Community Information Corps - Preparing information professionals for public interest work.

Ignite Ann Arbor

epuckett — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:13:41 +0000

Last night I attended Ignite Ann Arbor's first event, hosted at the Neutral Zone. It was really pretty interesting and fun! The energy level was high, the place was packed, and there were a lot of different people there. The list of speakers was pretty impressive and I learned about some things going on in Ann Arbor that I hadn't heard of before and I thought I would share.

John Barrie, Executive Director of the Appropriate Technology Collaborative, spoke about their projects bringing life-improving technologies to Guatemala and Nicaragua, among other places. These were mostly engineering-based solutions but there may be room for collaboration between "us and them" regarding information needs or challenges.

The Appropriate Technology Collaborative (ATC) is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose purpose is "To design, develop, demonstrate and distribute appropriate technological solutions for meeting the basic human needs of low income people in the developing world. ATC works in collaboration with our clients and other nonprofits (NGOs) to create technologies that are culturally sensitive, environmentally responsible and locally repairable in order to improve the quality of life, enhance safety, and reduce adverse impacts on their environment."

Bob Stack, from Ann Arbor's Workantile also spoke about their activities. While I'd heard about this place, it was pretty cool to actually see examples of what they're doing and who's involved. Again, this was pretty hard skills oriented with facilities for generally MAKING things, but I love the idea of collaborative work spaces.

The energetic Eli Neiberger, the Ann Arbor District Library's IT Developer, opened the event with a presentation on what's going on with the AADL's information infrastructure and how citizens can interact with it to improve it via tagging, reviews, etc. AADL really seems to be at the forefront of database manipulation and improvements so I enjoyed getting a review of their activities.

These were just a few of the speakers and there were a lot of other really interesting talks ranging from design (the golden triangle) to electronic music to space balloons. The next event is planned in the Fall so CICers and SIers should definitely check it out.

SI 645 details

epuckett — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:25:49 +0000

SI 645, Information Use in Communities, has been listed in Wolverine Access and the SI course catalog. There is not a set time/place for it yet. Below is the revised course description.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course provides an opportunity for students to examine information seeking and use in geographic communities. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore: 1) selected community information needs & use situations (everyday life problem solving, community problem solving, citizenship, civic engagement and participation); 2) factors that influence community information use including the roles of community information organizations & institutions; 3) models of community information provision. The course starts with a brief historical introduction. Students will have opportunities to examine in more detail topics of especial interest to them.

Information Use in Communities Fall 2009

epuckett — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:30:14 +0000

SI 645, Information Use in Communities, WILL be taught in the Fall 2009. Dean MacKie Mason decided that this class is worth the financial risk of low enrollment but that it is important to try to have a robust student body represented in this class. However, it will be taught every other year from this point forward so it will not be offered in Fall 2010. If you are a currently enrolled SI student considering Community Informatics as a specialization, this is a very important class to take. If you are a prospective student interested in Community Informatics, this is a very important class to take. Please consider amending your schedules to take this class. If you would like to discuss the class further, please email me at epuckett@umich.edu.

SI 645 Information Use in Communities Re-instated for Fall 2009

lmclaug — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:37:51 +0000

Joan Durrance's excellent course on Information Use in Communities will now be offered Fall 2009. This is an essential community informatics course, not to be missed! Please spread the word to new SI students and students in other graduate schools who may be interested.

UIUC Symposium on Community as Intellectual Space June 12-14 Chicago

lmclaug — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:06:40 +0000

Community as Intellectual Space:
Critical Pedagogy and Community Building

REGISTRATION SITE: http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cpd/CIS2009/

The fifth annual Community as Intellectual Space Symposium, co-organized by the Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center (Chicago) and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will be held on June 12-14 at La Estancia on 2753 W. Division Street, Paseo Boricua, Chicago, Illinois. The theme of the symposium is "Critical Pedagogy: Community Building as Curriculum." As professionals and institutions are engaging with communities to enhance the life chances and well-being of residents, we consider how strength-based approaches such as community-building and critical pedagogy can offer effective and sustainable change - not just locally, but among collaborators as well; and why this matters.

The keynote speaker of this year's symposium is Antonia Darder. Antonia Darder is a Professor at the University of Illinois in Educational Policy Studies and the Latino/a Studies Department and has published extensively on the topic of critical pedagogy.

The symposium includes presentations on the Social Emotional Learning at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School; Critical Pedagogy and its Application to Teacher Certification; Community Based Research; Community Informatics and Service-Learning; Community Health at the Barrio Arts, Culture, and Communications Academy; Urban Agriculture; workshops on Community Archiving and Web 2.0 Cataloging; Batey Urbano's production of Crime against Humanity, screenings of original documentaries filmed on Paseo Boricua, and community tours and art exhibits.

Continuing Professional Development Units (CDPUs), academic course credit for those who enroll in UI's LIS590 CIO and registration scholarships available.

For additional information, flier, preliminary program, and registration information please visit http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cpd/CIS2009/

Please contact slirish@illinois.edu with any questions.

Please forward widely.

Happiness as your business model

epuckett — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:10:45 +0000

Check out this cute (and informative and ci-minded) slideshow about business models that foster happiness and the core pillars of happiness:

http://www.slideshare.net/missrogue/happiness-as-your-business-model-414...

Diana Rhoten Visit

lmclaug — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:24:33 +0000

Hey CIC'ers,

For those of your around this summer, Diana Rhoten, of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) will be visiting SI and holding a mini-workshop on her work with the Charette Method, a design process model that combines IDEO-esque design thinking strategies with academic pedagogy and GBN-inspired scenario planning. She will be assisting in the development of a teach-to-contest social impact design course idea that is one of the central reccomendations in the CIC strategic assessment I'm working on this summer. Drop me a line if you are interested in attending the workshop and I will let you know when the dates of her visit are finalized.

NCeSS: 5th International Conference on e-Social Science

epuckett — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:10:22 +0000

Any of y'all have amazing funds to go to Cologne?

The National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS) is organising this conference
in collaboration with the German Social Science Infrastructure Services
(GESIS).

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

The annual International Conference on e-Social Science brings together
leading representatives of the social science, e-Infrastructure,
cyberinfrastructure and e-Research communities in order to improve mutual
awareness and promote coordinated activities to accelerate research,
development and deployment of powerful, new methods and tools for the social
sciences and beyond.

Keynotes speakers for the conference:

* Ian Foster: Director of the Computation Institute, a joint institute of
the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory.

* Mario Campolargo: Director of the "Emerging Technologies and
Infrastructures" Directorate of DG-INFSO

* David Theo Goldberg: co-founder and co-leader of HASTAC (Humanities, Arts,
Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory).

The programme for the conference is now available and can be found on the
NCeSS website at http://www.ncess.ac.uk/conference-09/programme/

To register for the conference, please visit
http://www.ncess.ac.uk/conference-09/registration/

[Registration will close on 17 June 2009]

UIUC Announces New Interdisciplinary Community Informatics Fellowship Programs

travisaugust — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:53:22 +0000

UIUC has announced nine seed grants to integrate their Community Informatics Initiative across disciplines. These projects include faculty from the School of Social Work, Landscape Design, and Gender and Women's studies among others. Project titles are below.

Project Titles:

Reaching More Latina/os: Using Social Media and Spanish Service- Learning to Expand Services to Local and Rural Non-Profits

Culture-Sensitive Interface Design for an Endemic Disease Information System

When I Look At You: Portraits and Performances of Black Girlhood in Everyday Life

Community Housing Needs Assessment for Metro East St. Louis

A Safe Space for Learning: Creating a Higher Education Community at a Medium-High Security Illinois Prison

Participatory Design to Revitalize Public Space in Sao Tome, West Africa

Disability + Relevant Design - Social Inclusion Component

GIS Analysis of Patient Origin and Diagnosis at a Free Health Clinic

Puentes y Estrellas del Mar: Using Community Informatics to Build Enduring Service Infrastructures in New Growth Communities

CIC Summer Potluck #1: May 13

kludewig — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:35:32 +0000

As Emily mentioned, we plan to have monthly potlucks for CIC to share ideas and get to know each other. Summer CIC Potluck #1 is at Kathleen's house on Wed May 13. We'll celebrate being done with the semester and maybe even informally plan CIC projects for the summer and fall.

Details

Date: Wed, May 13

Time: 7 - 10 pm (we can continue elsewhere - I just have a couple housemates who go to sleep around 10 pm)

Address: Kathleen's house. Catherine and Division St. (Full address on CIC CTools site. Email kludewig AT umich DOT edu if you need the address.)

Details: CIC Potluck! Bring a dish and some ideas for CIC for the fall.

Please RSVP below and indicate what you plan to bring.