Data-Driven Participation: Algorithms, Cities, Citizens, and Corporate Control

Matthew Tenney,Renee Sieber

doi:10.17645/up.v1i2.645

Abstract

In this paper, we critically explore the interplay of algorithms and civic participation in visions of a city governed by equation, sensor and tweet. We begin by discussing the rhetoric surrounding techno-enabled paths to participatory democracy. This leads to us interrogating how the city is impacted by a discourse that promises to harness social/human capital through data science. We move to a praxis level and examine the motivations of local planners to adopt and increasingly automate forms of VGI as a form of citizen engagement. We ground theory and praxis with a report on the uneven impacts of algorithmic civic participation underway in the Canadian city of Toronto.

Highlights

Governments, from the municipal to national levels, are transitioning from the “old” to “new” way of administering services to and engaging with their publics (Schmidt & Cohen, 2013)
We argue that volunteered geographic information (VGI) enacts a form of passive civic participation that is attractive to cities, corporations, and busy citizens, while conveying a host of contradictions
We argue that data-driven forms of civic participation increasingly become the modern approach for municipalities to engage with citizens

Summary

Introduction

Governments, from the municipal to national levels, are transitioning from the “old” to “new” way of administering services to and engaging with their publics (Schmidt & Cohen, 2013) Such changes to city planning and policy-formation are driven by big data, which is viewed as the datafication of socio-behavioral observations (Brabham, 2009). VGI responds to the requirements of active participation (e.g., direct interaction at public hearings or citizen panels), which people seem increasingly unwilling to engage with on a municipal level (Clifford, 2013; Putnam, 1995). This passive participation enables a seemingly boundless information space where city officials could effortlessly scrape public opinion from citizens’ twitter feeds and.

Civic Participation and Its Digital Enablers

Data-Driven Participation

Conclusion