Empowerment and Participatory Geographic Information and Multimedia Systems: Observations from Two Communities in Indonesia

Participatory Geographic Information and Multimedia Systems (PGIMSs) were developed and used by two rural communities in Indonesia. This paper reports on the empowerment impacts that resulted from this development project. Empowerment related to PGIMS is examined using a two-dimensional analytical framework that explores the phenomenon at two social scales (individual and community), and is related to four empowerment catalysts associated with the project (information, process, skills, and tools). This paper evaluates the appropriateness of the analytical framework and concludes with general observations about the relationship between empowerment and PGIMS. Copyright (c) 2005 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Information Technologies and International Development.