Mark Gaved, KMi PhD student, attended the Community Informatics Research Network conference, hosted in Monash University, Prato, Italy (Sept. 29 – Oct. 1). The theme of the conference was “sustainability” and 80 researchers discussed how this applied to the field of Community Informatics.

&#39Sustainability&#39 has been identified as a key and controversial issue in community networking, and the purpose of the conference was to explore all its dimensions, resulting in a communique developed through plenary sessions, as well as further activities of the CIRN network. Mark presented a doctoral colloquium paper summarising his current work investigating &#39grassroots initiated networked communities&#39.

Key note speakers included Mike Gurstein, one of the key researchers in the field, Don Schauder, from Australia&#39s VICNET, and Tony Salvador, from Intel&#39s Exploratory Research group.

Related Links:

• CIRN conference
• Community Informatics