Researching communities with community participation An edited book that presents personal but grounded perspectives on engaging communities to undertake research within them in ways that promote and privilege the voice of the community, is respectful of local or indigenous practices and is culturally safe. Community informatics is a praxis-based discipline concerned with the social appropriation of technology. As such research, in this context is often applied and qualitative in nature. It is, like the project being examined, embedded in the community and at its best provides useful and usable results for a range of stakeholders, including the community itself, funding agencies, developers of policy and other practitioners. Claims are often made that such research is a partnership but in reality, our time in a community is often limited and, unless we are also a part of that community, we are unlikely to be directly affected by the project. This book positions researchers as guests, hopefully invited in, sometimes simply 'parachuted' in by a government agency or NGO as part of a contractual obligation to evaluate. How then are we as researchers to achieve a balance between all the stakeholders? How are we to ensure that the voice of the community is heard, not simply in the research but in the design of the research and the application of outcomes. Our focus is on the impact of the project on people and the potential for engagement and change. Every community is different and so each project must reflect that and so must our research. Whilst these issues apply to any community, they can often be more significant for researchers working with marginalized groups and with indigenous peoples. Objectives A resource for researchers wanting to engage in community-centric research and community practitioners wanting to learn more about collaborative research. This book will provide a practical but rigorously grounded resource that describes applied, community-based research through the narrative and exemplars of researchers and the communities themselves. Audience * Academic Researchers * Community activists and practitioners * Post-graduate students * Commercial researchers and evaluators * Government agencies and policy developers * Anyone wishing to work effectively with communities Call for Chapters Contributions are sought for this book in two formats: 1) Researcher perspective Chapters of between 3000 - 5000 words that provide an overview of a project and community, please include personal reflection and reflexive commentaries on the process and lessons learned. Since the book is targeted at researchers, literature should be used to support arguments where appropriate, however, it is not intended to be a dense or overly academic publication. These submissions will be peer reviewed before acceptance. 2) Community perspective Short vignettes (1000-2000 words) are sought from community practitioners describing their experiences of research in their communities. Both positive and negative stories are sought, however each chapter should provide a summary of learning experiences and recommendations for future projects. These submissions will be editorially reviewed before acceptance. Timetable * Initial chapter proposals due 3 Apr 06 * Authors notified of provisional acceptance Jun 06 * First draft of chapters due for review Sep 06 * Authors notified of acceptance/changes Nov 06 * Final chapters due Jan 07 * Publication Jun 07 Proposals Chapter proposals should be sent to andy[at]wairua.co.nz in the body of an email and should include: * Working title * Authors names and affiliations * Type of submission: Researcher or practitioner * Summary of the proposed chapter (max 500 words)