This document discusses the concept of information sharing as an obligation of citizenship. It outlines different models of citizenship, including republican and liberal traditions, and notes tensions between sharing information and protecting privacy. The document uses the example of eBird, a citizen science project where birdwatchers share observations, to illustrate how data sharing can benefit scientific understanding but risks losing public trust if seen as mandatory. It concludes by arguing information professionals should promote education on responsible data sharing and help connect data sharing to improved e-government.

1. Information sharing as a habit
of citizenship: Is there an
obligation to share?
Todd Suomela, Suzie Allard
University of Tennessee, USA

2. Data Sharing
Citizenship
Citizen
Science
How do these overlap?

3. Components of citizenship
• Membership
– Sense of belonging, community
• Rights
– Civil rights, freedom of speech, assembly
• Participation
– Obligations, voting

4. Two major traditions
• Republican
–From ancient Greek
tradition
–Required participation
in government or
military
• Liberal
–Legal membership
without required
participation
–Rights traditions

5. Birds + People = Data
eBird is an online checklist for avid birders to report their
observations and turn it into data, and eventually science.

6. Science + Citizens = ?
Benefits: better understanding of the environment,
engaging citizens with important issues such as climate
change

7. 1 Billion Users on Facebook by 2012?
People are sharing more and more data.
Source: http://connect.icrossing.co.uk/facebook-hit-billion-users-summer_7709

8. What if we were obligated to
share?
• Benefits
– Improving citizenship
– Improved understanding (of the world and
ourselves)
• Risks
– Endangering privacy
– Losing trust

9. A fundamental tension
• Citizenship depends upon compromise
• The internet is large, it contains
multitudes
– But so does the world

10. Implications for the future
• Think beyond Facebook and consider
other forms of data sharing
• Information professionals must promote
education to help people distinguish
data sharing and data taking
• Develop the connections between e-
government research and data sharing

11. Dank u
Todd Suomela - tes@utk.edu
Suzie Allard - sallard@utk.edu