Prairienet

Prairienet is an online, interactive site related to the Community Informatics Initiative (CII; 2007-11) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. While the CII website has now been archived since the grant ended, it still offers valuable information to many who remain involved in community informatics at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Much of the content has been transferred to the Center for Digital Inclusion‘s site. The Prairienet website is intended for current and future community partners to share experiences and reflections about community-based technology.

Founded in 1993, Prairienet originally was a community information network for Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding East-Central Illinois region. The staff, students and faculty who established and sustained Prairienet until 2008 contributed in these ways:

• Strengthen community organizations by helping them provide and retrieve networked information.
• Empower individuals by providing access to networked information and by teaching the skills necessary to access and use this information.
• Facilitate information and resource sharing in support of community development efforts.
• Promote equity of access to computer resources for everyone in the community.

For more information on this project please visit Prairienet.org or current projects at the Center for Digital Inclusion