This is the home of the Community Informatics Corps (CIC) in FALL 2005, part of the Community Informatics Initiative at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Visit the new 490 CIC website.

To contribute to the CIC bulletin boards, document center, and bookmarks on this site, simply create your free iLab account and log in. Contact Ann Bishop (abishop@uiuc.edu) if you have any trouble.

NEW CIC meeting schedule for Fall 2005:

The CIC will meet every other week on Fridays, from 1:00-2:00 p.m. CST at the Prairienet building front room, 501 E. Daniel, Champaign, IL:

9/23

10/7, 10/21,

11/4, 11/18

12/9 (NO meeting on 12/2)

The meetings are open to everyone. We discuss current and future projects, issues we face in our community-based work, interesting readings. Mechanisms for joining by phone and videoconference are posted at this site in advance of each meeting.

The GSLIS CIC is modeled on the Community Information Corps at the University of Michigan (http://cic.si.umich.edu/). We hope that other universities will launch their own CICs around a shared mission:

To prepare information professionals, through academic inquiry, practical engagement and professional development, for careers in community and public interest work.

The Community Informatics Corps is especially relevant to students interested in careers in public libraries and not-for-profit settings. It also offers opportunities for working with children and youth, in both school and community sites, and includes activities related to curriculum development. Some CIC activities involve the design and evaluation of computer applications and digital content aimed at helping communities achieve their goals, so opportunities to develop and apply tech skills exist as well.

GSLIS courses in Fall 2005 that are especially relevant to the Community Informatics Corps include:

451: Introduction to Network Systems

590 SJ: Social Justice in LIS (see the Fall 2005 course description under "Bookmarks" on this site)

590 PT: Pragmatic Technology

591 CIC/CIL: Community Informatics Corps Practicum

The Community Informatics Corps maintains a listing of practical engagement opportunities that are suitable for volunteer work, course or research projects, practicum positions, and independent study. Opportunities are available in the Champaign-Urbana area, surrounding towns, Chicago, and East St. Louis and even internationally. And some are appropriate for participation at a distance.