Electronic Networks: Enhancing Civic Life or Diverting Scarce Resources

这个试点项目将开始研究以社区为基础的电子网络连接明尼苏达州农村县成员的影响。它将遵循一个雄心勃勃的电子网络项目（Grant Rapids network /Itasca Regional network，或GrandNet/IRNET）的发展，该项目旨在连接明尼苏达州Itasca县的企业、学校、政府机构和家庭。该项目将重点关注电子社区可能影响的三个基本价值观：获取资源、机会平等和公民参与。为了回答有关这一新发展对群体相对有利还是不利的问题，以及它如何影响公民参与，将测试一种多方法方法：团队将收集基线信息，并将其与网络实施时的类似指标进行比较。在研究期间，小组成员还将管理小规模调查，并与有关个人和团体代表（包括学生、教师、特殊亚群体成员、公民领袖和网络用户）进行深入访谈和焦点小组会议。多种方法的结合将有助于确保所获得的结果对考虑实施电子网络的未来社区是可靠和有用的。为了与感兴趣的研究人员和政策制定者分享研究结果，研究人员将准备会议报告和期刊文章手稿，描述他们对该网络的实施和早期影响的了解。

This pilot project will begin to study the impact of a community-based electronic network linking members of a rural Minnesota county. It will follow the development of an ambitious electronic network project (Grant Rapids Network/Itasca Regional Network, or GrandNet/IRNET) that seeks to link businesses, schools, government agencies and households in Itasca County, Minnesota. The project will focus on three fundamental values an electronic community can potentially affect: access to resources, equality of opportunity, and civic participation. To answer questions concerning whether groups are relatively advantaged or disadvantaged by this new development, and how it affects citizen involvement, a multi-method approach will be tested: The team will collect baseline information and compare it to similar indicators as the network is implemented. Team members will also administer small-scale surveys and undertake in-depth interviews and focus group sessions with relevant individuals and group representatives - including students, teachers, members of special sub-populations, civic leaders and network users -during the research period. The combination of multiple methods will help to assure that the results obtained are robust and useful to future communities considering the implementation of an electronic network. To share findings with interested researchers and policy-makers, the researchers will prepare conference presentations and journal-article manuscripts describing what they have learned about the implementation and early effects of the network.