Research with Communities: Learning with Experts from Global Community Network
Siddhant Shinde, Ndinelao Iitumba, Naveen Bagalkot, Melissa Densmore, Nicola J. Bidwell · 2023
Community Networks (CNs) worldwide are promising low-resource communities new ways of connecting and interplaying with technology. The embedded infrastructures of the CNs are derived from the sociocultural, political, spatial, and economic practices of the people they are built with and the communities they are located in. CNs situated in an area are not only followed by the technical requirements and possibilities of making the networks alive and accessible but are also shaped and moulded by the people and their practices. Community members’ lived experience and awareness of the local knowledge and local practices materialize the network in the situated realities. Yet the knowledge and experiences of the communities are often invisible and not considered in future research agendas for infrastructure and technology developments. In this workshop, we aim to bring together community members from around the world working on the frontlines of CNs as experts to share their local knowledge and experiences of designing, developing, negotiating, and maintaining the network, while opening the space for early career researchers and students to listen and learn from the ground.