Information Policy Research Program (IPRP)

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/1807/10222

The Information Policy Research Program [IPRP] is an on-going program of research examining key public policy issues, notably access, and privacy. These issues are studied particularly in relation to rapid Canadian developments in information/communications infrastructure and the 'knowledge-based economy/society' generally.

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Towards an Evaluative Framework for Community Learning Networks: Bibliography of Selected Resources
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2003) Shade, Leslie Regan
The following annotated bibliography is a compilation of selected resources that examine the following broad areas: articles about Public Policy and Programs related to digital divide initiatives; evaluations of community networking and telecentres; issues and definitional stances surrounding the digital divide; various studies on design & usability of networked services; and studies which measure the impact of community networking and Internet initiatives on social capital.
First Nations SchoolNet Regional Management Organization (RMO) Backgrounder
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2004) Fiser, Adam
This working paper explores a history of policy change in Canada’s federal “Connecting Canadians” agenda. It focuses on the Information Highway Applications Branch of Industry Canada and its First Nations SchoolNet (FNS) program. The policy change in question culminated in 2002, when the FNS program devolved to a model of Regional Management Organizations (RMO). This paper explores why the change occurred, and emphasizes how it reflects broader trends in Canada’s federal connectivity policy for rural and remote First Nations communities.
Social Capital and Community Networking: Ethno-Cultural Use of Community Networking Initiatives in Canada
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2004) Doody, Maureen
Under the umbrella of the SSHRC funded Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN) research study, this paper examines issues of social capital, social inclusion and cohesive and sustainable communities for new immigrants within the context of the federal government’s various Community Networking (CN) initiatives. The first of a two part study, this paper provides a theoretical background to the following questions: i) What do we mean by social capital and information communication technology?; and ii) What do we mean by Community Informatics? Lastly, this paper proposes a research framework on the methodology of how to measure and analyze these questions. In essence, this study seeks to answer the following question: Has providing technical ‘connectedness’ via public access to community-oriented internet services promoted sustainable social, cultural and economic ‘connectedness’ and development for Canada’s new immigrants and ethno-cultural communities? This study is an attempt at examining the potential for ICTs as an enabling tool for the development of social capital in the creation of more cohesive and sustainable communities.
Community Networking and Public Benefits
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2004) Cordell, Arthur ; Romanow, Paula
This paper sets out to determine which investment decisions are likely to yield the greatest benefits from community networking. It will do so by first of all ascertaining to what extent the concept of "public benefit" arising from community networks has been addressed to date; this will take the shape of an exploration of the concept of social capital, followed by a discussion of whether or not ICTs help to generate positive social ties. Secondly, drawing upon the existing literature, the paper will attempt to create a "taxonomy of public benefits" by identifying both tangible and intangible indicators of both healthy and less healthy community networks. Finally, some recommendations will be made which identify some potential viable funding models that will ensure that the public goods aspects of community networks are optimized.
Short Summary Paper: Introducing Ile Sans Fil
(Canadian Research Alliance For Community Innovation And Networking, 2004) powell, Alison
Ile Sans Fil is a non-profit community group, which seeks to promote free public wireless internet access in Montreal, Canada. The group also hopes to use wireless internet technology to build community. In order to accomplish these goals, the group has partnered with Montreal businesses and community groups to provide wireless internet “hot spots.”
Information and Communication Technology Development in Nova Scotia's Western Valley: A Backgrounder
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2004) MacNeil, Ryan
In 1994, the Western Valley Development Agency (WVDA) was the first regional development authority to be established in Nova Scotia. Its mission is: "Building on our diverse cultural heritage, the Western Valley Development Authority (WVDA) will work with the community to create a vital, prosperous, and self-reliant region where the people have ample opportunity for a full and satisfying life." This document is intended to accompany “The Western Valley Development Agency: A Backgrounder”. Therefore, a general discussion of the WVDA’s history will be foregone. Instead this document will describe the WVDA’s information and communication technology development projects over the past decade.
Information and Communication Technologies and Community Economic Development: Lessons for Governance at the Western Valley Development Agency
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2004) MacNeil, Ryan
The Western Valley Development Agency (WVDA) is seen by many third-party observers as a dynamic innovator in the world of community economic development. The WVDA was formed in 1994 through a partnership between seven local municipalities, the provincial and federal governments. It was the first of 13 “Regional Development Authorities” to be created in Nova Scotia. The agency is tasked with creating economic prosperity within the context of local socio-cultural and environmental values. The organization has been involved in supporting the formation of some 35 Community Access Program sites, the creation of 3 digital collections websites, the delivery of a VolNet program to support technology adoption in voluntary organizations, implementation of a Smart Community Demonstration Project, creation of a virtual community resource centre, and most recently the introduction of an e-business support program.
The Western Valley Development Agency: A Backgrounder
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2004) Larkman, Janet ; MacNeil, Ryan
Ten years ago, the seven municipalities in Annapolis and Digby counties came together, in partnership with the provincial and federal governments, and created a new organization called the Western Valley Development Authority. Annapolis and Digby counties were the first to create a Regional Development Authority in Nova Scotia. This document is intended to provide background information for those unfamiliar with WVDA’s community economic development activities.
The Vancouver Community Network, Social Investing and Public Good Models of ICT Development
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) Bodnar, Chris
The role of community networks and, more generally, public Internet access points in Canada are at a turning point. Research assessing the sustainability of community access to technology suggests that the long-term viability of such initiatives has not been addressed. To punctuate this, the Canadian Federal government has “sunset” the Community Access Program that provided funding for hardware to community-based organizations for the purpose of offering public access sites to the Internet. Of 10,000 CAP sites funded by Industry Canada as part of its Connecting Canadians initiative to make Canada the “most connected nation” and to reduce the “digital divide”, only 40 percent remain in operation. This paper attempts to link discussions of community access to ICTs to more general discussions of sustainability in the non-profit community and the viability of public good models of ICT development. In particular, I address the concepts of public goods and social entrepreneurship and their relationship to exploring new means of funding for non-profit organizations while addressing social service needs within a given community. As a particular example of the link between notions of social entrepreneurship and community access to ICTs, I examine the Vancouver Community Network’s recent investigation of possible for-profit service models to diversify the organization’s revenue stream in light of reductions in government funding.
Accountability and Community Economic Development: The Funder-Governed NGO
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) MacNeil, Ryan
This paper considers whether or not the new accountability regime is able to redefine the work of community organizations. After defining the role of the nonprofit sector and CED (Community Economic Development) organizations, discussion turns to the theoretical roots of this accountability regime. It is argued to be the product of a government working simultaneously under two conflicting administrative models: new public management and social governance. The impact of these accountability mechanisms is examined through the case of a CED agency in Nova Scotia which has struggled in its response to funders’ pressures. Three themes from the literature are explored: shifting priorities, stifling innovation, and stumbling through issues of performance measurement. The case illustrates that government can have a profound unintentional impact on community economic development. The closing discussion seeks to understand how government might achieve accountability without circumventing local governance.
'Locating Geographic Community in the Information Society: An Atlantic Canadian Perspective on the World Summit on the Information Society'
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) Peddle, Katrina
This paper is concerned with questions about the role of geographic community in the information society. Specifically, I am interested in the contribution rural communities in Canada can make to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and their perspective on the practicality of federal connectivity programs enabling their participation in the information society. I argue that the current formations of the information society do not leave much room for community technology in rural areas. In this paper I first outline the WSIS process and provide background on its goals. I then elaborate on rural and remote environments and technology and provide context for the two case sites which provide insights into the situated challenges of the information society in the rural Canadian context. I then argue for the continued importance of geography and the centrality of place within the information society, and discuss the challenges of sustaining community informatics initiatives with these two case illustrations. Finally, I explore the contentious issue of corporate funding of community based technology projects. To frame the discussion of rural Canada, which represents a diversity of communities with different (and often competing) needs, I have chosen to focus on Atlantic Canada, a region in which I have long been interested due to personal experience and its large rural population. I will examine two areas that were chosen as federal “Smart Communities,” a program of the Connecting Canadians agenda administered by Industry Canada. These include the Western Valley of Nova Scotia and the Labrador region.
'On Notions and Practices of Community' and 'Civic Participation'
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) Werbin, Kenneth
This short foray into questions of ‘civic participation’ and ‘community networks’ will outline and highlight the need in Community Networking and Informatics research to more clearly and rigorously unpack the term ‘community-based initiative’. If we are to better understand ‘how community networking can act as a catalyst of local, regional, national and international civic participation’, then probing the discourses that constitute ‘community’ and how they operate through ‘communal activity’ would seem to be a key point of interrogation.
CRACIN Annotated Bibliography
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) Bell, Brandi ; Shade, Leslie Regan
Going Wi-Fi in Canada: Municipal, and Community Initiatives
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) Powell, Alison ; Shade, Leslie Regan
Several municipalities in Canada have explored deploying Wi-Fi for community economic development – for both businesses and touristic applications, and for municipal policing and other services – such as remote monitoring of parking meters and the automation of other services. Toronto’s Chief Information Officer, John Davies has been monitoring policy debates in Philadelphia over their municipal Wi-Fi initiatives to see whether their proposed service offerings can be replicated in Toronto and fit it within their ‘e-city’ vision. Many municipal Wi-Fi projects are the result of private-public partnerships where private companies receive a license to distribute wireless internet signals to citizens.
Information/Communications Rights as a New Environmentalism?
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) Clement, Andrew ; Hurrell, Christie
The primary aim of this paper is to investigate the potential for a greater alignment among these CMs, drawing specifically on the core precepts of environmentalism as conventionally understood. It will do this mainly by exploring the similarities (and differences) between the nascent information rights movement, as reflected in the public statements of prominent North American, European and international IRCM (information rights-oriented computerization movement) advocacy organizations, and the much more fully developed environmental movement. In keeping with the social informatics ideals, it strives to examine “new social phenomena that emerge as people use ICTs” and thereby achieve a “better understanding of the design, use, configuration, and/or consequences of ICTs such that they are more workable for people in organizations and society.”
Recent Immigrants as an "Alternate Civic Core". How VCN Provides Internet Services and Canadian Experiences
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) Dechief, Diane
Vancouver Community Network (VCN) is a charitable internet service provider offering opportunities to contribute to VCN’s operations in a volunteer capacity. Nearly all of VCN’s volunteers are information and communication technology (ICT) professionals — or students with career goals in that field — and more than 60% have immigrated to Canada in the past five years. As newcomer-volunteers search for full-time employment commensurate with their skills, they volunteer as Technical Help Desk Support, Internet Instructors, Local Area Network Support, or Language Portal Developers. By doing so, newcomers interact with one another and with VCN’s members in ways that increase social capital and contribute to social inclusion. Assisting in the network’s mandate of providing opportunities for online participation creates openings for volunteers to meet face-to-face, share information, and work with network members from diverse cultural backgrounds and varied socio-economic circumstances. While it is the volunteers’ own efforts and initiative that bring them to VCN, their collective contributions are important to the success of VCN’s internet service provision and additional member services. Working toward these goals allows newcomers to experience civic participation and community-oriented learning, particularly in relation to ICT work skills. Based on qualitative and quantitative research, this is an examination of how human and social capital is built at VCN, and how it contributes to social inclusion and integration for immigrant volunteers.
Community Networking and Civic Participation in Canada: A Background Paper
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) Longford, Graham
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).
Une Monographie de Communautique. Portrait d’une organisation québécoise orientée vers l’appropriation sociale des technologies de l’information et de la communication en milieu communautaire
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) Proulx, Serge ; Lecomte, Nicolas
Dans le contexte d’un programme de recherche visant à évaluer l’impact des politiques et programmes gouvernementaux orientés vers l’accès à Internet et l’appropriation des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) au Québec et au Canada, nous avons choisi de décrire de manière compréhensive l’organisation et le travail de l’organisme québécois Communautique depuis ses origines. Avant de présenter le portrait de cet organisme communautaire, une courte mise en situation s’impose. Le travail que nous présentons ici est une monographie descriptive dressant un portrait sociologique de Communautique. Nous aborderons cette description compréhensive à partir de trois dimensions d’analyse. Tout d’abord, nous présenterons la genèse de l’organisme en décrivant les origines du projet initial, les partenaires impliqués, la mission et les objectifs déclarés. En second lieu, nous décrirons le mode d’organisation et le fonctionnement de l’organisme, de ces statuts et règlements jusqu’à ses stratégies de développement et ses sources de financement. Enfin, dans un troisième chapitre, nous dresserons un portrait des champs d’activités de Communautique: formation, recherche, représentation publique, réseautage et support technique.
Children, Youth, and Civic (dis)Engagement: Digital Technology and Citizenship
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2005) Bell, Brandi
Sherrod, Flanagan, and Youniss (2002) state that “research on the development of citizenship is enjoying a renaissance, fueled in part by the writings of Robert Putnam (2000), who has argued that we face a civic crisis today in terms of young people’s civic disengagement”. Some of the current literature about youth and civic participation, especially in the popular press, is directly concerned with this apparent ‘civic disengagement’ of youth, attempting to understand why youth are not engaged and to determine how to encourage increased participation. There is a substantial amount of work being done by scholars, however, which is moving beyond this traditional approach to civic engagement and participation, as well as beyond the pessimistic perspective on youth civic engagement in particular. Those undertaking this work are critically engaging with the concepts of civic engagement, civic participation, and politics and are addressing the complexities of applying such concepts to the lives and experiences of children and youth. In this paper, I will discuss recent academic literature pertaining to youth civic engagement in the Western context and map some of the important changes in the field identified by these scholars. I am particularly interested in examining contemporary approaches to issues such as how youth are conceptualized; how citizenship, civic participation, and civic (dis)engagement are understood with respect to youth; and, what roles media and internet technologies are perceived to play in youth civic engagement. It is important to note that much work has been done on youth and engagement in the context of developing countries, however, this review will engage specifically with work in the Western context as an entry point into the broader issues and concerns.
Our Expectations About Archives: Archival Theory Through a Community Informatics Lens
(Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, 2006) Grossman, Ruth
Archival institutions and the concerns of Community Informatics occupy a great common territory and yet little familiarity (and even less interaction) exists between the discourses. What do community informatics and archives have to talk about? Why are they ostensibly opposed in theory and practice? How might the roadblocks to a growing potential for joint programming be dematerialized and what is the rationale for attempting it? The archives is presented as a site of negotiation between public memory and contemporary aspiration. The proposition of creating primary records within the archives challenges certain assumptions regarding long-term custodianship by taking up the uncertainties of active community identity-building, by transferring the inherent philosophical debate to the archives proper, and by seeking strategies by which the infrastructure and conceptualization of archives would be equipped to facilitate an emerging model of community informatics.

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