Focus and Scope
Community Informatics (CI) is the study and the practice of enabling communities with Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). CI seeks to work with communities towards the effective use of ICTs to improve their processes, achieve their objectives, overcome the “digital divides” that exist both within and between communities, and empower communities and citizens in the range of areas of ICT application including for health, cultural production, civic management, and e-governance, among others.
CI is concerned with how ICT can be useful to the range of traditionally excluded populations and communities, and how it can support local economic development, social justice and political empowerment using the Internet. CI is a point of convergence concerning the use of ICTs for diverse stakeholders, including community activists, nonprofit groups, policymakers, users/citizens, and the range of academics working across (and integrating) disciplines as diverse as Information Studies, Management, Computer Science, Social Work, Planning and Development Studies. Emerging issues within the CI field include: community access to the internet, community information, online civic participation and community service delivery, community and local economic development, training networks, telework, social cohesion, learning, e-health and e-governance.
The Journal of Community Informatics speaks to a network of academics, CI practitioners and national and multi-lateral policy makers. Each issue will contain a number of double blind peer-reviewed research articles as well as commentaries by leading CI practitioners and policy makers providing feedback on the significance and application of research for practice and policy development. The journal aims to provide its readership with useful, clearly-written, insightful and innovative content.
The online nature of the journal means that readership will be global. The editors will seek to ensure that the content of the journal is also global in scope, encouraging the submission of articles from the developing world. Articles incorporating the use of the diverse range of Internet accessible media are also encouraged.
