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An emerging self-portrait of community networks
in Canada and their users A CRACIN/ TC
cross-country survey Marita Moll/ Melissa
Fritz CRACIN Worshop Montreal, June 2007
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What do we want to learn?

• Do community networks/CAP sites facilitate
  community interaction?
• Do these sites further civic participation/
  citizen engagement?
• Does public investment in connectivity foster
  local learning, relations in and between
  communities and local social and economic
  development?

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How do we find out?

• By compiling and analyzing existing evaluations
  of selected (mostly federally funded) community
  networks
• By scanning literature on social cohesion/social
  capital and relating it to the CN context
• By developing indicators of social capital in the
  community networking context in the form of a
  survey
• By administering the survey to CN administrators
  and users

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Why are we asking?

• To broaden the generalizability of CRACIN case
  study research findings
• To provide a more quantitative basis for policy
  recommendations
• To substantiate (or not) public good outcomes
  for CNs.
• To explore patterns of interaction emerging
  from the new connected community

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Tools

• Administrators survey
• Users survey
• Information and consent forms
• English and French

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Goals and actuals ( ) sites to be surveyed

• 15 (4) Ontario,
• 15 (0) Quebec,
• 5 (2) British Columbia,
• 5 (1) Alberta,
• 6 (2) Manitoba, Saskatchewan,
• 6 (2) Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
• 3 (0) Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward
  Island
• 3 (3) North West Territories, Yukon, Nunavut.

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Admin survey Types of questions

• Contextual location,staff, users,etc.
• Aims and objectives
• Funding
• Impact

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Results to date admin. surveys

• 14 responses received to date representing 787
  sites
• Respondents vary from 2 Freenets which provide
  access to thousands of users in their homes to a
  Manitoba umbrella org. that manages 400 CAP sites
  

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Questions about the sites

• Locations
• Staffing/volunteers
• Resources
• Services
• Goals

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Characteristics of sites responding to admin
surveys

• Location of sites 44 rural, 16 remote, 36
  urban, and 5 urban inner city.
• Users info needs to be reviewed

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Services offered

• 100 Computer/internet access
• 92 Computer/internet/web training courses
• 85 Community website or portal
• 84 Webhosting for com.grps/business
• 83 Electronic discussion forums 83
• 41 Employment, job skills training
• 23 Listserves for local community groups
• 16 Telehealth applications
• Other (listed below)

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Other services

• Technical services, mobile technical workshops,
• dial-up access via a bank of 120 modems, telnet
• toll free help desk, help line (3)
• free refurbished computer equipment (up to 4 per
  year), equipment loans,
• access to IP based videoconferencing and IP
  bridge (2), IP telephone services with gateways
  in several communities, webcasting, streaming
  video, video archiving, WAN networking services,
• print and media development support, project
  management support, website design, database
  support, system design and construction,
  technology planning and support at the
  organizational level
• annual newsletter, bi-weekly article in regions
  largest newspaper

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What are the goals?

• 1. access to e-mail
• 2. access to gov. info
• 3a. Supporting CED
• 3b. Providing community meeting place
• 4. Upgrading job related skills
• 5. Computer support/community programs, literacy
  courses

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More results on CED

• How important (1-5)?
• 11/14 (100) --important or very important (4-5)
• 8/14 (45) very important (5)
• How successful?
• 2/14 (8) not very successful (2)
• 4/14 (60) -- successful (4)
• 6/14 (39) -- moderately successful (3)

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Questions about funding

• Stability
• Change
• Type of funding
• Conditions
• Cash flow
• Other revenue streams
• Partnerships

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Results on funding

• Funding
• 12/14 -- unstable (uncertain of renewal),
• 12/14 -- missing core funding,
• 11/14 -- having cash flow problems
• 10/14 -- programs offered affected
• 3/14 have user fees

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Making connections between funding and goals

• 6 out of the 10 who reported success with CED
  goals (3 or 4) also said their funding was
  unstable
• 11/14 reported that they had formed partnerships
  with local community and business organizations

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Questions about community impact

• Community outreach
• Programs designed for specific sectors
• Areas of greatest impact
• Areas that need to be more effective

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Community outreach

• 9/14 or 728/787 (93) host community events
• Two types of events
• Continuing education outreach
• Courses, workshops, forums online and off on any
  and every topic
• Social outreach
• Dances, fundraisers, afternoon tea, awards
  programs and general community gatherings

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Programs designed for specific sectors

• 96 Youth
• 92 Literacy challenged
• 90 Unemployed
• 85 Seniors
• 84 First Nations
• 81 Women
• 71 Immigrants
• 66 Persons with disabilities (other)
• 13 Businesses and institutions (other)

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Some areas of greatest impact

• Providing access to technologies for those who
  wouldnt normally have it
• Provides a feeling of connectedness and a
  positive attitude toward community based projects
• Transformative change in the delivery of services
• Capacity building for non-profit groups

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Reporting on the User Survey

• Collected 40 usable surveys
• Crossing a wide range of demographics
• Split virtually 50/50 between men women
• Cumulative 50 earning less than 19,999
  annually, with 37.5 earning under 9,999 per year

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Reporting on the User Survey
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Reporting on the User Survey
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General Activities at CAP sites

• We asked how often users required the services of
  the CAP sites
• Were the CAP sites meeting their needs?
• How did the CAP site compare to offline resources
  for information seeking?

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General Activities at CAP sites
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General Activities at CAP sites
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General Activities at CAP sites
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How do the CAP sites facilitate community and
face to face interaction?

• In this section, we asked, among other things,
  how respondents were using the CAP sites to
  engage with their local communities
• We also asked how respondents used the CAP sites
  to participate in online discussions and post
  information to websites/listservs?

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How do the CAP sites facilitate community and
face to face interaction?
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How do the CAP sites facilitate community and
face to face interaction?
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How do the CAP sites facilitate community and
face to face interaction?
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How do the CAP sites facilitate community and
face to face interaction?
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How do the CAP sites facilitate community and
face to face interaction?
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How do the CAP sites facilitate community and
face to face interaction?
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CAP sites and learning

• In this section, we asked, among other things,
  what kinds of skills users were acquiring at the
  CAP sites, both through formal and informal
  support

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CAP sites and learning
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CAP sites and learning
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CAP sites and learning
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CAP sites and learning

• What types of courses?
• Reading group literacy
• Virtual Classroom for weekly conferences
• Accounting
• Hardware trouble shooting
• Website design
• Special Drafting Software
• E-mail
• Digital camera use
• Computer management course
• Project Management
• IT Project Management

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Civic Engagement and CAP sites
In this section we asked about the political
activities of the CAP users 55 Voted in the
last federal election (general turnout 64.7 Jan.
2006) 52 Voted in the last provincial
election 57 Voted in the last municipal
election 7 Worked for or attended meetings for a
political party
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Civic Engagement and CAP sites

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Civic Engagement and CAP sites
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Civic Engagement and CAP sites
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Volunteering and CAP sites
In this section we asked how users relied upon
the CAP site to facilitate their volunteer
activities. In the past 12 months, 62.5 had
volunteered, while 37.5 had not
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Volunteering and CAP sites
What types of volunteer activities? 37.5 helped
organize or supervise events for an
organization 27.5 did administrative work for an
organization 20 sat on a Board or Executive
Committee 25 taught or coached in an
organization 25 collected/delivered/served food
and other goods
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Volunteering and CAP sites
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Other observations
Employment and CAP sites Learning and CAP
sites Further research that might be extracted
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Dissemination

• Full report on CRACIN and TC sites
• Articles in newsletters/magazines
• Newsletter to participants
• Press releases
• Government advisories