Civic Engagement From a Communication Infrastructure Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to articulate the concepts and assumptions of communication infrastructure theory (CIT) in its present stage of development and validation. As an ecological approach to communication and community, CIT claims that access to storytelling community resources is a critical factor in civic engagement. When embedded in a neighborhood environment where key community storytellers encourage each other to talk about the neighborhood, individual residents are more likely to belong to their community, to have a strong sense of collective efficacy, and to participate in civic actions. CIT framework offers a way to examine the ecological processes that concern the effects of communication resources on civic community.

Using Communication Infrastructure Theory to Formulate a Strategy to Locate “Hard-to-Reach” Research Participants

“…Our use of community-health workers, other community leaders, and focus-group discussions with residents who were recruited at neighborhood and community meetings could mean that our diagnosis of the communication infrastructure was based upon a group that was more civically engaged than other users. Past research has shown that connections to an integrated storytelling network are positively related to civic engagement (Kim & Ball-Rokeach, 2006). In addition, people who are highly transient, like a portion of the population in NPU-V, are less likely to be connected to an integrated storytelling network (Ball-Rokeach et al, 2001).…”

“…engagement, increasing the extent to which residents feel and act like they belong to the community, have feelings of collective efficacy, and participate in civic activities (Ball-Rokeach et al, 2001;Kim & Ball-Rokeach, 2006). However, not every community's storytelling network is integrated.…”

Durable effects of concentrated disadvantage on verbal ability among African-American children

“…A recent body of research has argued for the importance of ''communication infrastructures'' in the production of civic engagement (12,13). Independent evidence also suggests that concentrated disadvantage and violence are directly linked to fewer reciprocated exchanges among neighbors outside of the immediate family (14,15), which implies a restricted range of public verbal interactions and communication infrastructures that children are exposed to as models for learning.…”

Exploring the Efficacy of Facebook Groups for Collective Occupant Learning About Using Their Homes

“…Gaining a critical mass to enable residents to engage in face-to-face community related meetings proved to be difficult for the resident organisers as observed in earlier studies (Marwell & Oliver, 1993). Facebook proved to be a more effective communication and self-organisation platform than traditional face-to-face meetings (Kim & Ball-Rokeach, 2006). However the effect was only achieved through the persistent voluntary effort of the Group leaders who were active both on Facebook Groups and Residents Committees, meeting face to face with only a few other engaged residents.…”