Blog | Geothink

Inside Geothink’s Open Data Standards Project: Standards For Improving City Governance

By Rachel Bloom Rachel Bloom is a McGill University undergraduate student and project lead for Geothink’s Open Data Standards Project. In February, I led a Geothink seminar with city officials to introduce the results of our open data standards project we began approximately one year earlier. The project was started with the objective of assisting municipal publishers of open data … Read More

Geothink Summer Institute to Kick Off May 9, 2016

By Drew Bush Are you curious about the use of open data by municipalities and their citizens? Geothink’s 2016 Summer Institute will kick off May 9 to May 11 at Ryerson University in Toronto and combine practical data handling and communications skills with a unique breadth of critical discussions. “We’re really excited about the structure this year, where students will … Read More

Geothink Program Guide for the American Association of Geographers (AAG) 2016 Annual Meeting

By Drew Bush A large number of Geothinkers will be presenting at this year’s American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA the last week in March. You won’t want to miss two of our co-applicants and one of our students making presentations on Tuesday in the 10:00 AM session Data in action: Tracing the open data … Read More

Gethoughts 8: How Technology is Reshaping Citizen Interactions on Climate Change

By Drew Bush We’re very excited to present you with our eighth episode of Geothoughts. You can also subscribe to this Podcast by finding it on iTunes. In this episode, we examine what role Canada’s cities play in international solutions to climate change as well as how new technologies shape interactions in neighbourhoods and between neighbours on environmental issues. In … Read More

Geothoughts Conversations 2: The Nature of Democracy in the Age of Open Data

By Drew Bush The largest grant investigating two-way exchanges of locational information between citizens and their city governments, Geothink makes possible countless collaborations and discussions. This month, Geothoughts Conversations brings you a look at one such conversation that took place this past January on the wintry downtown campus of McGill University in Montreal, QC. We sat down with Geothink head … Read More

Envisioning An Environmentally Sustainable Urban Future Using Clean Digital Technologies

By Drew Bush Imagine a world where electric taxis crowd Montreal’s downtown streets, green buildings efficiently manage energy consumption for Vancouverites, and Toronto’s city leaders monitor differences in neighbourhood surface heat emissions to best position green roofs. Now imagine the environmental and social impacts of such shifts when scaled-up for all of Canada’s cities. That future—one that makes use … Read More

Bridging Differences in Open Data: Coming up with standards at Open North

By Drew Bush In case you missed either report, over the last year Open North has quietly put out an inventory of open data globally and, in a separate report, recommended baseline international standards for open data catalogs. The first report is entitled Gaps and opportunities for standardization in OGP members’ open data catalogs while the second is entitled Identifying … Read More

Using Data to Revolutionize How We Make Decisions

By Drew Bush The decision support market, a segment of the healthcare industry, made financial headlines when estimation of its global value by 2019 reached USD 239 billion, a jump of almost 38 billion since 2012. According to a new report, major players in the industry have poured money into new technologies that can take advantage of big data. Digital … Read More

Citizen Science and Intellectual Property: A Guide for the Perplexed

Citizen scientists help researchers transcribe historical climate records and photograph natural phenomena. By Naomi Bloch The concept of the science hobbyist — the backyard astronomer staring up at the sky or the amateur ornithologist taking part in the annual Christmas bird count — is hardly a new one. What is notable today, however, is the scale and scope of new … Read More

Can Citizen Science Help Cities Address Climate Change?

Mapping for Change supports citizen science inquiries into environmental and social issues. Here, participants take noise level readings in regions around a London airport. Photo courtesy Mapping for Change. By Naomi Bloch If you were following the recent climate change talks in Paris, you may have noticed a recurring theme: policymakers acknowledging the leadership of subnational governments in addressing climate … Read More

Four Geothink Partner Cities Named to Top 10 on First Ever Canada Open Cities Index

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 E-Bird, an online database where scientists and amateur naturalists can submit real-time observations … Read More

The Perils, Pitfalls, and Promise of Open Government – a Geothink Interview with Daniel Paré

By Drew Bush Earlier this month, Public Sector Digest’s first Open Cities Index ranked Canada’s municipalities according to their openness in supplying municipal data online. The index examined the number of data sets available in three areas of accountability (e.g. elections or budget data), innovation (e.g. traffic volume or service requests), and social policy (e.g. crime rates or health performance) … Read More

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The Perils, Pitfalls, and Promise of Open Government – a Geothink Interview with Daniel Paré

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

Four Geothink Partner Cities Named to Top 10 on First Ever Canada Open Cities Index

By Drew Bush Numerous city, state, and provincial governments across North America are finding new ways to share government data online. With more than 60 nations now part of the Open Government Partnership, it’s often difficult to determine which initiatives are simply part of a growing fad instead of being true attempts at more responsive and accountable government. In the … Read More

Can Citizen Science Help Cities Address Climate Change?

By Naomi Bloch If you were following the recent climate change talks in Paris, you may have noticed a recurring theme: policymakers acknowledging the leadership of subnational governments in addressing climate change. Canada’s own delegation to the conference included representatives from the Canadian Federation of Municipalities, as well as provincial and indigenous leaders. While the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference focused on political negotiations, critics … Read More

Citizen Science and Intellectual Property: A Guide for the Perplexed

By Naomi Bloch The concept of the science hobbyist — the backyard astronomer staring up at the sky or the amateur ornithologist taking part in the annual Christmas bird count — is hardly a new one. What is notable today, however, is the scale and scope of new collaborations between research institutions and volunteer citizen scientists. These kinds of citizen science partnerships have … Read More

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