This was the final project for my Intro to Community Informatics class at GSLIS. We were partnered with a community organization for the entire semester, and were asked to volunteer, observe, and learn as much as we could about the operations and context of our organization. We also spent considerable time in the course learning about and engaging with the UC2B project, a citywide broadband network being built under the NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

Our final project brought these threads together, along with our coursework about community, digital literacy, social capital, and the digital divide. In this project, we formulated a strategic plan for our organization to take advantage of the coming UC2B network, both to enhance their own operations and to help their community overcome the digital divide.

In my case, I worked with a neighborhood community center, the Bristol Place Metanoia Centers, and helped them plan to revive their previous public computing efforts and enhance their advocacy, organizing and outreach capacities. The engagement with the UC2B project also led to me taking a position on the UC2B Marketing and Outreach Subcommittee.