“Engaging” News from July

Here are a couple of interesting news articles about public engagement and related issues from the past month.

How Civic Engagement Platforms Can Bring Back the Expertise of Urban Planners

The increasing use of online civic engagement platforms offers a chance for planners to improve the planning process—that is, if they take full advantage of the opportunities presented by the new technology to showcase their expertise. (Planetizen)

More than economics: The social impact of open data

Alex Howard states that focusing on publishing open data with economic value shouldn’t preclude or take too much focus away from digitizing and releasing data with other societal value. (Tech Republic)

New workshop for civics teachers aims to empower young women

Now a 20-year-old studying international development at the University of Ottawa, Jasmine Goldstein is one of 15 young women trying to change that. She’s part of the Head Start for Young Women program, a project of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities that brings young women together to explore the barriers that prevent women from seeking political careers and ways to break them down. (Ottawa Citizen)

The Quiet Revolution: Open Data Is Transforming Citizen-Government Interaction

Tech minded citizens are building civic apps to bring government into the digital age; reporters are now more able to connect the dots easier, not to mention the billions of taxpayer dollars saved. And last year the President took us a step further. He signed an Executive Order making open government data the default option. (Wired)

Technology and transformation in town halls

Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) has worked in partnership with Hewlett-Packard to look at the opportunities and challenges presented to local authorities by new technology. The report claims that we need to stop thinking about technology as a solution in itself. Rather, we need to think about how we can use technology to support and shape the neighbourhoods we want to live in. The report sets out a framework as to how we might achieve this. (LGiU)

In case you missed it…

Here was the most popular post on this blog over the past month:

Announcing Place It—An Interactive Mapping Tool

PlaceSpeak recently released Place It, a new interactive mapping tool. Place It allows users to post comments on maps within specific geographical areas. It combines an easy and accessible mode of PPGIS (public participation geographic information systems) with PlaceSpeak’s existing suite of online LBS (location-based service) tools to obtain verifiable feedback data for informing decision-making and policy development.