Community Informatics

Spatial Dynamics of Local News: Mapping City Co-Mentions in Alabama

This study investigates how the relationships between cities are represented in local news by analyzing co-mentions of cities in 31,004 news articles from Alabama. Using a large language model, we extract geographic references and construct co-mention networks that reflect both spatial proximity and symbolic connections. To interpret these links, we develop a classification framework of relationships between cities, including common impacts and sequential dynamics. Our preliminary analysis reveals that different news categories produce distinct patterns of spatial association.

“We Just Get Frustrated”: Exploring Factors that Shape Information Provision in Disability Services

This study investigates how disability providers engage in information provision within a fragmented disability service system. Through interviews with 61 providers from state, local, and nonprofit agencies from the state of Virginia, we identify two descriptive patterns of organizational information practices and five multi-level shaping factors: system disintegration, bureaucratic complexity, provider expertise, user technological readiness, and community trust.

Quantifying Urban Change across U.S. Cities using the 1930s Redlining Maps: A Preliminary Study

A wide range of studies has explored historical events and their long-term impacts, with urban redevelopment, particularly in the contexts of urban renewal, gentrification, and redlining, emerging as a rich area of research. However, despite extensive attention to its causes and consequences, quantifying how urban structures have changed over time remains methodologically challenging, as scanned historical maps contain visual noise and annotation.

Mapping Risk Work and Designing Technologies to Support it in CSCW Research

This workshop brings together CSCW scholars of various domains, such as medicine and healthcare, disaster planning, and public safety, to consider different dimensions of risk work and their implications on computing. Risk work encompasses the practices through which workers assess, manage, and mitigate potential harms in situations framed by uncertainty. In the face of a pervasive rhetoric of crisis, risk work is expanding and evolving as workers and laypeople are increasingly charged with preventing, predicting, and communicating risks.

From Open‑Ended Text to Taxonomy: An LLM‑based Framework for Information Sources for Disability Services

People with disabilities (PWD) and their family members often find it difficult to find information about available services. One of the approaches to address this information access problem is by understanding the ecology of available information sources. However, identifying the landscape of information sources is challenging due to the variety of sources and their varying visibility. This study proposes a computational approach to processing open-ended survey answers by constructing a hierarchical taxonomy of information sources.

News Deserts as Information Problems: A Case Study of Local News Coverage in Alabama

This paper explores the phenomenon of news deserts as information problems to navigate research opportunities and theorize its dynamics. Drawing on the theory of local information landscapes, news deserts are conceptualized as more than merely an absence of news organizations or content; rather, emphasizing the structural and material dimensions of local news ecosystems, such as fragmentation, transience, and inconsistent distribution. We argue that news deserts should be understood as material pre-conditions of people’s access, interpretation, and engagement with information.

SAFETI: Strategic Analysis for Fine-granular Injury and Fatality PrEvenTion Insight

SAFETI is the first Mason–DOLI Innovation Lab initiative that turns more than 15 years of detailed Virginia workplace-accident records into forward-looking, preventive insights. Using predictive models, the computational approach developed for SAFETI estimates the likelihood of a fatality occurring within a specific time frame and sector, along with its associated probability. This shift from reactive to preventive measures is enabled by advanced spatio-temporal and predictive analytics.

Exploring Librarians' Experiences and Perceptions of Public Library Data Work

This study investigates the experiences and concerns of public librarians responsible for statistical data management and explores strategies to address related challenges. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten librarians handling statistical tasks at public libraries in Metropolitan City A and Province B in the Yeongnam region. Findings revealed that librarians had established a systematic workflow involving data collection, internal verification, data entry, and external verification.

2024 Assessment of Virginia’s Information Ecology of the Disability Services System

Access to disability services information depends on many factors, from an individual’s digital literacy, social connections and physical mobility to the interface design of websites. However, it is also true that the availability of disability services information (e.g., how to apply for a Medicaid Waiver) and how such information is managed and provided to end users in Virginia are also critical factors that shape people’s information access. This assessment focuses on understanding the latter, namely, the “information ecology” of disability services in Virginia.

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