Information Design for supporting Collaborative Communities

A growing number of people are organizing around common needs that affect their daily life meeting in new ways, seeking solutions and using digital technology for re-shaping their environments. This paper introduces the definition of Collaborative Communities and focuses on the digital tools that they use. From the Information Design scope, it’s relevant to observe and support their actions, supplying them with better tools for designing their environments. A first step is to identify which actions they pursue and the characteristics of the involved tools. Fourteen participative-map cases have been analyzed for both their visual and technical features as well as their outcomes. A data cross-matching was conducted between their objectives, foci and a typology of collaborative actions on digital platforms. It identifies a technological discourse regarding the use of platforms and tools, while a political discourse can be seen in the use of either open source or private tools.