| Summary: | 碩士 === 元智大學 === 資訊社會學研究所 === 95 === In recent years, the government has paid more attention to communities, viewed them as the primary unit for policy-enforcement, and underscored their subjectivity and independence. According to studies of community informatics, access to information and communication technology by individuals or communities could flourish local economic development, raise social capital, cement sense of community, and strengthen democracy. Thus, this study aims to probe into the changes of and impacts on community civic engagement and social capital after community informatization.
This study analyzed the influences of community informatization through a qualitative approach, with the focus placed on the community computer education programs. Besides, through categorization by the continuation of computer education programs and the degree of civic engagement, four communities (Long-hsing Community, Yong-de Community, He-ping Community, and Jian-an Community) were selected for an in-depth interview. In addition to literature review, the study lighted upon current governmental subsidies to community informatization programs. Also, problems in policy-implementation and relevant suggestions were proposed through an investigation into the enforcement condition of the selected communities.
The results revealed that individual-level social capital was indeed beneficial to the promotion of community computer education programs. In terms of the four case communities, however, the establishment of education programs did not significantly raise the social capital of the whole community, and even had no direct association with the elevation of civic engagement degree. Besides, vocational training and lifelong learning were the two major goals of community computer education programs, and the government policy focused on offering social welfare and closing the digital divide. So, there was a difference between the goal of the policy and the practical needs. In terms of community informatization policy, which was still new to Taiwan, it should not be confined to cultivating the residents’ information literacy or reducing the digital divide. Instead, higher ambitions, such as enhancing residents’ social capital or civic engagement, should be pursued.
Thus, it was suggested that the duty of each competent authority, related to policy-implementation, should be clarified to prevent subsidy overlap and resource waste. Besides, specifications for enhancing social capital and civic engagement should be worked out to fulfill the core value of “communitarianism”. Therefore, the limitation of the current elderly and women welfare policies on information programs could be overcome to raise the meaning and value of community computer education programs.
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