Our community partner Communautique's new technologies workshops provide ICT training throughout the province of Quebec.

The Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN) is a research partnership established in 2003 to investigate the status and achievements of community-based information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives in Canada. CRACIN is funded by a four-year grant of $899,450 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Initiative on the New Economy (INE) (File#: 538-2003-1012).

CRACIN brings together community informatics researchers, community networking practitioners and government policy specialists from across Canada to document and assess the achievements of community-based ICT initiatives in the context of, among other things, the main Canadian government programs promoting the development, public accessibility and use of internet services. Under the federal government's 'Connecting Canadians' agenda, over $400 million dollars have been invested in funding thousands of non-profit and community based organizations to help Canadians communicate electronically, both locally and globally, as well as to access informational services and resources that strengthen participation in contemporary economic and social life.

However, to date, there has been very little systematic research documenting or assessing the effectiveness of these initiatives, or of the government programs supporting them. CRACIN seeks to carry out such research, to synthesize some of the lessons learned from these efforts (particularly those that might be of interest in guiding future programs nationally and globally) , and to situate them within a wider research and knowledge context to shed light on how these valuable public services can be sustained into the future.

Broadly speaking, CRACIN's research examines how community networking initiatives in Canada contribute to:

• the amelioration of 'digital divides'; the fostering of local civic participation;
• the development of community-oriented informational resources and cultural content;
• the creation and use of community-oriented learning tools; promoting local economic development; and
• local innovation in the development of ICT infrastructure, software, and applications.

CRACIN researchers are engaged in three different kinds of research studies: in-depth structured case studies of leading Canadian community networking initiatives; thematic studies of relevance to community networking research generally; and integrative studies, which address themes and issues cutting across two or more of the case study sites and which provide a basis for their systematic comparison. The Alliance also engages in policy-related activities and collaboratively develops strategies for the sustainability of community networking initiatives.

Download a CRACIN pamphlet (pdf format)
Read the entire project proposal (pdf format)
Download the CRACIN midterm report (pdf format)

News

September 2008
Final results of the CRACIN survey of community network users are
available here.

Community economic development potential is highlighted in profiles of three very different Canadian CAP sites -- The Sea to Sky Public Access Network in Squamish, BC, the South St. Jamestown wireless project in a community housing development in Toronto and a CAP site in a school and daycare center in Sanikiluaq, Nunavut. Making Waves is a magazine published by the Center for Community Enterprise http://www.cedworks.com/ for Canadian CED advocates and practitioners.

Moll, Marita. (2007). "The good news about CAP." Making Waves: vol. 18, no. 2. 10-13.

4 July 2007
The 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS 08) will be held July 26-28, 2008 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The themes for ISTAS 08 are: Citizens, Groups, Communities and Information and Communication Technologies. Details here. Youtube invitation here.

28 June 2007
CRACIN's Final Workshop was held on the theme "Lessons Learned / Looking Forward" in Montreal from June 20-22, 2007. Check out workshop presentations here. Re-visit the workshop agenda here. Read through the minutes from the workshop sessions here.

July 2007
CRACIN researcher Neil Barrat and co-investigator Leslie Regan Shade co-author "Net Neutrality: Telecom Policy and the Public Interest" for the latest issue of the Canadian Journal of Communication. Read the article here.

12 June 2007
To help Canadians better understand the debate about Net Neutrality, CRACIN members Neil Barratt, Alison Powell and Michael Lenczner created the website “What is Net Neutrality?” Check it out: whatisnetneutrality.ca

9 June 2007
Read the latest updates to CRACIN's Annotated Bibliography. The bibliogphay can be downloaded as a pdf here. The bibliography and the articles that have been annotated are available to members here.

Leslie Shade, Katrina Peddle, and Alison Powell spoke at a SSHRC Forum The Initiative on the New Economy: Mobilizing Knowledge and Talent, May 31, 2007, University of Saskatchewan. The session of INE grant recipients discussed successes, challenges and lessons learned, with a focus on student training and knowledge mobilization activities.

Several CRACIN researchers presented at the Canadian Communication Association Annual Conference, May 30-June 1, 2007, Saskatoon SK http://www.acc-cca.ca/

Marco Adria, Technological Nationalism Revisited: Historical Regionalism and the Canadian Social Identity

Diane Dechief, Identity Matters: Immigrants' Encounters with Canadian Documentation Practices

Alison Powell, Feminist Reflections on Participation in Grassroots Technology Development

And composing the panel Community Networking in Canada: Creating Communication and Culture - Challenges and Critique for Policy:

Leslie Regan Shade provided an overview of CRACIN

Brandi Bell presented "Online Spaces for Youth- Learning from the myKnet Experience"

Katrina Peddle delivered "Community Technology, Adult Learning, and Sustainable Economic Development - The Case of Labrador Straits, Canada"

Ken Werbin queried "Where is the 'Community' in Community Networking Initiative? Stories from the Third Space of Connecting Canadians"

Leslie Regan Shade spoke at the International Communication Assocation, Preconference for Communication Law and Policy Division, May 23, 2007, on Issues in Contemporary Communication Law and Policy, hosted by Heather Hudson of the University of San Francisco. Both spoke on Community Broadband Initiatives. http://www.icahdq.org/

At the Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference 2007, Marita Moll and Leslie Regan Shade conducted a Birds of Feather on Telecommunications Policy, May 2, 2007 http://www.cfp2007.org/live/program.html

CRACIN Co-Investigator, Marita Moll publishes two articles on recent funding issues for the federal Community Access Program.

Success doesn’t compute for the federal Community Access Program will be in the June 2007 edition of The Monitor. Read it here.

CAP in Crisis: from High Priority to Policy Limbo was out in the April 12th, 2007 edition of Straight Goods. Read it here.

CRACIN's Principal Investigator, Andrew Clement and Post-Doctoral Fellow Graham Longford presented "The Case for Net Neutrality in Canada: Toward a non-discriminatory network for all" to the MET Executive Development Program at the University of Toronto, 14 May 2007. View slides here.

CRACIN collaborator
Dr. Serge Proulx, along with Julien Reuff and Nicolas Lecomte, publishes "Une appropriation communautaire des technologies numériques de l'information" which can be downloaded here.

CRACIN collaborator Dr. Marco Adria publishes a report investigating the implications for public libraries of the Alberta SuperNet and other broadband networks in Canada. "Talking about technology adoption in the public library" can be downloaded here.

March 20, 2007
Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum organizers receive response from federal Industry Minister Maxime Bernier. In February, the Alt.Telecom Ploicy Forum organizers sent a to Minister Bernier. In it, they summarized the main themes and concerns that emerged at the Forum, held in Ottawa, October 19-21, 2006.

Download response p.1  p.2 (pdf).

Download letter (pdf).