Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT) Kim, Y. C., & Ball-Rokeach, S. J. (2006). Civic engagement from a communication infrastructure perspective. Communication Theory, 16,

The Narrative Paradigm (Fisher, 1989) Story as the fundamental form in which people express values & reasons, & subsequently make decisions about actions. –People are storytelling animals at heart. –Human communication is largely a storytelling process. Everyday communication as a meaningful base in the building of civic community.

Theoretical components of CIT Neighborhood Storytelling Network (NSN) –Storytelling community Difficult to build a community without resources for storytelling about the community. “Neighborhood Storytelling”: any type of communicative actions, but have to be about the local community. –Multilevel community storytellers Macro-, meso-, & mircro-storytelling agents CIT only focuses on mesolevel (geo-ethnic media & community organization) and mircrolevel (residents) –An "integrated" NSN CIT not only looks at the strength of each storyteller, but also assess the quality of storytelling network. Without working relationship among the three actors, residents miss out on storytelling resources to "imagine" their community.

Theoretical components of CIT, cont. Communication Action Context (CAC) –CAC varies along a dimension of openness contextual facilitation of residents coming into communication contact with each other; the extent to which the CAC inclines higher-level storytellers to communicate (community organizations and local media) –CAC aims to capture variation among specific geographical units in how open they are to the establishing and sustaining NSN.

Communication infrastructure

Zhejiang Village, Beijing