Findings

The findings of this evaluation reflect the analysis of data with regard to usability and accessibility of the two IT initiatives:

i) the ESLARP and EGRETS websites to address the East St. Louis (ESL) community directly, and
ii) the introduction of three computer and Internet access points in and for the ESL community.

What motivated the introduction of the IT component in ESLARP?

The use of IT in ESLARP originated at UIUC, and was in response to the vast amount of information generated by the students, faculty and staff of the design professions involved in ESLARP. The Web provided an inexpensive means of archiving, delivering, and sharing ESLARP-related information among the campus-based units and project members. In addition to the Intranet function of IT, its Internet capabilities were used to serve ESLARP's "fragmented organization structure" and dual locations - UIUC and East St. Louis.

Was there a specific role for the ESL community in introducing this initiative? What characteristics of ESL could have contributed to and/or detracted from this initiative?

Chavan and Koenigs indicated that the ESL community has had no specific role to play in this initiative. Two faculty members offered reasons for the lack of it.

According to Orland, questioning the role of the ESL community may not have been a germane one to begin with because, " how can people describe what they want when they don't know what the realm of possibilities is...the city has been so badly organized planning wise that maps and data, the things we deliver, have not been part of decision-making and thus citizens have not realized that such things are part of the process in other places. " On the other hand, once the citizens' requests for help have been responded to (by NTAC) by using information technology, the citizens will become aware about how IT can be made use of, and be proactive about seeking such help.

The explanation that Varkki offered was similar to Orland's and involved the use of economic terms to illustrate how and where UIUC and ESL are positioned with respect to the IT initiative. ESL being consumers of the information and UIUC being the suppliers (developers) of it, ESL's role will be reflected in the demands it makes for information which in turn will be determined by UIUC's adequacy in supplying the information and access to it. Enthusiasm among some key players like Reverend Watson, Rocco Goins (an instructional media specialist at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and a member of a neighborhood organization) was perceived by Varkki as a characteristic that can contribute to this initiative.

What plans have there been for implementing the two IT initiatives?

The responses of the faculty and staff members at UIUC indicated that the implementation of IT plans while clear and structured for some of the team members, were nebulous, and even nonexistent for others. Moreover, the plans expressed by Orland and Chavan with regard to the ESLARP website appeared to focus on different issues.

According to Orland, the website "is driven immediately by our own internal needs. If it can deliver to citizens and others in addition we regard that as a bonus."
Chavan outlined specific ideas (pertaining to the website) that are being worked on to improve and increase the information flow between the ESLARP team at UIUC and the ESL community, using NTAC as the intermediary:

  • Develop a clearer internal (within ESLARP) information flow so that new information can be added to the website quickly with minimum processing.
  • An "Update" section is under construction to address this issue. A newsletter and the NTAC Neighborhood News are also being published on the web.
  • Get information out to interested persons. A mailing list called ESLARPNEWS has been started for this purpose.
  • Establish a way in which new information from East St. Louis - from NTAC and from citizens - can be published to our website.
  • Repackage the student work (final reports, thesis, etc.) into concise, non-technical "how-to" documents.

With regard to the Internet access points, the faculty member said although there were no specific plans for implementing them, they did support the three points - NTAC and ESL-Youthlink (at Mt. Sinai Church), and " by unspoken agreement we are supportive of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIU-E) as an access point."

The Pastor Rev.Watson had some definite views to offer about the role and potential use of Youthlink:
"Youthlink is a way of getting the kids into computer technology - at least understanding how to access a computer, to come in and learn some of the different functions, to be able to interact with other kids from their community... The center is open Monday -Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. I'd like to have it open every day...we want to make it part of our Family Life Center which has three components...one of them is for the youth and the purpose is recreational, educational - we want computer training in it."

Who are the decision-makers for the content on the ESLARP website and what criteria guide decisions?

Chavan, the Webmaster, was mainly responsible for the management of content. Decisions were not guided by any written criteria but made primarily through discussions between Orland, Chavan, and the research assistant, Koenigs.

What are the objectives of the EGRETS section and to what extent have they been achieved? What are some of the barriers that can prevent the objectives of EGRETS from being achieved?

Expressed unanimously, the primary objective of EGRETS was to make geographical/spatial information about ESL available to its residents and explain how it can be used by them, as well as provide links to other data sources. A point made by Koenigs was that while the purpose of the EGRETS site was to get residents interested in their community, know what kind of information was available, and how it could be used for community development, the site had not been put to this use except for when NTAC used the information and conveyed it to the residents.

Of the assorted information available on the ESLARP site the NTAC staff considered the EGRETS section with its store of city and neighborhood maps, to be most relevant for the people of ESL. A specific instance of information being used off the ESLARP site was the downloading of neighborhood maps by the Emerson Park Development Corporation (after requesting updates to them) for planning and development purposes. Distinguishing between relevance and usefulness, one of the staff was of the opinion that the actual use of data is restricted by its lack of accuracy - in terms of both content and whether it is up-to-date. " EGRETS has the potential to be very useful, but....I do not think it is fully functional. The data is not always correct or current and that inhibits me from encouraging people to use it." As a result, this staff member prefers to use the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) directly rather than the information provided through EGRETS.

In addition to EGRETS being used directly as a source of information, it inspired unexpected potential uses such as: " I have spoken to some of the members from the University about teaching kids how to do their own maps. Our inner-city kids donŐt get a chance to do creative things of that nature, but they do have the skills and desire but there is not a lot of involvement with computers..." (Rev. Watson).
Lack of local involvement as well as limited accessibility to computers and the Internet were mentioned as possible barriers in achieving objectives of EGRETS.

What role do NTAC and ESL-CAN have in developing and implementing in EGRETS?

While active involvement was seen as necessary, the nature of the involvement of the two units ranged from determining the kind of information to be made available through EGRETS , to providing useful suggestions, and providing datasets.

Who are the primary targets in the ESL community for the use of IT and what measures have been used to target them?

On a large scale, neighborhood organizations were identified as the primary target because IT can make it possible for them to reach information that is of use for community development. Presenting information on the website in a manner that is useful to the residents of ESL and using NTAC as an Internet access point and training center, were the measures suggested to target the neighborhood organizations.

On a smaller scale and individual level, children, middle-aged people and older activists were suggested as targets. Children were seen as meaningful targets because "they have fresh minds, few biases, and seem to willing to help the community." The section Youthlink on the website as well as creating webpages with information relevant to children were mentioned as ways of targeting them.

What criteria are used to assess the accessibility of an ESLARP computer/Internet access point and how effective are the 3 access points?

Physical availability of a site, how much it was being used by the people of ESL, and anecdotes to illustrate the purposes for which it was being used were the three criteria considered important to assess the accessibility of an Internet point.
Of the three access points, NTAC was regarded as most effective because the site had the two-member staff team to facilitate the use of computers. The effectiveness of ESL-CAN and Mt. Sinai was considered below average.

What is the role and involvement of NTAC and ESL-CAN with respect to the IT initiatives?

NTAC
By virtue of being an Internet access point, NTAC's role with regard to IT in ESLARP was described as 'significant' and 'critical'. Besides being as envisaged, users of IT, their involvement was seen as being brokers for requests from the community as well as serving as a training center.

The following details were offered by the NTAC staff members when asked to share their views and experiences on how IT was being used, with whom, and for what purpose. In addition to the 50 people who attended the NTAC opening in October 1996 and witnessed the demonstration of the ESLARP website, its existence was probably known to other individuals and members of ESL institutions (such as the Community Development Block Grant, Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission) with Internet access. About 6-8 adults, 10 children and 10 social service agencies had been assisted by NTAC to access the Internet. Approximately 10 adults and 25 children came in about twice a week to access the Internet, independent of NTAC's assistance. Some of the children are from the public housing across the street from NTAC. The reasons for using the Internet ranged from general interest, to music and sports, to searching for information on code enforcement, grant announcements/applications, home availability, census data, images, and government information.
The NTAC staff perceived its specific role to be assisting people with how to use a search engine and navigate the Web, conduct extensive searches, and offer Internet training.

A review of the 'Request for Assistance' revealed that 'Computer Access' was one of the several descriptive items on the form to indicate the kind of assistance required. Although a considerable number of forms had the item marked, most of them did not have details on what kind of computer access and/or for what purpose. On the other hand, while some forms specified that the assistance requested was with 'mapping' or with 'identifying accurately owners of derelict property in ESL', Computer Access/Internet was not marked as an item of assistance.

ESL-CAN
The involvement of ESL-CAN in the IT initiatives was described as minimal at present, but as having significance if in the words of Varkki, it can demonstrate to its members that " information is power, and that information can be easily accessed through the IT initiative."
The trash survey was an issue singled out by Orland as an example of the use of IT by ESL-CAN. In the opinion of the director of ESL-CAN, information technology was not high on the list of significant issues, and leaders of neighborhood organizations being of the "older order" were not particularly interested. According to him, youngsters within the organizations needed to be spurred to enhance the use of IT.
Rev. Watson who presently leads the Winstanley Industrial Park Neighborhood Organization (WIPNO) spoke about computers being on the agenda of their organization:
About a month ago we had a strategic planning meeting...and we are talking about a three year strategic plan and one of those included developing a Youth Council which would consist of young people from the different churches that are in WIPNO along with the community youth and then developing programs to basically meet their needs...we talked about doing some kind of vocational thing - and developing some kind of computer training for the kids in the neighborhood, and actually setting up a computer school...

What are some of the barriers faced/anticipated in integrating the IT component into ESLARP?

The barriers faced in integrating IT were seen as a result of limitations of both partners - UIUC and ESL. From the UIUC end, while the commonly accepted barrier was being unable to provide access to and adequate, hardware and software as well as technical support and training; the other barrier was not having ways to inform people what information is available and where they can find it.

From the ESL end, the barrier was citizens being unaware of how data and maps on the website can be used in the decision-making process, as well as lack of knowledge and skills to operate the IT equipment. In the words of a staff member at ESL, "technophobia" poses to be a barrier.  " East St. Louis neighborhood leaders tend to be elderly and have had little or no experience with the use of computers or computer technology. Trying to convince them of the utility of learning about computers and then getting them to use them is no small task."

In Rev. Watson's view, there were " No real obstacles. A lot of people are afraid of computers. Even in our church when I talked initially about introducing computers 10 years ago a lot of people were skeptical because they thought they would become a number, that the computer would take the place of some other things...but it has improved over the years...I think it is a major need in all our communities. If we start our kids and young people thoroughly enough then we can eliminate some of our frustrations later in life..."

According to the director of ESL-CAN, the two primary obstacles that neighborhood organizations face in accessing information off the Internet are not having access to it and, in spite of access in some cases not knowing how to.

What is the feedback mechanism between NTAC and ESL-CAN in East St. Louis and faculty and staff of ESLARP at UIUC? What feedback has been received and how has it been used?

The views presented by NTAC and UIUC revealed that the feedback mechanism between them was largely informal, casual, and by word-of-mouth. Recollection about the kind of feedback received was restricted to feedback from national and international viewers of the ESLARP website conveyed through the electronic form on the website. Perusal of the printouts of the feedback showed that viewers ranged from university students to high school teachers, government officials, environmental organizations, to former residents of ESL. Information on the website was used, amongst myriad uses, for city planning issues, to supplement teaching a geography class, for starting similar activities in other organizations, and as a means of networking with similar local initiatives.

With the introduction of IT, have neighborhood organizations dealt with community development issues differently?

Besides the fact that neighborhood organizations knew that maps can be obtained easily off the Internet and need not be sought elsewhere, no significant changes had been marked in the way neighborhood organizations dealt with community issues.

What are the changes anticipated in the way neighborhood organizations will deal with community development issues after the introduction of IT?

The areas in which use of IT could bring about change were identified as:
i) Being able to determine what issues are relevant to their needs and presenting the "alternative reality" to government officials,
ii) Direct involvement with data collection, and updates to it,
iii) Greater interaction between neighborhood organizations by sharing ideas and experiences, and
iv) Using the increased availability of information to enhance independent decision making.

Representing the realization process of Information Technology in ESLARP

Drawing upon Bruce's (1995) representation of the Wittgensteinian view of the realization process and the findings of this evaluation, my perception of the realization process is one in which both,realization and idealization are processes that are yet emerging and can shape one another. The realized form, in the process of being defined, influences the original idealized form, which in turn can further influence the process of realization--thereby setting into motion a two-way dialogue between the developers (UIUC), and the social practices which emerge on account of the introduction of the innovation (in the ESL community).

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