Key Terms
Access
Interaction with advanced Internet technologies and exposure to knowledge
and skill of advanced Internet technologies. Interaction and exposure
assume ready availability of physical hardware, software, and people ware
such as:
- Technology Access - access to physical technology (i.e. computer,
printer, software, scanner, modem, Internet)
- Education Access ö access to education programs (formal and informal)
to introduce and/or improve skills in technology use; access to education
programs to introduce and/or improve academic development (i.e. G.E.D.,
ESL, tutoring)
Advocacy/Online Organizing
Digital technologies are effective tools to support and enhance advocacy
and organizing efforts. E-mail, listservs, discussion lists, online
action alerts, and other IT tools help non-profit organizations communicate
with their constituents, policymakers, and other key stakeholders. Online
advocacy is most successful when they promote or build on off-line activities.
Asset-based
A term from community development theory. Traditional approaches to community
development focus on the community's needs, rather than on what community
members have to offer. An asset-based view builds on individual and community
strengths as the power tools to solve problems.
Bandwidth
The range between the highest and lowest frequencies on a channel; more
commonly, the amount of data that can flow through a channel at the same
time. The capacity of a telecommunications channel is measured by
its bandwidth.
Collaboration
Developing mutually beneficial relationships between two or more organizations
or individuals in order to share resources.
Community
Community is a place of belonging. According to Webster's New World dictionary,
community can be defined as: 1) All the people living in a particular
district, city, etc.; 2) a group of people living together as a smaller
social unit within a larger one, and having interests, work, etc. in common;
3) A group of nations loosely or closely associated because of common
traditions or for political or economic advantage; 4) society in general,
the public; 5) ownership or participation in common; 6) similarity or
likeness.
Community-Based Organization
Usually small bureaucratic organizations governed by an elected volunteer
board of directors, [and] employing professional or volunteer staff to
provide a continuing human service to a clientele in the [target] community
(i.e. nonprofit organization). (1) Also, a structured group whose members
have united to advance an interest or achieve some social purpose in the
[target] community (i.e. churches, neighborhood associations). (2)
Community Competence
The capacity of a community to generate, choose, and control options
for solving daily problems. Use of increased knowledge, skills and activities
to promote self-sustaining behavior and actions such as entrepreneurship,
political and social activism, designing and influencing community development.
Community Mapping
A manual and/or computer system that assembles, stores, manipulates,
and displays geographically referenced information. Community mapping
systems identify and organize data by location. Information technology
is being used by nonprofit organizations for public policy development,
neighborhood planning, advocacy, and research.
Community Ownership
An organization is "owned" by the community if members of the
community are actively involved in deciding issues, are members of decision-making
units, have ownership and access to the capital of the organization, and
if the organization draws much of its staff from the community served.
Community Technology Center (CTC)
A community-based organization that incorporates technology to serve
the community. The physical location is accessible to community members
and has a comfortable atmosphere. The technology is used by the people
to serve the people. The instructors are knowledgeable and motivated to
teach community members. The center is coordinated or open to coordination
with other community resources and programs, it has a defined mission,
and it attempts to integrate center into larger community.
Comprehensive Development
Participation in and demonstration of community, organizational and/or
personal development. The evolution from one stage of growth to another
ö a process and product of participatory, inclusive decision-making. It
is 'do democracy' on a community-wide basis that leads to the empowerment
of the community.
Signs of community growth include physical structure repairs or replacement,
new businesses, increased community civic participation, increased intellectual
capital.
Signs of organizational growth include CBO or CTC investment in manuals,
classes, or conferences for staff to learn new or improve professional
skills to improve and strengthen organizational infrastructure
Signs of personal development include CBO or CTC participants learning
job skills, creating a resume, and using job placement services or parenting
classes.
Comprehensive Programming
Programs structured to meet the needs of many. One example of this is
offering structured class time as well as free time at CTCs. Holistic
programs offer not only computer-related education, but use technology
to meet the needs of students (AGED classes, business classes, language
classes, etc.) and remove barriers to access whenever possible.
Content Gap
The gap between online content and what people in historically underserved
communities want to see online. Content is relevant to self-image
and image perception towards others, news availability and perspectives
on the world and own local area, language, and literacy.
Digital Divide
Describes the current symptom of unequal access to technology and skills
in technology. Symptom of deep-rooted inequality issue to include structural
racism, social justice and learning environments This term hides more
than it reveals about unequal access to advanced Internet technologies.
Empowerment
Interactions that assist individuals or groups of individuals achieve
self-actualization and full citizenship. In the context of community development,
the process is aided by strategic and simultaneous investments in people,
non-governmental organizations, and neighborhood physical infrastructure
ISP
Internet Service Provider. A company that provides access to the Internet
for companies and/or individuals.
LAN
Local Area Network. A technique by which many computers in the same physical
location can be linked together to communicate or share common resources.
LANs may be linked to the Internet, or they may be self-contained.
Neighborhood
A citizen-identified geographic area whose boundaries do not necessarily
coincide with the official boundaries of governmental units.
Network
A telecommunications network comprised of physical wires laid in the
ground, as opposed to a wireless or mobile network.
Participatory Democracy
Direct participation in public processes, as opposed to representative
participation. All citizens are actively engaged in a participatory democracy.
They have a voice (and power) to decide and to act on their own behalf
on issue.
Private Access
Access to advanced Internet technologies at home, which requires investment
of resources and usually fees.
Public Access
Access to advanced Internet technologies at places other than home, work,
and school that requires no fee.
Social Capital
The institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and
quantity of a society's social interactions. These social interactions
should lead to increased access to capital in all its forms (intellectual,
human, social, and economic) for individuals and communities. The process
involves networking and building relationships with people or groups that
have access to capital and providing educational opportunities that increase
the capital-potential of individuals who form a community.
Social capital also refers to soft networks that increase the social
cohesion of a community. Social cohesion is critical for societies to
prosper economically and for development to be sustainable. Social capital
is not just the sum of the institutions that underpin a society Ð it is
the glue that holds them together. The broadest and most encompassing
view of social capital includes the social and political environment that
shapes social structure and enables norms to develop.
Sustainability
Sustainability is not an end in itself, but a process that is maintained
across time and changes. An organization exhibits sustainability as it
becomes more self-reliant. For example, it recruits and retains high-quality
staff and volunteers. It controls costs and maintains diverse funding
sources. It foresees and responds to problems before they occur. In effect,
an organization is self-reliant when it institutionalizes and uses a system
of networks and resources to solve day-to-day problems.
Organizational Capacity
Organizational capacity is the ability to foresee and solve problems,
often before they occur. It also refers to the ability of an organization
to create and institutionalize efficient, workable systems with underlying
administrative and technological infrastructure.
Staff Retention
Attracting and maintaining a high-quality, committed staff. Turnover
might not a problem if the organization is helping its staff further their
careers, but the organization is also drawing new people because of their
reputation as a good place to work. If the organization relies on volunteers,
they should have a system in place to encourage the retention of quality
volunteers.
Technology-healthy Community
Using technology to promote building relationships, developing community
development, and supporting and sustaining the quality of life in the
community. Indicators of a technology-healthy community are: public access,
technology literacy and fluency, civic participation, human relationships
to technology, business and economic development, partnership and resource
mobility and community-building. (City of Seattle Department of Technology)
Tech-savvy
An organization is tech-savvy when it uses technology to help cut costs
and achieve organizational efficiency. Tech-savvy organizations will also
be able to reduce costs by fixing technological problems and creating
new technologies in-house.
Universal Service
The concept of universal service is a guarantee that all citizens have
access to basic telephone service, and it applies to the convergence of
telephone, computer, video, and other increasingly digital technologies.
Policy must ensure that all citizens have access to basic tools and information
needed to function in a democratic society and in the economy of the Information
Age.
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