Centre for Community Networking Research (CCNR) receives inaugural Monash Industry Engagement Award

The Vice Chancellor Richard Larkins gave out awards for Monash industry engagement for the first time on Friday 14 May. The Centre for Community Networking Research (CCNR) and its Caulfield staff were highly commended for their achievements.

The team includes Professor Don Schauder, Chair, Dr Graeme Johanson, Director, and Larry Stillman and Tom Denison, both senior researchers. Their award was in Category C – ‘excellence in industry and community engagement via contract research’ with non-profit organizations and companies, and public sector organizations, including government agencies.

Since 2002 CCNR has provided advice and research to community organisations, demonstrating the usefulness of information and communications technologies (ICT) for community network development.

The community sector in Australia – or ‘third sector’ -- is not wealthy, but is large, employing about 650,000 people, and 20% of Australians as volunteers. Money for contract research is not abundant. CCNR has earned a total income in cash for contract research from external organisations of $675,000. The in-kind contributions from CCNR sponsors would be worth an equivalent amount overall.

The Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology lists CCNR as the first among just three ‘prominent academic and research institutions invested in community informatics’ at an international level (vol 31, no 6, August/September 2005, p 2).

CCNR’s reputation has spread internationally, in that it co-founded the first Journal of Community Informatics, with 493 subscribers after one year of operation. The list of CCNR projects is impressive and all staff are members of various conference program committees and journal editorial boards. CCNR is often invited to give presentations to government thinktanks, university management, community workshops, community training sessions and research seminars.

There is always ample scope for developing further research relationships -- with federal government agencies, including the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia. The Centre builds on already well-established links locally and internationally, with the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, ACOSS, VCOSS, VICNET, the State Library of Victoria, the Public Record Office of Victoria, the Koorie Heritage Trust, the Department of Victorian Communities, Intel, SAP, and Global Knowledge Partnerships.