About the project....
The extent to which different types of communities (e.g. virtual, collocated, distributed) use and adapt ICT to support their activities is largely unknown, especially with the rapid adoption of social and mobile computing. For example, digital technology may be used to create and maintain communities of likeminded people, support face-to-face interaction, or generate information and inform others of group and individual activities. Clearly, communities must use both the type and level of technology most appropriate for their membership, which offers appropriate levels of functionality, and enables the achievement of goals. The knowledge of how communities use technology will be of increasing importance as community groups take on a larger role in the Big Society.
To address this issue, the ‘Digital Technologies Connecting Communities’ project (DTCC) addressed the needs of just one group of communities i.e. those that are working to achieve a common goal. In targeting this sector, it was hoped to bring maximum benefit to connected communities by understanding how they select and use digital technologies to support their aims, what barriers they face in selecting and using digital technology and in disseminating their results in digital form to other interested communities and decision-making bodies, and what their requirements are for future systems.