Publications
/ Table of Contents
Community Networks, Community, and
Commerce:
Networking Through Communication
Technology
an on-line review
3. Evaluating CNs
Because computer-based community networking is still fairly new,
few models for evaluation and assessment exist. In "Communities
On-Line: Community Based Computer Networks, (1995)"
Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate Ann Beamish
states that in order for community networks to be judged
against long-term goals, they must first survive and grow.
In her Masters Thesis paper, she claims that if allowed
to continue and flourish, Free-Nets can be evaluated based
on these central issues:
Beamish does conclude that although CNs are successful (in 1995),they
are being utilized by small groups of individuals.
Kim Gregson, a doctoral student in telecommunications at Indiana
University, Bloomington, has provided a public service by collecting
and publishing "Community Networks: Bibliography and Resource
Guide" on her home page,
http://php.ucs.indiana.edu/~kgregson/main_menu.html.
Gregson’s summary of CN evaluation models includes about 15
references, with 2 to 3 of them published in the past two years.
Andrew Cohill, Director of the successful Blacksburg Electronic
Village (BEV) has supported impact research on BEV from its inception.
In a 1997 summary of "community impact," Cohill reports:
The concentration of local information and services,
local newsgroups, and other locally-focused material on the BEV
web pages provide the environment in which social networks, social
trust, and norms of mutual reciprocity can be supported, possibly
even enhanced. From the outset of the project, users expressed their
interest and satisfaction in being able to be more connected to
their community. As noted above, 72% of BEV users report they expect
the Internet to be somewhat or very helpful with civic affairs;
86% indicate they are somewhat or very interested in bulletin boards
and newsgroups; 79% report they expect BEV to be somewhat or very
helpful in social relations. In the 1997 round of the About Town
Newsletter survey of the general population of Blacksburg residents,
28 % report being more involved in the local community since getting
on the Internet.
In a random sample telephone survey conducted
in November 1996 of the local calling area (Blacksburg, Montgomery
County and environs), there was no statistically significant correlation
between community involvement and access to the Internet. Nonetheless,
22% of respondents who use the Internet, reported that they were
more involved in their local community since getting on the Internet.
This "Community Involvement" study has established benchmark
data to determine over time whether the community network supports,
and possibly increases, social capital.
http://www.bev.net/project/
research/research95-97.html)
"CivicNet 98," a virtual conference on the future of
communities and civic networking, included a Discussion Forum
on the value of community networks. A topic item on "Convincing
Evidence" looked at the traditional evidence of Numbers
Served, Access Points, Numbers of Linkages, and New Linkages,
in addition to defining a baseline in order to study effect
over time. The challenge with these measures, as with any
traditional method, is the amount of extra work needed to
track and analyze indicators of success. On the other hand,
participant Richard Civille pointed out that the Web linked
to a data base is one of the more powerful tools available
to researchers. He cautioned,however, that "datamining"
of community networks can lead to information being harvested
for marketing purposes which can create a very cynical or
uncooperative response from users.
"CivicNet 98" key note speaker, Pat Wagner invited participants
to consider the power of "stories" as evidence of community
building online. She used the question, "Has anything happened
online that has changed your life?" as an example of measuring
impact.
The University of Michigan School of Information Community
Networking Initiative includes an overview of evaluation tools
for Community Networks. There is an entire set of questions
related to the effectiveness of services offered by a Community
Network. The tools used are traditional -- focus groups, interviews,
surveys, and observation. Usage logs, that are often part
of a server function anyway, are another measure of effectiveness.
If no one logs onto a site, there is reason to suspect that
users do not find it helpful or interesting. Measuring the
extent to which CNs actually build civic society is more complex.
Andrew S. Patrick set out to measure impact of CN use on community
involvement by asking over 1,000 users of National Capital
FreeNet (NCF) if NCF "encouraged you to be more involved
in community life?" Although an increase in community
involvement was reported, the overall change was slight. http://debra.dgbt.doc.ca/services-research/.
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