Community information systems - feel good?
Jinfo Blog

By Joanna Ptolomey

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I have been working and thinking a lot about community information systems recently.  In the UK we have been contending with the Big Society – love it or loathe it perhaps it has just created a space for discussion about communities and their assets.  I just call them people.

Recently I was interested to hear and read about US developments especially the Pew Research Center report – How the public perceives community information systems.  Perhaps as a comparison to what I considered at a recent public sector information conference where the feelings around public sector delivery were muted to say the least.

The Pew report is based around a survey and includes data from communities in Philadelphia, San Jose and Macon. Broadly the results show that if you believe that information is generally forthcoming from City Hall then you are more likely to feel good about many other aspects of service surrounding your community and environment. 

This includes the overall performance of local government. Local government transparency is also linked to feelings of personal empowerment whereby people perceive that they have a greater ability to influence service delivery and politics.

Social media such as FaceBook and Twitter are emerging as a way for people to engage in civic life.  They also provide platforms for people to access and share local news – hyperlocal news is important to community information systems.

There are similar strands emerging from the US and UK.  Transparency and sharing of information surrounding local government is seen as a positive.  In the UK you only have to view the amount of open data now being made available at local government level, as I considered in a recent FUMSI Tipple, to see how times are a changing.

I believe it is still early days to equate digital connectedness to positive community experiences.  The digital divide exists – fact.  It is also a messy and non-straightforward issue to work with – plied with socioeconomic, poverty, education, housing and literacy issues, this is a complex problem.  However I am a supporter of people engagement and people as assets for community success – the Pew report makes for interesting reading.

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