A Design Theory Approach to Community Informatics: Community-Centered Development and Action Research Testing of Online Social Networking Prototype

There is an increasing array of information and communications technology (ICT) aimed at improving societal well-being. As Gurstein and Horan (2005) note, these community information systems (CIS) are designed and built for use by members of a community to support a host of different social, economic, and cultural goals, . This community can be based on a physical location, such as a system built for all the citizens in a particular town; or it can be virtual, such as a system built for everyone who likes a particular music group. When a community wishes to increase its members’ commitment and participation, many times a CIS is proposed as a possible part of the solution. However, previous research has shown that the use of the Internet does not necessarily have a positive effect on the social capital of a community. (Kraut et al., 2002 and Nie & Erbring, 2000) These communities are therefore presented with a dilemma: how do they approach the development and implementation of an online system for their community? What are the success factors for these systems? What design process should be used? Which features should be included in the system?