The Community Informatics Initiative (CII) is a research and teaching center focused on working with communities to address their information and technology needs. Our mission is to address literacy in the Internet age, equitable access to the means of digital production, and policy related to communities and information technology.
Dr. Will Patterson, associate director of the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center and assistant professor in the Department of African American Studies, taught a course this past semester called Hip Hop and Social Entrepreneurship. Partly supported by the Academy of Entrepreneurial Leadership (where Dr. Patterson is a Faculty Fellow this year), the course challenged students to develop ideas for innovative, Hip Hop-based programs to benefit marginalized communities or populations. Student's final projects were entered into a competition to receive a $2500 stipend to implement their entrepreneurial idea. GSLIS professor and CII co-director Ann Bishop served as a judge in the competition.
This month's featured project is the Community Inquiry Labs (iLabs)
To learn more about the various projects in CII please visit our projects page.
Community Inquiry Labs (iLabs)
The Community Inquiry Laboratory (iLab) project develops both conceptual frameworks and open source software, using the digital archives, Google tools, and a host of mashup of open-source tools that foster collaboration. The iLabs project grew out of the Inquiry Page, a collaborative endeavor of people interested in inquiry pedagogy and philosophy that was begun by Chip Bruce in 1995.
Currently, the iLabs site and trainings provide a web-based suite of software tools that can be used to form an interactive Web site, and is free of cost to all users. Users create an iLab by filling out a simple Web form that determines which tools and features they want to include on their Web site. The project goals are to research and explore:
iLabs development is carried out by an ever-changing and growing group of participants, whose members include university researchers, students, community activists, and educators representing a variety of settings and grade levels. People around the world have used iLabs to create interactive websites for school and university courses, research projects, neighborhood action, etc. Development work is supported through volunteer work, in-kind institutional commitments and grant funds. Today, the Co Principal Investigators for iLabs are Chip Bruce and Ann Bishop, with funding from National Science Foundation. In the past, iLabls has hosted community inquiry workshops both on and off campus as a means to learn about ways to foster community organization and information sharing. For more information, please visit the project website: http://ilabs.inquiry.uiuc.edu/ilab/cii/
To learn more about the various projects in CII please visit our projects page.
A Variety of Opportunities in Community Informatics:
CII courses are open to all qualified students across campus, and we sponsor speaker series, brown bag events, and workshops. There are also research and volunteer opportunities. You can learn more about all of those by joining the listserv , by checking the calendar on the homepage, or through exploring this site.
When applying to GSLIS be sure and indicate your interest in community informatics. Once you have been admitted to GSLIS, you will receive information about how to apply for financial aid, some of which is earmarked for students in community informatics. To apply for funding through community informatics you will need an up-to-date resume and a letter of application to Professors Ann Bishop and Caroline Haythornthwaite. You also will be assigned an advisor based on your interests.
A Library and Information Science and Institute of Museum and Library Services initiative at the University of Illinois.
CII has teamed up with The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
The Call for Proposals for 2009-10 has been posted.
See pictures, videos, posters, and more
in the CI Multimedia Archive
The Community Informatics Club is a social group open to students (all levels), community members and other enthusiasts interested in Community Informatics (CI). If you think you'd like to get a taste of what CI does or get to know other people involved, come check us out!