Steve Cisler Visits U of M's School of Information, Meets with Local Information Professionals, Students
	Photo courtesy of Steve Cisler

by Marianne Le and Charlotte Gerstein,
Community Connector Staff

Steve Cisler, a community networking movement leader, recently visited the School of Information at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to trade ideas with graduate students and others interested in community information systems, and update them on trends in community networking around the world. His two-day visit, October 27-28, included an evening of discussion with more than twenty interested library personnel, students, and researchers as well as a presentation/discussion, the next morning, with the School of Information's Community Information Systems class.

When Cisler visited Joan Durrance and Paul Resnick's Community Information Systems class, he was meeting with active community information workers in their own right. All the class members are currently involved in community projects around the Ann Arbor--Ypsilanti (Michigan) area.

Since leaving Apple about a year ago, Cisler has been actively involved with AFCN (the Association for Community Networking) and CTCNet (Community Technology Centers' Network) as well as numerous consulting and other projects. During his visit, he talked about his experiences with international community networks, mentioning that community networks around the world look to the United States and Canada for leadership. He raised the question, however, whether other countries, including those "in the early stages of networking," already have a higher civic consciousness than the United States where we may be trying to "use technology to pull together groups of people who are not talking to each other for other reasons."

Cisler defined community networking as more of a process than an entity. This process requires some sort of community infrastructure to exist. To illustrate this he shared the story of Edgewood Terrace, a subsidized housing development in Washington, D.C. that had other successful programs in place which brought the residents together before they got a grant that brought in computers and connectivity.

Cisler also discussed examples where, like the Edgewood Terrace project, "local" projects are in community units smaller than a municipality, and compared this to target marketing. "What would a marketer call a community? A zip code."

Participants in the evening discussion were also interested in issues such as technology for the visually impaired, accomodations on community networks for novice computer users, and the problems with imposing community technology on a community from the outside. Regarding the last point, Cisler likened sharing community technology to missionary work: a lot of people who are introduced to this new technology may just continue doing their own thing without ever seeing the "light of community networking." Projects need to have appeal or fill a need other than just bringing in technology. Cisler cited as examples successful projects like the Women's Economic Agenda Project in Oakland, the Cisco Networking Academies, and the Digital Clubhouse in Sunnyvale.

In both the evening and morning sessions, Cisler raised the question of the relationship between non-profit CNs and commercial information providers. Often, within the same community these two entities do not even know about each other, much less communicate or collaborate. Their services may overlap though: for instance, both may provide community information or host websites for non-profits. Some commercial organizations, like CitySearch, are trying to work with local organizations. However, the increase in target marketing in many media is a "force of fragmentation," as the Internet itself can be. These are "counter-forces to community work," according to Cisler. Community networks, on the other hand, have served as "pioneers in pre-market activity," and Cisler seemed concerned about what happens when community gets commodified.

Other commercial services, such as Excite and Yahoo, are making it possible for anyone to start their own online communities for free. These communities may have places for photos, public and private areas, lists of contacts, and a group calendaring system. However, Cisler pointed out that maybe an article can be written on "Bowling Alone in Excite Communities," where a lot of the "groups" consist of one person.

Cisler talked about the past and future of community networking. He described community networks as "running on one engine" and expressed concern about the overall trends in the field. On the local level, he thought community networks were working. Since there is not a long tradition of community networking, Cisler believes the movement at this point may be driven by hope of what can be.

Community networks can have a significant impact on the local economy and culture. Cisler cited the example of Kootenet of Libby, Montana, where 40% of families are online and online businesses are being started to replace logging jobs, and ACEnet (Appalachian Center for Economic Networks) in Athens, Ohio, with their Community Kitchen that can be used by local food industry entrepreneurs, and then marketed on the Internet.

Cisler concluded his presentation to the class by raising the issue of universal access to the Internet. He emphasized that even home telephone connectivity is still a luxury outside of affluent countries in North American and Europe. Many people in other countries rely on centrally located businesses or phone company offices for use of a telephone, supplemented by individuals who allow use of their phones for a fee.

While, as Cisler said the previous evening, the United States and Canada are leaders in the online world, many countries, like Ireland, are starting to collect and categorize their own sites. They want to define their own identity rather than allow people from another country to do it.

With all this concern about the state of computer access in other countries, Cisler pointed out that universal Internet access is not yet a reality in the United States. Even libraries that are able to provide free, public Internet access often have restrictions, such as no e-mail or Real Audio. The filtering issue in public libraries is "the tip of the iceberg," when it comes to libraries' challenges in providing access to networked information and communication tools.

When asked about career opportunities for SI's budding community information professionals, Cisler mentioned participatory journalism and program work at foundations as especially interesting. Community networking, with so few full-time staff positions, is "not a profession yet."

To find out more about Cisler's recent projects, visit his home page. He can also be contacted directly at cisler@pobox.com.