STABILIZATION
At some point after its genesis, a community network may
become more stable in at least some of its cultural environment
and its technology.
Carroll and Rosson (this issue) report that “new social
structures” emerged when the Blacksburg Electronic Village
(BEV) was first organized. One such grouping, the
BEV-news listserv, started out as a technical support resource
for newbies and developed into a lively forum for
“general social support and interaction,” not just online
but in the area generally. As the BEV matured, however,
some valued things changed. While its integration with
the Internet broadened user access to extralocal resources
(such as the national League ofWomen Voters), it has also
threatened to undermine its local identity by facilitating
self-referencing links from local branch offices and their
national parent companies. A second and related concern
is that much of the up-to-date content on the BEV today
apparently is developed and maintained by “a small
number of relatively resource-rich institutions” (some with
help from national website maintenance contracts). Such
concerns raise important questions on the ontology of any
locality-oriented, purportedly public resource, not just the
BEV: What is the network about? and Whose is it anyway?
They raise important questions on the network’s extent of
embeddedness in community structure.
A public artifact may be narrowly or broadly embedded,
answering to a narrow or broad range of interests.
A broadly embedded artifact is structurally differentiated.
Aiken and Alford (1970) use the term to refer to “the
number of organizations of different types which play
some role in community life.” They found that highly
differentiated communities—with diverse actors involved in community concerns—were more likely to be socially
innovative as well. This is a useful evaluative criterion for
community ICTs as well. Analysts of place-based community
argue the importance of institutions that can “enhance
integration, but . . . do so in ways that resist homogeneity
and sustain differentiation” (Selznick, 1996). To the extent
it purports to be responsive to the public interest, a
community network should aspire to be exactly such an
institution—a differentiated resource. The more broadly
embedded it is, the more likely it will feature a plurality
of interests (intra- and extralocal in origin) in its constitution
and governance arrangements. It would be able to
muster countervailing forces against any one group jockeying
for control, but whether they succeed in pushing the
network toward social innovation would depend on how
well endowed with influence resources proponents are (see
Laumann et al., 1978, on “effective interest”). Whether the
network privileges extra- over local links would also depend
on such considerations.
A broadly embedded community network may not necessarily
be a microcosm of its community. It should, however,
be organized around broad areas of community
experience—issues, institutions, needs—so as to convey to
users “a sense of significant incorporation” (Rubin, 1973)
into social life. This can occur in many ways. The first is
through an established institutional entity such as the department
of social services. The network may, for example,
link area seniors and DSS staff on interactive Q&A sessions
to better coordinate service delivery. It may permit
seniors and their caregivers to interact as well, enriching
institutionalized as well as informal social relationships
all around. More radical articulations are certainly possible.
Established groups like the BEV Seniors (Carroll &
Rosson, this issue) for example, may expand their mission
from “outreach and training” to voice seniors’ healthcare
and public safety concerns. To the extent that they use
the network as a vehicle for collective action, they will
have insinuated new allies and targets into its sphere of
concern, enhancing its structural differentiation. Marginalized
groups may use the network to claim recognition for
their needs on the community’s values hierarchy and inject
a new set of players and relations into local life. To
the extent that it develops into a broadly embedded public
resource, the network expands the governance capacity
(see Healey, Cars, Madanipour, & De Magalhaes, 2002)
not just of itself but also of the community at large. It
brings a plurality of voices into policy-making by diversifying
the discourse space, contributing to a pluralistic
power scenario (see Walton, 1973). By serving as a site
for active contestation and negotiation, it links community
constituents to varied aspects of community life and
invests them actively in its politics.
STABILIZATION
At some point after its genesis, a community network may
become more stable in at least some of its cultural environment
and its technology.
Carroll and Rosson (this issue) report that “new social
structures” emerged when the Blacksburg Electronic Village
(BEV) was first organized. One such grouping, the
BEV-news listserv, started out as a technical support resource
for newbies and developed into a lively forum for
“general social support and interaction,” not just online
but in the area generally. As the BEV matured, however,
some valued things changed. While its integration with
the Internet broadened user access to extralocal resources
(such as the national League ofWomen Voters), it has also
threatened to undermine its local identity by facilitating
self-referencing links from local branch offices and their
national parent companies. A second and related concern
is that much of the up-to-date content on the BEV today
apparently is developed and maintained by “a small
number of relatively resource-rich institutions” (some with
help from national website maintenance contracts). Such
concerns raise important questions on the ontology of any
locality-oriented, purportedly public resource, not just the
BEV: What is the network about? and Whose is it anyway?
They raise important questions on the network’s extent of
embeddedness in community structure.
A public artifact may be narrowly or broadly embedded,
answering to a narrow or broad range of interests.
A broadly embedded artifact is structurally differentiated.
Aiken and Alford (1970) use the term to refer to “the
number of organizations of different types which play
some role in community life.” They found that highly
differentiated communities—with diverse actors involved in community concerns—were more likely to be socially
innovative as well. This is a useful evaluative criterion for
community ICTs as well. Analysts of place-based community
argue the importance of institutions that can “enhance
integration, but . . . do so in ways that resist homogeneity
and sustain differentiation” (Selznick, 1996). To the extent
it purports to be responsive to the public interest, a
community network should aspire to be exactly such an
institution—a differentiated resource. The more broadly
embedded it is, the more likely it will feature a plurality
of interests (intra- and extralocal in origin) in its constitution
and governance arrangements. It would be able to
muster countervailing forces against any one group jockeying
for control, but whether they succeed in pushing the
network toward social innovation would depend on how
well endowed with influence resources proponents are (see
Laumann et al., 1978, on “effective interest”). Whether the
network privileges extra- over local links would also depend
on such considerations.
A broadly embedded community network may not necessarily
be a microcosm of its community. It should, however,
be organized around broad areas of community
experience—issues, institutions, needs—so as to convey to
users “a sense of significant incorporation” (Rubin, 1973)
into social life. This can occur in many ways. The first is
through an established institutional entity such as the department
of social services. The network may, for example,
link area seniors and DSS staff on interactive Q&A sessions
to better coordinate service delivery. It may permit
seniors and their caregivers to interact as well, enriching
institutionalized as well as informal social relationships
all around. More radical articulations are certainly possible.
Established groups like the BEV Seniors (Carroll &
Rosson, this issue) for example, may expand their mission
from “outreach and training” to voice seniors’ healthcare
and public safety concerns. To the extent that they use
the network as a vehicle for collective action, they will
have insinuated new allies and targets into its sphere of
concern, enhancing its structural differentiation. Marginalized
groups may use the network to claim recognition for
their needs on the community’s values hierarchy and inject
a new set of players and relations into local life. To
the extent that it develops into a broadly embedded public
resource, the network expands the governance capacity
(see Healey, Cars, Madanipour, & De Magalhaes, 2002)
not just of itself but also of the community at large. It
brings a plurality of voices into policy-making by diversifying
the discourse space, contributing to a pluralistic
power scenario (see Walton, 1973). By serving as a site
for active contestation and negotiation, it links community
constituents to varied aspects of community life and
invests them actively in its politics.
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