A SOCIAL CYBERNETICS APPROACH TO COMMUNITY USE OF SPATIAL DATA FOR RESOURCE PROTECTION: FIELD STUDY ON A NORTH-CENTRAL IDAHO INDIAN RESERVATION

This study investigates the engagement of communities with little or no GIS expertise in the use of publicly available spatial data for self-education in the protection of drinking water sources. A traditional administrative top-down approach to assisting communities in getting or using spatial information was replaced in the study with a bottom-up approach based on the principles of social cybernetics. The study investigated how communities used spatial datasets provided by the state to facilitate public participation in creating maps for water resource protection. Nine rural communities in the State of Idaho within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation participated in a field study from 2001–2002. Results included "map archetypes" developed by the communities and a validation of the bottom-up approach stressing community control over the process of using spatial data.