Citizen Science and Smart Cities

The report summarizes the presentations, discussions, and conclusions of the Citizen Science and Smart Cities Summit organised by the European Commission Joint Research Centre on 5-7th February 2014. In the context of the Summit, the label Citizen Science was used to include both citizen science projects, and others that are about user-generated content, not necessarily addressing a scientific process or issues. The evidence presented by 27 different projects shows the vitality and diversity of the field but also a number of critical points: • Citizen science project are more than collecting data: they are about raising awareness, building capacity, and strengthening communities. • Likewise, smart cities are not only about ICT, energy and transport infrastructures: Smart cities are about smart citizens, who participate in their city’s daily governance, are concerned about increasing the quality of life of their fellow-citizens, and about protecting their environment. Technology may facilitate, but is no solution per se. • Unfortunately to date there seems to be little synergy between citizen science and smart cities initiatives, and there is little interoperability and reusability of the data, apps, and services developed in each project. • It is difficult to compare the results among citizen science, and smart cities projects or translate from one context to another. • The ephemeral nature of much of the data, which disappear short after the end of the projects, means lack of reproducibility of results and longitudinal analysis of time series challenging, if not impossible. • There are also new challenges with respect to the analytical methods needed to integrate quantitative and qualitative data from heterogeneous sources that need further research. • Building and maintaining trust are key points of any citizen science or smart city project. There is a need to work with the community and not just for, or on, the community. It is critical not just to take (data, information, knowledge) but to give back something that is valued by the community itself. The development of citizen science associations in Europe and the US are important developments that may address some of the points above. There are also actions through which the European Commission Joint Research Centre can make an important contribution: • Map citizen science and smart cities projects, and generate a semantic network of concepts between the projects to facilitate search of related activities, and community building. • Provide a repository for citizen science and smart cities data (anonymised and aggregated), software, services, and applications so that they are maintained beyond the life of the projects they originate from, and made shareable and reusable. • Develop regional test beds for the analysis and integration of social and environmental data from heterogeneous sources, with a focus on quality of life and well-being. • Undertake comparative studies, and analyse issues related to scaling up to the European dimension. • Support citizen science and smart cities projects with the JRC knowledge on semantic interoperability, data models, and interoperability arrangements. • Partner with the European Citizen Science Association, and contribute to its interoperability activities. • Work towards making the JRC, and the European Commission, a champion of citizen participation in European science.JRC.H.6-Digital Earth and Reference Dat

Geo-librarian wanted: geographic data come to the library

The increased proliferation and accessibility of geographic data are changing the landscape of services based on geographic information. From the analysis of recent job offers posted in American university libraries, we discuss what could be the role of the information professional in this new context, with respect to the management and dissemination of geographic data collections, looking for synergies for mutual benefit between academic libraries and their information professionals and the geographic data community that uses geographic information systems (GIS). In fact, this activity would be one more among the data curation or data sets preservation tasks needed currently in many disciplines

Geographic information systems for information units

The aim of the paper is to serve as a gateway to the world of geographic information systems (GIS), seen as technologies t support decision-making services in libraries and information units. Through the review of various projects that make use of GIS technologies in libraries, the concept of GIS and its synergies with information units is introduced. Finally, the paper points out different contexts and situations, in relation to information units, in which GIS could be used to improve services and products by information professionals

Geoskills among academic librarians in Greece, Cyprus and Spain

Existing literature on Geographic Information (GI) and libraries points out that American and Canadian librarians have long been aware of the intimate relationship between geospatial data and libraries. In Europe, though, there is almost no literature to this regard, and academic libraries that offer GI services are the exception., Despite the fact that European and National institutions are putting lots of efforts forward for making open data freely available to society, and for supporting full programmes to generate business out of it, this paper examines why libraries and librarians are not perceived as key players in the (geo) data-driven economy. Starting with a survey addressed to academic librarians (in three European countries: Greece, Cyprus and Spain) about their GI knowledge and skills, the paper attempts to shed some light on the librarians’ perception about their role in GI management, and to identify to what extent they are ready for providing GI services to their communities. The ultimate goal of this paper is to serve as a triggering factor to wake up European academic libraries, Librarianship programmers and librarians themselves, to encourage them to look for opportunities in geospatial data management

Enhancing in vivo exposure in the treatment of panic disorder and agoraphobia using location-based technologies: a case study

Abstract Panic disorder (PD) is quite prevalent and often appears along with agoraphobia (PD/A). The treatment of choice is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Transdiagnostic intervention, an emotion-focused, cognitive behavioral intervention that has led to the Unified Protocol (UP), emphasizes the common underlying mechanisms that contribute to the development and maintenance of emotional disorders such as PD/A. A core feature of this treatment approach is in vivo exposure (IVE) to feared situations, which aims to prevent avoidance behaviors and encourages the patient to confront feared situations gradually. It is a difficult component for patients, especially when implementing the exposure on their own. Different feedback formats can be used to increase adequate IVE and reduce overt or subtle avoidance. The use of smartphones is a very useful option to initiate and sustain exposure behavior. The purpose of this study is to describe the use of location-based technologies (LBTs) during the IVE component of the UP treatment of a 47-year-old patient with PD/A. The acceptability and usability of the system were assessed. The Symptoms platform was employed during the exposure module, using LBT with a smartphone app. The patient reported positive expectations, high satisfaction scores, and an overall satisfactory experience. Enhancing key therapeutic components during treatment through the development of media-based tools is a very promising future research aim, and the possibility of using advanced smartphone features should be explored

Environmental observation and the Future Internet - ENVIROFI Day in Dublin

The ENVIROFI Day was held in Dublin on 6 March 2013 as part of a whole week of co-located events. ENVIROFI, the Future Internet Public-Private Partnership’s use case project on environmental observation, used its final event to present its results and discuss future Internet services based on environmental observations.JRC.H.6-Digital Earth and Reference Dat

Sistemas de información geográfica para unidades de información [Geographic information systems for information units]

The aim of the paper is to serve as a gateway to the world of geographic information systems (GIS), seen as technologies to support decision-making services in libraries and information units. Through the review of various projects that make use of GIS technologies in libraries, the concept of GIS and its synergies with information units is introduced. Finally, the paper points out different contexts and situations, in relation to information units, in which GIS could be used to improve services and products by information professionals

Servicios OGC : introducción a las infraestructuras de datos espaciales, febrero 2010

En aquesta assignatura estudiareu els serveis d'informació geogràfica, o simplement serveis geogràfics, més difosos a Internet. Mitjançant aquests serveis sereu capaços de descobrir, accedir, processar i visualitzar informació geogràfica remota. És per això que partirem des d'una perspectiva diferent als Sistemes d'Informació Geogràfica (SIG) tradicionals, que ja heu tractat en assignatures anteriors, que us ajudarà a comprendre els beneficis de compartir dades i serveis geogràfics de manera distribuïda entre diferents usuaris. Per aquest motiu, un aspecte clau per a familiaritzar-se amb els serveis geogràfics és conèixer la infraestructura sobre la qual operen aquests serveis. D'aquí el subtítol d'Infraestructures de Dades Espaials d'aquesta assignatura.En esta asignatura vais a estudiar los servicios de información geográfica, o simplemente servicios geográficos, más difundidos en Internet. Mediante estos servicios seréis capaces de descubrir, acceder, procesar y visualizar información geográfica remota. Para ello, partiremos desde una perspectiva diferente a los Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG) tradicionales, que ya habéis tratado en asignaturas anteriores, que os ayudará a comprender los beneficios de compartir datos y servicios geográficos de forma distribuida entre distintos usuarios. Por este motivo, un aspecto clave para familiarizarse con los servicios geográficos es conocer la infraestructura sobre la que operan dichos servicios. De ahí el subtítulo de Infraestructuras de Datos Espaciales de esta asignatura.This course deals with Geographic Information Services more widespread on the internet. Through these services you will be able to discover, access, process and visualize geographic information remotely. To do this, we start from a different perspective than traditional Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which will help you understand the benefits of sharing geographic data and services distributed among different users. For this reason a key aspect to become familiar with the geographical services is to know the infrastructure of such services

Servicios OGC : Introducción a las infraestructuras de datos espaciales, febrero 2011

Material docent de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.Material docente de la "Universitat Oberta de Catalunya".Learning material of the "Universitat Oberta de Catalunya"