Our first article from our governance and the geoweb project

Peter A. Johnson and Renee E. Sieber. 2011. Motivations driving government adoption of the Geoweb GeoJournal. Online First™, 11 May 2011

Recent increases in the use of Web 2.0 and Geoweb technologies by citizens have led many governments to investigate the adoption of these technologies. This research examines the motivations driving multiple levels of government in Quebec, Canada to consider the adoption of the Geoweb within a context of rural development. We present results from a series of interviews with key government representatives that identifies the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) of the Geoweb within provincial and municipal government. Respondents define two implementations of the Geoweb, informational and participatory, indicating that SWOT differs for each. This research concludes that for government to implement an informational Geoweb, there are few barriers, but that a participatory Geoweb will require a more substantial, and potentially long-term renegotiation of the relationship between citizen and government.