Our Analyse page describes ways to crowdsource data analysis and collection. Here’s an interesting post from the Open Knowledge International Blog about a new report on the subject: The report “Making Citizen-Generated Data Work” asks what makes citizens and others want to produce and use citizen-generated data. It was written by Danny Lämmerhirt, Shazade Jameson, and […]
The Good Practice Exchange at the Wales Audit Office has published an interview with Gunnar Grímsson of the Citizens Foundation in Reykjavik about Better Reykjavik. Here’s a link to the article: A Better Reykjavik and a stronger community: The benefits of crowdsourcing and e-democracy The project has been quite successful: well over half the city […]
Beth Simone Novek writes in The Guardian about the need for more and better crowdsourcing. Her recommendations include focusing on the knowledge building aspects of crowdsourcing – not just using crowdsourcing as a communications tool, developing a range of crowdsourcing practices that speak to people’s particular knowledge, and ensuring that crowdsourcing is open to all. Read […]
DataPlace is a fascinating idea, it allows users to place sensors on a map to collect (visualise) data. It’s designed to help regular people understand and use open data, which can then help them develop ideas for improving their surroundings. Here’s the paper title and abstract: Towards a DataPlace: mapping data in a game to […]
Tom Saunders of NESTA has written an excellent post: Power to the people: how cities can use digital technology to engage and empower citizens. It recommends four strategies: Resist the temptation to build an app; Think about what you want to engage citizens for; Remember there’s a world beyond the internet; and, Pick the right question for […]
Crowdsourced air quality data is making news in China. According to Bloomberg News, “Besides facing hefty fines, criminal punishments and the possibility of closing, the worst emitters in China risk additional public anger as new smartphone applications and lower-cost monitoring devices widen access to data on pollution sources.” Read the story: China’s Biggest Polluters Face Wrath […]
Update: SeeClickFix is ten years old! Happy Birthday to a great civic crowdsourcing application! SeeClickFix a leader in developing applications and software allowing residents to report issues (crowdsourcing) to governments and agencies just celebrated it’s 2,000,000-th reported issue. Ben Berkowitz, the founder of SeeClickFix, just posted (2015) a short history of SeeClickFix and announced a […]
The study “Who benefits from civic technology? (PDF) – Demographic and public attitudes research into the users of civic technologies” prepared by mySociety research director Rebecca Rumbul is a very interesting analysis on the state of civic technology today. The study attempted to assess the impact of civic technology – defined as technologies “that enable citizens to hold governments to […]
Beth Simone Noveck from NYU’s Governance Lab has written a new book titled “Smart Citizens, Smarter State: The Technologies of Expertise and the Future of Governance”. The book describes methods for sharing knowledge that have helped improve government with examples and presents ideas for improving their implementation and effectiveness. Noveck’s earlier book “Wiki Government” (2009) […]
A really important question about citizen collected data is how to it can be distributed and used by others. Of course people can just put their data on the Internet with an API feed, but that’s probably not the best way of making it usable. A group called Civicus.org has just released a report called […]