toward a participatory infrastructure of civic online spaces: designing for citizen knowledge work...
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Toward a participatory infrastructure of civic online spaces: designing for citizen knowledge work
Michele SimmonsMiami University
A Civic Website Research Project:
Three year studysix visual rhetoric classestwo counties and multiple community members
examine online literacy and research practices
investigate how websites can enable citizen action
examine how existing websites support epistemic work
Stormwater Pollution Prevention(2 sites)
Client’s goal:Fulfill EPA requirements to provide educational information on how storm water creates erosion problems.
East Fork Watershed Collaborative
Client goal:create awareness of current environmental concerns of creeks within local watershed and how local officials are addressing each concern.
Recycling Opportunities
Client goal:Qualify for additional county funding from the state by providing citizens with a list of local recycling centers.
Water and Sewer Management
Client goal: Provide clearinghouse for construction regulations and water quality reports.
Iron Furnace Cooperative Weed Management Area
Client goal:legitimize funds for CWMA & provide ways to identify and eradicate invasive species
for what purposes might you use a website on x,
what would you expect to find on such a site,
what, in your opinion would make such a website useful
what, in your past experience, makes websites useful
what, in your opinion, is missing from this website
what, if anything, helped you use the information you were most interested in
what, if anything, made using the website difficult
how would you improve the website
what would you like to do with the site that you could not
Our goal: to make sites useful and enable work
Citizens wanted websites that enabled them:
to gain agency and technical literacies
to engage in productive inquiry activities to create new knowledge
to create a space for community and place
to assume multiple identities in multiple contexts
Enable technical literacies
Frequently Asked Questions give users language for investigating issues further and performing in public deliberation
Enable technical literacies
Complete reports (including methods) and resources for further information—not just summaries
Enable technical literacies
Links to real time data with ability to ask what that data means (via email contact or phone) allows citizens to investigate based on their own interests
Enable productive inquiry
Provide interactive maps that allow users to couple their own knowledge with online information that addresses a problem or interest
Enable productive inquiry
Interactive map enables residents to track invasive plants in their community and co-produce knowledge
Enable productive inquiry
Provide mechanism for reporting spills and illegal dumping faster than previous method
Create a Space for Community
Provide a dedicated, updated page for public meetings, council meetings, and volunteer opportunities
Create a space for community
provide a space for citizens to collaborate with one another outside county-organized public meetings
Create a space for Community
Include local photos that help citizens connect the information to their community and that create credibility of the organization
Myth of transparency
Myth of transparency