2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

Progress in Data and Technology 117
not necessarily need to be consumed by the ultimate beneficiaries (the
residents, employees, or visitors in the community). Information consumed
by advocates can yield results that extend to the whole community,
or at least some of its members.
This distinction is good to keep in mind when considering the “by
whom, for whom” aspects of information. Community members can
make good use of some kinds of information, while advocates can make
better use of other kinds, even though the intended beneficiary is always
the community (or so we would hope).
The crux of information’s value lies in the discovery and assessment of
opportunity. Community residents discover free workshops or medical
screening through information systems and, if their assessment of the
opportunity is positive, they avail themselves of it and reap the benefits.
Advocates might discover vacant and available properties that can be converted
to community assets if their assessment of the property’s value and
suitability are good. Barriers to opportunity are by no means all information
related, but lack of discovery is surely the first barrier. After discovery
comes an information-based assessment of the opportunity, followed by
information-based activation of the results. It does not help to have a
medical screening indicating a need for treatment if there’s no information
about how to get treatment. Advocates who locate a property suitable
for development can do little if they can’t identify the property owner.
Noninformational barriers such as a lack of material resources might
far outweigh informational barriers, but there can be no doubt that
without information, opportunity is always elusive. Better-informed
actors always have an advantage over poorly informed actors (though
not always a decisive advantage).
Barriers to Community Access to Information
Despite the need, local community improvement efforts rarely have the
data or tools they need to make informed decisions. The digital divide
normally describes the lack of affordable access to internet bandwidth
and other digital tools. But this term might also describe the chasm
between technologies targeted at mass market consumers and technologies
intended for nonprofit community revitalization work. The market
for community-focused data products is not insignificant, but it is