Maintaining Community in the Information Age The Importance of Trust, Place and Situated Knowledge

by Evans, Karen F.

• ISBN13: 9781403912459
• ISBN10: 1403912459
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-03-02
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

By exploring the experiences of community activists and organizations working with information and communication technology (ICT) to build communities, this book offers a grounded and informed study of the role ICT plays in people's lives. The author emphasizes the importance of networks built around trust, shared spaces and local knowledge bases in the formation of significant relationships in contemporary Western societies.

Author Biography

Karen F. Vans is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies, University of Liverpool, UK. Her research has addressed the following areas: city spaces; crime; community; and cyberspace. Her recent publications include Zero Tolerance or Community Tolerance; Managing Crime in High Crime Areas (co-author with S.Walklate), and A Tale of Two Cities; Global Change, Local Feeling and Everyday Life in the North of England (co-authored with I.Taylor & P.Fraser).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Globalisation, Technology and Community	1	(26)
The crisis in community	2	(2)
The rise of the information age	4	(7)
Information society: the dawning of a new era?	11	(7)
Questioning the impact of information on society	18	(4)
Technology and community	22	(2)
Technology as saviour	24	(3)
The Social Impact of Information and Communication Technologies	27	(26)
Globalisation: the information age?	27	(7)
Social relations and the Internet	34	(4)
Specialisation in Internet relationships	38	(9)
The democratic potential of cyberspace	47	(6)
From the Global to the Local: Building Community Spaces on the Internet	53	(30)
Community in cyberspace	53	(1)
Virtual communities	54	(1)
What does community mean?	55	(3)
Selling the dream: using ICT to make a difference	58	(3)
The `civic model' of technology application	61	(4)
Policymakers as ICT-enthusiasts	65	(6)
Promoting community uses of ICT	71	(10)
ICT for all?	81	(2)
Engaging with the Information Age: Questioning the Notion of a `Digital Underclass'	83	(23)
Linking community and computing across the UK	83	(2)
Constructing the `digital underclass'	85	(2)
Building community computing in Salford, UK: the Gemisis project; a case-study of `technology push'	87	(13)
Constructing a `digital underclass'	100	(6)
Exploring the Digital Divide	106	(26)
The significance of virtual communities	106	(2)
The adoption of technology in the research areas	108	(15)
Key factors in the construction of information and communication requirements	123	(9)
Bridging the Digital Divide: What Works?	132	(27)
Introducing communities to ICT: the textbook scenario	133	(1)
Communities of interest on the web	134	(3)
Communities of attachment on the web	137	(2)
Communities of place on the web	139	(1)
Community networks as social experimentation	140	(2)
What do community networks do?	142	(2)
Have community networks supported communication?	144	(1)
Have community networks reflected local or global cultures?	145	(1)
Have community networks helped build civic society?	146	(1)
Motivations and connections: a discussion of the ICT `champion'	147	(8)
Keeping cyberspace communities relevant	155	(2)
Moving beyond the Digital Divide	157	(2)
Conclusion: Against the Flow . . .	159	(18)
Labelling the `information poor'	161	(1)
Against the notion of an information poor . . .	162	(3)
A Digital Divide?	165	(3)
Re-embedding the debates	168	(5)
Concluding remarks	173	(4)
Notes	177	(9)
Bibliography	186	(15)
Index	201