Grassroots initiated networked communities: a viable method of overcoming multiple digital inequalities within communities of locality?
This event took place on Monday 19 April 2004 at 12:30
Mark Gaved
The UK government seeks to overcome the 'digital divide', and offering "internet access for all who want it" by 2005. It is unlikely, however, that this will be achieved through government funded interventions focussing primarily on achieving physical access to the internet. My research considers that a possible solution may be found in the emerging phenomenon of grassroots initiated networked communities. These are communities of locality that have developed their own internet and/or intranet infrastructure with minimal external support.
The first year of research was chiefly concerned with investigating issues surrounding the digital divide, technology adoption and sustainability. The initial findings will be presented, and the second year research introduced. In my second year I will be focussing on social software; considering whether web based collaborative tools can support the sustained development of networked communities.
Download PowerPoint Presentation (1Mb ZIP file)
This event took place on Monday 19 April 2004 at 12:30
The UK government seeks to overcome the 'digital divide', and offering "internet access for all who want it" by 2005. It is unlikely, however, that this will be achieved through government funded interventions focussing primarily on achieving physical access to the internet. My research considers that a possible solution may be found in the emerging phenomenon of grassroots initiated networked communities. These are communities of locality that have developed their own internet and/or intranet infrastructure with minimal external support.
The first year of research was chiefly concerned with investigating issues surrounding the digital divide, technology adoption and sustainability. The initial findings will be presented, and the second year research introduced. In my second year I will be focussing on social software; considering whether web based collaborative tools can support the sustained development of networked communities.
Download PowerPoint Presentation (1Mb ZIP file)
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Interacting with other people not only forms the core of human social and psychological experience, but also lies at the centre of what makes the internet such a rich, powerful and exciting collection of knowledge media. We are especially interested in what happens when such interactions take place on a very large scale -- not only because we work regularly with tens of thousands of distance learners at the Open University, but also because it is evident that being part of a crowd in real life possesses a certain 'buzz' of its own, and poses a natural challenge. Different nuances emerge in different user contexts, so we choose to investigate the contexts of work, learning and play to better understand the trade-offs involved in designing effective large-scale social software for multiple purposes.
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