Community Informatics Multimedia Archive

Art can be an expression of many things, including: injustice, anger, hope, forgiveness, understanding, and empowerment. There has been a dialogue for decades among scholars, academics, and artists about the purpose of art, whether art is supposed to be just art, or is art supposed to be political.

When one says, that a particular piece of art is “political” one automatically assumes that it has a negative connotation: that it is against the status quo, it stands for resistance, and it calls for anarchy. However, I take the term as a positive, one should not be afraid of things that are political as it encourages others to take action, and to think about society and their role in it.

At first glance, the mural created by Angela Rivers, community youth, who were working with CETA (a summer training program), and others in 1978, does not seem to be “political.” Since there are no Black power signs, no Black Nationalist flag of black, red, green, no Malcolm X, no Harriet Tubman, etc, the iconic figures and symbols that one associates with political expression in the Black community. What was surprising to me as I heard her talk was how people resisted having the mural pictured as “too radical” or “too political,” as if that would be wrong. Rather the mural pictures a Black family, images from the Middle Passage, a railroad, scenes from Africa, scenes from slavery, a sun, migration denotations etc. These images do not scream “Black power,” but in actuality, they do because they signify the strength and resilience of the Black community in Champaign-Urbana and on a global level. These are images of strength that people can hold on to on the days when they are feeling down. One can look at the mural and say “My ancestors came from Africa, they survived slavery, they kept the family together, so I can do better, I can be better.” Ms. Rivers remarked on the sense of pride and ownership the majority of those in the community had toward the mural. Furthermore, the community wanted the artists of the mural to be community based, not from outside because they felt that only someone from within would have an understanding of who the community is. The mural could not have been created without the support of the community by donating their materials, time, food, and suggestions.

However, it seems from Rivers’ discussions that this sense of empowerment within the community has eroded since the 60s and 70s, due to the deepening institutional racism within society, the economic downturn, the educational system not meeting their needs, drugs, etc. Despite this, the community has continued to respect the mural by not writing graffiti on it (until recently, but it is still little). During Ms. Rivers’ presentations, she was asked repeatedly about restoring the mural, but she has been hesitant about it because of the cost (approximately $50,000) and because the community is different, (the lack of unity along with the change in values). Therefore, she believes that the mural has served its purpose. I agree with her, but I would like to see another mural created, if money were not an option, that would serve as a continuation of the history of Blacks in Champaign-Urbana community and a look toward the future. I believe that looking toward the future would help those in the community who feel that they have no future–to imagine one for themselves. In addition, it could include the role technology (or rather the lack of it) has played in the community.

The overall sentiment/idea that I gathered from listening to her lecture was that empowerment can come in many forms and art is just one. In addition, community unity is imperative to getting something done, which demonstrates that if enough voices and hands are involved, things can be completed. Furthermore, for something to occur it needs to be important to the community otherwise people do not care and will not see it through, thus when community informatics researchers work with the community they need to make clear what this means for them and those they care about. Therefore, the initiatives and actions taken have to be political, personal, and require community unity.

-Aaisha Haykal

I have been thinking a lot about how disciplinary orientations shape the way we think about Community Informatics after having a conversation with a colleague about how the museum community has addressed many issues relating to community informatics and community engagement for many years.

Reading recently Kate Williams’s and Joan Durrance’s forthcoming Library and Information Science article on Community Informatics I was struck by what was missing. Kate and Joan see CI as growing out of library community outreach in the 1970s as well as social informatics. But I wonder about the genealogy… I see the community information movement of the 1970s’ American public library as part of a larger project of democratization of culture involving more activist archivists and the placement of museum exhibits and oral history projects and public memory workshops (with renewed community control) in communities in which they had never been before. So I wonder whether or not Kate and Joan’s article is privileging the role of libraries in the history of community informatics because of their (especially Joan’s) disciplinary allegiance to librarianship. It seems to me like we are still stalled in our interdisciplinary conversation about community informatics and cultural heritage, and reaching the bigger conversation among librarians, museum professionals and archivists [or as they have been called collectively culture heritage professionals] requires reading each other’s literature to see the roots of community engagement in all fields, without privileging a particular genealogy based on our disciplinary allegiances.

–Noah Lenstra

I have been involved with CI for the past 3 months now, and I am beginning to get used to the ideologies behind CI and the common terms often used by CI faculty, staff, students, and enthusiasts. Terms like community engagement and information technology as well as all the various acronyms like CI, CTCs, CII, and ESLARP just to name a few; I’m actually quite proud of myself for getting the swing of things so quickly. However there is one nagging question in the back of my mind to which I have not found the answer. Behind all the ideologies, terms, and acronyms is a sense that community informatics is a solution to all the social ills that plague communities. I guess, then, that my specific question would be is community informatics the answer to most problems in the community?

The answer, I believe, is yes and no. Yes, because our society is becoming more and more dependent upon technology, especially information technologies for communication. No, because technology cannot solve the problems of poverty, institutionalized racism in the education and justice systems, or homelessness; only community members, special interest and grassroots organizations, and local government officials can truly do that. And yes again, because information technologies bring together all of those groups and can provide tools, such as GIS, to simplify efforts to cure social ills. But no again, because those groups must choose to be actively involved in any project to rid their communities of the specific social ill. I’m not quite sure if you can see my dilemma, but, as a new student trying to piece together some sort of meaning or future direction within the GSLIS program from class work, an assistantship, and extracurricular activities, it is a serious one.

The seriousness of the problem lies in the real issue which is that Community Informatics cannot happen without the community at large. If, for instance, local government officials decide that they are not interested in the issue of poverty within their community, then special interest groups and community members would be left to piece together funding and initiatives without their help. That would mean that a segment of the community would not be likeminded in the sense that they would not be educated on the issue, creating what would become a cacophonous community—a community that is split because some are educated on the issue and agree on initiatives to solve it and some are ignorant of the problem (or the true nature of the problem) and do not know enough information to know how to respond to the proposed initiatives. A cacophonous community is one that is likely to be divided on the issue instead of united in an effort to create a visible and lasting change within the community.

Furthermore, a cacophonous community will make it difficult for any initiative to succeed since the time, talents, and expertise of part of the community will be lacking in any projects to come from an initiative that is not totally supported by the community at large. I call it a cacophonous community because the community is not just divided on what action to take against a specific social ill (if any is to be taken), but the mentality and attitude of the entire community on the issue is divided in a way that it creates an atmosphere of disunity within the community at large. This is the Achilles Heel of CI, one that I think GSLIS CI enthusiasts may take for granted in the relatively forward thinking and privileged community of Urbana-Champaign.

This issue creates a new question, one that is more important than whether or not community informatics is the answer to most problems in the community: can Community Informatics happen in a community when the community is a cacophonous community? Within this question lies a host of other questions, such as can community informatics happen when state government officials do not support or desire to fund initiatives by community members to cure social ills? Or when rural areas of a community are located an hour away from the urban areas where special interest and grassroots organizations often forget about them? At what point is it impossible for CI to happen?

When I started this post, I honestly admitted that I did not have an answer to the initial question. The reason I find it difficult to come to a positive conclusion is because I cannot answer these later questions. However, in my short time at GSLIS I have come to realize that the best way to answer this question is to continue to do what I am doing right now. I need to continue to take CI courses that interest me, attend interesting lectures about CI, work closely with those involved in CI, ask faculty and staff about their experiences, collaborate with peers to work on CI projects, and stay involved in the CI Club. Only when I can understand how CI works in an area with high community involvement can I begin to understand how CI might work in a cacophonous community; I believe there is an answer. I just don’t think I’ve found that answer yet.

–Noelle Williams

Larry Stillman of Monash University wrote the original drafts on community informatics for Wikipedia. He just posted this comment to the “ciresearchers” listserv: