Concept
The Community Information and Mapping System is a membership-based collaborative and sustainable infrastructure to support voluntary sector groups and community members to do local community based research on population health themes. It responds to the need of organizations and groups for research and evaluation which is specific to their mandate, issues of concern and geographic area of service. Since most voluntary sector groups have very limited resources for research and evaluation, the CIMS creates a co-operative infrastructure for groups to contribute what they can and to receive in return a range of supports and tools for doing their own community based research, planning and evaluation. There are three core elements within the CIMS infrastructure:
The Supports for Community Based Research and Mapping
- On-line training sessions on doing research and using the mapping and data tools
- Monthly peer learning forums on research skills and research literacy
- One-on-one support such as consultation on design of a survey, getting access to data, working with your own data
- Opportunities to connect with others interested in or working on similar issues
- Access to research resources such as evaluation plans developed by other CIMS members
An Interactive Web Based Mapping and Data Portal
- CIMS is not a data portal, but includes basic information on the non-medical determinants of health for rural and urban Ontario
- Select the themes and geographic boundaries that matter to you
- Bring your own data into the system with complete security (e.g. client records) and combine it with the information provided within the system
- Use community data to explain local population health issues
- Explore thematic atlases (collections of maps) created by the partners
- Share data and maps with designated “others” as you choose
- Create high quality maps to publish in your own work
The Membership and Their Projects
- Members pay an annual membership fee to access the supports within the infrastructure. This creates long-term sustainability.
- Groups and organizations who cannot afford the membership fee contribute in-kind
- Members are encouraged to develop atlases (thematic collections of maps) on issues that matter to them and to share their research and tools with other members
- Provides opportunities and incentives for partnership development, especially to leverage additional data of relevance to members.
