Neighborhood Networks is a long-term research project that combines community arts, participatory design, informal learning, and engineering to articulate & and discover how communities use, or might use, emerging technologies.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Through interviews, participant observation, generative workshops, and participatory design, the Neighborhood Networks project focuses on working with neighborhood groups that are organized for local representation and collective action. Our interest is how these neighborhood groups use or might use emerging technologies as a means to publicly address their concerns. We are specifically interested in the use of digital imaging systems, environmental sensors, robotics and the free/low-cost services that support the collective use of these technologies.

A secondary goal, which complements the research goals of the project, is to instruct and empower communities to use emerging technologies to explore and express their material and social environments in support of shared issues and causes. Neighborhood Networks also uses public and participatory art practices as strategies for working with communities to document their environments, issues, and causes, and present them back to a larger public in a compelling manner.

An important aspect of this project is that participating neighborhood groups will implement these technologies together with the researchers. This will not be a case of researchers disappearing into the lab and returning with a complete and closed product or service. We aim to minimize the “black-box” of technology by basing the prototypes on existing platforms and devices and co-producing the prototypes. Our goal is to have the participating neighborhood groups develop long-term strategies and immediate tactics for using technologies to disseminate knowledge and propagate technological resources to other communities.

PROJECT PARTNERS
The Neighborhood Networks project is directed by Carl DiSalvo and Illah Nourbakhsh. For more information about the project, contact Carl DiSalvo at carl.disalvo@gmail.com

The UNIVERSITY of PITTSBURGH CENTER for LEARNING in OUT of SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS (UPCLOSE) is our partner in the Neighborhood Networks program, providing guidance and support in the community outreach, program development, and evaluation. The Neighborhood Networks - UPCLOSE team is lead by Senior Researcher and Designer Marti Louw.

This project is made possible by a generous grant from INTEL RESEARCH.

The Neighborhood Networks project would not be possible without close collaboration with community groups and organizations.

The following have been instrumental in helping us develop our program:
LAWRENCEVILLE CORPORATION
LAWRENCEVILLE UNITED
HERITAGE HEALTH FOUNDATION