Community Participation in Infrastructure Development

1
Community Participation in Infrastructure
Development

• Chris Whitworth
• Senior Lecturer at Leeds Business School, Leeds
  Metropolitan University.
• Prepared for Leeds Met 2 July 08

2
Social Enterprise

• This study considers two linked examples, where
  local community initiatives add value to their
  rural society
• It discusses how individuals work together to
  create a highly technical solution outside their
  individual skills by networking with others

3
Emergent Communities of Practice

• The author claims this examples Communities of
  Practice(Lave and Wenger, 1991), that have been
  created by rural residents, working to develop
  the community, empower themselves and enable
  enterprise to flourish.

4
Community of Practice (1)?

• Communities of Practice are a set of relations
  among persons, (Lave and Wenger, 1991), where
  individuals interact and learn from each other,
  forming a Community and moving from peripheral
  to full membership of it as they learn and take
  more mature roles.

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Cop (2)?

• Hildreth and Kimble (2002) quote
• People become members of a CoP through shared
  practices they are linked to each other through
  their involvement in certain common activities.
  It is mutual engagement that binds members of a
  CoP together as a social entity. ....The members
  of a CoP build up an agreed set of communal
  resources over time

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Communities of Practice (3)?

• A CoP has been identified as being a group where
  soft or subtle knowledge is created,shared and
  sustained (Hildreth and Kimble, 2002).
• Concept is used here to describe a process of
  knowledge acquisition and management in rural
  communities

7
Studies

• This study gives two examples of the formation
  and growth of CoPs to undertake ICT
  Infrastructure projects
• And also reviews the role of their partners or
  peripheral members

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Project Drivers

• Rural locations often suffer competitive
  disadvantage due to lack of provision of support
  infrastructure
• Poor communications can hinder enterprise and
  social cohesion
• road, rail and air links
• Gas and TV shortfalls
• telecommunication internet connections.

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The Projects

• This study looks at broadband wireless internet
  provision to rural areas via Social
  Entrepreneurs
• In each case a CoP emerged via Parish Council or
  similar initiative
• Each was via voluntary membership, and projects
  started without funding. The new CoPs sought
  financial backing, several options were considered

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The Pilot case study area-Craven

• North Yorkshire
• 50,000 people in Craven sub-region
• Mostly living in rural or sparse rural areas
• No access to broadband for most
• Population density of 46 people per sq km
• WWW.YorkshireFutures.com
• www.defra.gov.uk DEFRA Rural Evidence Hub 2004
  Internet, accessed 3.01.2007).

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Craven Location
12
(No Transcript)
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Horton-in-Ribblesdale- Case Study

• Horton is 250 houses in a narrow valley. Limited
  infrastructure available.....
• 80 homes are now provided with high speed
  broadband via community project wireless mesh
  box radio link.
• Group initially charged 15/month (now 10)?
• Group provided a mix of volunteer and commercial
  installations.
• Gives voluntary assistance via help desk and
  neighbourliness.

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The Hardware Installation

• The Cop project led to the installation of a
  wireless gateway at premises with a very good
  ADSL capability (close to the exchange) and then
  used a mesh system of wireless nodes to
  broadcast the signal to the subscribers
• http//community.lncommunications.co.uk/index.php?
  pageeguides/whatis

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Case Outcomes

• Steep learning curves for all involved in CoP
• Area was originally to be fed by satellite but BT
  changed mind during commissioning and offered
  broadband connection to some residents,
  undermining project.
• Radio network now served from both ends by ADSL
  connections. Reliability very high -project
  still evolving

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Hayfield Digital Parish Project (Derbyshire)?

• Serves 30 rural businesses.
• Went live in 2003
• Several side initiatives such as business
  resource sharing arose.
• A quote from one of the CoP members- "The
  wireless mesh is great, it really works. The best
  part has been the way our community has grown
  with shared resource and expertise. Everyone is
  getting involved."
• (www.LocustWorld.com, video clip) Internet,
  accessed 14.6.07)?

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The Solution Provider

• LocustWorld use Free, Open Source Software (FOSS)
  and readily available hardware to provide an at
  cost product. Their business model is based on
  support services.
• They are very enthusiastic about the technology
  as an enabler and driven by social enterprise as
  well as profit
• (www.LocustWorld.com)?

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Methodology Used

• Purposive snowball sampling, with
  semi-structured interviews
• Rich picture creation, using open-ended
  questioning techniques with key informants
• Explore the meaning and nuances of questions and
  answers, employing a combination of exploratory
  and conclusive research strategies (Jankowitz,
  1994 p18).
• Seeking accounts of how people make sense of the
  world, in a processual manner, (Moustakas (1994)
  p42)?

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Further Study Themes

• (1)The dynamics of the emergence of a Community
  of Practice to create a new resource for the area
  as a source of rural enterprise creation.
• (2)The creation and opportunity for growth of a
  service business which emerged from the project
  and other similar initiatives.
• (3)The creation of opportunity for new or better
  businesses by rural entrepreneurs previously
  disadvantaged by their location.

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Future Plans

• Now looking at 3 themes
• Theme (1) Cops have not been studied
  extensively in rural, social situations. This
  study will provide original insights
• It will evaluate their formation, lifecycle and
  characteristics

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(Theme 2)Business Creation

• The emergence of the CoP in Horton led to an
  opportunity for a new service business to be
  created. This business, and its scope and
  purpose, is being studied further in later work.
• Study so far shows creation of a supplier of
  solutions to other areas, spun out of their
  ability to help themselves. This SME, indirectly
  created by social network enterprise, now
  provides services to nearly 20 other rural areas.

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(Theme 3)Potential enterprise in rural locations

• Working in remote locations can be isolating.
  Access to a good communication medium may provide
  some substitute for this. Networking and
  interaction are pre-requisites to business
  success, especially for small or new businesses.
• The attitudes of potential and existing
  entrepreneurial individuals in Horton and other
  case study areas are to be studied further to
  evaluate whether the Cops activities empowered
  them.

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Summary

• Other cases in preparation
• Many similar broadband initiatives exist and are
  under study. Web sources abound
• The project management approach, funding source
  and technology varies between projects
• Common themes are
• Community of Practice emergence
• Empowerment of residents with infrastructure to
  create potential for rural enterprises
• Creation of service businesses

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Key references

• Hildreth P. and Kimble C. (2002) The Duality of
  Knowledge, Information Research, 8(1), paper no.
  142 Available at http//InformationR.net/ir/8-1/p
  aper142.html
• Kimble, C (2004). Knowledge Networks Innovation
  through Communities of Practice. London /
  Hershey Idea Group Inc.
• Kimble C., Hildreth P. and Wright P. (2000)
  Communities of Practice Going Virtual, Chapter
  13 in Y. Malhotra (Ed.) Knowledge Management and
  Business Model Innovation, Idea Group Publishing,
  Hershey (USA)/London (UK), 2001, pp 220 - 234.
• Kimble C., Li F. and Barlow A. (2000) Effective
  Virtual Teams through Communities of Practice,
  University of Strathclyde Management Science
  Research Paper No. 00/9, 2000
• Lave J. and Wenger E. (1991) Situated Learning.
  Legitimate Peripheral Participation Cambridge
  University Press, 1991.
• Wenger, E, McDermott, R Snyder, W.M.,
  Cultivating Communities of Practice, HBS press
  2002.
• Wenger E, Communities of Practice Learning,
  Meaning, and Identity, Cambridge University
  Press, 1998.