Toward a participatory infrastructure of civic online spaces: designing for citizen knowledge work

Michele SimmonsMiami University

A Civic Website Research Project:

Three year studysix visual rhetoric classestwo counties and multiple community members

examine online literacy and research practices

investigate how websites can enable citizen action

examine how existing websites support epistemic work

Stormwater Pollution Prevention(2 sites)

Client’s goal:Fulfill EPA requirements to provide educational information on how storm water creates erosion problems.

East Fork Watershed Collaborative

Client goal:create awareness of current environmental concerns of creeks within local watershed and how local officials are addressing each concern.

Recycling Opportunities

Client goal:Qualify for additional county funding from the state by providing citizens with a list of local recycling centers.

Water and Sewer Management

Client goal: Provide clearinghouse for construction regulations and water quality reports.

Iron Furnace Cooperative Weed Management Area

Client goal:legitimize funds for CWMA & provide ways to identify and eradicate invasive species

for what purposes might you use a website on x,

what would you expect to find on such a site,

what, in your opinion would make such a website useful

what, in your past experience, makes websites useful

what, in your opinion, is missing from this website

what, if anything, helped you use the information you were most interested in

what, if anything, made using the website difficult

how would you improve the website

what would you like to do with the site that you could not

Our goal: to make sites useful and enable work

Citizens wanted websites that enabled them:

to gain agency and technical literacies

to engage in productive inquiry activities to create new knowledge

to create a space for community and place

to assume multiple identities in multiple contexts

Enable technical literacies

Frequently Asked Questions give users language for investigating issues further and performing in public deliberation

Enable technical literacies

Complete reports (including methods) and resources for further information—not just summaries

Enable technical literacies

Links to real time data with ability to ask what that data means (via email contact or phone) allows citizens to investigate based on their own interests

Enable productive inquiry

Provide interactive maps that allow users to couple their own knowledge with online information that addresses a problem or interest

Enable productive inquiry

Interactive map enables residents to track invasive plants in their community and co-produce knowledge

Enable productive inquiry

Provide mechanism for reporting spills and illegal dumping faster than previous method

Create a Space for Community

Provide a dedicated, updated page for public meetings, council meetings, and volunteer opportunities

Create a space for community

provide a space for citizens to collaborate with one another outside county-organized public meetings

Create a space for Community

Include local photos that help citizens connect the information to their community and that create credibility of the organization

Myth of transparency

Myth of transparency