New School University
Media Studies
Fall 08
Understanding Media Studies
Dr. Shannon Mattern
Literary Review
COMMUNITY INFORMATICS: Is it an agent for sustainability in a globalized economy?
With the Industrial Age well underway, it seems as if Walter Benjamin was prognosticating in 1928 about globalization and the Internet when he wrote:
Men as a species completed their development thousands of years ago; but mankind as a species is just beginning his. In technology, a physis is being organized through which mankind’s contact with the cosmos takes a new and different form from that which it had in nations and families. One need recall only the experience of velocities by virtue of which mankind is now preparing to embark on incalculable journeys into the interior of time… (Benjamin, 1996: 487).
Globalization is the result of technology’s ability to collapse time and extend communication beyond local and regional boundaries. In 1964 Marshall McLuhan wrote, “Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned(McLuahan, 1964).”
In the modern sense, globalization is a process that began with the development of the telegraph and radio (Naughton, 2006) and has resulted in the concentration of production and wealth in a relatively small number of communities (Goodwin, 2008) and the fragmentation of society (Turkle, 1995). As an economic term, globalization began during the 1980’s with the expansion of market economies worldwide and the beginning of widespread outsourcing (Supply Chain Management 2008). Globalization has resulted in many communities sinking into economic depression, especially rural resource based economies (Margolin, 2006, Young, 2008). For the last two decades there has been a trend in government to increase access to digital media as a means of counter balancing the negative effects of globalization. The assumption has been that universal media literacy and access will insure economic success in the modern economy (Alkalimat, 2001, Williams & Wallace, 2005).
There is no data to support the idea that media literacy by itself is a silver bullet that will offset the increased worldwide poverty brought about by the shift from dispersed modes of production to globalized markets (Feenberg, 2004). The literature I have reviewed identifies three significant concepts relative to sustainable communities:
- The potential for Information and Computer Technology (ICT) systems to build strong communities through the practice of Community Informatics (CI).
- Empowerment within online communities comes from active participation rather than passive consumption, which is creating a cultural convergence that challenges corporate control of economy and culture.
- The importance of social capital in building sustainable communities.
Community Informatics (CI) is a relatively new field of study that is approached from multiple disciplines including sociology, computer science, education, management, and development studies. Community Informatics is the practice of combining information and communication technology (ICT) with the intent to support local communities that have been marginalized by globalization through the empowerment of individuals by providing universal access to ICT. The development of Community Informatics is a direct response to the corporate led development of ICT systems that have centralized and concentrated economic capital within a select group of communities (Fox, 2004).
The development of the internet as a ubiquitous means of communication and commerce via websites, email, blogs, and the public sharing of privately produced content (i.e. photos and videos) has created a dramatic increase in research around community development by design. The seminal (pre-Internet) work of Anderson (1991) introduced the concept of the imagined community and is the foundation for understanding the formation of ‘virtual’ communities. Online communities sprouted up before the Internet through the use of modems and BBS bulletin boards (Fernback, 1995). Unlike broadcast television that leaves the audience isolated,
“People in virtual communities use words on screens to exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct commerce, exchange knowledge, share emotional support, make plans, brainstorm, gossip, feud, fall in love, find friends and lose them, play games, flirt, create a little high art and a lot if idle talk. People in virtual communities do just about everything people do in real life, but we leave our bodies behind” (Rheingold, 1993 p. 3).
Kim (2000) articulates the properties necessary in the design of a vibrant online community that closely mirrors the characteristics of a physical community organization that serve as secondary associations (Putnam 2000). Both Kim and Putnam stress the importance of active participation. A scan of CI projects reveals a trend towards projects that are intended to increase universal access to digital media (Parkinson, 2006) or to improve access to social services from government and non-government organizations (NGOs). The initial theory that universal access can empower individuals is coming under criticism. Ripamonti (2005) notes that access by itself may do little more than to reinforce a consumer’s relationship with a business and Williams (2007) illustrates the strong ties formed between fans and cultural commodities through the formation of online communities in support of existing businesses. It seems that large corporations are in the best position to benefit economically from the expansion of the Internet.
Jerkle (2001) represents the trend towards trying to build sustainability through e-commerce business models that are woven into online communities. Thus far, there are too few successful case studies to be able to draw any conclusions on the effectiveness of ICT projects in sustaining marginalized communities. Although there has been explosive growth in the number of participants in online communities (Urstadt, 2008), there is little evidence of any significant implications from the innate formation of virtual communities (Feenberg, 2004).
The most direct impact members of an online community have on shaping community is through active participation. Participation consists of content production in the form of user feedback, blogging, mashups, and other forms of independent media production. User comments have a direct impact on sales of products (i.e. Amazon.com user ratings, travel website comments and ratings), and are forming new relationships with broadcast mediums. New genres of entertainment are being formed based upon audience participation in plot design such as the phenomenon of LonelyGirl15 on YouTube(Space Shank Media, 2008).
Peer to Peer network traffic (used for file sharing, i.e. music files) will soon exceed traditional web traffic (Naughton, 2006). The music industry is imploding, and the open source movement is the poster child for participatory models. However, the largest amount of participation on the Internet thus far is in support of online communities built around commercial interests with little positive impact on the economic condition of marginalized communities (Wiertz, 2007).
The work of Elizabeth Ellsworth (2008) and the DIY movement in media seems to offer the greatest optimism for empowering individuals and communities. Born out of the Arts and Crafts movement, DIY media production is creating a convergence of community based subcultures and hegemonic corporate culture. Working in tangent with Community Informatics, with an emphasis on digital media production, active participation in content production has shown potential for growing social capital as a means of countering the influence financial capital has on public policy and control of physical capital through privatization (Birner, 2000). “Media is a place of social struggle. Images are privileging certain meanings and making others invisible “(Ellsworth, 2008). New trends in media activism acknowledge that there isn’t a need to “make change” but rather recognize that change is already occurring, and to assemble the ideas that are emerging and give them agency through their mass publication via modern technology that is accessible and affordable.
ICT projects around distance education and media literacy may not show direct economic benefit, but are key components in growing the potential for increased social capital by harnessing media’s ability to transmit cultural symbols and to interpolate a fragmented society into tight-nit community groups.
The concept of Monitorial Citizenship (Schudson, 1999, ExtremeMedia.Org, 2008) and place based narratives (Lippard, 1997) merge together in a post modern world that seeks to eliminate the ‘misinformed’ consumer and replace it with a change model based upon networks of micro knowledge from a multicultural and multicentered perspective. The idea of oppositional texts has been displaced in favor of a system of flow and modulation where content producers can amplify and give agency to new ideas (Ellsworth, 2008).
While there are some case studies that illustrate how the development of social capital can be utilized to create political capital (Birner, 2000) for the purposes of environmental conservation, It is too early to tell what the long-term impacts of community informatics and DIY media initiatives will have on the global marketplace. More research needs to be done to develop a meaningful index of measurements in this area.
What we do know is that online communities have the potential to enable social interaction and embody a shared value system and a shared symbol system (Rheingold, 1991). We know that active participation can directly impact business by shaping consumer attitudes and behaviors, and we know that social capital is a key development element within the global economy.
Fukuyama (2002) writes, “Social capital directly affects the ability of people to organize for economic ends; it supports the creation of institutions and the rule of law; and is a vital underpinning of democracy, which is the source of legitimacy for the political framework in which development increasingly takes place.” Fukuyama stresses that the absence of social capital is an impediment to economic sustainability.
Both Fukuyama (2002) and Young (2008) describe the process of “Neo Liberalism” as one where there is an emphasis on privatization and decentralized control of physical resources. Literature about globalization makes note of the fundamental change from a system where there is centralized control of dispersed production (Young, 2008), such as the limitations placed upon timber harvest and agriculture production prior to the 1970’s (Woolf, 2007), to a market based system with new international ‘actors ‘entering the market with mass production facilities consolidated into smaller geographic regions. The net result of globalization has been one of consolidation of small producers into large corporate conglomerates with many communities unable to support a diverse marketplace of stores and services. While Young expresses a viewpoint that Neo Liberalism is responsible for destabilizing local economies by removing government and corporate responsibilities to local communities, Fukuyama argues that the failure of Neo Liberalism is due to a failure to understand the significance of social capital in the adoption of change. A survey of social-economic literature on the topic globalization reveals the complex interplay of social, physical and financial capital that is controlled through political processes. It seems that electronic communication technology has led to consolidated industrial production and the loss of social capital in communities where unemployment or under employment has increased. In addition to this, the entertainment aspect of broadcast media has interrupted leisure time and decreased levels of participation in fraternal organizations (Putnam, 2000)
From a media studies research perspective; the realms of social and political capital are the spheres in which Community Informatics can have the greatest influence. The most critical element within social capital is that of trust. Fukuyama explains that Latin American communities are based upon strong family networks of businesses that are distrustful of any outside investment, which makes it difficult for these countries to actively participate in the global economy and leads to political corruption because their community is built upon a system of nepotism. This example illustrates how a region may have strong community institutions and yet still fail economically due to an inability to interconnect with outside organizations.
Most developing countries actually have an abundance of social capital in the form of kinship groups or traditional social groups like lineages, tribes, or village associations. What they lack are more modern, broad-radius organizations that connect across traditional ethnic, class, or status boundaries and serve as the basis for modern political and economic organizations. Seen from this perspective, many traditional groups embodying one form of social capital can actually be obstacles to development, because they are too insular or resistant to change(Fukuyama, 2002).
The United State’s own success within the global economy is questionable and currently receiving strong criticism. Economic data points to a polarity of wealth among communities and individuals and a general decrease in social capital(Margolin, 2006, Putnum, 2000). Putnam attempts to quantify the decline of American social capital by measuring the level of active participation within social organizations and charting the increase of distrust within the general population. Putnam theorizes that some cause of our own lethargy comes from,” the changes in scale that have swept over the American economy in these years--illustrated by the replacement of the corner grocery by the supermarket and now perhaps of the supermarket by electronic shopping at home, or the replacement of community-based enterprises by outposts of distant multinational firms--may perhaps have undermined the material and even physical basis for civic engagement.”
While Fukuyama argues that financial capital cannot be developed without the cultivation of social capital and cites Putnam extensively, Casey (2002) disputes the importance of Social Capital by itself. His research indicated that social capital had no measurable impact on economic growth within American communities. He argues that too much emphasis has been placed on social capital rather than financial and physical capital. He concludes that an entrepreneurial human spirit is the single most significant factor in determining economic vitality within a community. Young (2008) illustrates how Governments are adopting entrepreneurial community development policies as they pull out of direct control over communities and their physical resources. ICT projects are increasingly charged with developing entrepreneurial components such as e-commerce sites that promote local products and services (see Shopthefrontier.org). A bottom-up model has replaced the top-down corporate and government management structure of communities. Neither has proven overly effective in sustaining the well being of the citizens within these disadvantaged regions.
Without agreeing with any of these theories we can deduce that a new framework for evaluating the sustainability of any community must include an evaluation of the social, physical, financial and political capital within the community. From the research we can see how financial capital translates into political influence, and the assertion of control over physical capital through privatization of resources, and we can now see examples of where a high degree of ‘interconnected’ social capital can be transformed into political capital in defense of public space (Birner 2000).
One role of new media is creating and exchanging cultural symbols that give agency to marginalized subcultures. The success of Community Informatics rests on the cultivation of ‘interconnected’ social capital. Essentially the research has revealed the need for community informatics initiatives to expand beyond universal access, distance education, and the enhancement of services within individual agencies. Design of ICT projects should be fundamentally based on the development of social capital through the expansion of access to external networked communities. The strength of a church (or social services agency) should not be measured by the participation of its congregation, but rather by its interactions with other churches of other denominations. The expansion of media content production within a CI initiative will have its greatest effect through the amplification of diverse voices. Fukuyama expresses this best by writing:
“Sociologist Mark Granovetter has observed that it is often the heterogeneous member of a network, or the individual within it with weak ties and broken affinities, who serves as the conduit for new ideas and information into a closed group.9 A society with many loose and overlapping networks may be more economically efficient than one with many static, self-regarding ones.” (Fukuyama, 2002 Pg. 31)
A criticism of Putnum and Fukuyama could be made that previous measurements of social capital were limited to homogenous institutions, which lack the ability to translate their social equity into political or financial capital. I propose that there should be a new comprehensive framework for evaluating the sustainability of a community and subsequently the success of community development initiatives based upon Community Informatics. This framework for assessment would include:
- Active participation within a community (physical and virtual)
- A more effective measurement of social capital would look beyond the level of active participation, and emphasize trust, and the strength and variety interconnections with other networked communities.
- Evaluation of the public policies that control the physical capital within the community. Measurements would include looking at the balance between public and private influence over political processes and the potential conversion of social and financial capital into political capital.
- Evaluation of financial capital markets in terms of its capacity to nurture growth of social capital and public physical capital within the communities they operate.
- Evaluation of entrepreneurial potential through a measurement of education, access to financial capital, and physical resources.
- Creation of a statistical “empowerment” index similar to PARECON’s balanced job theory (Albert, 2003) that compares communities based upon a more complex measurement as outlined above in addition to the standard economic measurements for employment, productivity, and personal income.
Sources:
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