Dr. Abraham G. van der Vyver (Monash South Africa) and Dr. Marietjie Strydom (Chief Director: Government Research, Government Communication and Information Service, South Africa)

The advent of the Internet, followed by the launch of a number of initiatives in the field of electronic democracy, paved the way for remote communities to get involved in governmental activities. The electronic democracy entails the use of electronic tools to implement democratic practices. Dramatic developments in telecommunications technology have led to breakthroughs in remote computing, teleconferencing and the popularization of the Internet. The development of wireless technologies has further enhanced the possibility of providing connectivity to citizens in remote villages, thereby broadening the democracy to previously excluded communities.

Torréns, Rodrigo,
Centro de Teleinformación
Corporación Parque Tecnológico de Mérida
Universidad de Los Andes.

Núñez, Luis, A. Dr.
Centro de Física Fundamental,
Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias,
Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida 5101, Venezuela y
Centro Nacional de Cálculo Científico, Universidad de Los Andes, (CeCalCULA),
Corporación Parque Tecnológico de Mérida, Mérida 5101, Venezuela

Memory, conflict, communities in postwar Italy

Sergio Bologna, Giovanni Contini and Leopoldina Fortunati

Chairs: Ron Day, Steve Wright

Memory and conflict have long been central elements in the constitution
and reconstitution of community networks. The past sixty years in Italy
have seen numerous battles over the memory and 'memorialising' of past
events, entwined both with popular upsurges and the efforts of elites to

Wright, Steve Monash University
Day, Ron University of Indiana

(Refereed Stream)

Recent years have seen the emergence in Italy of the so-called 'Telestreet' movement, involving unofficial micro-TV broadcasting by local community groups. Dubbed 'proxyvision' by one of its exponents (the media theorist Franco Berardi), given its limited broadcast range(less than a kilometre), Telestreet represents an unusual attempt to develop a community-focused media premised upon principles and practices antithetical to the private and state conglomerates that dominate the airwaves in Italy today.

Kate Williams

Dominican University/University of Michigan,

Community informatics memory as archive: Assembling and using the records
of the Technology Opportunity Program (USA), 1994-2005 (Full title)

(Refereed Stream)

Community informatics as research and practice is a fundamental part of the
general informatization of society. How we remember this will inform
research, policy, and future practice. Our memory of historical experience

Williamson, Andy Centre for Community Networking Research, Monash

(Refereed Stream)

Internet-connected ICTs offer citizens and communities an opportunity for greater influence and more direct involvement in democratic processes through better access to information, lower cost publishing and improved communication choices. Collective memory can be established to build solutions that reflect the identity, history and unique space of a community.

Vos, Victor-Jan University of Amsterdam

Ketelaar, Eric Monash University & University of Amsterdam

(Refereed Stream)
Today, about fifty percent of all inhabitants of Amsterdam are member of an immigrant group. The amount of information by immigrant groups in the city's memory, i.e. the depots of the Amsterdam Municipal Archives, however, does not correspond with this percentage at all. The memory of the immigrants in Amsterdam consists for example of memories about arrival in The Netherlands or integration in Dutch society. Regularly, documents like photographs, deeds and diplomas accompany these memories. In general, immigrant memories are not merely collected in

Upward, Frank
Stillman, Larry

Monash University

(Refereed)

Community information research projects should draw together a range of information based communities of memory and practice each with their different and individualized 'habitus-practice' relationships (core concepts in Pierre Bordieu’s genetic structuralist theories). Within each field there will, for example, be different views about how to maximize the effectiveness of the 'time-space distanciation'of community information (part of the kernel of Anthony Giddens' structuration theories). This paper will put forward a few sets of ideas for addressing these differences.

Natalie Pang +, Tom Denison +, Graeme Johanson +, Don Schauder +, Kirsty Williamson *

+Monash University
*Monash Univesity/Charles Sturt University

(Refereed Stream)
Drawing on the findings of recent research into Victorian public libraries, this paper will explore the role of public libraries in creating, sustaining, and preserving community memory, and how such activities contribute to the empowerment of communities.

Mulholland, Paul,
Gaved, Mark
Collins, Trevor
Zdrahal, Zdenek
Heath, Tom
Open University

(Refereed Stream)

Internet communication technologies (ICTs) enable the development of
memories across a variety of communities, from formal institutions
through to informal gatherings within the public sphere. We identify a
spectrum of deployment from private organizational spaces through to
open public spaces. As we move along this spectrum key variables change