So the dawn of a new information age is here with http://data.vancouver.ca/.
David Eaves, who has been one of the city’s biggest advocates for this type of a system, has a post up about the signfiicance of it. He also says that you either use it or lose it.
Agreed. And don’t get me wrong…my past scepticism about the concept should not be construed as an opinion that it isn’t useful, because on the contrary, the possibilities are endless. The garbage collection mapping application that Eaves links to is very intriguing, for example.
I am just thinking about this technology in terms of democracy. Is it really going to bring more people into the civic process? Will this lead to significantly more public engagement and knowledge about how this city works?
I’m not so sure. I would be interested in others’ takes on these questions.
