450CIsyl

450CI: Community Information Systems

Prof. Ann Bishop
Summer Session I
Tu/Th 9:00-1:00
1 unit

*NOTE: This syllabus is a working document. Expect it to change, and check it frequently as we move through the course.

BASIC COURSE INFORMATION

Class Location

Tuesdays: Learning Resources Lab (LRL) in the basement of the LIS Building, 501 E. Daniel St.
Thursdays: 024 LIS Building

Instructor Contact Information

Ann Bishop
Office: 203 LIS Building
501 E. Daniel Street
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 244-3299
Email: abishop@uiuc.edu

Office Hours: Tuesdays 2-5 (except May 25)

READINGS

Material listed for each class session should be read before that day's class.

All "Resources" NOT on the web have been compiled in a class reader, which is available for $21.95 from Notes & Quotes at 502 E. John St.

All "Further Reading" items NOT on the web are on reserve at the LIS Library, as is the class reader itself.

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES

This course introduces community information systems, with an emphasis on community networks (CNs). It provides an opportunity to develop knowledge about community information and current issues in its creation, transfer, and use. In this course, "community information system" is used broadly to designate any set of technologies (print, phone, computer-based, etc.), services, and content whose purpose is to supply information, primarily of a local nature, to members of a given geographic community. Examples of community information systems include information and referral (I&R) services in public libraries, community bulletin boards in grocery stores, local job placement services, program databases in social service agencies, and community networks.

Community networks (CNs) are computer-based community information systems that provide public access to both electronic communication services and online information resources. Prairienet (www.prairienet.org) is the CN, founded in 1993, that operates from GSLIS with a staff of about six people and a large number of volunteers. Prairienet provides a full range of networked information services to community members in the Champaign-Urbana area, including outreach, training, and the operation of public access sites. The aim of most CNs is to strengthen community life for local residents by fostering social equity and conviviality, economic development, educational opportunities, health and well-being, and democratic participation in government. Among the open questions facing community networks are the degree to which they strengthen social bonds as opposed to weakening them by reducing face-to-face interactions; the degree to which their use helps solve community problems; their ability to maintain valuable and accurate online community information resources; the extent to which they present people with usable interfaces and information retrieval mechanisms; and the degree to which they are sustainable as organizations. A critical issue facing society today is the threat of the "digital divide" that segments computer use along socioeconomic lines. Do CNs ameliorate or exacerbate the plight of the information poor in our communities?

This course provides an opportunity to:

Gain a basic understanding of the concepts, features, history, goals, and challenges of community information systems by analyzing past and current models, with an emphasis on computer-based community networks (CNs) and the provision of networked community information services;

Gain knowledge about what local information is needed by individuals and organizations in "everyday life" and how this information is generated, sought, and transferred at the community level;

Gain skills in outreach and training for the general public related to networked information services, e.g., e-mail, web browsing, website development.

Apply knowledge and skills to local projects aimed at bridging the digital divide.

After completing this course, you should be able to:

Understand the contribution of information and computing technology to community vitality;

Identify and understand barriers to community-based collaborations related to information creation and exchange, and technology literacy;

Serve as an information consultant to community groups;

Play a role in the operation of a community information system;

Provide networked information system outreach and training to disenfranchised community members;

Contribute to grant proposal preparation related to networked community information services;

Keep abreast of professional literature and important developments in the realm of community information systems.

The primary focus of the course this semester will be on issues and practices related to technological literacy in low-income neighborhoods. Students will gain initial experience through observation and participation in the ongoing activities of the Community Networking Initiative (www.prairienet.org/cni), a GSLIS/Prairienet/Urban League project devoted to supplying computer equipment, training, and support to low-income teens and adults and to the community-based organizations striving to address their needs and interests. Students will then work together to develop, implement, and assess their own Prairienet training modules for community members, on particular topics of interest.

Students should expect to reserve some evenings and/or Saturdays for participation in community training CNI activities.

Arrangements are currently being worked out for interested students to attend the CTCNet conference (devoted to community technology centers and community networks) in Chicago on June 18-20 (see the conference website at: http://www.ctcnet.org/conference99.htm). The conference will also host a meeting of the Association for Community Networking (http://www.afcn.net).

The course should be of particular value to students interested in information services for the general public, Internet training, community networking, community development, and social equity in information and computer access.

ASSIGNMENTS

This course may be a little different from what you are used to. We will be spending a great deal of time engaged in developing networked information services for low-income community members. We will also devote a lot of energy to reflecting on what we are learning and experiencing, both individually and as a class. Course readings are intended to provide material that will be helpful in gaining background knowledge and skills for our community-based project as well as stimulating reflection. We will not be writing papers or taking exams.

Final grades for the course will be determined as follows:

       Class participation -- 25%
       Journal -- 25%
       Roundtable presentation -- 10%
       Class Project -- 40%

Class Participation

Class participation encompasses attendance along with such things as the quality of contribution to class discussion and active engagement in class activities.

Journal

Journal keeping is a tool to record, reflect upon, and assess your experiences. In your journal, you process the day's experiences and reflect on your learning from that experience. It can be about one event that stands out or a pattern of events. It can be about the feelings you have related to your experiences and about experiences and outcomes you anticipate. It can be about the sense you make of what you read, what you think is going well or poorly. It's a place to make connections among incidents, issues, insights, and ideas over time.

Your journal is:

A way to keep track of what you are learning;

A look at how you are learning;

A look at the quality of what you are learning (is it exciting, boring, frustrating?);

A way to identify problems and roadblocks that get in the way of your learning;

A statement of things that are significant to you.

Journal keeping is a regular occasion for expressing and responding to your experiences. It helps us return to our activities with fuller awareness of questions, values, and alternate possibilities. Some entries will be directed, in order to focus students' thoughts on particular readings or class events. Other entries will stem from each individual student's activities and situation. You should definitely make entries for each community training event in which you participate.

Hints for journal keeping:

Write something every day, even if only a few sentences;

Don't try to log everything that happens; make entries for significant activities and insights that are especially meaningful to you;

Write rapidly, with no set style;

Don't leave out the uncomfortable parts.

(Adapted from a guide to journal keeping by Barbara Jensen, Elaine Rundle-Schwark, and Stephen Schwark)

Roundtable Presentation

Our student roundtable will give each person the chance to delve into--and share with classmates--some aspect of community information systems of interest to them that is not otherwise covered in the course. Students will individually explore a topic or issue, and identify and annotate a few relevant sources; they will then present key aspects of what they've learned to the class.

For your roundtable presentation, pick an aspect of community information systems that is of interest to you. Identify and read/review at least two readings or websites related to your chosen topic. Prepare a two-page handout on your topic to distribute in class. The first page should include 1) the title and a brief description of your topic; and 2) a list of key points, issues, findings related to your topic that can serve to summarize what you learned and guide class discussion. The second page should include citations and your 1-paragraph annotation of two readings or websites you reviewed. If you identified additional resources related to your topic, provide citations for those as well.

On THURSDAY (6/10), be prepared in class to take 5 minutes to present an overview of your topic and then guide discussion for another 10 minutes or so.

Please bring one copy of your two-page handout to class. Make these SINGLE-SIDED. At the start of class, we will make copies of the handouts for everyone.

Class Project

For our class project, we will develop Prairienet/CNI training material and pilot its delivery in workshops attended by low-income community members and/or staff from CNI Community Links organizations that address low-income interests.

Each class member will select activities and outcomes related to the overall project for which she assumes responsibility. You may choose, for example, to create self-guided tutorial pages related to web browsing. Or you may choose to plan and conduct a workshop for CNI trainees--based on the tutorials your classmates have created--on identifying Prairienet and web resources related to parenting. Students are encouraged to work in pairs.

Regardless of the particular project activities and outcomes selected, all students will prepare by attending at least one CNI community training class during the second and third weeks of the course. This will give students a chance to get comfortable with the community members we are preparing training material for, identify what training is most desired by these individuals, learn what community members will already have been taught before they engage in the training we deliver, and get experience in the delivery of training to low-income community members who have had almost no previous exposure to computing. During your initial CNI training class, you may feel more comfortable taking more of an observing role; but in your second class, you should be able to participate more actively as a training facilitator.

Here is a rough preliminary outline of the tutorial pages that Prairienet and CNI staff have suggested would be valuable to add to (or revise for) Prairienet's set of online training and support material:

Introduction to Prairienet

Connecting from home

Getting around on Prairienet

Navigating the Web

E-mail (Pine)

Prairienet community newsgroups

Creating your webpage

This is just a first cut. Students will come up with a final set of material to create, in conjunction with Andrea Ingram, Prairienet's Web Resource Manager. The number of tutorials we create will depend on the number of students involved, your particular interests, and the interests of the CNI participants who will be the first pilot testers of the tutorials.

It is envisioned that these tutorial pages will have multiple applications. They can serve as online self-guided tutorials for people who access them at home or at Prairienet public access sites. They can be used to structure training workshops for groups or individual user training and support interactions at public access sites.

Project roles and activities you may select include:

Tutorial developer -- Create a set of web pages that provide instruction on basic aspects of Prairienet use, such as those outlined above.

Trainer -- Develop and conduct a workshop for community members, or staff from community organizations, on some aspect of Prairienet use that they have identified as being of particular interest, e.g., creating a webpage, locating and assessing networked health information. Use the tutorials developed by your classmates, augmented with examples and other relevant material you put together.

Web librarian /trainer for the Community Collaboration for Economic Development (CCED) -- CCED is an exciting local project that provides training and support for African Americans interested in starting their own businesses. CCED and CNI are seeking information professionals to: 1) assess needs of community members for local data geared to economic development; and then 2) demonstrate access and use of existing networked information resources relevant to expressed needs in a special CCED computer training workshop. NOTE: Students selecting this activty should attend the CCED training session on Tuesday, May 18, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Ridgeway Center. Time has been reserved at the start of this session for students to discuss local information needs with CCED participants. Students may also interview other community members interested in economic development. They will then develop and conduct a special CCED computer training workshop on how to access local economic development data on Prairienet and the web.

Technology mentor for Community Links organizations -- A number of community based organizations are participating in CNI's Community Links program, which provides them with consulting and training related to the adoption of Prairienet within their organizations. Several of these organizations are seeking technology mentors who can help them, for example, learn how to augment their webpages. NOTE: Students selecting this activity should plan to attend the Community Links meeting on Wednesday, May 19th, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the Brookens Administration Center. At this meeting they will meet with the Community Links organizations and work out a plan for providing desired services to them over the coming four weeks. Students selecting this option should already have a firm grounding in web searching and webpage creation. Imani Bazzell has already requested a technology mentor for SisterNet, a local grassroots action group comprised of Black women interested in health issues.

Project reporter -- Serve as chronicler to document and analyze our class project, producing a report of project activities and outcomes that can be presented to the CN community via, for example, a CTCNet conference presentation and the Connections newsletter (http://www.si.umich.edu/Community/connections/index.html).

Students from Cheryl Malone's Instruction and Assistance Systems class (LIS 316) may also participate in various aspects of our class project.

DUE DATES

Weekly journal review: Turn in your journal every Thursday at end of class

First CNI training observation/participation: By Saturday, May 2

Second CNI training observation/participation: By Saturday, June 5

Draft tutorials and instructional plan: Monday, May 31, 4:00 p.m.

Tutorial: Start of class on Thursday, June 3

Training delivery: Thursday, June 10

Roundtable presentation: Thursday, June 10

Project report: Monday, June 14, 9:00 a.m.

CNI TRAINING SCHEDULE

CNI Basic training classes for low-income community members

    Group I (Trainers: Angie Poulter and Simeon Viltz)
    Tu/Th, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
    Session 1 (5/25); Session 2 (5/27); Session 3 (6/1); Session 4 (6/3)
    NCSA Computer Applications Bldg., 605 E. Springfield

    Group 2 (Trainers: Angie Thiele and Melanie Harrison)
    Sat, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
    Session 1/2 (5/29); Session 3/4 (6/5)
    Workforce Prep Center (201 N. Randolph, Champaign)

   Special Topic Classes (Trainers: 450CI students)
    A -- Tu, 6/8, 6:00-8:00 p.m.     (Douglass Center Annex, 804 N. Fifth St., Champaign)
    B -- Wed, 6/9, 6:00-8:00 p.m. (Workforce Prep Center, 201 N. Randolph, Champaign)
    C -- Wed, 6/9, 6:00-8:00 p.m. (Douglass Center Annex, 804 N. Fifth St., Champaign)
    D -- Th, 6/10, 6:00-8:00 p.m.   (Douglass Center Annex, 804 N. Fifth St., Champaign)

Community Collaborative for Economic Development (CCED)

Needs assessment and training observation

     Tu, May 18, 6:30-9:30 p.m. (Internet resources for small business. Trainer: Paul Adams)
     450CI students conduct needs assessment discussion in first 1/2 hour
     Ridgeway Center (1508 N. Ridgeway Ave., Champaign)

Special Topic Workshop (ãFinding Economic Development Info on Pnet and the Webä)

     Tu, June 8, 6:30-9:30 p.m. (Trainers: CNI GAs and 450CI students)
     GAs will present "Intro to Prairienet" and "Email" in first hour and a half;
    450CI students conduct workshop on finding local data for economic development in last two hours.
     ACES lab

Other CNI training you are welcome to observe:

Community Links program (for local nonprofits serving low-income needs)

     Monthly meeting: Wed (5/19) 5:30-7:30 p.m.
     Brookens Administration Center, County Board Meeting Room
    1776 E. Washington, Urbana

[Traveling either East or West along Washington, head North at Lierman Ave. (this is the road that is adjacent to the building, running along the West side and leads to the jail. Take your first right to get to the parking lot behind Brookens. Come to North entrance facing the parking lot off Lierman. Signs will be posted at the door.]

HTML workshop: Date/Time/Place TBA

Docent training (Trainer: Melissa Records)

     Sat, May 22, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
     Sat, June 5, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
     Douglass Center Annex (804 N. Fifth St., Champaign)

GENERAL RESOURCES

Prairienet (http://www.prairienet.org/)
Community Network for East-Central Illinois

Community Connector (http://www.si.umich.edu/Community/)
The Community Connector is a project of the University of Michigan School of Information. Includes directories of CNs, conference announcements, bibliographies of papers, annotated lists of quality resources for people gathering community-building information, training and evaluation resources, pointers to best practices.

Benton Foundation (http://www.benton.org/)
The Benton Foundation promotes public interest values and noncommercial services for the National Information Infrastructure through research and policy analysis, outreach to nonprofits and foundations, and print, video, and online publishing. Follow the link to Community Policy & Practice, where you will find further information about successful programs in low-income communities (http://www.benton.org/Practice/Low-Income/home.html)

Libraries for the Future (http://www.lff.org/)
Libraries for the Future is a national organization dedicated to information equity, literacy and the preservation and renewal of libraries as essential tools for a democratic society.

AIRS (http://www.airs.org)
The Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS) is the professional association for nearly 1,000 programs throughout North America that provide information and referral on human services in their respective communities. AIRS offers a professional umbrella for all I&R providers in both public and private organizations. Through its publications and national networking, AIRS promotes the image of I&R and conveys new developments in the field.

CTCNet (http://www.ctcnet.org/)
Community Technology Centers' Network (CTCNet) - network of nonprofit organizations throughout the U.S. that provide low-cost access to computers and the Internet, plus associated training and support.

Digital Storytelling (http://www.storycenter.org/)
The Center for Digital Storytelling is dedicated to digital storytelling by working with people to tell stories based in their personal or family archival images.

TIIAP website (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/tiiap/)
The Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP) of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration annually awards matching grants to promote effective use of information technology at the local level. Prairienet's Community Networking Initiative is a 1997 TIIAP recipient. The website contains descriptions of funded projects and other useful links.

Listservs

All class members should subscribe to:

Communet (listserv on community networks)
To subscribe, send the message "subscribe communet [your name]" to listproc@list.uvm.edu. Do not include the quotes in your commands; type your name with your first name first. The subject line can be left blank. To unsubscribe, send the message "unsubscribe communet" to listproc@list.uvm.edu. To send a message to the Communet list, address your email to: communet@list.uvm.edu.
Up-For-Grabs (listserv of the Benton Foundation)
To join Benton's Up For Grabs Discussion Forum (which also includes the daily Headlines service), send email to: listserv@cdinet.com. In the body of the message, type only: subscribe upforgrabs-L YourFirstName YourLastName. To unsubscribe, send email to: listserv@cdinet.com. In the body of the message, type only: signoff upforgrabs-L.

TRAINING RESOURCES

*** HANDS-ON HTML WORKSHOP WILL BE OFFERED BY LRL GAs ***
*** THURSDAY, MAY 20, 7:00-9:00 p.m. ***
*** MONDAY, MAY 24, 2:00-4:00 p.m. ***
*** FRIDAY, MAY 28, 9:00-11:00 a.m. ***

LIS 316: Instruction and Assistance Systems class syllabus (http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~malone/316/iasdesc.htm)
Cheryl Knott Malone's syllabus, Summer Session I 1999. Contains links to materials on good teaching practices, as well as specific guidelines for tutorial construction.

Flint Public Library WebStation (http://www.flint.lib.mi.us/fpl.html)
The "Find It" site has a set of simple search help sheets (http://www.flint.lib.mi.us/findit/search.html). Their Internet Training Handouts (http://www.flint.lib.mi.us/training/) provide a good example of how to combine web help sheets with special topic training. For example, check out the handout on "Searching Cancer Information on the World Wide Web" (http://www.flint.lib.mi.us/training/findit_classes/cancer.html). Also available is a simple "Learn the Web" (http://www.flint.lib.mi.us/training/learnweb/index.html) step-by-step tutorial on basic navigation features developed for the general public.

Blue Web'n (http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/)
A library of high-quality web tutorials on all manner of topics. The "Community Interest" library contains tutorials on piano playing and finding your way with a map and compass; some of the other material listed in that library is more community oriented, such as a neighborhood oral history project.

Frank Odasz' Making the Best Use of Internet to Enhance Student Learning: A Native Alaskan Cross-Cultural Internet Guide (http://lone-eagles.com/guide.htm)
A handbook that contains numerous links to web tutorials. Developed by a community networking leader.

Susan Shoemaker's Evaluating Information on the Internet
(http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~shoemake/EvalInternetInfo.html)

Website Evaluation and Review Resources (http://metalab.unc.edu/reference/eval.html)
Created by library staff at the University of North Carolina.

Evaluation of Information Sources (http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~agsmith/evaln/evaln.htm)
Articles and guidelines related to selection and evaluation criteria.

Ethics and Etiquette of Internet Resources (http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/QltyPages/QltyEtiq.html)
Tracks online materials relevant to ethics and etiquette of the use and development of networked information resources.

LEEP html help (http://leep.lis.uiuc.edu/controls/webpages.html)
Helpful links from LEEP staff for constructing/maintaining websites.

LRL recommended resources (http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/lrl/index.html#head)
Links to tutorials/guides which the LRL staff recommends as useful for computing needs (e.g., e-mail, html, web searching).

Webmonkey (http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/guides/)
HTML tutorials, analyses of the latest browsers, shareware, and plug-ins. Attractive tutorials designed specifically for new users.

Jacob Nielson's Usability Resources Website (http://pindar.ilt.columbia.edu/tcclasses/TU5510s98/Students/mxc/references.html)
Web references related to usability and the components of a good website.

Community Connector Training Resoures (http://www.si.umich.edu/Community/training2.html)
Tutorials or further information on a variety of computing issues. "Novices" section had a few items of particular relevance.

SCHEDULE

WEEK 1: Basic orientation.

Tuesday (5/18): Introductions, overview and exploration. Project planning.

Class activities

Introduction to the course; discussion of objectives.
Prairienet registration and exploration.
Overview of Community Networking Initiative (CNI).
Discussion of course project and preliminary selection of project tasks.

Guests: Paul Adams, CNI/Prairienet Director. Cecelia Merkel, CNI Curriculum and Instruction Specialist.

Resources

Explore material at About Prairienet: Your community network. [http://www.prairienet.org/about/]

Schuler, D. (1996). Chapter 1. Community and technology: A marriage of necessity. In New community networks: Wired for change (pp. 1-34). New York: ACM Press.

CNI project proposal [http://www.prairienet.org/cni/proposal.htm]

CNI Training Manual.

Reardon, K. M. (1998). Participatory action research as service learning. In Rhoads, R. A., and J. P. F. Howard (Eds.). Academic service learning: A pedagogy of action and reflection (pp. 57-64). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Thursday (5/20): Introduction to community information systems. Focus on information and referral services (I&R) and issues related to moving them online.

Class Activities

Before class:

Complete "Student Knowledge/Skills Assessment"
Create a journal entry that outlines your learning goals, objectives, and activities.
Peruse Prairienet's online documentation and help information. Explore I&R services on Prairienet: HelpSource; HelpBook; NPIN Illinois [select "Education" in Prairienet Community Directory -- http://npinil.crc.uiuc.edu/]. Then check out Galileo's Resource House, an I&R service with goofy online characters who guide you through the system in one big theatrical tutorial. Note impressions and issues in your journal, questions for guests.

In class:

Panel discussion of community information and referral services with guests: Mary Anne Wilson (Family Adocacy and Support Program Manager, Family Services -- HelpBook), Amy Aidman (National Parent Information Network -- NPIN Illinois), Gretchen Robbins (Director of Public Relations, The Carle Foundation -- HelpSource)
Project activities:
Andrea Ingram (Prairienet's Web Resources Manager) will discuss Prairienet's approach to the development of training material and her role in our class project. She will also present a learning unit on graphical (PPPrairienet) vs. text-based Prairienet access (Prairienet Classic).
Melissa Records (CNI's Public Access Site Coordinator) will present a learning unit on getting around in Prairienet Classic and describe CNI training for PAS volunteers.
Final selection of project activities.

LIS 316 crossover:

4:00-6:00 p.m. -- Cheryl Malone will lead a hands-on review of web tutorials in the LRL.
7:00-9:00 p.m. -- Hands-on HTML workshop conducted by LRL GAs. Workshop will be repeated on: Monday, May 24, from 2:00-4:00 p.m.; Friday, May 28, 9:00-11:00 a.m.

Resources:

Haynes, K. S. (1995). Information and referral services. In Encyclopedia of social work. 19th ed. Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers.

Public Library Association. Community Information Section. (1989). Guidelines for establishing community information and referral services in public libraries: Including a selective guide to the literature of community information and referral. 3rd ed. I. Definition of community information and referral service (pp. 1-2); VI. The resource file (pp. 8-9). Chicago: American Library Association, Public Library Association.

Sayles, G. (199x). The role of information and referral in the national information infrastructure: An AIRS position paper. [http://www.airs.org/library/airsposition.htm]

Pettigrew, K. E., Durrance, J. C., & Vakkari, P. (1999, in press). Approaches to studying public library-networked community information initiatives: A review of the literature and overview of a current study. Library & Information Science Research.

Bishop, A. P., Tidline, T., Shoemaker, S., & Salela, P. (1999). Public libraries and networked information services in low-income communities. Library & Information Science Research.

Galileo's Resource House [http://www2.iwd.state.ia.us/galileo/]
A guide to health care, education, child care, recreation and social services. Inside the House you'll find a cast of characters who are ready to help you create your own personal file, find out what resources are available, and sign up for programs.