Information Society USA 39 7%Information, Communication, Society UK 56 11%Journal of Community Informatics Canada 57 11%New Media and Society USA/UK 91 17%

ArchivesAmerican Archivist USA 2 0%Archives and Museum Informatics / Archival Science Swed/Neth/USA/Canada 5 1%Archivaria Canada 1 0%

Information Technology and DevelopmentElectronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries Hong Kong 40 8%Information Technologies and International Development USA 37 7%Information Technology for Development USA/UK 11 2%

Library and Information ScienceJASIST USA 36 7%Library Quarterly USA 8 2%Library Trends USA 8 2%Public Library Quarterly USA 19 4%

Management Information Science (Business)Information Systems Research USA 8 2%Journal of MIS USA 11 2%MIS Quarterly USA 11 2%

Museums/Public historyInternational Journal of Heritage Studies UK 9 2%Museum Management and Curatorship UK 6 1%Public Historian USA 1 0%

SociologyAmerican Journal of Sociology (AJS) USA - 0%American Sociological Review (ASR) USA - 0%Social Problems USA 2 0%

ALL 524 100%

Disciplines and journals

CI Lab research affiliate Hui Yan 闫慧 studying IT use in central China.

Champaign-Urbana community memory project digitizing yearbooks.

Journals Location Articles As percent

New Media and Society US/UK 91 17%

First Monday US 66 13%

Journal of Community Informatics Canada 57 11%

Information, Communication, Society UK 56 11%

Others 254 48%

All 524 100%

eBlackCU.net honoring ‘Difference Makers’ in Champaign-Urbana, IL.