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Dissertation Information for Frank P. Lambert

NAME:
- Frank P. Lambert

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Western Ontario (Canada) (2008)

ADVISORS:
- Liwen Vaughan

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Catherine Ross
- Daniel J. Robinson

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Rewriting the "rules" of online networked community information services: A case study of the mycommunityinfo.ca model

Abstract: Mycommunityinfo.ca (MCI), an online community information (CI) facilitator that serves communities in two regions of Southwestern Ontario, is presented as an innovative site to investigate several significant issues within the greater context of community informatics. Three primary attributes of MCI's model are considered: (1) the interesting variety of social forces, groups, and individuals that shaped MCI's creation to a degree that other CI providers may not have experienced; (2) MCI's approach to providing online CI since no other online CI providers appear to have adopted a similar model; and, (3) the ability to provide nearly instantaneous feedback regarding online CI needs and searching behaviour based on unobtrusively collected World Wide Web query data that is logged by MCI on a daily basis.

The contributions that MCI's approach to online CI offers to community informatics research are examined within Kubicek & Wagner's (2002) interpretive framework of Karl Mannheim's sociological concept of Generations. Various conceptual tools from the Social Shaping of Technology (SST) and the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) are used to frame the study. Case study method is applied as a methodological framework, using an archival approach, semistandardized interviews, and Web log analysis for data collection.

The findings of this study show that MCI's approach, which relies primarily on search engine technology and keyword querying, may be financially sustainable indefinitely, thus addressing a key operational issue facing most CI organizations. While all levels of Canadian government were involved in the conceptualization of MCI and the shaping of current search engine technology to help MCI reach this level of financial sustainability, a rural municipality involved with MCI attached the greatest meaning to seeing it through to fruition. MCI's approach is also an effective and an affordable option for other municipalities to directly subscribe to but only after careful consideration. Analysis of a large purposive sample (∼20% of one year's worth of cleaned queries from MCI and five MCI-indexed municipal Web sites) of MCI's Web log data reveals more specific and diverse conceptual CI needs between and within communities than those reported in similar studies employing other data collection methods. These Web log data and the analysis conducted on them have the potential of significantly improving current CI taxonomies and the organization of municipal government and CI Web sites.

MPACT Scores for Frank P. Lambert

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2009-05-16 23:46:13

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