Electronic content development in a community setting
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/03055720210473029 |
| Pages | 25-29 |
| Date | 01 June 2002 |
| Published date | 01 June 2002 |
| Author | Claire Raven |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Electronic content
development in a
community setting
by Claire Raven, Community
Information Development Worker,
Manchester Community Information
Network
Keywords: Knowledge management systems,
Information management, Social sciences,
Voluntary sector
Abstract: Content Management has long
been a controversial issue in the academic,
public and private sectors. But how does the
debate apply to community organisations and
information about them? This article considers
some answers to this based on the experience
of Manchester Community Information
Network (MCIN), who have amassed a great
deal of experience in facilitating the creation of
electronic content in a community setting.
MCIN is a charity working in the North West of
England which has been involved in
community development work for about 8
years, using ICT to develop electronic
community information and participation. The
article will explore issues relating to the first
stages of the content life cycle; the creation,
editing, storage and publishing of electronic
community information.
Content development: a
bottom-up approach
It is easy to be seduced by the glossy, high tech
world of content management systems and
authoring tools and to forget that the creation and
maintenance of electronic content is about
developing effective, appropriate and sustainable
approaches. MCIN's experience is that a bottom-
up approach to content development is the only
sustainable method of creating electronic
community information and participation
(Figure 1). In essence, this means working with
communities to build capacity, confidence and
skills to enable them to lead and manage content
development.
To operate successfully, both communities of
interest and geographical communities rely on a
complicated series of networks, and it is these
networks that form the basis of MCIN's
development work. This approach promotes
partnership between organisations, helps uncover
information gaps so they can be filled and
identifies opportunities for partners to share
information and expertise, thus minimising the
duplication of effort and resources and benefiting
the end user and the community sector as a
whole.
Capacity building
Capacity building between community and
voluntary sector organisations is essential if
content development is to be successful. The
process begins with understanding and
addressing the fears, concerns, interests, needs
and demands of communities and, in a more
practical sense, may involve assisting resident
groups to make the best use of their ICT
equipment, or offering ICT training to a
voluntary sector organisation. This assistance
will often provide a ``hook'' for involvement in a
project that could operate for between one and
two years. Another type of hook might be the
content itself. For example, a local history group
might be motivated to develop ICT skills and
web based information, not because they have an
interest in computers, but because they would
like to gather information from local people that
relates to their area of interest.
Hooks, whatever they might be at this stage,
enable MCIN to begin to raise awareness about
issues associated with the effective development
of electronic community information. These
issues include putting information users first,
reinforcing information quality, accuracy,
accountability and accessibility. This overcomes
to a large extent the tendency for groups to
assume that a web presence is either prohibitively
complicated or just another marketing tool.
Awareness of content management, perhaps by
another name at this stage, will have then been
raised from the very beginning of the
development process and can therefore occupy a
central position later on.
#MCB UP Limited, ISSN 0305-5728, DOI 10.1108/03055720210473029
VINE, Volume 32 Number 2 2002, Issue 127 Ð 25
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