1. CRACIN Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking Andrew Clement Michael Gurstein Marita Moll Leslie Shade Information Policy Research Program University of Toronto cracin.ca SSHRC INE, Ottawa January 23, 2004

2. Community Networking in Canada 1970’s Community Memory, Telidon projects 1980’s Bulletin Boards, first FreeNets 1995- Connecting Canadians: Schoolnet Community Access Program(CAP), UrbanCAP, VolNet, LibraryNet, Smart Communities (IndCan) Community Learning Networks (HRDC) Broadband for Remote and Northern Development 2004 end of CAP, Smart Communities? Whither Community Networking Demise? or Regeneration?

3. Research Challenges Do CN initiatives offer significant public benefits? What are they? For whom? How? Should they continue to receive public funding? How provided? What CN forms are viable? Under what conditions? What are the critical ingredients? How can CNs be made sustainable? Do CNs represent proto-institutions for public information and communications services in a networked society? What have been the “effective uses” that have emerged or not emerged from the CDN initiatives and why? What lessons do the CDN CN initiatives have for Community Informatics world-wide?

4. Case study sites Vancouver Community Net Alberta Library/Supernet K-Net Services (Sioux Lookout) St. Christopher House (Toronto) Sm@rtSites (Ottawa) Communautique ( Montreal ) Western Valley Development Authority

5. Government Partners Canadian Heritage Strategic Research and Analysis Human Resources Development Canada Learning Policy Directorate Office of Learning Technologies (OLT) Industry Canada Electronic Commerce Branch Information Highway Applications Branch

6. Research Themes Digital divides Local capabilities Social services Local content Learning Participation Governance Open Source Broadband Sustainability

7. Outtakes

8. Canadian Internet Policy Ensure universal access to essential services at reasonable cost (IHAC, 1994-97) Reinforce Canadian sovereignty and cultural identity (IHAC) Connect Canadians! (Throne speech, 1997) Eliminate “digital divides”! (NBTF, 2001) Be innovative! (“Innovation agenda” 2002)

9. Public internet promotion Federal programs for public access (‘Connecting Canadians’): Community Access Program (CAP) Schoolnet, LibraryNet, VolNet, UrbanCAP Smart Communities Community Learning Networks Broadband for Remote and Northern Development + Provincial programs e.g. Alberta SuperNet

10. Aims of the research project Assess effectiveness of CN initiatives in fostering local learning community relationships community social and economic development Share information between academic, government and community partners Enable ongoing self-assessment by CNs Investigate ways to sustain CN initiatives

11. CRACIN partnerships

12. Community Partners Telecommunities Canada

13. Canadian Academic Collaborators Marco Adria (University of Alberta) Nadia Caidi (University of Toronto) Arthur Cordell (Industry Canada / Carleton) Bruce Dienes (Capflex / Acadia) Serge Proulx (Université du Québec à Montréal) Applicants Andrew Clement (PI) (University of Toronto) Michael Gurstein (New Jersey Inst. of Technology) Marita Moll (Telecommunities Canada) Leslie Shade (Concordia University)

14. International Academic Collaborators Bieber, Michael (New Jersey Institute of Technology) Day, Peter (University of Brighton) Finquelievich, Susana (Universidad Buenos Aires) Kubicek, Herbert (University of Bremen) Loader, Brian (University of Teesside / CIRA) Mansell, Robin E. (London School of Economics) Robinson, Scott (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) Schuler, Doug (Northwestern University) Taylor, Wallace (Central Queensland University / COIN) van den Besselaar, Peter (NIWI-KNAW – Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) Williams, Robin (University of Edinbrough / RCSS) + Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) - Int’l

15. Projects 1.Immigrant Populations and Community Networks 2.Institutional Development and Community Organizations 3.Community Learning and Human Capital Development 4.Technology Choice and Infrastructure

16. Projects 5.Civic Participation and Community Service 6.Rural Community Broadband Development 7.Language and Local Cultural Content Creation 8.Smart Communities and Community Networking 9.Intergenerational Story-Telling

17. Study site linkages (selected) Vancouver Community Net (VCN) Alberta Library/Supernet (ALS) St. Christopher House (SCH) K-Net Services Sm@rtSuites (SS) Communautique Western Valley Development Authority (WVDA)

18. Excerpt: projects, case studies, issues

19. Broad-based studies Evaluative survey (Lead: Marita Moll) Community Networks as public goods (Lead: Arthur Cordell) Community networking and libraries (Lead: Nadia Caidi) Community Informatics: From Theory to Practice (Leads: M. Gurstein, M. Bieber) Legal and Policy Issues around CNs (Lead: Centre for Innovation Law and Policy)

20. Methods Institutional and policy analysis Dutton’s ‘ecology of games’ Participatory action research Case studies Qualitative and quantitative CLN evaluative framework Modular evaluation instrument

21. Dissemination Thematic workshops Expansion of online community networking handbook Establishment of the first international journal on Community Informatics Tables d'Hôte series for government policy community Online research repository Academic and community-based publishing and presentation

22. Next steps: Project launch Evaluation framework Workshops

23. See: Information Policy Research Program http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/research/iprp