Trapped in the Digital Divide: The Distributive Paradigm in Community Informatics

This paper argues that over-reliance on a distributive paradigm in community informatics practice has restricted the scope of the high tech equity agenda. Drawing on five years of participatory action research with low-income women in upstate New York, I explore the ways in which distributive understandings of technology and inequality obscure the day-to-day interactions these women have with ICT and overlook their justified critical ambivalence towards technology. Finally, I offer unique insights and powerful strategies of resistance suggested by my research collaborators in a drawing exercise intended to elicit alternative articulations of digital equity. If we begin from their points of view, the problems and solutions that can and should be entertained in our scholarship and practice look quite different.

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PAR Method

International Review of Qualitative Research ◽

10.1525/irqr.2010.3.3.355 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 355-375 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Michelle Billies

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Low Income ◽

Critical Consciousness ◽

Design Method ◽

Participatory Action ◽

Community Members ◽

Context Analysis ◽

Gender Nonconforming ◽

The Social ◽

And Gender

The work of the Welfare Warriors Research Collaborative (WWRC), a participatory action research (PAR) project that looks at how low income lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming (LG-BTGNC) people survive and resist violence and discrimination in New York City, raises the question of what it means to make conscientization, or critical consciousness, a core feature of PAR. Guishard's (2009) reconceptualization of conscientization as “moments of consciousness” provides a new way of looking at what seemed to be missing from WWRC's process and analysis. According to Guishard, rather than a singular awakening, critical consciousness emerges continually through interactions with others and the social context. Analysis of the WWRC's process demonstrates that PAR researchers doing “PAR deep” (Fine, 2008)—research in which community members share in all aspects of design, method, analysis and product development—should have an agenda for developing critical consciousness, just as they would have agendas for participation, for action, and for research.

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The Translation of School Based Nutrition into Home Eating Behaviors (OR13-05-19)

Current Developments in Nutrition ◽

10.1093/cdn/nzz050.or13-05-19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

Pamela Weisberg-Shapiro ◽

Victoria Biancavilla ◽

Camille Chan ◽

Tiffany Yeh

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Elementary School ◽

Nutrition Education ◽

Healthy Eating ◽

Low Income ◽

Eating Behaviors ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Theory Approach ◽

Upstate New York ◽

School Based

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this study was to assess how a school based nutrition education program in a low-income rural elementary school in upstate New York influenced families’ eating behaviors. Methods Students attending an elementary school in a low-income, rural community in upstate New York attended monthly nutrition education sessions and cooking demonstrations that included child-friendly recipes for fruits and vegetables. Recipes from the cooking demonstration were sent home with the children. In year two and three of the program, twenty caregivers participated in 45–75 qualitative interviews assessing how the program influenced the families’ eating behaviors. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded in Atlas TI using a grounded theory approach. In addition, the community's food availability was assessed using google maps and ground truthing. Results Preliminary findings indicate that families did not change their eating behaviors in response to the school based nutrition program. Most parents reported that they received the recipes from school and some reported trying recipes. However, with the exception of one family, overall eating patterns and food routines did not change. Parents who described a low consumption of fruits and vegetables indicated that barriers to incorporating the recipes, and healthy foods in general, into their food routines included perception of children's food preferences, time constraints and financial constraints. Parents who described a high consumption of fruits and vegetables indicated that they did not incorporate recipes into their routines because they already had healthy eating routines. Conclusions School based programs should engage families in community events and family cooking classes. These events should aim to assist parents in navigating barriers to healthy eating. Funding Sources Engaged Cornell.

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