1. Community Informatics: Bottom Up (and Top Down) Towards Digital Transformation ISTD: Porto, Portugal July 2010 Michael Gurstein, Ph.D. Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training Vancouver, BC, CANADA [email_address] 26.07.10

3. CI for researchers—how to make the work of practitioners more effective

4. CI for policy makers/funders—the DD, development, community centred policies(

5. (Multi)Stakeholder Approach Communities/NGO’s Researchers Funders/Policy Makers

7. Have local resources

9. Knowledge

11. Networking

12. Evaluating

13. Community Informatics Approach to ICTs Access Adoption Applicatn/Implementn Effective Use

15. Top down

16. Funder/policy driven

17. Resource management issues

18. Sustainability issues

19. Narrow focus-structural rigidity (“programmes”)

21. Capital

22. Knowledge—markets, suppliers, logistics etc.

23. Networks and networking

25. Grassroots—energy, passion, mobilization

26. Practice driven/flexible

27. Highly local

28. Funding/resource scarcity

29. Problems of continuity/sustainability

30. Pragmatic/opportunistic

31. Respond to local needs/problems/opportunities

33. Social capital

34. Knowledge—markets, suppliers, logistics etc.

35. Networks and networking

36. Community innovation

38. “ Bottom up” can (and should) mean mobilization at the grassroots in support of “digital empowerment”

39. “ Top down” can (and should) mean a supportive enabling regulatory/funding/policy framework

41. Democratic

42. Egalitarian

44. Low cost

46. “ individualized”

47. Privately owned/controlled

50. Cost

51. Can be community based

53. Mobiles become input/output devices

54. ICTs become data-management/processing

55. Community site/telecentre as organizing/mobilizing focal point

56. Broad design process linking back to overall programs

58. Community/collective processes—use for collective mobilization

60. CB Music—e-culture, e-socio-economic development

61. E-Bario—Sarawak—e-learning, e-tourism, e-socio-economic development

62. Rlabs—South Africa

64. Where to go is to build the demand and expectation for effective and efficient service delivery from/to and with the users/communities –

65. Enable existing processes/activities using ICTs to make processes more efficient and effective

66. Build the ICT component as a facilitator/extender to other activities

68. Local health service

69. Local economic development

70. Local environmental management

71. Local resource development

73. Input/output devices

74. Software and control

75. Content

76. Social context

77. Organization of social context/animation/leadership

78. Policy/funding context

80. Policy plays a key role

81. Research plays a significant role

82. Partnerships are essential--with governments, private sector, existing institutions,

83. Significance of networking for scaling up

84. Technology does matter (but not that much)

86. Networked individualism is essentially politically disempowering for “social transformation”

87. “ Social transformation” is a collective/collaborative phenomenon

88. In a digitally enabled society (a “digital society”) the necessary bases for social transformation are communities—physical and virtual

91. Michael Gurstein, Ph.D. Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training Vancouver, BC, CANADA http://www.communityinformatics.net [email_address]