TeleCommunities Canada Links

Community Computer Networks, Freenets and City-Regional Guides

Community Computer Networks, Freenets and City-Regional Guides

Check here for the latest news on CAP/CAPYI funding and policies.

Community ICT -- a blog about Community Information and Communication Technologies for communities.

CRACIN / TC partnership 2002-2006 - www.cracin.ca

CRACIN is a four-year partnership between community informatics researchers, community networking practitioners and government policy specialists.
The CRACIN acronym stands for Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking. The project has been funded by SSHRC's Initiative for the New Economy (INE) program for $899,450 over for 3 years, with a one-year extension that concludes October 2006. The alliance is studying community-based information and communications technology initiatives.
TC is represented in the CRACIN project by Micheal Gurstein and Marita Moll, who are both co-investigators and TC board members. CRACIN community sites include Vancouver Community Network and K-Net, both of whom have representatives on the TC board.

Effective Use: A community informatics strategy beyond the Digital Divide, by Michael Gurstein (November 2003)

A huge industry has been created responding to the perceived social malady, the "Digital Divide". This paper examines the concepts and strategies underlying the notion of the Digital Divide and concludes that it is little more than a marketing campaign for Internet service providers. The paper goes on to present an alternative approach - that of "effective use" - drawn from community informatics theory which recognizes that the Internet is not simply a source of information, but also a fundamental tool in the new digital economy.