Community informatics
From Internet: Knowledge and Community
According to Gurstein, community informatics is the use of ICT to strengthen the functioning of communities. The goal of CI is to bridge digital divides between those who are connected and digitally literate and those who are not, and to attempt to enrich actual, physical lives through technology. He emphasizes that everyone should have the opportunity to participate, regardless of social or economic barriers. CI seeks to provide equal opportunity for everyone to be civically involved, particularly on a locally based level.
A person’s well –being is absolutely determined by their “lived physical community”; indeed CI suggests that ICT can be quite beneficial toward geographic communities. Essentially, it humanizes ICT in a way and makes it of practical use; as a result, communities discover new ways to organize virtually, thereby fostering an environment for social activism physically. In addition, Gurstein points out that CI is emerging to make sure that people have an outlet for their voices to be heard in a rapidly commercializing Internet. If we can grant access to ICT to everyone, everywhere, it might really level the playing field, so to speak.
