Mapping the Growth of OpenStreetMap
by Emily Badger, The Atlantic, March 14, 2013
OpenStreetMap is a marvel of modern crowdsourcing. Since its creation in 2004, DIY cartographers – typically armed with GPS devices or satellite photography – have been slowly mapping the world’s road networks and landmarks to create a free alternative to proprietary geographic data that can then support tools like trip planners. The process, which began in the U.K., is painstaking and piecemeal, and nearly a decade into it, more than a million people have contributed a sliver of road here or a surveyed cul-de-sac there. …
For full text of this article, visit Mapping the Growth of OpenStreetMap – Emily Badger – The Atlantic Cities.
Also check out the great work of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team.
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The GitHub Generation: Why We’re All in Open Source Now
by Mikeal Rogers, Wired Magazine, March 7, 2013
GitHub was intended to be an open software collaboration platform, but it’s become a platform for much, much more than code. It’s now being used by artists, builders, home owners, everyone in between, entire companies … and cities. GitHub is doing to open source what the internet did to the publishing industry.“ Anyone can now change the data when new bike paths are built, when roads are under construction, and new buildings are erected,” the city of Chicago recently announced. … Perhaps not so surprisingly, he has about 17 open “pull” requests for changes. And of course, GitHub is still used by programmers and developers flying AR Drones with Node.js or building websites with jQuery.
For full text of this article, visit The GitHub Generation: Why We’re All in Open Source Now | Wired Opinion | Wired.com.
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On the power and perils of “preemptive government”
By Alex Howard, O’Reilly Strata, February 208, 2013
The last time [Alex] spoke with Stephen Goldsmith, he was the Deputy Mayor of New York City, advocating for increased use of “citizensourcing,” where government uses technology tools to tap into the distributed intelligence of residents to understand – and fix – issues around its streets, on its services and even within institutions. In the years since, as a professor at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the former mayor of Indianapolis has advanced the notion of “preemptive government.”
for full text of this article and to list to the interview, please visit On the power and perils of “preemptive government” – Strata.
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Zero Geography: Situating Neogeography
Situating Neogeography: Special Issue of Environment and Planning A
The special issue of Environment and Planning A on neogeography that Mark Graham edited with Matthew Wilson is now out an available to download. It will undoubtedly be a useful collection for anyone interested in thinking about the coming-togethers of information, the internet, and place.
For table of contents and links visit Zero Geography: Situating Neogeography: Special Issue of Environment and Planning A.
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The Privacy Legal Implications of Big Data: A Primer
By David Navetta, Information Law Group, February 12, 2013
By now many lawyers and business managers have heard of the term “Big Data,” but many may not understand exactly what it refers to, and still more likely do not know how it will impact their clients and business or perhaps it already is. Big Data is everywhere quite literally. …
The potential uses and benefits of Big Data are endless. Unfortunately, Big Data also poses some risk to both the companies seeking to unlock its potential, and the individuals whose information is now continuously being collected, combined, mined, analyzed, disclosed and acted upon. This post explores the concept of Big Data and some of the privacy-related legal issues and risks associated with it.
For full text of this legal discussion, please visit The Privacy Legal Implications of Big Data: A Primer | InfoLawGroup.
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The Information Revolution Gets Political
by Joseph S. Nye, Project Syndicate, Jan 9, 2013
“… it would be a mistake to “over-learn” the lessons that the Arab revolutions have taught about information, technology, and power. While the information revolution could, in principle, reduce large states’ power and increase that of small states and non-state actors, politics and power are more complex than such technological determinism implies.
In the middle of the twentieth century, people feared that computers and new means of communications would create the kind of central governmental control dramatized in George Orwell’s 1984. And, indeed, authoritarian governments in China, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere have used the new technologies to try to control information. Ironically for cyber-utopians, the electronic trails created by social networks like Twitter and Facebook sometimes make the job of the secret police easier.”
For full text of this thought provoking article, please visit The Information Revolution Gets Political by Joseph S. Nye – Project Syndicate.
Wilson Center Report and Video on Crowdsourcing for the National Broadband Map
The National Broadband Map: A Case Study on Open Innovation for National Policy
by Zachary Bastian, Wilson Center‘s Commons Lab, and Michael Byrne, FCC.
The National Broadband Map is a powerful consumer protection tool developed by the FCC to provide consumers nationwide reliable information on broadband internet connections. Through consistent public engagement and the use of emerging crowdsourcing technologies and open-source software, the project was able to promote government transparency and trust in government, while finishing on time and avoiding cost overruns. The National Broadband Map is a vital example of the benefits to all when government prioritizes transparency, allows itself to be guided by the public, and directs national policy based on robust and reliable data. Published by the Commons Lab of the Science and Technology Innovation Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC September 2012.
To download a copy of the REPORT, click on the Commons Lab Scribed webpage here.
To watch the archived VIDEO on the rollout event, visit the Commons Lab YouTube page.
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Responding to Liability: Evaluating and Reducing Tort Liability for Digital Volunteers
Responding to Liability: Evaluating and Reducing Tort Liability for Digital Volunteers
By Edward Robson, Esq.
Major emergencies and crises can overwhelm local resources. In the last several years, self-organized digital volunteers have begun leveraging the power of social media and “crowd-mapping” for collaborative crisis response. Rather than mobilizing a physical response, these digital volunteer groups have responded virtually by creating software applications, monitoring social networks, aggregating data, and creating “crowdsourced” maps to assist both survivors and the formal response community. These virtual responses can subject digital volunteers to tort liability. This report evaluates the precise contours of potential liability for digital volunteers. Published by the Commons Lab of the Science and Technology Innovation Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, September 2012.
To download a PDF of the free report, visit the Commons Lab Scribd webpage here.
To read a follow up blog post by the author, visit the Commons Lab Blog “Calling for Backup – Indemnification for Digital Volunteers (November 7, 2012)”
To watch a video of the author discussing liability for digital volunteers, visit the Commons Lab YouTube webpage here.
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Why Google Isn’t Making Us Stupid…or Smart
by Chad Wellmon, IASC: The Hedgehog Review – Volume 14, No. 1 Spring 2012
‘The history of this mutual constitution of humans and technology has been obscured as of late by the crystallization of two competing narratives about how we experience all of this information. On the one hand, there are those who claim that the digitization efforts of Google, the social-networking power of Facebook, and the era of big data in general are finally realizing that ancient dream of unifying all knowledge. … Unlike other technological innovations, like print, which was limited to the educated elite, the internet is a network of “densely interlinked Web pages, blogs, news articles and Tweets [that] are all visible to anyone and everyone.”4 Our information age is unique not only in its scale, but in its inherently open and democratic arrangement of information. … Digital technologies, claim the most optimistic among us, will deliver a universal knowledge that will make us smarter and ultimately liberate us.5 These utopic claims are related to similar visions about a trans-humanist future in which technology will overcome what were once the historical limits of humanity: physical, intellectual, and psychological. The dream is of a post-human era.6
For the full text of this substantive essay, please visit IASC: The Hedgehog Review – Volume 14, No. 1 Spring 2012 – Why Google Isn’t Making Us Stupid…or Smart – Chad Wellmon.
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Disclaimer: This is a personal blog of links to relevant news, events, and reports, provided for educational purposes only. The opinions and views contained therein are those only of the authors of the original articles. These opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the editor of this blog; the Woodrow Wilson Center; the Science and Technology Innovation Program; its staff, scholars, or interns.
