AI & SOCIETY

, Volume 25, Issue 3, pp 291–307 | Cite as

Community networks and the evolution of civic intelligence

Original Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Although the intrinsic physicality of human beings has not changed in millennia, the species has managed to profoundly reconstitute the physical and social world it inhabits. Although the word “profound” is insufficient to describe the vast changes our world has undergone, it is sufficiently neutral to encompass both the opportunities—and the challenges—that our age provides. It is a premise of my work that technology, particularly information and communication technology (ICT), offers spectacular opportunities for humankind to address its collective problems. The problems themselves are equally spectacular that is war and militarism, poverty, environmental depletion and destruction, disease, etc., and lack of successful alleviation may prove catastrophic. Humankind’s problems will not be solved by elite fiat, by chance, or as a side-effect of the “free market.” To address these challenges effectively and appropriately, “civic intelligence” will be required. This paper is designed to explore the relation between community networks and the nascent concept of civic intelligence. Civic intelligence describes the capacity of society to consciously adapt to its environment and shape a future environment that is healthy, equitable, and sustainable. Although individuals contribute to civic intelligence, the concept describes a phenomenon that is collective and distributed. This paper argues that community networks were an important manifestation of civic intelligence in the early days of the Internet revolution. It further argues that a theory of civic intelligence can be used to account for the declining influence of traditional community networks and to provide useful prescriptions for renewed vitality and influence of community networks in the future.

Keywords

Civic intelligence Community networks Information and communication technology Intellectual tools Mental model Social capital Seattle Community Network 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Michael Maranda, Frank Odasz, Stephen Snow, and Susan Soy for their thoughtful comments. I would also like to thank Thomas Herrmann and Kai-Uwe Loser for their kind assistance depicting the functional model of the civic intelligence theory using the SeeMe editor for socio-technical modeling. Finally, all of the volunteers and staff at AFCN, NPTN, SCN, and other community network organizations deserve our thanks for their dedication and early cultivation of civic values in what David Silver called “the soil of cyberspace.”

References

  1. Barber B (1984) Strong democracy: participatory politics for a new age. University of California Press, BerkeleyGoogle Scholar
  2. Bransford J, Brown A, Cocking R (eds) (1999) How people learn: brain, mind, experience, and school. Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning, National Research CouncilGoogle Scholar
  3. Calvin W (1996) How brains think: evolving intelligence, then and now. Basic Books, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  4. Carveth R, Kretchmer S, Schuler D (2002) Shaping the network society: patterns for participation, action and change. In: Proceedings of DIAC 2002 symposium. CPSR, Palo AltoGoogle Scholar
  5. Castells M (1997) The power of identity (the information age: economy, society, and culture, vol II). Blackwell, OxfordGoogle Scholar
  6. Castells M (1998) End of millennium (the information age: economy, society, and culture, vol III). Blackwell, OxfordGoogle Scholar
  7. Civille R, Fidelman M, Altobello J (1993) A vision of change: civic promise of the national information infrastructure. The Center for Civic Networking, Washington, DC. http://www.vcn.bc.ca/sig/comm-nets/national-strategy.txt. Accessed 22 July 2004
  8. Comstock D (1982) A method for critical research. In: Bredo E, Feinberg W (eds) Knowledge and values in social and educational research. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, pp 370–390Google Scholar
  9. Day P, Schuler D (eds) (2004) Community practice in the network society. Local action/global interaction. Routledge, LondonGoogle Scholar
  10. De Cindio F (2004) The role of community networks in shaping the network society: enabling people to develop their own projects. In: Schuler D, Day P (eds)Google Scholar
  11. Dewey J (1939) Intelligence in the modern world: John Dewey’s philosophy. Random House, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  12. Doctor R, Ankem K (1995) A directory of computerized community information systems. Unpublished report, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alabama, TuscaloosaGoogle Scholar
  13. Goel M (1980) Conventional political participation. In: Smith G et al (eds) Participation in social and political activities. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp 108–132Google Scholar
  14. Greider W (1993a) Who Will Tell the People? New York: Simon and SchusterGoogle Scholar
  15. Greider W (1993b) Who will tell the people? Simon and Schuster, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  16. Grundner T (1994) Seizing the infosphere: an alternative vision for national computer networking. In: Bishop A (ed) Emerging communities: integrating networked information into library services. Paper presented the 1993 clinic on library applications of data processing, 4–6 April 1993, pp 7–15Google Scholar
  17. Keck M, Sikkink K (1998) Activists beyond borders: advocacy networks in international politics. Cornell University Press, IthacaGoogle Scholar
  18. King M, Herring D (2000) Monitoring Earth’s vital signs. Scientific American, AprilGoogle Scholar
  19. Lovink G, Riemens P (2004) A polder model in cyberspace: Amsterdam public digital culture. In: Schuler D, Day P (eds)Google Scholar
  20. MacIver R (1970) On community, society and power. University of Chicago Press, ChicagoGoogle Scholar
  21. Pea R (1993) Practices of distributed intelligence and designs for education. In: Salomon G (ed) Distributed cognitions. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 47–87Google Scholar
  22. Putnam R (1995) Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. J Democr 6:65–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Putnam R (2000) Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. Simon & Schuster, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  24. Rafensperger L (1997) Defining good science: a new approach to the environment and public health. In: Murphy D, Scammel M, Sclove R (eds) Doing community based research. Loka Institute, AmherstGoogle Scholar
  25. Rheingold H (1993) The virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier. Addison-Wesley, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
  26. Schuler D (1996a) New community networks: wired for change. Addison-Wesley, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  27. Schuler D (1996b) Three ways to kill community networks. From the network observer. http://www.scn.org/ip/commnet/kill-commnets.html
  28. Schuler D (2001) Cultivating society’s civic intelligence: patterns for a new “world brain”. J Soc Inf Commun 4(2):157–181Google Scholar
  29. Schuler D (2004) Civic intelligence functional model. Presented at on democratization of information with a focus on libraries, world social forum, Mumbai, India. http://www.nigd.org/libraries/mumbai/reports/article-5.pdf
  30. Schuler D, Day P (2004) Shaping the network society: the new role of civil society in cyberspaceGoogle Scholar
  31. Silver D (2004) The soil of cyberspace: historical archaeologies of the blacksburg electronic village and the seattle community network. In: Schuler D, Day P (eds)Google Scholar
  32. Steinbeck J (2002) Grapes of Wrath. Penguin, LondonGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.The Evergreen State CollegeOlympiaUSA

Personalised recommendations