New JoCI Issue (Vol 16) Published

Journal of Community Informatics Vol 16

It’s wonderful to be able to finally announce the new issue of the Journal of Community Informatics! The journal is also now hosted at the University of Waterloo Library and sponsored by the Simmons University School of Library and Information Science (iSchool).

There are many, many people to thank for this new issue and the Journal’s re-launch, particularly during such an incredibly difficult year. Many of whom I have included in my Editorial. I would particularly like to thank David Nemer, Tom Denison, Eduardo Villanueva-Mansilla, as well as Jordan Hale and Graham Faulkner at the University of Waterloo Library.

I am also grateful, of course, to the authors of this new issue for their patience during this transition to our new home at UW Library. I also want to thank our wonderful Editorial Board and other reviewers who contributed their time and expertise to help make this issue so strong.

The Journal is also accepting new Submissions from researchers and practitioners in the field of community informatics. To learn more, visit our new Journal website.

Broadband Measurement System for Public Libraries Launched

Murakami Viz
(Image above from Murakami-Viz in use at the Pryor Public Library in Oklahoma)

After two and a half years, I am incredibly excited to announce that we have successfully launched our broadband measurement system with and for public libraries across the U.S.!

Thanks to a grant (award #LG-71-18-0110-18) from the U.S. Institute for Museum and Library Services, and in partnership with Measurement Lab (M-Lab) and Internet2, our Measuring Library Broadband Networks (MLBN) research initiative has launched our open source broadband measurement system that public libraries can use to measure the speeds and quality of service of their broadband internet connections.

Here is a snippet from our new blog post, written by Chris Ritzo (M-Lab) announcing our broadband measurement system:

As we close out the calendar year, we’re focused on that future where we can measure and understand broadband access and quality using a variety of measurement tools. We’ve invited our participating libraries to review their test data in Murakami-Viz, and look forward to their feedback on it and our program in general in the coming year. M-Lab is continuing to develop Murakami as a tool that enables structured data collection using our platform, as well as using other measurement initiatives and tests.

We believe this announcement is timely given this week’s press release from the U.S. Senate announcing provisions for broadband in the Bipartisan COVID-19 Emergency Relief Act of 2020 with emergency assistance for community anchor institutions and connectivity.

For public libraries interested in gathering real-time and longitudinal data on the speeds and quality of service of their broadband internet connections, please visit our project website to learn more about how communities can participate in this open source broadband measurement initiative.

On behalf of our MLBN team, I want to thank our partners, including the many public libraries from across the country that offered their time and insights to help inform the development and implementation of our project.

Stay tuned for more project updates and our final evaluation on our MLBN project website.