stakeholder assessment byteback ngo

! 2Assessment of Byte Back Stakeholders

Assessment of Byte Back Stakeholders

I. Overview II. Digital Divide

a. Community – Location b. Stakeholders

i. Marginalized Members of Society 1. African American Women 2. LGBT

ii. Donors & Volunteers iii. The Public

c. Integrating the Internet How Select Audiences Utilize the Internet

III. Criteria for Measuring Success a. Social Capital b. Mission Effectiveness & Accountability c. Staying True to the Mission

Analyzing the Organizational Message d. Brand Image & Identity

Communication Message IV. Conclusions

Goals for Internship at Byte Back


Byte Back is a community based not for profit organization that provides training for the necessary basic office skills and career development skills necessary to further and improve the underserved lives. The Center’s mission is to close the “Digital Divide”, the gap between those who have access to the Internet and computer training and those who lack these essential skills. Byte Back provides the tools that can transform the underserved lives instilling self determination and the realization of independent living. Every day Byte Back helps to be a force of change, awakening the underserved with a message of hope and the skills to improve the quality of life, for a better tomorrow, and a brighter future. “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi Byte Back offers career counseling and consultations to aid in improving interviewing skills, providing encouragement to find professional assignments with the goal of becoming self sufficient and an active participant in society. It is my intention to refine the brand identity and image to generate awareness to those who may benefit from the marketable skills acquired at Byte Back and its affordability.

I. OVERVIEW

THE CIVIL SOCIETY SECTOR LAURIE LEWIS The civil society sector is a growing sector of societies across the globe. With 1.8 million registered nonprofits in the United States alone, it provides an exciting landscape for organizational communication scholars to explore. This article develops an argument and some starting points for organizational communication researchers to begin work in the area. The article reviews four potential starting points: social capital; mission, effectiveness, and accountability; governance and decision making; and volunteer relationships. In each area, the article points to a set of important dynamics and constructs, references important works in the nonprofit organization literature, and suggests directions for future research for organizational communication scholarship.

Organizations across the globe account for growing and impressive figures in employment, revenue, services provided, and sheer numbers.

For example, Salamon (1997) reported that as of 1990 nonprofit organizations accounted for 4 of every 10 hospital patient days and virtually all sports facilities in Germany, one third of all child day care and 55% of all residential care in France, more than 75% of all universities in Japan, and more than 40% of all residential care facilities in Italy. O’Neill (2002) claimed that the U.S. nonprofit sector has more civilian employees than the federal government and the 50 state governments combined, generates revenue that exceeds the GDP of all but six foreign countries (Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and China), and employs more people than any of the following industries: agriculture, mining, construction, transportation, communication, and other public utilities. Furthermore, O’Neill (2002) stated that the U.S. nonprofit sector now comprises 1.8 million formally registered organizations and several million other associations, including support groups, book clubs, and neighborhood action committees. This is also a pronounced phenomenon in the Third World.

(a) organized, (b) private, (c) non-profit-distributing, (d) self-governing, (e) voluntary to some meaningful extent, and (f) of public benefit, “that is they serve some public purpose and contribute to the public good” (Salamon, 1999, pp. 10-11).

INTRODUCTION The digital divide has been broadly articulated as the troubling gap between those who use computers and the internet and those who do not. Disparities in technology access and use are related to socioeconomic status, with income, educational level and race among the factors associated with technological attainment (NTIA, 1999, 2000a, b, 2002). In casting the digital divide as an important national problem, scholars, policymakers and the public recognize the tremendous potential of the internet to improve everyday life for those on the margins of society, and to achieve greater social equity and empowerment. Digital divide studies that identify the groups lagging behind in technology use are helpful. But the


emphasis on demographic variables and technology access as determinants of use does not adequately contextualize internet use in the daily life experiences of people with marginal status in our society, such as the poor, people of color and sexual minorities. Thus, they provide few lessons for understanding how the internet becomes a part of everyday life for people outside society’s mainstream and how internet use can contribute to greater wellbeing. We need to understand the scruffy realities of marginalization in which internet use is embedded, the complex intertwining of sweeping socioeconomic processes and power dynamics with harsh everyday realities (Castells, 1999; Lentz et al., 2000). To bring about change in the everyday lives of those who lack power and privilege it is important, first, to locate the use of the internet in authentic representations of real-life situations.

Assessment of Byte Back Identity & Image Community technology centers (CTCs) are potentially a critical component in the communication environment of urban communities. They have been investigated extensively as instruments of technology-based public policy and social service capacity-building, yet they have not been subject to research that posits these centers as integral components of larger communication systems essential to civic participation and empowerment. This article describes how communication theory, communication infrastructure theory and community technology centers contribute to solving the inequalities addressed in previous studies of the ‘digital divide’. The article presents the communication infrastructure theory perspective as a way to reconcile alternative prescriptions for the way in which community technology interventions can lead to positive outcomes for local community-building and social mobility enhancement. This project re-situates the CTC as a communication-centric phenomenon, focusing on the linkages between the community-building capacity of CTCs and their role as an integral component of a community’s communication infrastructure.

While, importantly, CTCs function as access points for individuals without access to technology, they also serve as important venues for social interaction (Mark et al., 1997). This observation establishes a precedent for viewing CTCs as organizations embedded in larger, community-centric communication infrastructures. Similarly, early longitudinal studies indicated that CTCs function to bring the use of new media technology into the mainstream of everyday life and communication practices of its users over time (Chow et al., 2000).

However, the majority of studies reflect case-based assessments of policy efficacy. This leaves ‘room’ for scholarship that situates CTCs in the larger landscape of research investigating social institutions, which bear impact on issues of social capital, civic engagement and community ‘belonging’. This article focuses on the linkages between the community-building capacity of CTCs and their role as an integral component of a community’s communication infrastructure. Its goal is to contribute to the growing body of literature on CTC research by re-situating the CTC as a communicationcentric phenomenon, embedded within a theoretical conception of community based on communicative action. It articulates the policy issues concerning CTCs within the vocabulary of communication infrastructure theory, which is based on existing urban communication research (Ball-Rokeach et al., 2001, Cohen et al., 2002; Kim and Ball-Rokeach, 2006).

II. DIGITAL DIVIDE - Summary

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE AS A PROBLEM OF COMMUNITY CONNECTEDNESS Consideration of the broader implications of ‘social divides’ (Morino Institute, 2001) on the efficacy of technology access programs involves providing meaningful access that connects with the specific needs and communication profile of a given geographic community. Such a philosophy is espoused by CTC organizations such as the Los Angeles CTCNet affiliate, the Community Technology Organizing Consortium, which advocates a digital divide strategy aiming for ‘digital inclusion’. The term ‘inclusion’ connects technology competency with the importance of communicated content in local environments. As Lazarus and Mora state: Inclusion helps ensure that online content incorporates what the community wants and will use, that content acknowledges residents’ methods of acquiring information and that the look and feel of the content works with the user’s literacy and linguistic levels. (2000: 28)

II. A. COMMUNITY LOCATION

LOCATION DEFINES “IMAGE”, IMPORTANT – LOCATION The term ‘geo-ethnic’, in lieu of ‘local’ or ‘ethnically-targeted’, is used to reflect the specific geographic and ethnic or racial characteristics of local residents (Kim and Ball-Rokeach, 2006).The concept of ‘geo-ethnicity’ means that space and place are equally as important as ethnicity. The geo-ethnic framework considers the interaction between the communication action context and ethnic culture in a geographic location. Thus, given the targeted nature of CTC intervention policy (such as the Central American Resource Center in the Pico Union area of Los Angeles), it is equally


important to evaluate CTCs along these dimensions. If CTCs are to be understood as expressions of some sort of community social capital (Rhodes, 2002), then it is necessary to assess what sort of technologies are meaningful to communities of a specific geo-ethnic character.

The study assessing how CTCs can emerge from the communication action context of a given neighborhood to self-imagine themselves as a specific type of actor in a storytelling network--By looking at how CTCs self-describe, we can begin to analyze a community by connecting these observations with a methodology that examines the storytelling actions of the residents at-large in order to draw a more complete picture, for a CTC might contribute to (or enable) a sustaining sense of belonging and collective efficacy in a community.

The interview for this center revealed that many of the clients were engaged in internet use focused on information from their country of origin rather than community-oriented internet content. What may be at stake is how organizations like CTCs emerge as storytellers themselves by encouraging connections with fellow residents through technological skills and cross-promoting other vital community organization services. Overall, 46.4 percent of the Los Angeles CTCs studied viewed their self-described mission as ‘enhancing communication with the client home country’.

COMMUNITY Studies which have demonstrated the positive effects of CTCs reveal certain characteristics about what they provide to communities. One such study, the Camfield Tenants’ Association study (Pinkett and O’Bryant, 2001), showed distinctly how technology contributed to community-building via a technology center. The results indicated:

1 reinforced and expanded local ties; 2 a greater awareness of community resources; 3 better knowledge about local events and activities and increased information flow; and 4 a positive shift in attitudes and perceptions among CTC client participants (Davies et al., 2003; Pinkett and O’Bryant, 2001).

STAKEHOLDERS – THE COMMUNITY (CIVIC ACTION) The ‘x-factor’ of ‘sociability’ is also an arguably ambiguous term which could benefit from the more analytically distinct term ‘communication action context’, or the environment which constrains and enables storytelling behaviors which, in turn, sustain community cohesion and civic action.

The communication action context impacts important storytellers within the communication infrastructure (such as a CTC or a local, geo-ethnic media outlet), which in turn contributes to the capacity of the local storytelling network to build subjective and objective experiences of belonging and collective civic action. Figure 2 illustrates how, hypothetically, a CTC can emerge from the communication action context to function in relation with the other vital components of the storytelling network.

This theoretical perspective would allow future research to examine and diagnose specific geo-ethnic contexts in order to reveal the ways in which an organization such as a CTC might contribute to the critical outcomes of a neighborhood storytelling network, such as belonging. The theory provides definitional clarity to the conceptual work being done on how CTCs function in a community context, as well as linkages with existing theories of community action, politics and identity. Finally, the theory provides clear epistemological strategies for acquiring community knowledge by locating communication actions within specific, theory-confirmed actors in a storytelling network: the residents, local media and community organizations.

A. COMMUNITY -- LOCATION STRATEGY – LOCATION OF EVENTS IMPORTANT TO REACH TARGET AUDIENCE What is important here is the realization that marginalized individuals may perceive internet use differently, and that one has to adopt openness in one’s research agenda to accommodate multiplicity in perceptions. This identifies the issue of questioning existing modes of conceptualization in internet use studies and introducing margins of flexibility in interpretation and analysis within internet research. Merkel’s study of computer and internet use by low-income users showed how a close examination of the lives of marginalized individuals and their experience with technology led to identification of the limits of the digital divide metaphor and the categories of advantage and disadvantage that are created


by classifying people based on their access to technology. As Katz (1995: 6) argues, ‘by mistaking socially constructed categories for natural distinctions, we reinforce inequality and stigmatize even those we set out to help’. As researchers, a situated approach challenges us to contextualize technology use and to notice the ways that people’s experiences do not neatly fit the categories that we impose. For practitioners, this approach sharpens our thinking about the different goals involved in providing access to technology versus supporting people through the stops and starts involved, as they discover and rediscover the meaning and potential uses of technology in their lives.

II. DIGITAL DIVIDE – B. OVERVIEW OF STAKEHOLDERS

STAKEHOLDERS Included in that definition are membership associations, local community groups, clubs, churches, health care providers, educational institutions, social service agencies, advocacy groups, and a myriad more. Lohmann (1992) proposed the notion of the “commons,” which he defined as “an economic, political, and social space outside the market, households, and state in which associative communities create and reproduce social worlds” (p. 59). A more legalistic definition of nonprofits comes from the U.S. tax code that formally registers organizations in two broad and many specific categories.

Public-serving organizations, classified as 501(c)3 of the IRS code, operate in almost every imaginable field of human endeavor, and include, among countless others, social service agencies helping children, the elderly, and the poor; independent schools and private colleges; community clinics and hospitals; think tanks; environmental organizations; cultural groups such as museums, theatres, and historical societies; and a range of international assistance organizations. (Frumkin, 2002, p. 8)

The other large category of 501(c)3 organizations are “member serving” or “mutual benefit” organizations that include credit unions, business leagues, professional and trade associations, clubs, and fraternal organizations (Frumkin, 2002). The vast array of churches, synagogues, and mosques also are included within the general umbrella of this sector although they are subject to different tax rules and policies than the two other large categories.

These examples, which are sprinkled throughout our literature, in my view, do not represent a strong trend. I applaud these efforts and others like them and now embark on a mission to spark more of this sort of work. In an effort to do so, this article proceeds with an overview and analysis of central issues in four areas: social capital; mission, effectiveness, and accountability; governance and decision making; and volunteer relationships. These areas have been selected because they

(a) Represent critical areas of nonprofit management and organizational life, (b) Represent areas of active research in the nonprofit literature, and (c) Have high potential to enable management communication scholars to contribute to the nonprofit literature and to further refine communication theory through their investigations in those areas.

II DIGITAL DIVIDE Overview

STAKEHOLDERS An example might serve to illustrate the potential here. In my own community, there is a network organization called the Community Action Network (CAN). This organization is made up of a diverse set of “partner organizations.” Many of the partners are representative associations composed of multiple organizational members. For example, partners include the local chamber of commerce, higher education association, countywide health consortium, United Way, and a local interreligious coalition, as well as city and county government agencies. For the past 7 years, this network organization (staffed by only three paid individuals) has worked to create useful information sharing in the community, address community issues and problems (e.g., homelessness, mental health, basic needs, public safety, education, early child care, workforce development), and to help create forums for engagement, planning, collaboration, and resource leveraging. Although CAN has certainly had many successes and now claims a strong credibility with lawmakers, policy makers, social service providers, the business community, neighborhood groups, and the media, they struggle with the communicative piece of their work. How can they bring such diverse groups with diverse interests and perspectives into a room (indeed, many rooms) and work through problem solving? How do they meaningfully shape the interaction between the various players in this community such that real partnering will occur and real work will get done? And because they


are dealing not just with individuals with their own personal opinions, tendencies, ideas, and commitments but also with organizations who are engaging one another in macro-inter organizational relationships, their job is even more complex. It is not enough to get those around a table to agree and take action; organizations must then become engaged at a broader level. Collaborative structures need to be created and maintained. Diverse organizational cultures must find ways to communicate despite vast differences in assumptions about basic values, morals, and beliefs about people, organizations, and community. Work styles need to be coordinated where issues of expediency, decision making, timeliness, channel use, and myriad other micro-behavioral factors vary widely. This example strikes me as a wonderful opportunity to bring an organizational perspective to this communication puzzle. Answering the pragmatic questions of the CAN’s administrators and board will take a sophisticated understanding of interpersonal communication dynamics, rhetorical sensitivity, and the structural and procedural dynamics of organizations as they relate to one another and to various community stakeholders. Organizational communication scholars are well positioned to aid such organizations as the CAN in learning about issues such as how channels affect communication flow, how group size affects decision-making quality, what communicative structures and practices spawn participation, identification, commitment, and ultimately social capital. There are dozens of organizations like CAN across the nation.

This approach repositions the locus of our research and theory from a firm-centered approach that examines the relationships of the individual firm within its own boundaries or with its own immediate environment, to a community-centered exploration of how organizations within a community participate and engage one another and the citizens that make up the community. One important contribution is in accounting for the role of organizations in communicatively generating social capital.

II. DIGITAL DIVIDE B. Stakeholders – i. Marginalized Members of Society 1. African American Women

The internet for empowerment of minority and marginalized users The internet has tremendous potential to achieve greater social equity and empowerment and improve everyday life for those on the margins of society. This article presents the findings from three digital divide studies, each of which represents a different group of marginalized society members. Low-income families, sexual minorities and African-American women are represented in the three studies that employ different research approaches towards a common aim of contextualizing internet use in the everyday social practice of society’s ‘have-nots’. The aim is to step outside simple digital divide categories to understand how marginalized members of society incorporate computers and the internet into their daily lives in ways that are meaningful to them. An important goal is also to learn about how internet researchers can contribute to closing the digital divide in ways that converge with the goals, meanings and practices of people living on society’s margins.

While the research presented shares the aim of contexualizing internet use in everyday social practice and works toward improving the conditions of daily life for society’s ‘have-nots’, each study employs a different research approach.

INTEGRATING INTERNET USE IN THE EVERYDAY LIVE OF MARGINALIZED MEMBERS OF SOCIETY An underlying theme in all three projects presented in this article is the notion of marginalization. This section presents concrete strategies and suggestions on how to study and uncover the integration of internet use in the everyday life of marginalized users in ways that are meaningful to them. Experiences across the projects have shown how individuals who are disadvantaged (in one form or another) owing to their sexual and gender identities, low income, race and/or ethnicity are making use of the internet (in its various forms) in their daily social practices in ways that they consider meaningful. What is common in these contexts is the vision of social equity and social justice via internet use; the form of internet use and the manner in which empowerment is achieved is obviously different. An important point to keep in mind is that there is no intention to equate the marginalized experiences within and among different groups of people. The authors believe that doing so will be a grave mistake, for it will result in a gross denial of the marginalized experiences in the different contexts and completely disregard their social, political, economic and historical roots. Multiple factors are recognized as having an impact on internet use for marginalized users. Some of them are the:

• type of marginalized group; • kind of individual vs. shared community experience; • perception of what is considered meaningful by different users; • purpose and role of the internet in achieving particular agendas;


• type of applications of internet use; and • different ‘problem-solving’ situations in which the internet is applied.

Focus on practice A situated approach tends to focus not on identifying the effects of technology in a direct way, but instead focuses on the way that technology shapes practice and on the way that people shape technology to fit their practices. In the Afya project, we have been able to observe shifts in the practices of SisterNet women in the domains of health information service delivery, owing to their use of the internet as an information and communication tool. Training local Black women to search the internet for culturally relevant health information – needs that were expressed in their scenarios – has proved to be empowering for women (as expressed by them) in terms of finding themselves no longer dependent upon information specialists or librarians for carrying out the task. Similarly, facilitating SisterNet community action researchers to take on leadership roles in computer-oriented tasks for creating the SisterNet website has not only built upon their skills and given them self-confidence, but also helped to nurture their interests and develop personal ownership in the process.

Focus on identifying a system of relations In calling for a situated approach, social settings need to be understood as information ecologies that are made up of people, practices, technologies and values (Nardi and O’Day, 1999). Each of these elements is important in understanding how information is used in a particular setting. It is equally important to see how these elements interact with each other and have an impact on the ties that are established between various stakeholders within the social system. In the study of sexual minorities presented in the article, it was important to note the ‘internal’ and ‘external’ system of relations that were established to build a sense of community via the medium of the online mailing list. Within the social network of LGBT individuals who were subscribed to the online mailing list, members often took on ‘roles’ of information provider, psychological counselors, supporting friends as able guides in the online world. It is important to acknowledge the multiple hats that LGBT members wore in the process of establishing relationships (both online and offline) in order to understand the expression of their ‘queer’ identities and the sense of community that they wished to establish.

Additionally, representation of the LGBT community in relation to the broader environment and geographic community are worth mentioning. One of the goals that the LGBT community perceived for the online mailing list was to elicit the participation of LGBT members in political events and social activities where the presence of ‘out’ individuals was perceived to make a difference. From discussions with LGBT individuals, reaching out to other marginalized groups and ally networks was also high on their agenda.

II DIGITAL DIVIDE B. MARGINALIZED MEMBERS OF SOCIETY

HOW PEOPLE USE TOOLS FOR VARIOUS REASONS Focus on context A situated approach also focuses attention on the context in which a technology is used and the way that this shapes and constrains how people use technology. This is predicated on the belief that technology is not neutral and that a technology is never implemented in exactly the same way in different circumstances. Merkel’s study of computer and internet use by low-income families involved acknowledging the shifting landscape of people’s lives in terms of events, family structure, changes in family networks, seasons of the year and interest levels. What was important in these cases was the use of the internet to fulfill personal goals in the absence of financial and economic opportunities. However, lack of monetary resources for sexual minorities was not as significant a concern as the need for political, social and cultural empowerment via internet use to help build a community in which LGBT members could feel secure and accepted. (SENSE OF BELONGING)

An important question to address is: how can internet research help develop specific strategies that may empower different minority and marginalized users? Obviously, the central thread of such strategies is action oriented, participative and democratic, since the authors firmly believe that social and personal empowerment comes from the ability to take control of one’s life towards positive change to achieve one’s goals. Feelings of self worth and self-empowerment gained via the process are sought in the context of promoting internet use in the lives of disenfranchised individuals.


TARGET AUCIENCE HOW LOW-INCOME FAMILIES TAKE UP THE INTERNET The first study considered in this article focuses on low-income families who are trying to integrate technology into their lives. Merkel looked at the Community Networking Initiative (CNI), a computer training and distribution program that was designed to increase computer and internet use among low-income residents in Champaign County, IL, and to understand better the social context surrounding computer and internet use in low-income communities. The CNI program was a partnership between Prairienet, a community computer network in East Central Illinois, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and the Urban League of Champaign County. It provided computer training, recycled computers and internet access to over 700 low-income families in the region.

The CNI participants clearly fit most standard definitions that are used to describe technology ‘have-nots’. They were overwhelmingly African-American, aged 20 to 49, had lower levels of education and would be classified as ‘low-income’ based on federal poverty guidelines. There is also anecdotal evidence that a large number of participants in the program were single parents. A close look at the lives of the CNI participants shows how they fit the profile of ‘have-nots’ but, more importantly, it also shows how their lives and experiences are inadequately represented by the ‘have-not’ category. It directs attention to the way in which the access-oriented approach taken in typical digital divide studies does not capture the Mehra et al.: The internet for empowerment of minority dimensionality of people’s lives, the way that people use computers when given the chance and the complexities involved as people try to adopt technology into their lives.

1. AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN

HOW CAN INTERNET RESEARCH EMPOWER AFRICANAMERICAN WOMEN? Local grassroots organization of African-American women who are committed to nurturing a healthy lifestyle - Afya promotes participative alliances between SisterNet and educational institutions, libraries, healthcare providers and computer services in order to transform the existing conditions and relationships that affect Black women’s health.

Within this context, SisterNet women are actively engaged in building meaningful uses of the internet in their everyday lives. The University of Illinois and Prairienet are among the institutions collaborating with SisterNet to initiate participative techniques for internet content development, access and training. Such equitable and participative efforts in internet use are helping Black women to achieve self-defined outcomes related to their spiritual, physical, emotional and intellectual health.

PAR involves disenfranchised community members in all stages of gathering and using information related to their everyday experiences (Freire, 1970; Hall, 1981; Tandon, 1981). Placing research control in traditionally deprived hands, PAR helps to empower people so that they can shape their own identities and transform their own lives (Fernandes and Tandon, 1981; Humphries and Truman, 1994) - The philosophy of PAR underlies the spirit and implementation of the Afya project, in which local Black women participate throughout the study as community action researchers. Afya’s Community Action Plan, formulated by SisterNet women, concretizes their goals for the meaningful integration of internet use in their everyday lives as a set of action-oriented strategies for internet training, access and content development (Bishop et al., 2000). Further, participation in knowledge creation processes is building self-confidence and empowering Black women as it shifts existing imbalances in local social and power dynamics. This is significant in challenging discriminatory practices and is breaking down race and gender-based stereotypes in the community’s health information environment where, all too often, local women’s own knowledge is subordinated to the expertise of various professionals, whether in the domain of health, computing or information delivery.

EXAMPLES (For a detailed description of scenario methodology in the Afya project, see Bishop et al., 2001.) The following is a scenario recorded from a focus group discussion on health with older African-American women in the community: My friend has tried to commit suicide twice in the past two months and now she has been diagnosed as bipolar, which none knew about earlier. I know she needs a counselor who will sympathetically listen to her about her concerns and provide able guidance. It is obviously more than just taking medicines, but the doctors don’t understand and think I am


making a big deal about it. Are there any doctors who will listen to what she is going through and give her sound personal counseling?

EXAMPLES Similarly, the following scenario of a middle-aged African-American woman conveys her health concerns and information needs: I have been struggling with diabetes for the past five years. I don’t have any money to go regularly for check-ups to my doctor and my insurance does not cover more than one trip per month. I want to know more about the disease, as well as some information on the Net that will tell me ways that I can do my own check-up and keep control on my diet, exercises and state of health.

Also, are there any insurance companies out there that will provide lower rates and better deals in health care coverage than the one I already have? In the Afya project, the role of scenarios has been to represent African-American women’s needs, experiences and goals related to health and information technology. Scenarios provide an understanding of what is considered meaningful to local African-American women and how they intend to integrate internet use into their everyday life to achieve their goals and nurture healthy lifestyles (Mehra et al., 2002). With scenarios, SisterNet women have taken the lead in analyzing social practices in the community, creating action-oriented strategies for internet access and training and developing criteria for the design of community-based online health information services. They have actively participated in applying scenarios in the assessment and evaluation of internet-based health information and communication services, helping to ground the design and evaluation of online services in a real-world, social context.

A significant outcome has been Black women’s involvement in the SisterNet website, where they are deciding how internet content and services can best meet their needs and goals and are gaining the necessary expertise to participate in creating their own suite of digital tools and information resources. For example, based on scenarios that document local health concerns and practices, informational health profiles (brief articles) on the common diseases that are prevalent among Black women are being created online by SisterNet community action researchers. Afya’s Community Action Plan calls for institutionalizing the ongoing provision of such information from Black women in digital formats for internet use, as well as print formats for offline distribution in Black women’s social spaces, such as hair salons, churches, etc. In this way, local Black women are building on their own assessment of the community problems that they have experienced to help increase the availability of culturally appropriate information resources that are more in tune with the needs and expectations of other marginalized users.

II. b. i. 2. LGBT

THE INTERNET’S SIGNIFICANCE AS A UNIQUE WAY TO COMMUNICATE AND EXPRESS ONE’S INDIVIDUALITY HOW SEXUAL MINORITIES USE THE INTERNET FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Owing to the history of oppression, marginalization and exclusion that LGBT individuals have faced because of their sexual orientation (Nardi, 1992), the social vacuum of anonymity provided by the internet (Kiesler et al., 1984) has contributed towards a tremendous rise in its popularity amongst sexual minorities (Garry, 1999). This study documents how sexual minorities identify the internet as an experienced social phenomenon that is closely tied to their real expectations, uses and practices (Castells, 1999) and how its use has had an impact on their lives in empowering and meaningful ways

Traditionally, CMC studies have delimited the ‘virtual’ and ‘real’ as distinct spheres of interaction (Chayko, 1993), which has led to a representation of computer and internet use as disconnected from the everyday practices of different user communities. Based primarily on research in interpersonal communication and organizational settings (Kling 1999; Orlikowski and Yates, 1994), extensions of this argument contend that online interaction substitutes, enlarges (Fischer, 1992; Malone and Rockart, 1991) or compensates for deficiencies in offline realities for mediating human communication (Jones, 1995). What is missing in such research is a strong focus on disadvantaged communities and, moreover, a focus that draws connections between marginalized users’ online and offline realities in a manner that may contribute to constructive change in their everyday life.

Only in the last few years have scholars been looking at the internet, in its current phase of use, as a medium that is closely intertwined with the daily social practices of user communities, such that ‘online experience is at all times tethered in some fashion to offline experience’ (Jones, 1999: xii).


Mehra’s study furthers this line of research by contextualizing the role of CMC in the everyday life of sexual minorities, with an emphasis on how members of the LGBT community are using the internet to express their marginalized ‘queer’ identities and achieve social change in their local living environment.

Subsequent informal discussions with users of the electronic mailing list helped to articulate their tacitly held perceptions related to internet use. Discussion topics included:

• Significant community problems that motivate LGBT members to participate in discussions on the electronic mailing list; • Barriers faced by LGBT members in seeking information, support and appropriate resources; • Specific instances of use of the online mailing list by LGBT members; and particular actions that they or others can take to build a better community.

Individual perceptions and personal values and practices – Via the net is a way of remembering and raising awareness about those who have died as a result of hatred of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or intersex. The project, to be on display on the Quad on [day], [date], consists of multiple display boards, listing names of several hundred people who have been killed or who committed suicide since 1992 because of who they are.

• That it provides shared information about an LGBT-related event; • That it helps to promote the participation of LGBT individuals in making a political statement to the heterosexual community about the ‘out’ presence of LGBT individuals; • That it generates the participation of LGBT individuals in order to provide social and psychological support to themselves and other closeted members in the community; • That it is an information resource about historical facts related to atrocities which were committed against the LGBT community; and that it provides LGBT members with a place to socialize and bond with other members.

The findings of the study reveal how LGBT members perceive the use of online communication for positive development in their ‘queer’ identities. They also suggest how the internet is becoming a tool for marginalized individuals to take charge of their lives. People who posted on the electronic mailing list believed that online communication crossed over to Off-line outcomes in real-life social settings that would truly lead to constructive change spanning these domains. LGBT members believed that the internet could play a significant role in action-oriented strategies to promote LGBT participation, particularly at local activities where a presence of ‘out’ LGBT members is perceived to make a difference, such as political events and rallies, policy and planning decision-making meetings on issues affecting LGBT lives, social support groups and LGBT-related cultural events.

Another significant role of the online mailing list was in the creation of a community-based LGBT social support system involving face-to-face interactions and action-oriented agendas. Some members used the listserv to elicit participation in social support meetings on general and specific LGBT concerns. These included: meetings for discussions on coming out and social stigma issues; lectures for creating racial/ethnic and LGBT unity; LGBT discussion forums for ending sexual and physical violence; and film showings on inter-group relations and awareness about AIDS-related issues.

Expressing dissatisfaction about existing academic programs, the list members felt that there was a need to generate more interest in LGBT studies as a viable effort for creating awareness and acknowledgement of LGBT concerns at campus level. As a result of online interactions via the mailing list (supported by face-to-face social meetings), LGBT individuals were able to network with students, local churches, the Office of LGBT Concerns, local businesses and other campus units in order to organize fundraising activities for hosting the Ninth Annual Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference 2001 at UIUC. The event was a tremendous success and it was felt that more such concerted efforts needed to be supported by the university.

Lastly, the findings from this study show how LGBT members used the online mailing list in the domain of cultural empowerment. LGBT members often generated participation in, and exchanged information about, LGBT related cultural activities that included popular entertainment shows, television programs, poetry sessions, movie screenings and concerts. Most of these cultural events focused on LGBT issues or concerned people who were closely identified with the LGBT


community. They provided an opportunity for LGBT members to gather at LGBT-friendly spaces and develop social networks and support circles.

The goal in adopting a situated approach in this study helped to contextualize internet use in terms of online–offline crossovers that LGBT members perceived to promote their empowerment in the political, social, educational and cultural domains. A situated examination also contributed understanding the intricate dimensions surrounding the context of internet use by sexual minorities and needs that were closely connected to their real time social experiences. Had the study employed other traditional approaches that are used in CMC and internet studies, it may not have been able to identify the complex relationships that were strongly grounded in the local situation and everyday practices of the marginalized users.

II. DIGITAL DIVIDE b. ii. DONORS & VOLUNTEERS

PITCH TO DONORS & VOLUNTEERS The issue of ‘place’ is another important feature in ongoing CTC research and the relationship between place and other forms of social activity and community-building. One emerging concept applied to CTC research is the notion of ‘public spaces’ (Davies et al., 2003) that provide unique benefits to a community. Public spaces in this research are ‘places that engage diverse groups of people and contribute to positive local change’. The ability of public spaces to ‘encourage a range of social actions’ and ‘increase participants Hayden & Ball-Rokeach: Maintaining the digital hub in a civil society’ can contribute to the growth and sustainability of the community at large. At the same time, in many local spaces there is a recognized communication problem between ‘different city agencies, professions and interest groups responsible for a place’ (Davies et al., 2003: 12).

A ‘place’, in this view, matters when it can contribute to the ways in which people participate in a community. The ‘public space’ concept, at least in Davies and colleagues’ view, is also highly dependent on an ‘x factor’ known as ‘sociability’, which connotes a sense of how the environment contributes to a place’s capacity to encourage participation and communication (Davies et al., 2003: 13).

II DIGITAL DIVIDE b. ii. DONORS & VOLUNTEERS

DONORS DEFINED GOVERNANCE AND DECISION MAKING The governance picture of many NPOs is quite complex. Most nonprofits are governed by self-perpetuating, largely self-appointing boards of directors. “Though trustees are not elected by society at large, their essential purpose is to hold an organization in trust for the benefit of society, as specified in its papers of incorporation and grants of tax exemption” (Young, 2002, p. 4). And as Young (2002) pointed out, NPOs may have many masters, “they are dependent on markets to sell services; on donors to provide gifts and grants; and on government for contract revenues, tax benefits, and legal oversight” (p. 4). In addition, as Young noted, some NPOs operate in federated systems such as the United Way or Girls Scouts of the USA, with which they also must coordinate.

Of course, key players in the governance of NPOs are the CEO and the board. Several models of the relationship between these partners have been discussed in the literature. Some writers have suggested that, in some cases, CEOs actually lead and guide the board even though the board oversees the work of the CEO (Herman & Heimovics, 1991; Middleton, 1987). Young (2002) developed three scenarios of board-CEO relationships: Boards may be very strong and ruled by single-minded groups or individuals, may be weak and merely rubber stamp the decisions of staff, or may be confused and unclear about what they and the organization should be doing. Each case of these scenarios presents different challenges for how NPOs are governed and how that style trickles down into the daily management of the organization. NPO boards play some unique roles and have unique features from those of FPOs. NPO boards are likely composed of fewer insiders and are more conflicted than those of FPOs (Oster, 1995). They also tend to be larger and more diverse than FPO boards and are focused on fund-raising for the organization (McFarlan, 1999). Also as McFarlan noted, FPO boards are increasingly enjoying generous compensation for serving, whereas NPO board members serve on a volunteer basis and are expected to contribute substantial financial gifts, thus the adage, “give, get, or get off.” There is also greater diversity in terms of motivation for service by NPO board members. NPO board members might serve for the honor


associated with the role, the opportunity to shape community initiatives or assume civic leadership, or merely for the personal gratification the role brings (Widmere, 1989).

Composition of NPO boards has been the subject of a great deal of research. Abzug and Galaskiewicz (2001) posited that community members often look to the makeup of the board of NPOs to discern whether it is a legitimate and representative organization. For many, the board has become a symbol of what and for whom the organization stands. Just what the right combination of professionals, generous donors, community representatives, and well connected individuals is for any given NPO is still subject of much debate. In addition, network approaches to the study of NPO board membership have explored various effects of linkages created in the composition of boards. Salzman and Dornhoff (cited in Middleton, 1987) found that nonprofits were central to the “full-tie networks” (communication networks for information sharing and creating of common viewpoints across corporations) and concluded that “nonprofit boards serve an important function by providing a place where business elites in a community meet to exchange information, create common viewpoints, and thus reinforce class cohesion” (Middleton, 1987, p. 145). These authors argued that it is through the interaction facilitated by shared roles serving on nonprofit boards, that elites form relationships that affect other sectors and community life.

Inclusive governance is another critical topic in the NPO literature.

DONORS DEFINED An inclusive board demonstrates awareness of the community and constituents who benefit from and contribute to the services of the organization . . . seeks information from multiple sources . . . and establishes policies and structures . . . to foster stakeholder involvement. (Brown, 2002, p. 370) Although much focus has been given in the empirical NPO literature on composition of boards as a means toward constructing inclusiveness, far less attention has been paid to practices of open and inclusive communication by boards and other leaders of NPOs (Brown, 2002). Although several authors have called for such attention and some recommend a “multi-constituency approach” in which the “ideal performance assessment system in a nonprofit would acknowledge the existence of multiple constituencies and build measures around all of them” (Kanter & Summers, 1987, p. 164), we do not have a good sense of how this ought to be done or the extent to which it is being attempted. In studies (Lewis et al., 2001; Lewis et al., 2003) of stakeholder communication in NPOs in the context of planned change initiatives, we have found evidence that executives tend to focus their communication on those groups and individuals perceived to have the greatest resources available to aid the change program—typically boards, paid staff, and donors.

Strong points of departure to further a research agenda in the areas of governance and decision making in NPOs can be created by tapping an increasingly rich literature in our sub discipline in participatory practices and organizational democracy. Cheney (1995) defined workplace democracy as a system of governance which truly values individual goals and feelings . . . as well as typically organizational objectives . . . which actively fosters the connection between those two sets of concerns by encouraging individual contributions to important organizational choices, and which allows for the ongoing modification of the organization’s activities and policies by the group. (p. 170)


VOLUNTEERS TARGETED AT EXISTING STUDENTS OR POTENTIAL STUDENTS SisterNet women are also taking on the role of internet trainers in the Afya project, acting as mentors for others in the community. Activities within the training workshops are geared specifically towards facilitating constructive social and technical change. A recent initiative has fostered the application of inquiry-based teaching and learning to develop internet skills and resources that address the goals that the SisterNet women have set for themselves.

It also contained sections prompting the identification of barriers to good spiritual health and the creation of a simple health plan that each workshop participant would strive to carry out over the subsequent three months. Based on the philosophy of John Dewey, the Inquiry Page seemed especially suitable for the Afya project because it strives to support learning and problem-solving with internet tools in a manner that facilitates participative and equitable relationships among all community members, engages with diversity in a constructive manner, and supports both individual development and contribution to the good of the entire community (Bruce and Bishop, 2002). Maryam, a SisterNet community action researcher, conducted the subsequent technology workshop at the autumn 2001 SisterNet Health


Conference, with university students and faculty serving as facilitators. Workshop participants increased their computer expertise and became acquainted with culturally appropriate internet resources that were related to Black women’s spiritual health. At the same time, they created digital documents geared directly to their own spiritual health goals – resources that could be shared online with other SisterNet women. An important point to note is how local Black women identify themselves as community action researchers and not as ‘tech crew’ or by the synonymous terms that one may find in other comparable situations. SisterNet women perceive their roles in using the internet or carrying out internet research to be not just a technology-related issue; they believe technological use to be embedded within a larger, community setting. The involvement of SisterNet women in the creation of culturally relevant health information on the internet is building local capacity, interest and technological skills. Shifts in internet management and creation of its content are leading to the social empowerment of Black women via the transference of power into their own hands.


ASSESSING DONORS & VOLUNTEERS Although certainly fiscal realities demand attention to budget, that tells only a piece of the picture. Funders and individual donors and volunteers do not wish to give to organizations that are merely financially sound. They must also show that they are providing value to the community, serving intended clients in useful ways, maintaining desirable values and image, and progressively chipping away at important social problems.

“The conservancy’s goal, after all, isn’t to buy land or raise money, it is to preserve the diversity of life on Earth” (Sawhill &Williamson, 2001, p. 101). Because the extinction of species continued to spiral higher and higher every year since the organization’s founding, from that perspective, the organization was a failure. Organizations as diverse as the Girl Scouts, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Sierra Club struggle to measure similarly lofty and inscrutable missions. A further complication of the problem of NPO mission assessment concerns the public’s image of NPOs.

ASSESSMENT VOLUNTEER RELATIONSHIPS “Volunteering means any activity in which time is given freely to benefit another person, group or organization” (Wilson, 2000, p. 215). Organizational volunteering can further be defined as proactive (e.g., signing up to serve meals at a shelter every Sunday) rather than reactive (e.g., stopping to help an accident victim after a car accident) and entails commitment of time and effort. According to the 1998 Gallup Organization poll (cited in Wilson, 2000), 56% of the U.S. population had reported volunteering at some point during the past year. Given this statistic, it is somewhat startling to learn that so little research has been devoted to exploring the experience of volunteering in organizational contexts. Pearce (1993) posited that uncertainty is the key characteristic marking volunteer experiences in NPOs: “Volunteers simply face less crystallized expectations about their behavior, purposes, and affective reactions than do paid workers” (p. 4). Very different beliefs exist about what volunteering really means in organizations. As Pearce described it, One the one hand, their efforts are degraded by expressions such as “you get what you pay for,” and “if society really wanted it done, it would pay for it.” Yet volunteers are also virtuous, self-sacrificial contributors—“givers” not “takers.” Without the concrete crutch of “working for living,” volunteers are suspect: they are too autonomous and, therefore, cannot be made reliable; they have no visible “payoff” and so, are not predictable; they must have hidden, “selfish” reasons for working and, so are hypocrites. (p. 10) Pearce also noted the different ways in which volunteer work is organized: Their work is more piecemeal and part-time, their relationships less strong and more limited, and feedback is limited or nonexistent. Ashcraft and Kedrowicz (2002) added to this list that volunteers are often less credentialed, receive little job training, provided with little or no path for development in the organization because of staff concerns of high risk of turnover, and frequently work alone and sometimes off-site. Some authors also have noted that volunteering is a work and leisure activity (Merrell, 2000; Pearce, 1993). In Ashcraft and Kedrowicz’s (2002) study of a domestic violence prevention organization, they found that these differences in the nature of volunteer work coupled with volunteers’ own constructions of their volunteer roles resulted in a unique volunteer contract with their organization about what it meant to be empowered.

An additional set of complexities in the volunteer-staff relationship occurs when the roles of volunteers become confounded with other critical roles in and outside of NPOs: NPOs sometimes recruit volunteers from among their clients (Pearce, 1993), volunteers sometimes serve on boards as well as in a program capacity, volunteers are sometimes hired and become paid staff, paid staff sometimes volunteer volunteers are sometimes voting members of associational NPOs,


volunteers are often donors, and a huge trend in corporate volunteer programs means that some volunteers are really “loaned labor” from corporate sponsors (Tschirhart, 2005). These mixed roles have yet to be addressed in the empirical literature on volunteer relationships in any detail; however, they are indicative of the potential challenges present in the organizational volunteer relationship.

The rise of episodic volunteering is another huge trend in volunteering that is altering the landscape of NPO labor and presents interesting challenges to contemporary understandings of organizational communication dynamics. Episodic volunteers contribute their time to NPOs sporadically, only during special times of year (e.g., Thanksgiving) or for one-time events (e.g., summer festival).

CHALLENGE TO HAVE A “CONSISTENT” STAFF AND SUPORT SYSTEM This is in juxtaposition to the “periodic” volunteer who schedules his or her volunteering at some regular intervals on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis (Macduff, 2005). Macduff explained that episodic volunteers are of two types. The first type is the temporary volunteer who gives service that is short in duration and who does not otherwise become involved in the organization. The corporate volunteer who comes for one day to help build a playground or staff a large event is a typical example of this type of worker. The interim volunteer is the second type. This volunteer may give service regularly for up to 6 months and then disassociate from the organization. Students in service learning roles, experts consulting for organizations on a specific project, or court-ordered volunteers doing community service hours would be examples of the interim volunteer.

In one empirical example, Adams et al. (1988) found that supervisors of volunteers are more likely to use compliance gaining strategies of esteem, promise, logic, ingratiation, and altruism, whereas supervisors of paid staff are more likely to use punishment and threat to gain compliance. In another example, Merrell (2000) explored the complexity of ambiguous roles of volunteers.

More work that focuses on unpacking the complexities of volunteer staff relationships is critical. As Lee and Jablin (1995) suggested, superior-subordinate relationships are critical to many organizational (as well as individual) outcomes. Furthermore, one can tie the relationships forged between NPOs and their volunteers (of various types) to the questions posed earlier about social capital. If one positive outcome of strong volunteer relationships is the building of a sense of community, increases in civic participation, and the creation of social capital, then understanding how the variety of volunteer-organizational relationships affect, such outcomes is a ripe direction for exploration. A research agenda in NPOs concerning volunteer-staff relationships would include retracing many of the steps that have been made in the FPO literature considering these added complexities of role ambiguity, value of the volunteer role, multiple roles, and the nature of volunteer work. Beginning points should include consideration of the recruitment and entry of volunteers into the NPO and the socialization of paid staff as to their relationship with volunteers.

How from the very beginning are these individuals taught to consider one another and what sources and types of messages do they receive about their interactions with one another? Are service learners, court-ordered volunteers, corporate volunteers, and member-volunteers socialized and communicated with in vastly different ways, and what outcomes are reaped from those differences? Consideration of problematic communication would include examination of conflict, upward distortion, and performance evaluation. In the area of peer communication, a prime potential focus would describe the experience of close working relationships between volunteer and paid staff who work side by side with very different contracts with their organizations and with one another. How are the differences acknowledged and managed?

II DIGITAL DIVIDE b. iii. THE PUBLIC

THE PUBLIC IS A STAKEHOLDER The public seems to expect that such organizations will and should accomplish their missions without spending much on them selves. Carson (2002) contended that Americans hold an overly romanticized ideal image of NPOs as benevolent, volunteer-driven organizations that rely more on the kindness of willingly underpaid staff, small individual contributions, and local and humble operations. He argued that this image has harmed the ability of NPOs to garner the understanding and support they need from society at large. He cited the recent criticisms of the American Red Cross’ September 11, 2001, funds (and other similar agencies) as an example of how so many Americans misunderstand the complex, expensive, and professional operation that is required for NPOs to solve and address the many social problems that have been laid at their doorsteps. In that case, many Americans were outraged at the idea that the Red Cross would set aside


any donated monies for overhead and future disasters wanting every penny to go directly to aid victims and victim’s families. For Carson, this was a reflection of the great misunderstanding of how NPOs operate and the reasonable needs they have to pay reasonable salaries to professional staff, provide benefits to its employees, and pay for the infrastructure that coordinates services and operates programs (sometimes on an national and international level). He criticized NPO managers who roll over in these public moments of crisis—in the case of the September 11, 2001, funds many agencies actually embarked on separate fund-raising campaigns to pay for overhead so that 100% of the donated monies could go directly to victims—rather than use them as “teachable moments” wherein the public might learn something about how real NPOs operate and the costs associated with producing quality results.

III. CRITERIA FOR MEASUREING SUCCESS – Overview

REGARDING MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF BYTE BACK’S PROGRESS The framework that was employed to study technology use for the people taking part in the CNI program offers an alternative approach to the study of technology use in at-risk communities – one that accounts for the situated and local nature of literacy (Barton and Hamilton, 1998) and technology use and learning (Bruce and Peyton, 1993; Bruce and Rubin, 1993). The local literacy approach ties literacy practices – what people do with reading and writing at home – to the social practices that are present in a given community setting. Because literacy practices are connected to social practices, literacy is viewed as a collective resource rather than as an attribute or a set of skills that resides within an individual. In viewing literacy as a collective resource, it becomes important to understand the informal learning that surrounds reading and writing activities and, by extension, computer and internet activities (Bruce, 1993). In this context, a situated approach embeds technology within the social practices of individuals and communities and looks at how people actually use a technology in order to study the shifts in practice that occur in the process (Bruce, 1993). From this perspective, technology can take on many different forms as it comes to be defined through use in a particular setting. Based on the theories of Henri Lefebvre and Michel de Certeau, who look at the entirety of lived experience rather than mere isolated settings (such as the workplace), recent research on the technological practices of marginalized people documents their positive ways of technology use and its appropriation to meet the needs and distinct expressions of their communities (Nelson et al., 2001).

This study adopted an ethnographic perspective in studying people’s computer and internet literacy practices (Green and Bloome, 1997). Data for the study were collected over a one-year period. Following focus groups with people who had completed the CNI program, interviews were conducted with 11 participants and observational data was gathered in training classes, community settings and the homes of eight of the interview participants. The data collection efforts were designed to understand better how the participants used (or did not use) the technology, the problems that were encountered during use and the methods employed to overcome technical problems. The constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) was used to analyze the data collected as part of this study.

RESEARCH CRITERA One of the values of looking at the experiences of people defined as ‘have-nots’ is that it forces us to acknowledge the way that our categories capture (and fail to capture) their experiences. Because of space limitations, we will focus primarily on the experiences of one low-income CNI study participant, Paul, to illustrate how people take up and use the internet in their everyday lives and the way that the meaning of technology shifts over time. Paul heard about the CNI program through a friend who worked at the Urban League of Champaign County. At the beginning of this study, Paul was a single father raising three children on his own. Initially, he chose to participate in the program because he thought that his children would benefit from having a computer in the home and because he was interested in learning how to use the computer.

EXAMPLE OF WAYS AND STAGES OF PERCIEVED BENEFIT FROM COMPUTERS & INTERNET The CNI study makes clear that events such as marriage, a new job, changes in one’s family structure and friendship networks, seasons of the year, interest levels and even special events can constrain or enhance internet use in very different ways for different people. When Paul was first interviewed for this study, he was excited to have the CNI computer in his home. Paul used this computer primarily to connect to the internet to look up information related to questions that came up in daily life – how to sell a car online, information for his sister who wanted to buy a car and information for his mother who wanted to buy a house.


Paul’s story also illustrates the way that family structure influences the way in which people take up and use the internet. During the course of the study Paul got engaged, so he used the internet to find out the residency requirements for obtaining a marriage license in a different state. Paul’s children used the internet to look up ‘cheat codes’ for a video game that they owned and for research reports for school. In Paul’s family, use by children and outsiders to the family was strictly monitored and limited because of the fear that the computer would get damaged in some way. In addition, technology use was limited because the computer was seen as a tool to teach the children about responsibility, sharing and being respectful of people’s property. There was also a fear that the computer might be used to look at inappropriate content online.

The CNI study also demonstrated how family and friendship networks influenced how computer and internet technology were adopted and how technical problems were solved. In a telephone survey conducted of community members who completed the program, 80 percent reported that someone other than themselves had used the computer and 65 percent reported use of their CNI computer to show someone how to do something (Bishop et al., 1999). In several cases, as CNI participants acquired newer equipment, they loaned or gave their CNI computer to people in their social network. In Paul’s case, he became known in his social network as someone who could use the internet to get information needed by friends and family members. As a CNI volunteer, Paul also helped other CNI participants to solve the technical problems related to internet use that they encountered once they took their computer home. In addition, Paul lent his extra CNI computer to a friend who wanted to learn how to use it so that he could decide what type of computer to purchase.

It is more accurate to say that people adopt technology in a series of stops and starts, often dictated by events and changes in their lives, including those associated with family structures, social networks and their understanding of what the technology can do for them. Participants in the CNI study used the technology, stopped using the technology, discovered new uses for the technology and rediscovered uses for the technology over time, moving back and forth between these stages as their lives and understanding of it changed. This mirrors the findings of Hamilton (1999) who found that unexpected events in people’s lives often gave rise to the need for people to gain expertise in new literacy areas.

The CNI study conducted by Merkel took a situated approach, with the goal of better understanding the way in which low-income families integrate technology into their daily lives. Its primary contribution in this regard is a heightened awareness of how the meaning of the internet in people’s lives is invented through daily use and shifts over time. The extent to which internet use becomes part of people’s daily practice and the way that it is tied to their sense of self is important because it has an impact on people’s willingness to be part of a knowledge community of technology users. It also has an impact on the extent to which people are willing to exchange information about technology and through particular forms of technology.

CRITERIA FOR MEASURING THE SUCCESS One strategy is to transfer goal-setting, decision-making and choice determining processes into the hands of disadvantaged users in order that they ‘fit’ internet use into their daily lives in ways that they themselves consider to be meaningful. These research efforts need to be respectful of the needs, expectations and marginalized experiences of such users. Dictating policies, procedures and strategies that do not take marginalized communities into confidence during the process of conceptualization lead further to their disempowerment- Involving the disenfranchised at every stage of project development will establish social equity of technology, not as isolated phenomena, but as a process that becomes embedded within the encompassing holistic social realities of marginalized users. What is important to realize is the situated nature of realities that shape the outcome of taking such an approach. Searching for a set ‘method’ for studying the impact of internet use or assuming a golden rule for application that will function in all situations will not work Another direction for internet research lies in engaging the participation of marginalized communities in planning, policy implementation and community-specific activities surrounding the use of the internet. Such efforts will help to re-engage the members of undeserved and marginalized communities with each other and with the process of public policy development. It will lead to a more active and participative democracy (Dialogue on Poverty, 2000).

The work of Prairienet and the CNI program provide one model in this area. The effective implementation of internet use within the everyday life of disadvantaged communities can be initiated by targeting the neighborhood as a unit to enhance resident participation and build on local capacity and neighborhood assets. Grounding such initiatives in real geographic areas helps to tie internet use to real-life social settings as well as engage local residents in using technology for community development and community building.

MEASUREMENT


Implications of those differences show up in management and employee values, incentives, and constraints, “thus creating differences in how the basic functions of management are carried out” (p. 4). Too, Kanter and Summers (1987) noted the impact of ambiguous performance criteria on NPOs in terms of issues of accountability, relationships with stakeholders, and establishing mission. Frumkin (2002) argued that the three distinguishing features of NPOs are that

(a) They do not coerce participation (thus, relying on freely given labor, patronage, and participation), (b) They operate without distributing profits to stakeholders, and (c) They exist without simple and clear lines of ownership and accountability.

That unique combination sets them aside from FPOs and governments. There is a growing debate within the nonprofit management literature and the community of nonprofits about whether NPOs should become more “business like” (Bush, 1992; Dees & Anderson, 2003; Frumkin & Andre-Clark, 2000; James, 2003; Young, 2002). The debate rages with varying degrees of passion and stems largely, it seems, from two sources. First, the current state of the economy has created a real crisis for most nonprofits in securing resources. This crisis has led some—some board members, some funding agencies, some administrators, some management scholars— to call for increased attention to budget, efficiency, and utilization of tools and management styles that have been adopted in great numbers by FPOs. Second, there is an increasing trend (for some disturbing and problematic, and for some exciting and entrepreneurial) toward what Dees and Anderson (2003) called “sector bending.” As they noted, traditional sector boundaries are increasingly breaking down. This phenomenon takes form as increasing adoption of business techniques and practices (e.g., total quality management [TQM] within universities), increased interaction and partnering across sectors (e.g., when for-profit firms hire nonprofit providers), increased intermingling of nonprofit and for-profit enterprises (e.g., hybrid organizations formed where FPOs create nonprofit affiliates and nonprofits establish for-profit subsidiaries), and many other possibilities.

III CRITERIA FOR MEASURING SUCCESS A. SOCIAL CAPTIAL

ASSESSMENT OF SURVEY SHOULD PROVE THE SOCIAL CAPITAL OF BYTE BACK A civil society has been defined as the “space of uncoerced human association and also the set of relational networks—formed for the sake of family, faith, interest and ideology—that fill this space” (Walzer, 1995, p. 7). This notion of a civil society, apart from government and marketplace, appealed greatly to Alexis de Tocqueville, who writing in the mid-1800s forcefully argued that American democracy depended upon its “extensive network of voluntary associations” (Smith, 2003, p. 37). For Tocqueville, NPOs (as they are now known) provided average citizens with a vehicle for voice and organization around causes and mutual interests. NPOs allowed individuals to self-organize, pursue collective purposes, learn skills for community management, stir public debate, and provide forums for voice among other important democratic practices. In another influential work, Putnam (2000) argued that voluntary associations are vital in building “social capital.” This concept is defined by Smith (2003) as “the networks of cooperation and collaboration that exists in a community or region” (p. 37) and by Coleman (1990) as a quality of relationships among people that is created when “the relations among persons change in ways that facilitate action” (p. 304). Examples of changes brought by social capital include basic relational qualities such as trust, mutual understanding, camaraderie, shared vision, group values, and large social outcomes such as those brought through social movements.

In addition, Putnam (2000) found significant relationships between social capital and satisfaction of citizens, effectiveness of local government, and levels of economic development. In this view, social capital is built when groups of individuals voluntarily come together in a local community to get work done, join a cause, or enjoy an activity. It is in the doing of the tasks of those activities that social capital is built. As Frumkin (2002) argued, Individuals find connections to one another and build a sense of community and solidarity that leads to greater enthusiasm for community life. This trust or “social capital,” represents a critical reservoir of good will and serves as a catalyst for civic and political engagement. (pp. 29-30) Organizational communication scholarship has begun to embrace constructs that certainly approach the notion of social capital. Organizational citizenship, community, and deep attachment and identification are clearly related ideas.

However, the ways in which we typically make use of these constructs has tended to be limited to examination of relationships and behaviors within a very nearly closed system. We ask questions of the degree of commitment/attachment/identification individuals have toward their employing organization or the average level of citizenship behavior within an organization and then appropriately ask about causes and correlates of those levels.


What we may have overlooked, in such work, is the notion of community in a larger sense (e.g., locality, region, city, town, and neighborhood) and how organizations are integral to building social capital. How do organizations enable, ignite, and provide conduits for social capital within a community? Some might suggest that this is a more appropriate topic for organizational sociologists or perhaps political scientists rather than organizational communication scholars. I argue that we are uniquely qualified to bring a communication lens to such issues and that we ought to be participating in that conversation. Organizational sociologists are interested in explaining large societal trends; how such trends have come to be, what social forces drive them, and in what directions.

They are not as likely to be concerned with what now might be considered a more “micro” focus of the individual interactions of organizations with their communities, the manner in which organizations emerge to foster relationships among people, the sorts of organizational activities that are likely to reap the strongest return of social capital and other similar questions. IMPORTANT although management scholars might be best positioned to show how organizations can create financial and physical capital, organizational communication scholars are likely well positioned to show how organizations create social capital and create explanations for communicative practice, process, and structure so critical in building social capital. If we are to do this job, what should we study? It seems, in this case, that basic beginning points are best. Social capital is a construct receiving a great deal of rhetorical treatment and, in certain domains, much empirical exploration as well. Research and theory have been directed at accounting for the effects of social capital in mental health, community attachment, well-being of the aged population, voluntarism, its role in race relations, neighborhood cohesion, and crime rates among other outcomes (for reviews of this literature, see Baron, Field, & Schuller, 2000; Edwards, Foley, & Diani, 2001). The communication piece that is largely left unexplored to date concerns the mechanics of creating structures, processes, procedures, rules, narratives, ideologies, roles, and resources interactively that, in turn, give rise to social capital. A basic outline for the research agenda in this area would include fundamental descriptive work.

QUESTIONS TO ASK FOR SOCIAL CAPITAL What organizations in our communities are making claims (explicitly or implicitly) to their role in building social capital? What communicative vehicles are they using to bring individuals, organizations, agencies, and neighborhoods together to work, exercise voice, and interact? Which of these activities and/or practices are yielding the greatest returns in perceived and (if measurable) real social capital? What are the challenges faced by such organizations? What works and what does not?

III CRITERIA FOR MEASUING SUCCESS B. MISSION, EFFECTIVENESS, AND ACCOUNTABILITY

For a nonprofit to thrive, it must fulfill a mission that is valued by the community, staff, board, and funders. Nonprofits must create value within operational and environmental constraints that are at once more complex than those faced by corporations and more opaque then [sic] those confronted by government. (Frumkin & Andre- Clark, 2000, p. 160) Kanter and Summers (1987) argued that NPO missions are notoriously difficult to measure. This is true because NPO missions are usually focused on services and values, and various constituencies (clients, volunteers, private funders, government funders, and communities) view these outcomes very differently.

III CRITERIA FOR MEASUING SUCCESS C. REMAINING TRUE TO THE ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION

EXPLAINATION OF HOW ORGANIZATIONS MISSION BECOMES BLURRED OR HOW THE MANY STAKEHOLDERS MUDDY WHAT THE MISSION IS, THE MISSION CAN NOT BE EVERYTHING TO ALL STAKEHOLDERS IT MUST BE CLEAR AND ADHEARED TO, THE ORGANIZATION CAN NOT DRIFT OFF MESSAGE OR MISSION

It is exactly this sort of behavior (if not so extreme as the above example) that some commentators (Bush, 1992;Young, 2002) caution against. It is in a climate of shrinking resources and increasing accountability pressures on NPOs, as well as competition from for profit service providers (see Frumkin & Andre-Clark, 2000, for discussion) where managers of those organizations are under increased pressure to balance the financial sheet and demonstrate effectiveness, that “mission drift” (Dees & Anderson, 2003) may occur.

While there is debate in the NPO literature about how mission drift occurs and the trends that account for it (e.g., sector bending, financial pressures, accountability pressures in light of recent high profile NPO scandals), the very existence of


the problem highlights the critical role mission plays in this sort of organization. Although considering missions and mission statements for the FPO sector, some authors have come to the conclusion that such company rhetoric is fairly vapid (cf. Ackoff, 1987; Collins & Porras, 1991). A more common conclusion in the NPO literature is that mission is at the heart of the organization’s identity and has great implications for managerial behavior and organizational performance, and perceptions of NPO effectiveness (Bush, 1992; Kanter & Summers, 1987; O’Connell, 1988; Young, 2002). In one large study (Light, 2002), as compared with federal or for-profit employees, nonprofit employees were more likely to be able to very easily describe how their jobs contribute to their organization’s mission, and more likely to say they personally contribute to helping accomplish that mission. However, Brown and Yoshioka (2003) found that mission may be key in attracting employees rather than retaining them. Furthermore, Frumkin and Andre-Clark (2000) argued that high-value commitments within NPO missions can create competitive disadvantages.

Frumkin and Andre-Clark suggested that these organizations may sacrifice a degree of efficiency in favor of client treatment and counseling that is more in line with the organization’s values (e.g., including bible study in a job training program conducted by a faith-based organization).

One of the key challenges of many NPOs is being able to measure and then aptly convince others of the degree to which they are accomplishing their mission. Writers in the nonprofit literature (cf. James, 2003; Kanter & Summers, 1987; Sawhill & Williamson, 2001) continue to discuss the dilemmas raised by assessing organizational effectiveness where handy bottom-line measures are not reflective of the achievement of the organization’s purpose.

IV BRAND IMAGE & IDENTITY – COMMUNICATION MESSAGE

MESSAGE TO DONORS & VOLUNTEERS The aim in this article is to step outside simple digital divide categories to pose the following question: how do marginalized members of society incorporate computers and the internet into their daily lives in ways that are meaningful to them? The focus is on learning more about constructive change, since the authors believe that effecting social change is the ultimate goal in promoting internet use in disadvantaged and minority communities. Asking ‘how’ leads to the consideration of three kinds of change in the lives of society’s marginalized members. These are represented in the three digital divide studies presented, each of which involves a different group of marginalized individuals. Merkel’s study of internet use among low-income families adopts a ‘local literacy’ research framework (Barton and Hamilton, 1998), exploring the question of social change and how people on the margins take up and use the internet. Mehra’s study applies methods common in research on computer-mediated communication (CMC) (Jones, 1999) to describe the use of the internet by sexual minorities for expressing their ‘queer’ identities and building community. In presenting this research, the attention is on what can be learned about the way in which people on the margins use the internet to accomplish changes that are meaningful to them. Finally, we turn to the ongoing work of Bishop and Mehra, who are collaborating with a local grassroots group of African-American women in a participatory action research (PAR) project. The project aims to assist women in their efforts to employ the internet to nurture a healthier lifestyle. Here, the focus is to learn how internet researchers can conduct their work in ways that bring social change and contribute to more equitable, just and empowering uses of technology for people on the margins. This article offers a starting point for investigating the ‘how’ surrounding internet use by marginalized communities. Comparative cases are presented upon which to focus and thus sharpen the analytic lens of social change.

DEFINING THE STAKEHOLDERS COMMUNICATION: PRESS RELEASES, COMMUNICATION MESSAGES BRAND MESSAGE – VOICE In the NPO context, where a perhaps more complex set of stakeholder relationships exists, this definition may need broadening. However, the general idea of balance between individuals (multiple constituencies) and the organization (the collective) is certainly applicable. We might add a third layer to this balance sheet by incorporating the needs and goals of the community at large for whom the NPO is held in trust. The research questions then would revolve around how this balance is maintained in NPOs and the role of boards and CEOs in creating balance. To some extent, all NPOs have an expectation of being good at communicating with multiple constituencies, incorporating multiple viewpoints into decision making, and providing voice from many perspectives. Thus, explorations of practical questions are also useful beginning points. What are the best practices in creating real or perceived inclusiveness? What roles are necessary in the leadership of NPOs that are able to achieve this result? What occurs in organizations that fail to create inclusiveness around key issues and initiatives? Although in the FPO context we might treat inclusiveness as a “nice to have” but not essential, in the NPO context we might be provoked to ask, To what degree is survival dependent on inclusiveness practices?


ANALYZING THE ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION AS IT RELATES TO STAKEHOLDERS It is clear that organizational communication scholars should have and have had something important to say on the subject of missions (cf. Eisenberg, 1984; Fairhurst, Jordan, & Neuwirth, 1997). However, we have not fully embraced the opportunities to study organizational mission or related issues of effectiveness and accountability through an examination of particular dynamics elegantly observable within the NPO context. Such dynamics include the wide array of stakeholder perspectives that must often be served by single missions; the challenges of communicating mission to wide audiences of stakeholders some of whom have only tentative and intermittent contact with the organization (e.g., members of a widely dispersed national NPO); the process of crafting messages of mission that will serve the needs of recruitment of volunteers, communicating purpose to potential clients, set tone for accountability for funders, and present a branded image for mass audiences; and decision-making and assessment communication activity as it relates to measuring mission accomplishment or progress.

COMMUNICATION MESSAGE Examination of such questions would, I think, enhance our understanding of how communication plays a key role in social construction of “effectiveness,” “success,” and “failure” as well as providing insight into the narratives around progress and purpose in organizations.

The research agenda implied by these interests would include building from what we now understand about the communicative challenges and activities associated with “managing the meaning of the mission” (Fairhurst et al., 1997). Frequency of mission delivery, content of the rhetoric of mission, modes and spokespersons of mission, processes of mission interpretation, and identification with mission are all topics and questions that have so far been raised in the literature. When one translates these research interests to the settings typical of many NPOs, new opportunities emerge. Consideration of the context of NPOs provokes us to consider the issue of mission drift and its causes and consequences for traditional outcomes of member satisfaction, identification, productivity, and variation in interpretation. Relationships between perceived mission clarity, assessment metrics, and narratives of “success” or “failure” would be a useful approach to help unpack our understanding of how efficiency and effectiveness are constructed in NPOs especially when organizations embrace highly lofty or ambitious end goals (e.g., end cancer, eradicate disease, stop homelessness). Frumkin and Andre-Clark (2000) suggested that there are types of NPOs that reflect high and low degrees of commitment to “values” and “performance.” Describing how these different “ideal types” communicate differently about their outcomes, failures, and successes would be a great starting point.

At a more micro-level, consideration of various stakeholders’ perceived relationships to the organizational mission would add value to our conceptualization of attachment processes and internalization of organizational philosophy and values. Are volunteers connected more to their tasks or to the overarching mission of organizations, and what communicative antecedents provoke these outcomes?

V. CONSLUSIONS

In order for the internet to play a greater role as an instrument for social and personal empowerment, we need to understand what the everyday life of an individual belonging to a minority or marginalized community encompasses. Such an approach calls for closer examination of the practices, system of relations and context of particular minority and marginalized users in order to figure out what is meaningful to them and how they use (or do not use) different forms of the internet for meeting their objectives. There is a need to acknowledge the multiple conceptualizations and forms of internet use as disadvantaged users apply these differently for meeting specific agendas.

This article presented three projects working with minority and marginalized users. In the context of future research on internet use, three broad sets of variables are closely connected and require careful attention:

• The type of marginalized group; • The goals, expectations and identification of what particular marginalized users consider to be meaningful in their everyday life; and • The selected method of research.


Owing to complexities surrounding the situated nature of how technology and the internet is actually used in various contexts, the issues surrounding measurement of the impact of the internet in different instances is extremely problematic. It leads to a need for re-examination of questions based on traditional ways of looking at people, their social dynamics and their interactions with technology. It also calls for active participation of minority and marginalized users based on a reconfiguration of relationships surrounding all aspects of internet access, training, content development and system design and evaluation.

IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE CTC RESEARCH It is clear that current CTC research is taking cues from policy statements such as the Morino report (Morino Institute, 2001), calling for a more nuanced conception of what technology can offer communities rather than just ‘access’. As studies move toward exploring what community ‘outcomes’ might result from CTC interventions, such as civic participation, social and community connections and community impacts (Mark et al., 1997), research begins to converge with other research traditions which have examined communities in general.

CONCLUSION The speculative notion that CTCs could serve as a ‘digital hub’ is based on previous research indicating that organizations can emerge from a communication action context to function as an integral component in a neighborhood storytelling network (Wilson, 2001). If previous communication infrastructure research demonstrates that organizations contribute to the storytelling network, then it may follow that CTCs (which are uniquely driven by communication imperatives and technologies) might play a unique role in a communication infrastructure. As described earlier, such a self-identified CTC connects residents with vital information about services from other organizations, while at the same time provides key Hayden & Ball-Rokeach: Maintaining the digital hub connections between organizations and the residents that, in turn, they serve (Miller, 1998). Local, geo-ethnic media also may draw content from, or distribute to, their respective audience via a CTC.

The existing research already points to the theoretical justifications detailed in communication infrastructure theory. Acknowledging that places have unique qualities to foster community is a step in recognizing what is meant specifically by the qualities of a space that, for example, encourages greater civic participation. Reframed within the context of earlier theories of public opinion and storytelling discourse, these spaces enable the storytelling practices that create the ties that bind within a given community or place.

Sources

Ball-Rokeach, S. J. & Hayden, C. (2007). Maintaining the digital hub: locating the community technology center in a communication infrastructure. New Media Society, (9) 235.

Bishop, A. P., Mehra, B. & Merkel, C. (2004). The internet for empowerment of minority and marginalized users. New Media Society, (6) 781.

Lewis, L. (2005). THE CIVIL SOCIETY SECTOR - A Review of Critical Issues and Research Agenda for Organizational Communication Scholars. Management Communication Quarterly, (19) 238.


Byte Back – Logotype Assessment Byte Back has ten years of name recognition. The original logo projected an image of a high-tech community training center to develop basic computer skills. Byte Back serves the underserved. The name “Byte Back” may not be clear to the general public – simple changes to the logotype, logo and tagline are recommended. Differentiating the word “Byte” from “Back” subtly reinforces an image of computers. Logotype executions are provided for consideration:

! ! ! ! The “Courier New” typeface is often associated with computers as evidenced on the Internet and tech oriented images. “Ariel” is the default typeface used for email communiqués, capitalizing “Back” reinforces Byte Back’s tech image.

!

Andrew Ciccone Tasha Tillman, Executive Director PO Box 144 815 Monroe Street, NE Millbrook, NY 12545 Washington, DC 20017 202.529.4684


Tasha, I've started updating the contact list for PSA's and Press Releases. Also, should have assessments for the volunteers and donors this Monday. I'm also putting together a brochure based on the template provided incorporating key insights from the power point presentation, annual report, existing literature, and the website targeting donors and volunteers. This information can also be translated into a Press Release and a template for PSA's. I checked with Heart regarding the demographic information and have attached the final draft of the survey. The information gathered from Byte Back's existing Student Application essentially has some of the questions asked on the survey. It may be useful in the future, to analyze the data from both the application and survey in a pre and post evaluation. Best,Andrew Yesterday's speaker Sheila Johnson, is a very dynamic lady. In addition to being the first African American woman to own a sports franchise, Ms. Johnson is CARE's Global Ambassador.The brand identity of CARE is very similar to Byte Back. Ms. Johnson's previous success as a founding partner of Black Entertainment Television, BET certainly has served CARE's image well. I suggest we examine CARE's campaigns in order to refine Byte Back's image.CARE's campaigns support humanitarian efforts to fight global poverty by empowering women because they have the unique power to help entire communities escape poverty. Sheila’s "I Am Powerful” campaign is consistent with the message that Byte Back needs to communicate to the community it serves. The assessment I am putting together, regarding Volunteers and Donors also provides an overview of the various stakeholders of Byte Back and considerations for evaluating the current Survey now being conducted. I will discuss this with you in more detail today as your schedule affords. Best,


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Byte Back – Logotype Assessment Byte Back has ten years of name recognition. The original logo projected an image of a high-tech community training center to develop basic computer skills. Byte Back serves the underserved. The name “Byte Back” may not be clear to the general public – simple changes to the logotype, logo and tagline are recommended. Differentiating the word “Byte” from “Back” subtly reinforces an image of computers. Logotype executions are provided for consideration:

! ! ! ! The “Courier New” typeface is often associated with computers as evidenced on the Internet and tech oriented images. “Ariel” is the default typeface used for email communiqués, capitalizing “Back” reinforces Byte Back’s tech image.

!

Andrew Ciccone Tasha Tillman, Executive Director PO Box 144 815 Monroe Street, NE Millbrook, NY 12545 Washington, DC 20017 202.529.4684

stakeholder assessment byteback ngo

Government & Nonprofit