Evolution of Technological Activities -- An Information Ecology Perspective of an After-School Program

Taking an information ecology perspective, we have traced the process of evolution of a technology innovation in an after-school program KLICK. KLICK is an acronym for Kids Learning In Computer Klubhouses and is a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant awarded for groundbreaking ideas and innovative technology applications in an attempt to eliminate the digital divide for lower income urban and rural middle school students. We analyzed the features of KLICK as an information ecology and its subecologies and the interrelationships of the factors and species in the ecologies. In doing so, we found that KLICK is a huge information ecology that includes smaller ecologies. Different species are dependent on and closely related to each other. Taking a mixed method approach, we give both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the process of evolution of activities. We conclude that healthy information ecologies are characterized by technology use in a complex social matrix of forces. Once these forces are identified, innovation diffusion becomes more efficient and effective. [Nature and Science. 2004;2(3):5-18].