Computer Models for Social Change

Geothink & Learn Webinar #4: Open Data Standards

admin — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 04:24:24 +0000

Join us on Wednesday, December 20 at 12:00 (EST) as Geothink will host its fourth Geothink&Learn video conference session on our launch of the Open Data Standards Directory.

Speakers include myself, as converner, Rachel Bloom, a project manager of Open Smart Cities in Canada at OpenNorth; Andrew Nicklin, GovEx Director of Data Practices; Nicolas Levy, a McGill University undergraduate student in Urban Systems and Geographic Information Science (GIS); and, Julia Conzon, who will join Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) as a Data Statistical Analysis Officer in January 2018.

Our work on the value of open data standards

admin — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 15:35:44 +0000

“There’s a serious need for coordination on how governments at all levels classify different types of open data”. The McGill Reporter writes about our work on open data standards.

Victoria Slonosky reappointed as Visiting Scholar to our lab for 2018

admin — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 23:36:46 +0000

We welcome back Vicky Slonosky to our lab. Vicky leads our citizen science project, DRAW (Data Rescue and Archives for Weather), in which people can help us transcribe the longest continuous weather record in Canada. Vicky's book, Climate in the Age of Empire, comes out in February.

Geothink & Learn Webinar #3: AI and Algorithms in Governance

admin — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 02:20:51 +0000

Thursday we continued with our Geothink & Learn Seminars. This time, it was Governing Artificial Intelligence, with me, Pamela Robinson, Fenwick McKelvey, and Elizabeth Judge.

Abstract: Cities worldwide are seeing a rapid expansion in the promotion of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms to assist in governance. While AI is often heralded as a means of optimizing and making more efficient various domains of city-citizen interactions (such as transportation, real-time citizen notifications, predicting urban change), many of its promises and threats have been hyperbolized in popular media. This panel will bring together leading academic experts to discuss the opportunities, challenges, and implications of this transition as they apply to cities and citizens, with a focus on governance and policy in a Canadian context.

What are the emerging AI shifts to city planning and design? How is AI shaping governments and governance? What are the current factors shaping AI policy? How do we hold AI accountable, especially when we don’t know how AI works? What is the impact of public-private partnerships that emerge out of AI and smart city adoption? What are the social implications of AI, and how can we better regulate to prevent bias?

GEOG 506 Presentations

admin — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 01:51:29 +0000

Here are the eleven 2017 GEOG 506, Advanced GIScience, presentations Dec 7th and 11th.

Our Special Issue on Mediating Open Data Finally Published

admin — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 01:54:49 +0000

After a long wait, our special issue on open data and, sadly, the final issue of JURISA, the Journal of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, Volume 28, has been published.

Mediating Open Data: Providers, Portals, and Platforms, Edited by Victoria Fast and Claus Rinner, pp. 7-8
Who Are Government OpenData Infomediaries? A Preliminary Scan and Classification of Open Data Users and Products, Peter A. Johnson and Sarah Greene, pp. 9-18
Exploring Open Data Perspectives from Government Providers in Western Canada, Mark Gill, Jon Corbett, and Renée Sieber, pp. 19-30
Open Data Community Maturity: Libraries as Civic Infomediaries, Pamela Robinson and Lisa Ward Mather, pp. 31-38
The Geospatial Contents of Municipal and Regional Open Data Catalogs in Canada Edgar Baculi, Victoria Fast, and Claus Rinner, 39-48
The Civic Open Data and Crowdsourcing App Ecosystem: Actors, Materials, and Interventions Suthee Sangiambut and Renée Sieber, pp. 49-62.

Victoria Slonosky gives the James McGill/Sigma Xi Lecture

admin — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 23:38:19 +0000

Vicky Slonosky, visiting scholar in our lab, gave the James McGill Society lecture on “Climate in the Age of Empire: Weather observers in colonial Canada”. The talk also was sponsored by the Montreal chapter of Sigma Xi.

Montreal weather records, dating from the early 19th century, are held in the McGill University Archives and the McCord Museum. Thomas McCord (1750-1824) and John Samuel McCord (1801-1865), among others, kept detailed weather logs. This talk considers how the study of meteorology and climatology in 19th century Montreal led to the foundation of the McGill Observatory.

Our Education Article has been Published

admin — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 02:57:09 +0000

Our paper in Studies in Science Education is published.

Drew Bush, Renee Sieber, Gale Seiler & Mark ChandlerUniversity-level teaching of Anthropogenic Global Climate Change (AGCC) via student inquiry. Studies in Science Education 53, 2: 113-136

Geothink & Learn Webinar #2: The Future of Open Data

admin — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 02:34:28 +0000

On November 14, we continue with our Geothink & Learn Seminars. Webinar #2 was entitled, The Future of Open Data, with Peter Johnson, Pamela Robinson, Teresa Scassa, Marcy Burchfield, and Jean-Noé Landry. Listen to the webinar.

Crowdsourcing History

admin — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 03:00:48 +0000

We were pleased to join other researchers in the sessions, Building Historical Big Data Together: Crowd-sourcing, Citizen Science, and large-scale online collaborations, at the Social Science History Association,

Crowdsourcing historical climate observations

Renee Sieber and Vicky Slonosky