Connecting Citizens: Designing for Data Collection and Dissemination in the Smart City

This paper presents two case studies of citizen data collection and dissemination applications, developed for or by three different local authorities in Northern Europe. These case studies highlight the challenges in meeting the goals of Open Data, of involving citizens as sources of information, and of engendering and maintaining trust as a service provider all at the same time. The challenge of making data open can be seen as at odds with protecting the privacy and safety of citizens when it is sourced directly or indirectly from their actions. Encouraging citizens to collect, curate, and submit data can create misguided expectations of influence over the processes of local government, and disillusionment where action or feedback are not forthcoming. A local authority is trusted to provide information that is verified and for which it is accountable. Balancing this with goal of disseminating the results of citizen sourced data collection activities can result in frustration for developers, users, and local authority employees. In response to these issues this paper presents the following four design opportunities: probabilistic and personalised representations of data, making accountable the use of collected data, respecting the boundaries of data, and designing for the graceful degradation of resources.