1 School of Art and Design, Aalto University, Finland
Wenger, E., White, N., and Smith, J.D. (2009) Digital Habitats: Stewarding Technology for Communities. Portland, OR: CPsquare.
Digital Habitats: stewarding technology for communities by Wenger, White and Smith, has been out for two years and it has had numerous positive reviews. The book is well written, indeed, and it is extremely clear and enjoyable to read.
The book focuses on the area where the interplay between technology and communities intersects, which the authors identify as "digital habitats". In practical terms, a digital habitat is "the portion of a community that is enabled by a configuration of technologies" (p.38). A digital habitat, like its biological counterpart, is a dynamic entity, which needs to adapt to environmental changes. It is thus important to determine its technological landscape and the space for maneuvering with in it. The authors also introduce the concept of "technology stewardship" to refer to the emerging practice of helping a community "choose, configure, and use technologies to best suit its needs" (p.24). These activities are carried out by certain members of the community, the "technology stewards", who take a leadership role.
The authors start out by clarifying the intentions of the book in a section entitled Itinerary: A reader's guide. They explain that the book is equally targeted for "Deep Divers", "Attentive Practitioners", and "Just Do It-ers", thus spanning interests in theory and practice. The structure of the book makes it easy to choose which chapters one wants to focus on, depending on one's interest.
Part I: Introduction, reviews the key concept of Communities of Practice (Chapter 1), presents a brief history of the relationship between digital technology and communities (Chapter 2), and introduces the concept of Technology Steward (Chapter 3).
Part II: Literacy, starts with Chapter 4, where the four perspectives on the technology involved in a digital habitat, namely the tools, the platforms, the features, and the overall configuration, are introduced. In Chapter 5, the three polarities of rhythms (togetherness/separation), interactions (participation/reification) and identities (individual/group) provide a three-axised lens for making sense of the varied landscape of tools at hand. Chapter 6 focuses on the relationship between activities and tools, through a set of nine "orientations" or key community activity patterns that the authors have identified through practice.
Part III: Practice, addresses directly existing or aspiring technology stewards. Chapter 7 provides them with guidelines for assessing the situation and the needs of their communities in terms of technology. Chapter 8 proposes seven different strategies for technology acquisition. Chapter 9 focuses on the daily practice of technology stewardship. Chapter 10 comprises a collection of checklists, tables and questions to assist technology stewards in their practice.
Part IV: Future is a reflection on the future of technology stewardship. Chapter 11 looks back at the set of polarities introduced in Chapter 5 and examines how they interact with trends in digital habitats. Finally, Chapter 12 offers thoughts on a possible learning agenda for technology stewardship. The book then ends with a Glossary.
Despite the ambitious aim to simultaneously target various audiences, the book addresses mostly people who are, or could become, technology stewards in their communities or in some other networks of people. The book provides a wealth of practical information on how to go about the activities required by this challenging, yet often unrecognized role in communities. Unfortunately, the more reflective aspect of the book leaves the "deep diver" type of reader hungry for more.
For example, I was disappointed that the references to other works were kept to a minimum. I would have appreciated a short explanation from the authors about how they position this book with respect to other similar works. In the context of organizational studies, for example, Nardi and O'Day introduced similar concepts back in 1999, in their book Information Ecologies.
While the book emphasizes the role of the technology stewards, and Part III is concretely addressing the practice of technology stewardship, the authors do not reflect on what are the factors and processes that would help to identify what kind of community members would make for good technology stewards. Whereas a lot is said in the book about how technology stewards can identify and develop their own practice, little is said on how others (either fellow community members or external facilitators) can support the technology stewards or even how technology stewardship can be collaboratively achieved.
Reading this book will probably not bring any major revelation to members of the Community Informatics (CI) research community. Issues related to the interplay between technology and community, and the empowerment of communities through the adoption of a community-based perspective to technology lie at the core of CI and are continually addressed by CI researchers. Moreover, the theoretical framework of the Digital Habitats is based on the concept of Communities of Practice by Wenger (1998) and on the work of Lave and Wenger (1991) on situated learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991). Both works are known to the CI community and they have influenced the discourse within CI. In that sense, the reading of Digital Habitats often brings a feeling of déjà vu.
Despite the criticism I have brought forth, I do recommend this book for everybody who is interested in the relationship between communities and technology. As mentioned, the book is definitely highly valuable for practitioners. The extreme level of clarity of the book makes it also useful for the "deep divers" battling with research concerns. Reading the book attentively unlocks one's own reflection process and helps to pay attention to the big picture and the big issues related to the interplay between community and technology: issues of literacy, learning, tools, leadership are all brought forward and effectively placed in a historical and practical context.
In summary, if you haven't read Digital Habitats, by all means, do! And if you are not yourself in the role of a technology steward, remember to offer the book, after you finish it, to someone who might make a good technology steward, as "a growing number of people identify with the role when it's pointed out to them" (p.33).
References: