Laxmi Ramasubramanian
Department of Urban Affairs and Planning
Hunter College–City University of New York

The dominant discourse about the adoption and diffusion of information technologies is surrounded by diverse and sometimes contentious debates regarding their capacity to ameliorate social and economic inequities. As academic debate continues, technology adoption and use by grassroots groups continues to grow rapidly. Although cyberutopians are quick to point to technology adoption by nontechnical users and community-based groups as an indicator of community empowerment, the linkages between technology use by grassroots groups and the overall development and empowerment of these communities remain tenuous. In this context the author addresses three major objectives in this article. First, a conceptual model that places information technology adoption and use within the context of organizational decisionmaking is presented. Second, data from case studies of advocacy organizations in two major U.S. cities, Boston and Chicago, are used to describe how and why community-based organizations (CBOs) use information technologies. Finally, it is argued that one of the most significant contributions of information technologies lies in their ability to assist CBOs in reframing problems to influence local and national policy decisions. The article concludes by arguing that CBOs that have developed the capacity to harness the benefits of information technologies while transcending both organizational and technical barriers associated with their adoption and use are more likely to be better advocates for their communities.

Knowledge Production and Use in Community-Based Organizations: Examining the Influence of Information Technologies