I'd like to compare notes with researchers exploring the use of social media/online forums in lower income/diverse/high immigrant neighborhoods. E-Democracy.org has some new Ford Foundation funding to deepen our current efforts in Cedar Riverside in Minneapolis (large East African population) and Frogtown in St. Paul (large SE Asian, and African-American communities): http://e-democracy.org/inclusion Our goal is the create an integrative online experience that reflects the diversity of the area both in terms of registrants and with shared content. Part one in terms of registration, aided by in-person outreach (documented extensively on our blog - see link just above) happened over the previous year. Part two includes activities of our part-time "Community Outreach and Information Leaders" that I just hired to work with community groups and participants to spur diverse exchange. We use a mix of e-mail/web with forums piped into Facebook Fan pages and Twitter as well. Who has been active in this niche - either neighborhood activities online in general (I know about Keith Hampton's good work) or more specifically in working with content/exchange online for inclusion. (Going well beyond the computer training and access paradigm.) I am interested in both researchers and projects you know about. Please also reply to clift@e-democracy.org so I don't miss your reply. Cheers, Steven Clift E-Democracy.org P.S. We do have some coding projects exploring the next generation of nearest neighbor connections online emerging: http://e-democracy.org/neighborly - Also note http://pages.e-democracy.org/Block_activities
Hi Steven, A PhD researcher I work with is currently writing up her thesis on a community reporters programme in the City of Salford, UK, through 'People's Voice Media' - see http://peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk/. Her work takes the beyond access thesis and the literature on urban regeneration as a starting point - you might want to have a chat with her - she's very knowledgable as she's worked for years in community outreach too. I've copied her into the email and also onto the list just in case anyone else is interested in this kind of work. Best, Ben. Ben Light Professor of Digital Media Communication, Cultural and Media Studies Research Centre Associate Head of School - Research and Innovation School of Media, Music and Performance The University of Salford Adelphi House Salford M3 6EN www.smmp.salford.ac.uk www.ccm.salford.ac.uk www.benlight.org On 2/3/10 17:54, "Steven Clift" <slc@publicus.net> wrote:
I'd like to compare notes with researchers exploring the use of social media/online forums in lower income/diverse/high immigrant neighborhoods.
E-Democracy.org has some new Ford Foundation funding to deepen our current efforts in Cedar Riverside in Minneapolis (large East African population) and Frogtown in St. Paul (large SE Asian, and African-American communities): http://e-democracy.org/inclusion
Our goal is the create an integrative online experience that reflects the diversity of the area both in terms of registrants and with shared content. Part one in terms of registration, aided by in-person outreach (documented extensively on our blog - see link just above) happened over the previous year. Part two includes activities of our part-time "Community Outreach and Information Leaders" that I just hired to work with community groups and participants to spur diverse exchange. We use a mix of e-mail/web with forums piped into Facebook Fan pages and Twitter as well.
Who has been active in this niche - either neighborhood activities online in general (I know about Keith Hampton's good work) or more specifically in working with content/exchange online for inclusion. (Going well beyond the computer training and access paradigm.) I am interested in both researchers and projects you know about.
Please also reply to clift@e-democracy.org so I don't miss your reply.
Cheers, Steven Clift E-Democracy.org
P.S. We do have some coding projects exploring the next generation of nearest neighbor connections online emerging: http://e-democracy.org/neighborly - Also note http://pages.e-democracy.org/Block_activities _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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Thanks Ben, Everyone, here is a recent news report on our digital inclusion work that just came out: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/03/01/e-democracy-neighborhood-forums And a related detailed blog post: http://blog.e-democracy.org/posts/719 So, is that it in terms of inclusion research folks know about in this arena? Is the use of social media in lower income or higher immigrant local communities not a compelling or important research topic? OK, I am poking you in the ribs, but I see this as a growing huge divide that needs serious exploration. Let me take this another direction. Imagine that you had a research/evaluation budget of $6,000 ... wait, we do! What questions would you like us to explore? What kind of case study would you like to see? What is the big gap in knowledge in this niche? Who might we hire? (I have Board members who probably want someone local in Minnesota. I'd love to be able to connect with a local faculty member or graduate student with an interest in this project ... perhaps leverage some existing resources.) It is for this effort: http://e-democracy.org/inclusion Steven Clift E-Democracy.org
participants (2)
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Ben Light -
Steven Clift