Community operations and the need for research: a case study in building the capacity of collectives and individuals

The paper explores the development of languages (or communication systems) that support individuals in improving their quality of life. Such languages help create and re-create social collectives. A case study of Research and Capacity building with disabled and disadvantaged people in Lincolnshire (UK) is used to illustrate the issue. The original project's assumption was fairly traditional: to first identify the needs of target groups and next to satisfy these needs (training, forum type interaction, etc.). The notion of needs was quickly shown to be quite restricted and even too problematical. Firstly, needs often change faster than the tools intended to meet them. Secondly, access to such tools tends to be prevented by the very way communication with the service providers that present them is designed. An alternative approach developed in the project has been to support people in developing social collectives that are able to act as strong actors in the wider community, and hence also in relation to service providers.