community informatics corps (CIC)

The Community Informatics Corps is a GSLIS / iSchool specialization launched in 2006 in partnership with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and other community organizations.

core goals

• Create knowledge & technology rooted in people’s values and lived experiences.
• Develop democratic, participatory models of engagement.
• Integrate theory and practice through critical, experimental work.
• Recruit and mentor Latina/o, African-American, and other students committed to community impact.

my role · creative media coordinator — Community Inquiry Labs (2000 – 2006)

• Produced short- and long-form videos covering workshops, tech initiatives, and public forums.
• Supervised student media teams; built multimedia toolkits for outreach and conference use.
• Directed grant-funded media strategy; pioneered early web-video distribution to amplify community voices.

key outcomes

• Documented 10+ community tech projects, raising program visibility and supporting future grants.
• Mapped a repeatable media-production workflow later adopted by successive cohorts.
• Helped stand up digital archives for partner groups, including PRCC and Books to Prisoners.
• Showcased CIC projects at regional conferences, attracting new students and collaborators.