Building Digital Communities: Pilot
Interested in digital communities? Find additional resources on our topic page: Digital Inclusion.
With one in five Americans not using the internet and online interactions becoming a daily necessity of individuals and organizations, communities are recognizing the importance of taking action to increase digital inclusion. Libraries, local government and non-profit organizations are often the leaders of local digital inclusion efforts. Building Digital Communities: Pilot is a project supporting and documenting the work of pilot communities to increase the access and use of digital technologies. The work is based upon Building Digital Communities: A Framework for Action created by IMLS, the University of Washington and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).
Building Digital Communities: Pilot relies upon the principles and steps defined in the Bulding Digital Communities: A Framework for Action and Getting Started. In order to further the knowledge base of how communities become more digitally inclusive, we are posting lessons learned and digital inclusion planning resources. Each of the pilot communities is represented by a coalition of a library, a local government and a community-based organization.
Because digital inclusion is a complex and community-wide goal requiring a multi-sector coalition, we are focusing on the steps recommended in the framework.
- Convene stakeholders.
- Develop a shared community understanding of digital inclusion.
- Create a community action plan.
- Implement the plan.
- Evaluate and revise the plan.
OCLC has partnered with the University of Illinois Center for Digital Inclusion, Waymark Systems to provide stakeholder engagement expertise and guidance.
To support the pilot communities and further the knowledge base, OCLC’s WebJunction is hosting resources online including a case study of the stakeholder engagement process in Rhode Island, and convening webinars. Recognizing that digital inclusion strategies must be community-wide and the need for information dissemination, all resources and webinars are available to the public.
Project Documentation
- Digital Dodge City Support Materials for the Planning Session November 2013
- Trail-Blazing Digital Inclusion Communities
- BDC: Pilot Lessons Learned Results in Digital Inclusion Infographic
- Digital Dodge City August 2013 Report
- How to Use the Building Digital Communities Stakeholder Survey
- Building Digital Communities Stakeholder Alignment Worksheet
- Libraries: Natural Leaders of Digital Inclusion Projects
- Digital Dodge City July 2013 Report Overview
- Digital Dodge City July 2013 Full Report
- Steps 1 and 2 of Building Digital Communities
- Building Digital Communities: Pilot - One Page PDF
- Project Update March 2013
- Planning Stakeholder Engagement in Dodge City
- Year One Status Report
- Digital Communities Leadership Summit November 2011 in St. Paul
- Needs Assessment
- Building Digital Communities Worksheet
Most Recently Added
Trail-Blazing Digital Inclusion Communities
Publish Date: News / 19 November 2013
Increasing a community's access to and use of information technology requires collaboration among libraries, local government, non-profits, and business. This is a fundamental basis of Building Digital Communities: A Framework for Action (The Framewo...
How to Use the Building Digital Communities Stakeholder Survey
Publish Date: Document / 27 September 2013
Learning from Dodge City's use of the Building Digital Communities Stakeholder Survey.
Talking About an Evolution: Digital Inclusion in Dodge City
Publish Date: News / 16 September 2013
Most of us have heard the term digital inclusion, though we may all have different ideas about what it means, and how if affects those around us. As Dodge City, Kansas, set out to build a more digitally inclusive community, local leaders first had to...
Building a Digital Dodge City
Publish Date: Webinar / 10 September 2013
This webinar provides a look at Dodge City's community-wide digital inclusion initiative to understand the process of engaging multiple sectors throughout the process.
Steps 1 and 2 of Building Digital Communities
Publish Date: Document / 27 June 2013
The first two steps of Building Digital Communities: A Framework for Action are to "Convene stakeholders" and "Develop a shared community understanding of digital inclusion".
