GrowingPains

The Making of CommunitySense

It's been long, way too long since my last post. The good news is that I am back, and with a vengeance! The past year has been a soul-searching time for me. Basically, all my working life I spent in academia. It has been a most valuable experience, allowing me to develop a rich set of ideas, and to meet many wonderful, committed, and creative people from all over the world through conferences and research visits.

However, academic life has also been frustrating. The, unfortunately ever increasing, obsessive publication and project acquisition pressure in universities made it increasingly difficult for me to balance work and life and to focus my efforts where my heart lies: the development of community applications that make a meaningful contribution to society.

I have therefore taken the bold step to leave academia, and start my own research consultancy company, CommunitySense. My mission is to be a linking pin between academic researchers and practitioners in the rapidly advancing field of community informatics, and to translate state-of-the-art research insights into practical solutions that work.

Right now, I am still on a sabbatical, recharging my batteries and laying the groundwork for my company. My plan is for CommunitySense to become fully operational in the fall. I am looking forward to this new step in my career, and to use the freedom of my new status to be even better able to work towards the realization of the dedication of my Ph.D. thesis, which I wrote in 1999:

To all the people
Working together
To make our only planet Earth
A better world

For more information on my experience and interests, see the CommunitySense website.

Community Network Analysis Conference

A few weeks ago, I attended the Building & Bridging Community Networks: Knowledge, Innovation & Diversity through Communication conference, in the lovely British seaside resort town of Brighton.

Besides enjoying the local attractions like fresh fish and chips, and the sights and thrills of the new and old piers, I enjoyed the presentations and company of many interesting people. It was an intimate conference, with a few dozens of people attending  from all walks of scientific and professional life. One main theme, which seems to reverberate in the community informatics community, is the gap between theory and practice in our field. Researchers are often lagging years behind in their publications, while the really interesting developments take place in the messy reality. On the other hand, theories that can help interpret and combine practical insights are often not used on the ground. How to close this gap? It is a question that will increasingly beg attention.

Many inspiring talks were given at the conference, too many to mention all here now. Two heartening tales from what impact community informatics can have on the real (developing) world, were told by Shahzad Ahmad from Pakistan, and Ashok Jain from India. Ashok described how ICT is used in large-scale community development across India. Shahzad explained how his organization, Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) Pakistan, has been instrumental in wiring the emancipatory forces in his country through the Pakistan Development Gateway. In these tense times, in which we only seem to hear about war and destruction, these are strong examples of the good counterforces at work just below the sensationalist mass media surface.