Transparency and Accountability(T&A)interventions are emergent social technologies in middle and low-income countries.They bring together citizen sensors,mobile communications,geo-browsers and social organization ...Transparency and Accountability(T&A)interventions are emergent social technologies in middle and low-income countries.They bring together citizen sensors,mobile communications,geo-browsers and social organization to raise public awareness on the extent of governance deficits,and monitor government’s(in)action.Due to their novelty,almost all we know about the effectiveness of T&A interventions comes from gray literature.Can citizen sensors radically increase the transparency of the state,or are changes brought about by T&A interventions more likely to be incremental?We review the literature on transparency policies and describe their drivers,characteristics and supply-demand dynamics.We discuss promising cases of T&A interventions in East Africa,the empirical focus of an on-going collaborative research program.We conclude that the effect of T&A interventions is more likely to be incremental and mediated by existing organizations and professional users who populate the space between the state and citizens.Two elements at the interface between supply and demand seem rather crucial for designers of T&A interventions:accountability-relevant data and extreme publics.展开更多
Driven by the rise of Web 2.0 and the non-stop spread of mobile device sensors,the concept of Public Participation GIS(PPGIS)is knowing a revolutionary era which perfectly fits the new vision of Digital Earth(DE).This...Driven by the rise of Web 2.0 and the non-stop spread of mobile device sensors,the concept of Public Participation GIS(PPGIS)is knowing a revolutionary era which perfectly fits the new vision of Digital Earth(DE).This research investigates the opportunity to build up a PPGIS prototype with completely Free and Open Source Software(FOSS)architecture,in which data directly come from field surveys carried out by users.A sample application related to urban monitoring is addressed,which concentrates on user field-collected data concerning reports of road pavement damages.Open Data Kit suite allows users to collect geotagged multimedia information using mobile devices with onboard location sensors(e.g.a Global Positioning System receiver).On field-captured data are sent to a server and stored into a PostgreSQL database with PostGIS spatial extension.GeoServer then disseminates data on the Web.On the client-side,different solutions allow data visualization on both desktop computers and mobile devices.The designed architecture provided support for FOSS usage in the process of gathering,uploading,and Web publishing information collected in situ.The implementation of the developed PPGIS could thus substantially increase public active participation in data creation and sharing,besides enlarging DE knowledge up to the local level.展开更多
文摘Transparency and Accountability(T&A)interventions are emergent social technologies in middle and low-income countries.They bring together citizen sensors,mobile communications,geo-browsers and social organization to raise public awareness on the extent of governance deficits,and monitor government’s(in)action.Due to their novelty,almost all we know about the effectiveness of T&A interventions comes from gray literature.Can citizen sensors radically increase the transparency of the state,or are changes brought about by T&A interventions more likely to be incremental?We review the literature on transparency policies and describe their drivers,characteristics and supply-demand dynamics.We discuss promising cases of T&A interventions in East Africa,the empirical focus of an on-going collaborative research program.We conclude that the effect of T&A interventions is more likely to be incremental and mediated by existing organizations and professional users who populate the space between the state and citizens.Two elements at the interface between supply and demand seem rather crucial for designers of T&A interventions:accountability-relevant data and extreme publics.
基金This research has been partially funded by the INTERREG“I cammini della Regina-Percorsi transfrontalieri legati alla Via Regina(The paths of Regina-Crossborder paths departing from Via Regina)”2007-2013 project.
文摘Driven by the rise of Web 2.0 and the non-stop spread of mobile device sensors,the concept of Public Participation GIS(PPGIS)is knowing a revolutionary era which perfectly fits the new vision of Digital Earth(DE).This research investigates the opportunity to build up a PPGIS prototype with completely Free and Open Source Software(FOSS)architecture,in which data directly come from field surveys carried out by users.A sample application related to urban monitoring is addressed,which concentrates on user field-collected data concerning reports of road pavement damages.Open Data Kit suite allows users to collect geotagged multimedia information using mobile devices with onboard location sensors(e.g.a Global Positioning System receiver).On field-captured data are sent to a server and stored into a PostgreSQL database with PostGIS spatial extension.GeoServer then disseminates data on the Web.On the client-side,different solutions allow data visualization on both desktop computers and mobile devices.The designed architecture provided support for FOSS usage in the process of gathering,uploading,and Web publishing information collected in situ.The implementation of the developed PPGIS could thus substantially increase public active participation in data creation and sharing,besides enlarging DE knowledge up to the local level.
