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

GIS in the Classroom: Geography and the Law

By Naomi Bloch This Wednesday, November 18, marks the 16th annual GIS Day. Throughout the week, Geothink will present a series of posts looking at some of the ways in which our collaborators, partners, and friends around the world are critically examining and using GIS as a tool for civic engagement and understanding. The community snapshots presented this week highlight diverse perspectives and uses … Read More

Torts of the Geoweb: (or the liability question) Part I

By Tenille Brown, PhD student in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa Recently, on March 3rd as part of the continuing Geothink Project, I hosted a Twitter chat about tort liability with Mapping Mashups. This online forum was joined by Geothink partners and friends and the primary topic discussed was the role of tort law and how … Read More

Crosspost: Geoweb, crowdsourcing, liability and moral responsibility

This post is cross-posted with permission from Po Ve Sham – Muki Haklay’s personal blog. Muki is a Geothink collaborator at the University College London and the co-director of ExCiteS. By Muki Haklay Yesterday [March 3rd, 2015], Tenille Brown led a Twitter discussion as part of the Geothink consortium. Tenille opened with a question about liability and wrongful acts that … Read More

Spotlight on Recent Publications: Teresa Scassa at the Intersection of Intellectual Property Rights and Municipal Transit Data

By Drew Bush This story was originally reported on Teressa Scassa’s personal blog which you can find here. In a paper just published in the Fordham Urban Law Journal, Geothink researcher Teresa Scassa argues that the actual laws governing intellectual property (IP) rights are often surprisingly irrelevant in disputes over rights to municipal transit data. Instead, she finds that being … Read More

Privacy Challenges in Open Government

By Teresa Scassa The public-oriented goals of the open government movement promise increased transparency and accountability of governments, enhanced citizen engagement and participation, improved service delivery, economic development and the stimulation of innovation. In part, these goals are to be achieved by making more and more government information public in reusable formats and under open licences. The Canadian federal government has … Read More

Paper Spotlight: "Enabling Access and Reuse of Public Sector Information in Canada" by Elizabeth Judge

Enabling Access and Reuse of Public Sector Information in Canada: Crown Commons Licenses, Copyright, and Public Sector Information Elizabeth Judge University of Ottawa – Common Law Section October 14, 2010 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1956549 Abstract:  Although the proactive disclosure of public sector information has been called a “basic right of citizens” and a “public right,” Canada has not yet implemented a national strategy … Read More

Re-identification Risk and Proactive Disclosure of Data for Open Government: Lessons from the Supreme Court of Canada?

By Teresa Scassa One of the challenges with the proactive disclosure of government data, and with open data more generally, is the obligation that governments have to not disclose personal information. This challenge is made more acute by the fact that the definition of “personal information” is, generally speaking, “information about an identifiable individual”. Courts in Canada have said that … Read More

Research Area: Copyright and Privacy Law Issues Arising from the Geoweb

Professor Elizabeth Judge, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law Year 1: “Implied License for Downstream Uses of Copyrighted Information on the Geoweb” *Abstract:* How does copyright law apply to material individuals submit to government-operated websites, such as original compilations of geographic data, surveys, or maps? Authors of copyrightable works are the first owners of copyright and have a bundle of … Read More

Privacy Challenges in Open Government

Prof. Teresa Scassa is interested in Privacy Challenges in Open Government and welcomes your input and participation. The open government movement promises greater access to government information and proactive disclosure of open data. If it unfolds as promised, a growing volume of information will soon flow from governments to individuals and to the private sector. Such information flows will be … Read More

Canada’s Open Government Licence V2.0 Is Released

    Written by Teresa Scassa Read more posts by Teresa @ http://www.teresascassa.ca/ With little fanfare, the Canadian government has released its much awaited, newly revised Open GovernmentLicence. The previous version that had been available on its Open Data site was a beta version on which public comments were invited. The government has also published its Open Government Licence Consultation Report, … Read More