A Community Developed Knowledge Base System and Its Impact on a School Closing Decision

The use and impact of a community-developed knowledge base on the decisionmaking process of an actual school closing is discussed. This was not an academic exercise but rather grew out of the needs and frustrations of a highly polarized community. The study is one of second-order cybernetics, utilizing citizens of the community as participant-observers or co-researchers in the process. In so doing the knowledge base development and its community use are related to the issues of holistic communication, citizens´ use of technology, and conceptual model building.