Community Informatics

Community informatics (CI), also known as community networking, electronic community networking, community-based technologies or community technology refers to an emerging field of investigation and practice concerned with principles and norms related to information and communication technology (ICT) with a focus on the personal, social, cultural or economic development of, within and by communities. It is formally located as an academic discipline within a variety of academic faculties including Information Science, Information Systems, Computer Science, Planning, Development Studies, Library Science, and mainly Social informatics among others and draws on insights on community development from a range of sociotechnical studies. It is a cross- or interdisciplinary approach interested in the utilization of ICTs for different forms of community action, as distinct from pure academic study or research about ICT effects.