Community historians

Abstract

This paper describes the Community Historians project, which was a series of public, participatory workshops focused on conceptualizing and enacting forms of citizen engagement through technology. The goal of the project was to provide the space and resources to discover, discuss, and document inherent communal values and tangible resources present in a low-income community. The result of the first workshop was an interactive, alternative asset map of the area. The second workshop involved residents building their own digital cameras from component parts. The purpose of these activities was to reinforce critical thought about how technology affected the lives of residents and to empower adaptation of technology as a tool for communal development.