TY - GEN
T1 - DataGM: Curating an Environment for Change
AU - Hemment, Drew
AU - Smith, Kevin
AU - Tait, Julian
AU - Dornan, Anna
N1 - Open Data Cities and DataGM would not have been possible without support from the following people: Emer Coleman, London Datastore; Jon Kingsbury, NESTA; Dave Carter, Manchester Digital Development Agency; Theresa Grant, Victoria Moody, Trafford Borough Council; Cathy Garner, Coral Grainger, Anne Dornan, Manchester Knowledge Capital; Martin Wain, Commission for the New Economy; Rufus Pollock, OKFN. We would also like to acknowledge the Open Data Manchester community. The Open Data Cities project was funded by the Manchester Innovation Participatory Innovation Conference 2013 Investment Fund (supported by NESTA and regional agencies).
PY - 2013/6/1
Y1 - 2013/6/1
N2 - Open Data Cities is an ongoing investigation into how a city may move towards adopting, in specific terms, an open data framework, and, in general terms, openness. It is an experiment in participatory policy and infrastructure, and in curating an environment for change. Uniquely, our focus is on the entire ecosystem at once, and developing an ecology around open data to create sustainable impact. One dimension of this infrastructure is DataGM which, as an output of the Open Data Cities research, and artefact or ‘Open Digital Resource’, is the focus of this paper. DataGM used a process of participatory policy and action learning in the Greater Manchester city region. We engaged policy makers from 10 local authorities, data managers from agencies including Transport for Greater Manchester, digital businesses, and supported a grass-roots developer community. Our development approach drew significantly on Actor Network Theory (ANT). According to ANT, the on–going processes of “translation” are key sources of social order. “Translation” generates ordering effects, such as organisations, institutions, devices, and agents. Each of these have their own “resistances”, and social change, as evidenced by Data GM, is very much about a struggle of reorganising the resources and relations in the ‘actor–network’. This paper presents an analysis of the practical application of this theory to our problem domain and, reflecting on our experience, makes recommendations for participatory policy and infrastructure intervention at a city scale.
AB - Open Data Cities is an ongoing investigation into how a city may move towards adopting, in specific terms, an open data framework, and, in general terms, openness. It is an experiment in participatory policy and infrastructure, and in curating an environment for change. Uniquely, our focus is on the entire ecosystem at once, and developing an ecology around open data to create sustainable impact. One dimension of this infrastructure is DataGM which, as an output of the Open Data Cities research, and artefact or ‘Open Digital Resource’, is the focus of this paper. DataGM used a process of participatory policy and action learning in the Greater Manchester city region. We engaged policy makers from 10 local authorities, data managers from agencies including Transport for Greater Manchester, digital businesses, and supported a grass-roots developer community. Our development approach drew significantly on Actor Network Theory (ANT). According to ANT, the on–going processes of “translation” are key sources of social order. “Translation” generates ordering effects, such as organisations, institutions, devices, and agents. Each of these have their own “resistances”, and social change, as evidenced by Data GM, is very much about a struggle of reorganising the resources and relations in the ‘actor–network’. This paper presents an analysis of the practical application of this theory to our problem domain and, reflecting on our experience, makes recommendations for participatory policy and infrastructure intervention at a city scale.
M3 - Conference contribution
SN - 978-952-265-391-8
SP - 194
EP - 198
BT - Proceedings Participatory Innovation Conference
A2 - Melkas, Helinä
A2 - Buur, Jacob
PB - Lappeenranta University of Technology
ER -