The promise and perils of a participatory approach to developing an open source community learning network

This paper describes and analyses the early developmental stages of a community learning network based in an urban community and social service agency. With government funding, the community organization contracted with a small software firm to design and implement participatively a web-based ‘community portal’ using open source software and techniques. While adopting these progressive development ideals has brought notable benefits, they have also posed significant challenges for the parties involved. In particular, mis-matched expectations, budget squeezes, and slipped schedules have been attributed to the approach being too participatory and too open. We examine these claims and offer insights into community-oriented, participatory, open source development projects. GENERAL TERMS Performance, Design, Economics, Experimentation, Human Factors, Theory. KEYWORDS Community Informatics; Community Learning Networks, Participatory Design; Social Services; Open Source

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: PDC
• Authors: Robert Luke, Andrew Clement, Randall Terada, Dominic Bortolussi, Cameron Booth, Derek Brooks, Darcy Christ
• Keywords: Community Learning Networks, Open Source, PDC 2004, Social Services, Theoretical Computer Science