Paper Spotlight: Fostering Citizen Trust in Municipal Government

By Drew Bush In a new article, Geothink Co-Applicant Pamela Robinson and her co-author, Dina Graser, posit five steps to foster citizen trust in Canadian municipalities as they attempt to raise funds to cope with almost $400 billion of infrastructure deficit nationwide. Published by the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG) at University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global … Read More

Crowdsourcing for better science and governance?

By Drew Bush At Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology, scientists have long benefited from the legions of enthusiasts who find joy in observing and reporting the birds they see during their daily routines. In 2002, the lab worked with the United States National Audubon Society to launch eBird, an online database where scientists and amateur naturalists can submit real-time observations … Read More

An Expert's View on Civic Participation on the Geoweb

By Naomi Bloch As an early warm-up to our November 23 Twitter chat — What does meaningful civic participation on the geoweb look like? — we asked Geothink Head Renee Sieber to share her perspective. Here are a few highlights. More access, more communication I think we’re in an environment where we’ve really broadened opportunities for citizens to participate through social media, through … Read More

Crosspost: Green Cities and Smart Cities: The potential and pitfalls of digitally-enabled green urbanism

This post is cross-posted with permission from Alexander Aylett, from UGEC Viewpoints. Aylett is an Assistant Professor at the Centre on Urbanisation, Culture and Society at the National Institute for Scientific Research (UCS-INRS) in Montreal, Quebec. By Alexander Aylett Since its early days, the discourse around “smart cities” has included environmental sustainability as one of its core principles. The application … Read More

Crosspost: Looking at Crowdsourcing's Big Picture with Daren Brabham

This post is cross-posted with permission from Daren C. Brabham, Ph.D. the personal blog of Daren C. Brabham. Brabham is a Geothink partner at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism where he was the first to publish scholarly research using the word “crowdsourcing.” by Daren C. Brabham In this post, I provide an overview of … Read More

Spotlight on Recent Publications: Interrogating the Nature of Geosocial Data with Stéphane Roche

By Drew Bush In two articles published this January, Geothink researcher Stéphane Roche and his doctoral student Teriitutea Quesnot argue that not all geosocial data is equivalent, and that better data on the social significance of a landmark could greatly enhance our understanding of human wayfinding behavior. A Professor of Geomatics at University of Laval, Roche’s research over the past … Read More

Crowdsourcing Ventures in the Canadian Public Sector

Crowdsourcing Ventures in the Canadian Public Sector Daren C. Brabham University of Southern California As crowdsourcing ventures become more widespread in the Canadian public sector and abroad, many questions arise as to how these ventures come into being from an institutional standpoint; what motivates participants to engage these ventures; how citizens perceive these ventures as extensions of democratic governance; and … Read More

Geoweb and Open Data in Canada: Mapping the Terrain

There is much hope expressed about the cultural, economic, political and social opportunities afforded by Geoweb and open data initiatives. Much of the fanfare focuses on how best to harness the power of information and communication technologies in order to beget the economic, political, and socio-cultural benefits that supposedly will follow. Such a view gives rise to two concerns. First, … Read More

Accuracy, Authenticity and Technical Aspects of Privacy

At the Universities of Laval and Waterloo, we are interested in what is often seen as the “virtuous cycle” of citizens’ increasing use of open government data and, potentially, for governments to actively leverage information that the public creates. Our work centers on issues of accuracy, authenticity and privacy in citizen-generated spatial data and the changing relationships between governments and … Read More

Hopping the Geofence: A Quick Look at Geofencing Practices

By Matthew Tenney As we walk, drive, or skip down the road most of us are actively sharing bits of information about ourselves to anyone who cares to listen. The piece(s) of mobile technology we carry with us, nearly ever place we go, is being bombarded by a field of sensors that hear where and who we are.  Often these … Read More