Theories, Practices and Examples for Community and Social Informatics

'Community Informatics' is an emergent discipline with a dual focus: the conduct of research about the relationship between the design of information and communications technologies (ICTs) and local communities, as well as the implementation of ICT projects in local communities. While most of the Community Informatics literature focuses on empirical work and its relationship to more technically oriented Information or Management Systems thinking, this book uses a combination of theoretical and case study approaches to explore the relationship between Community Informatics, Social Informatics, and broader social theory. Themes include: social order mediated through ICTs * community and cohesion * class and power * social psychology and technology * the relationship between personal agency and social structure mediated through technology * the nature of institutional or community formations in the age of ICTs.