The Contribution of Community Informatics in Rural Communities to Development

Abstract

Community informatics (CI) is a generic term used to refer to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) deployed in communities to meet community needs, simplify day-to-day tasks, close digital divides, among other benefits. In practice, it is about the use of information and ICTs in community development efforts to enable and empower community processes so as to achieve community social, economic, cultural and political goals. On the other hand, community development is the promotion of participative democracy, sustainable development, human rights, economic opportunity, equality and social justice, through the organization, education and empowerment of people within their communities. This paper established the contribution of community informatics to the development of rural communities with reference to Kaliro district as a case study area. Using participative case study design and mixed methods research approach, responses from 173 CI users and 33 district workers engaged through questionnaire survey and interviews respectively were analyzed and results were presented quantitatively in tables and qualitatively under themes for interpretation. The study found out that CI contributed significantly to the district's social, economic, cultural, and political development. Towards social development, the CI promoted social connection and networking, ensured quick information flow, and fostered knowledge sharing. Towards economic development, they promoted trade and business, business and economic awareness, efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery, reduction in operational costs, job creation, income generation, and fostered new CI developments for businesses. Towards cultural development, they exported culture, promoted cultural awareness, tourism, and reinforced cultural freedom among the people of Kaliro district. In terms of political development, they had promoted government programs, human rights, provided government information, enabled civic education, eased follow-up on political developments, and fostered political stability in the district. Study findings showed that communities leverage CI and its infrastructure to keep up with information about government programs, health, environment, education, personal development, economic living, empowerment, and democracy, among others in a sense that triggers development. However, there is a general literature gap owing to the novelty of CI concept and the dearth in review evidence pointing out the contribution of CI to development of communities. Keywords: Community informatics; Community development; ICT4D; Kaliro district.