Empowerment for the West: Community Information, Knowledge Management & Technologies for community service providers

This project worked with Neighbourhood Houses in the Western Region of Melbourne.

This is a region of high social-economic need (e.g. unemployment, failure to complete school, poverty). Many small to medium sized-agencies do not have the resources to develop the people-centred information systems which realise the potential of technological infrastructure, despite considerable investment by centralised government agencies in the hardware side of technological infrastructure. This lack of support compounds the social disadvantage for many in the population.

Through empowerment-oriented participatory action research techniques, conducted in conjunction with Community West, a major service providor, the goal of the project is to assist agencies to develop their own plans for information and knowledge management as a means of strengthening bridging and bonding links between welfare organisations and their client populations in community support, welfare and social development activity.

Structuration theory also underlies a number of theories about how action, knowledge and principles of organisational activity are created and communicated through systems of institutional power which interact with ICTs.

The analytical frames offered by action research, feminist theory and structuration theory will be explored in the research project as a new contribution to knowledge about how ICTs are used with community-based organisations.

A report was delivered at Building & Bridging Community Networks: Knowledge, Innovation & Diversity through Communication, University of Brighton, Report UK, 1 April, 2004. Warning! Large download.

This project is the recipient of a Monash Faculty of IT Small Grant for 2004, as well as support from Community West, Inc. The Principal Researcher for this project is Kerry Tanner, Project Mentor, Graeme Johanson. Field activity is being conducted by Larry Stillman with Professor Randy Stoecker, University of of Toledo, Ohio.