Gender Equality and Big Data. Making Gender Data Visible UN Global Pulse
This report provides background context on how big data can be used to facilitate and assess progress towards the SDGs, and focuses in particular on SDG 5 – “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. It examines successes and challenges in the use of big data to improve the lives of women and girls, and identifies concrete data innovation projects from across the development sector that have considered the gender dimension.
Global Pulse is playing a leading role in helping UN and other development partners adopt more agile processes powered by Big Data to meet the challenges of driving sustainable development in a Post-2015 world. Our initiative has been closely involved in shaping the discussion of a Post-2015 development “data revolution.”
Over the past year, we have focused our efforts on advocating for the responsible use of Big Data, building partnerships for access to real-time data sources, cutting edge data mining tools and data science expertise. At the country level, we continued to expand our network of Pulse Labs to strengthen national and regional capacity for using Big Data. We are pleased to have begun operating our first regional innovation hub in the vibrant East African technology scene with the opening of Pulse Lab Kampala in late 2013. In 2013, our portfolio of innovation projects involved more than 25 partner organizations including UNICEF, UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organisation (WHO).
The Annual Report 2013 summarizes this activity and explains how the UN's data science labs operate and innovate.
Open Data for better health service delivery - Fabrizio Scrollini (Latin Amer...mysociety
This was presented by Fabrizio Scrollini from the Latin American Open Data Initiative (ILDA) at the Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC 2017) in Florence on 25th April. You can find out more information about the conference here: http://tictec.mysociety.org
WhatsApp for better public service delivery - Emily Herrick (Reboot, US)mysociety
This was presented by Emily Herrick (Reboot) at the Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC 2017) in Florence on 26th April. You can find out more information about the conference here: http://tictec.mysociety.org
Many of the major disruptions in media and communications have been driven by nimble, entrepreneurial companies, coming out of nowhere to completely decimate established business models. Companies that spin into existence to solve one problem or commercialize a single idea can scale almost instantly if they find a solution that sticks. That’s what’s happening all over the marketing industry today: hundreds of tech-savvy startups are reinventing business from the bottom up.
Data collaboratives: an assessment of new ways to use data for civic impact -...mysociety
This was presented by Andrew Young and Stefaan Verhulst from The GovLab @ NYU at the Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC 2017) in Florence on 26th April. You can find out more information about the conference here: http://tictec.mysociety.org
Gender Equality and Big Data. Making Gender Data Visible UN Global Pulse
This report provides background context on how big data can be used to facilitate and assess progress towards the SDGs, and focuses in particular on SDG 5 – “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. It examines successes and challenges in the use of big data to improve the lives of women and girls, and identifies concrete data innovation projects from across the development sector that have considered the gender dimension.
Global Pulse is playing a leading role in helping UN and other development partners adopt more agile processes powered by Big Data to meet the challenges of driving sustainable development in a Post-2015 world. Our initiative has been closely involved in shaping the discussion of a Post-2015 development “data revolution.”
Over the past year, we have focused our efforts on advocating for the responsible use of Big Data, building partnerships for access to real-time data sources, cutting edge data mining tools and data science expertise. At the country level, we continued to expand our network of Pulse Labs to strengthen national and regional capacity for using Big Data. We are pleased to have begun operating our first regional innovation hub in the vibrant East African technology scene with the opening of Pulse Lab Kampala in late 2013. In 2013, our portfolio of innovation projects involved more than 25 partner organizations including UNICEF, UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organisation (WHO).
The Annual Report 2013 summarizes this activity and explains how the UN's data science labs operate and innovate.
Open Data for better health service delivery - Fabrizio Scrollini (Latin Amer...mysociety
This was presented by Fabrizio Scrollini from the Latin American Open Data Initiative (ILDA) at the Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC 2017) in Florence on 25th April. You can find out more information about the conference here: http://tictec.mysociety.org
WhatsApp for better public service delivery - Emily Herrick (Reboot, US)mysociety
This was presented by Emily Herrick (Reboot) at the Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC 2017) in Florence on 26th April. You can find out more information about the conference here: http://tictec.mysociety.org
Many of the major disruptions in media and communications have been driven by nimble, entrepreneurial companies, coming out of nowhere to completely decimate established business models. Companies that spin into existence to solve one problem or commercialize a single idea can scale almost instantly if they find a solution that sticks. That’s what’s happening all over the marketing industry today: hundreds of tech-savvy startups are reinventing business from the bottom up.
Data collaboratives: an assessment of new ways to use data for civic impact -...mysociety
This was presented by Andrew Young and Stefaan Verhulst from The GovLab @ NYU at the Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC 2017) in Florence on 26th April. You can find out more information about the conference here: http://tictec.mysociety.org
Software Sustainability: The Challenges and Opportunities for Enterprises and...Patricia Lago
This is the opening keynote presentation to the 14th IFIP WG 8.1 Working Conference on the Practice of Enterprise Modeling (PoEM) 2021. See at https://poem2021.rtu.lv/program
2015 was an eventful year for Pulse Lab Jakarta. The broader data innovation ecosystem within which the Lab operates has grown from a specialist network to include a broader range of public, social, and private sector actors who are interested in exploring insights from new data sources as well as learning how data innovation can complement existing datasets and operations. This report provides an overview of the work of Pulse Lab Jakarta in 2015, including the foundation blocks that will lead to an impactful 2016.
SCUP 2016 Mid-Atlantic Symposium: Big Data: Academy Research, Facilities, and Infrastructure Implications and Opportunities. John Hopkins, May 13, 2016
Integrating big data into the monitoring and evaluation of development progra...UN Global Pulse
This report provides guidelines for evaluators, evaluation and programme managers, policy makers
and funding agencies on how to take advantage of the rapidly emerging field of big data in the design
and implementation of systems for monitoring and evaluating development programmes.
The report is organized in two parts. Part I: Development evaluation in the age of big data reviews the data revolution and discusses the promise, and challenges this offers for strengthening development monitoring and evaluation. Part II: Guidelines for integrating big data into the monitoring and evaluation frameworks of development programmes focuses on what a big data inclusive M&E system would look like.
The Future of Mobility, Multi-screen and Cross Screen Engagement
A Virtual Roundtable Discussion with Industry Thought Leaders
Moderator:
Mark Bard — Founder at Digital Insights Group
Panelists:
Craig DeLarge — Global Leader, Multichannel Marketing Strategy & Innovation at Merck
Erik Hawkinson — Global Head of Strategic Marketing at Roche Diagnostics
Lisa Flaiz — Group Product Director, Digital Marketing at Janssen
Kim Levy — Vice President, Strategic Solutions at Epocrates
Bob MacAvoy — Senior Vice President at Doximity
Over the past 10 years there has been a tidal wave of innovation specific to the market of devices we use to access digital content, services, and to conduct transactions. We were introduced to the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010 and although we’re not sure what the next “big thing” will be (from Apple or a competitor) — we are all sure we’ll be using more digital devices in the near future – not less. This roundtable with a diverse group of pharmaceutical, device, publisher, and technology executives will review the multi-platform shifts and trends specific to a physician audience and what that means over the next year — and next decade.
This project has been submitted to the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 competition and was awarded the 2nd place. This presentation was the first round concept proposal.
Ashwini Bakshi: Powering the Project Economy - and Building a Net Zero WorldPMIUKChapter
The United Nations recently released a report warning of catastrophe if the world doesn’t soon reverse course on carbon emissions, calling this moment a “Code Red for Humanity.” But it’s no small task to re-imagine how every facet of our society is powered – and it will take project managers and change makers to lead the transformation that our world urgently needs.
We will welcome Ashwini Bakshi, Regional Managing Director at PMI. Ashwini will share his unique insights on the world's increasingly disruptive shift toward projectization and new ways of working across all sectors and geographic regions. Ashwini will highlight the long-term global climate trends profoundly transforming the future of work itself.
These paradigm shifts are placing marked pressure on organizations and governments to ensure their relevance and operate with dramatically hyper-agile approaches. As a result, professionals around the world also need to upgrade their own capabilities and develop the right mix of technical and “power skills” to effectively lead teams and turn ideas into reality.
Join us as Ashwini shares engaging stories and actionable lessons on how organizations and individuals alike can prepare to take on the globe’s most urgent challenge.
A World United Against Infectious Diseases: Connecting Organizations for Regi...The Rockefeller Foundation
The world has made significant strides in tackling major public health challenges over the last several decades. We have eradicated one disease, smallpox, and are close to doing so with polio and guinea worm. We continue to make significant progress on other debilitating illnesses, including malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Yet, even as our technology and practices improve, new threats arise. In the last two decades, we have seen some 30 new zoonotic diseases emerge, from SARS to hantavirus to Ebola and more. Population pressures and economic growth push humans into ever closer contact with animals, disturbing ecosystems, and creating ripe conditions for new pathogens to jump from animals to humans. Add to this the incredible growth in global travel and trade and the risk of new diseases quickly spreading worldwide has never been greater. So while our ability to respond continually improves, the challenges we face increase as well.
Many factors make up the successful fight against emerging infectious diseases. But one factor trumps all* early detection and rapid identification of novel infections. If we can find a new pathogen early, we can often isolate it to the area in which it emerges. Conversely, failure to find the disease early allows the pathogen to propagate to new regions, countries and continents, making the response much more difficult and costly. Imagine if we had found HIV/AIDS when it was still contained to its region of origin*many of today’s 35 million people infected worldwide would have never been exposed. Our tools of detection, including point-of-care diagnostics and digital surveillance, continue to improve. However, the global infectious disease surveillance system is disjointed. Practices and protocols vary, and inefficiencies abound. The initiative we are jointly supporting*Connecting Organizations for Regional Disease Surveillance (CORDS)*tackles this challenge by building trust and collaboration across national borders.
CORDS unites regional disease surveillance networks from critical hotspots around the world to promote exchanges of best practices in surveillance and catalyze innovation in early disease detection. By working together with international bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), World Organization for Animal Health (IOE), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), CORDS will speed the development, capabilities and sustainability of all its network members to improve global surveillance and mitigate the potential impact of disease outbreaks both from epidemic diseases and from the recrudescence of endemic diseases.
Each of our organizations comes to this issue with equal commitment but different perspectives ranging from global health to disaster management to biosecurity and more. We are all united in our dedication to this effort, which fills a critical gap in global public health capacity. We look forward to CORDS contributing to improve health o
With increasingly more people owning smart phones year over year, the growth of mobile web usage is explosive globally and especially in the United States. Projections show a huge increase in consumers' use of mobile health websites and applications, thus the opportunity to engage mobile consumers is NOW. In this webinar we will discuss how to target and engage health consumers through mobile landing pages, applications and advertising.
Deep learning for large scale biodiversity monitoringGreenapps&web
CC by David J. Klein, Matthew W. McKown & Bernie R. Tershy
Conservation Metrics, Inc.
Healthy ecosystems with intact biodiversity provide human societies with valuable services such as clean air and water, storm protection, tourism, medicine, food, and cultural resources. Protecting this natural capital is one of the great challenges of our era. Species extinction and ecological degradation steadily continues despite conservation funding of roughly U.S. $20 billion per year worldwide. Measurements of conservation outcomes are often uninformative, hindering iterative improvements and innovation in the field. There is cause for optimism, however, as recent technological advances in sensor networks, big data processing, and machine intelligence can provide affordable and effective measures of conservation outcomes. We present several working case studies using our system, which employs deep learning to empower biologists to analyze petabytes of sensor data from a network of remote microphones and cameras. This system, which is being used to monitor endangered species and ecosystems around the globe, has enabled an order of magnitude improvement in the cost effectiveness of such projects. This approach can be expanded to encompass a greater variety of sensor sources, such as drones, to monitor animal populations, habitat quality, and to actively deter wildlife from hazardous structures. We present a strategic vision for how data-driven approaches to conservation can drive iterative improvements through better information and outcomes-based funding mechanisms, ultimately enabling increasing returns on biodiversity investments.
CORSA: An Open Solution for Social Oriented Real-time Ride SharingGreenapps&web
Simone Bonarrigo, Vincenza Carchiolo, Alessandro Longheu, Mark Philips Loria, Michele Malgeri and Giuseppe Mangioni
The combination of the interest in environmental questions on one hand and the massive use of web based social networks on the other recently led to a revival of carpooling. In particular, the exploitation of social networks promotes the information spreading for an effective service (e.g. reducing the lack of confidence among users) and endorses carpooling companies via viral marketing, finally acting as a basis for trust based users recommendation system In this work we outline CORSA, an open source solution for a real time ride sharing (RTRS) carpooling service that endorses the role of social networks by using them as a conveying scenario for the virtual credits reward mechanism CORSA is based on.
Software Sustainability: The Challenges and Opportunities for Enterprises and...Patricia Lago
This is the opening keynote presentation to the 14th IFIP WG 8.1 Working Conference on the Practice of Enterprise Modeling (PoEM) 2021. See at https://poem2021.rtu.lv/program
2015 was an eventful year for Pulse Lab Jakarta. The broader data innovation ecosystem within which the Lab operates has grown from a specialist network to include a broader range of public, social, and private sector actors who are interested in exploring insights from new data sources as well as learning how data innovation can complement existing datasets and operations. This report provides an overview of the work of Pulse Lab Jakarta in 2015, including the foundation blocks that will lead to an impactful 2016.
SCUP 2016 Mid-Atlantic Symposium: Big Data: Academy Research, Facilities, and Infrastructure Implications and Opportunities. John Hopkins, May 13, 2016
Integrating big data into the monitoring and evaluation of development progra...UN Global Pulse
This report provides guidelines for evaluators, evaluation and programme managers, policy makers
and funding agencies on how to take advantage of the rapidly emerging field of big data in the design
and implementation of systems for monitoring and evaluating development programmes.
The report is organized in two parts. Part I: Development evaluation in the age of big data reviews the data revolution and discusses the promise, and challenges this offers for strengthening development monitoring and evaluation. Part II: Guidelines for integrating big data into the monitoring and evaluation frameworks of development programmes focuses on what a big data inclusive M&E system would look like.
The Future of Mobility, Multi-screen and Cross Screen Engagement
A Virtual Roundtable Discussion with Industry Thought Leaders
Moderator:
Mark Bard — Founder at Digital Insights Group
Panelists:
Craig DeLarge — Global Leader, Multichannel Marketing Strategy & Innovation at Merck
Erik Hawkinson — Global Head of Strategic Marketing at Roche Diagnostics
Lisa Flaiz — Group Product Director, Digital Marketing at Janssen
Kim Levy — Vice President, Strategic Solutions at Epocrates
Bob MacAvoy — Senior Vice President at Doximity
Over the past 10 years there has been a tidal wave of innovation specific to the market of devices we use to access digital content, services, and to conduct transactions. We were introduced to the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010 and although we’re not sure what the next “big thing” will be (from Apple or a competitor) — we are all sure we’ll be using more digital devices in the near future – not less. This roundtable with a diverse group of pharmaceutical, device, publisher, and technology executives will review the multi-platform shifts and trends specific to a physician audience and what that means over the next year — and next decade.
This project has been submitted to the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 competition and was awarded the 2nd place. This presentation was the first round concept proposal.
Ashwini Bakshi: Powering the Project Economy - and Building a Net Zero WorldPMIUKChapter
The United Nations recently released a report warning of catastrophe if the world doesn’t soon reverse course on carbon emissions, calling this moment a “Code Red for Humanity.” But it’s no small task to re-imagine how every facet of our society is powered – and it will take project managers and change makers to lead the transformation that our world urgently needs.
We will welcome Ashwini Bakshi, Regional Managing Director at PMI. Ashwini will share his unique insights on the world's increasingly disruptive shift toward projectization and new ways of working across all sectors and geographic regions. Ashwini will highlight the long-term global climate trends profoundly transforming the future of work itself.
These paradigm shifts are placing marked pressure on organizations and governments to ensure their relevance and operate with dramatically hyper-agile approaches. As a result, professionals around the world also need to upgrade their own capabilities and develop the right mix of technical and “power skills” to effectively lead teams and turn ideas into reality.
Join us as Ashwini shares engaging stories and actionable lessons on how organizations and individuals alike can prepare to take on the globe’s most urgent challenge.
A World United Against Infectious Diseases: Connecting Organizations for Regi...The Rockefeller Foundation
The world has made significant strides in tackling major public health challenges over the last several decades. We have eradicated one disease, smallpox, and are close to doing so with polio and guinea worm. We continue to make significant progress on other debilitating illnesses, including malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Yet, even as our technology and practices improve, new threats arise. In the last two decades, we have seen some 30 new zoonotic diseases emerge, from SARS to hantavirus to Ebola and more. Population pressures and economic growth push humans into ever closer contact with animals, disturbing ecosystems, and creating ripe conditions for new pathogens to jump from animals to humans. Add to this the incredible growth in global travel and trade and the risk of new diseases quickly spreading worldwide has never been greater. So while our ability to respond continually improves, the challenges we face increase as well.
Many factors make up the successful fight against emerging infectious diseases. But one factor trumps all* early detection and rapid identification of novel infections. If we can find a new pathogen early, we can often isolate it to the area in which it emerges. Conversely, failure to find the disease early allows the pathogen to propagate to new regions, countries and continents, making the response much more difficult and costly. Imagine if we had found HIV/AIDS when it was still contained to its region of origin*many of today’s 35 million people infected worldwide would have never been exposed. Our tools of detection, including point-of-care diagnostics and digital surveillance, continue to improve. However, the global infectious disease surveillance system is disjointed. Practices and protocols vary, and inefficiencies abound. The initiative we are jointly supporting*Connecting Organizations for Regional Disease Surveillance (CORDS)*tackles this challenge by building trust and collaboration across national borders.
CORDS unites regional disease surveillance networks from critical hotspots around the world to promote exchanges of best practices in surveillance and catalyze innovation in early disease detection. By working together with international bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), World Organization for Animal Health (IOE), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), CORDS will speed the development, capabilities and sustainability of all its network members to improve global surveillance and mitigate the potential impact of disease outbreaks both from epidemic diseases and from the recrudescence of endemic diseases.
Each of our organizations comes to this issue with equal commitment but different perspectives ranging from global health to disaster management to biosecurity and more. We are all united in our dedication to this effort, which fills a critical gap in global public health capacity. We look forward to CORDS contributing to improve health o
With increasingly more people owning smart phones year over year, the growth of mobile web usage is explosive globally and especially in the United States. Projections show a huge increase in consumers' use of mobile health websites and applications, thus the opportunity to engage mobile consumers is NOW. In this webinar we will discuss how to target and engage health consumers through mobile landing pages, applications and advertising.
Deep learning for large scale biodiversity monitoringGreenapps&web
CC by David J. Klein, Matthew W. McKown & Bernie R. Tershy
Conservation Metrics, Inc.
Healthy ecosystems with intact biodiversity provide human societies with valuable services such as clean air and water, storm protection, tourism, medicine, food, and cultural resources. Protecting this natural capital is one of the great challenges of our era. Species extinction and ecological degradation steadily continues despite conservation funding of roughly U.S. $20 billion per year worldwide. Measurements of conservation outcomes are often uninformative, hindering iterative improvements and innovation in the field. There is cause for optimism, however, as recent technological advances in sensor networks, big data processing, and machine intelligence can provide affordable and effective measures of conservation outcomes. We present several working case studies using our system, which employs deep learning to empower biologists to analyze petabytes of sensor data from a network of remote microphones and cameras. This system, which is being used to monitor endangered species and ecosystems around the globe, has enabled an order of magnitude improvement in the cost effectiveness of such projects. This approach can be expanded to encompass a greater variety of sensor sources, such as drones, to monitor animal populations, habitat quality, and to actively deter wildlife from hazardous structures. We present a strategic vision for how data-driven approaches to conservation can drive iterative improvements through better information and outcomes-based funding mechanisms, ultimately enabling increasing returns on biodiversity investments.
CORSA: An Open Solution for Social Oriented Real-time Ride SharingGreenapps&web
Simone Bonarrigo, Vincenza Carchiolo, Alessandro Longheu, Mark Philips Loria, Michele Malgeri and Giuseppe Mangioni
The combination of the interest in environmental questions on one hand and the massive use of web based social networks on the other recently led to a revival of carpooling. In particular, the exploitation of social networks promotes the information spreading for an effective service (e.g. reducing the lack of confidence among users) and endorses carpooling companies via viral marketing, finally acting as a basis for trust based users recommendation system In this work we outline CORSA, an open source solution for a real time ride sharing (RTRS) carpooling service that endorses the role of social networks by using them as a conveying scenario for the virtual credits reward mechanism CORSA is based on.
The Land- Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS): mobile apps and collaboration...Greenapps&web
Jeffrey E. Herrick et al CC BY 4.0
Massive investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation are projected during coming decades. Many of these investments will seek to modify how land is managed. The return on both types of investments can be increased through an understanding of land potential: the potential of the land to support primary production and ecosystem services, and its resilience. A Land-Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS) is being developed and implemented to provide individual users with point-based estimates of land potential based on the integration of simple, geo-tagged user inputs with cloud-based information and knowledge. This system will rely on mobile phones for knowledge and information exchange, and use cloud computing to integrate, interpret, and access relevant knowledge and information, including local knowledge about land with similar potential. The system will initially provide management options based on long-term land potential, which depends on climate, topography, and relatively static soil properties, such as soil texture, depth, and mineralogy. Future modules will provide more specific management information based on the status of relatively dynamic soil properties such as organic matter and nutrient content, and of weather. The paper includes a discussion of how this system can be used to help distinguish between meteorological and edaphic drought.
Wildlife in the cloud: A new approach for engaging stakeholders in wildlife m...Greenapps&web
Guillaume Chapron / CC BY 4.0
Research in wildlife management increasingly relies on quantitative population models. However, a remaining challenge is to have end-users, who are often alienated by mathematics, benefiting from this research. I propose a new approach, ‘wildlife in the cloud,’ to enable active learning by practitioners from cloud-based ecological models whose complexity remains invisible to the user. I argue that this concept carries the potential to overcome limitations of desktop-based software and allows new understandings of human-wildlife systems. This concept is illustrated by presenting an online decisionsupport tool for moose management in areas with predators in Sweden. The tool takes the form of a user-friendly cloud-app through which users can compare the effects of alternative management decisions, and may feed into adjustment of their hunting trategy. I explain how the dynamic nature of cloud-apps opens the door to different ways of learning, informed by ecological models that can benefit both users and researchers.
On Data Quality Assurance and Conflation Entanglement in Crowdsourcing for En...Greenapps&web
Volunteer geographical information (VGI) either in the context of citizen science, active crowdsourcing and even passive crowdsourcing has been proven useful in various societal domains such as natural hazards, health status, disease epidemic and biological monitoring. Nonetheless, the variable degrees or unknown quality due to the crowdsourcing settings are still an obstacle for fully integrating these data sources in environmental studies and potentially in policy making. The data curation process in which a quality assurance (QA) is needed is often driven by the direct usability of the data collected within a data conflation process or data fusion (DCDF) combining the crowdsourced data into one view using potentially other data sources as well. Using two examples, namely land cover validation and inundation extent estimation, this paper discusses the close links between QA and DCDF in order to determine whether a disentanglement can be beneficial or not to a better understanding of the data curation process and to its methodology with respect to crowdsourcing data. Far from rejecting the usability quality criterion, the paper advocates for a decoupling of the QA process and the DCDF step as much as possible but still in integrating them within an approach analogous to a Bayesian paradigm.
ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume II-3/W5, 2015
The city of Zagreb since 2012, participates in the i-SCOPE project (interoperable Smart City services trough Open Platform for urban Ecosystems). i-SCOPE delivers an open platform on top of which it develops, three "smart city" services: optimization of energy consumption through a service for accurate assessment of solar energy potential and energy loss at building level, environmental monitoring through a real-time environmental noise mapping service leveraging citizen's involvement will who act as distributed sensors city- wide measuring noise levels through an application on their mobile phones and improved inclusion and personal mobility of aging and diversely able citizens through an accurate personal routing service. The students of Faculty of Geodesy University of Zagreb, who enrolled in the course Thematic Cartography, were actively involved in the voluntary data acquisition in order to monitor the noise in real time. In this paper are presented the voluntary acquisitioned data of noise level measurement in Zagreb through a mobile application named Noise Tube, which were used as the basis for creating the dynamic noise map.
Data Management for Urban Tree Monitoring – Software RequirementsGreenapps&web
The creation of this report was organized by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and the USDA Forest Service Philadelphia Field Station to explore how technology could be used to support the longterm systematic monitoring of urban trees by trained professionals, student interns and volunteers; assist with tree planting and maintenance data processes; and enable data to be organized and shared between researchers and practitioners. Interviews with researchers and forestry practitioners led to the development of user stories demonstrating how various individuals would interact with a software tool designed for long-term urban forestry monitoring. The information gathered from the interviews also resulted in a list of related system requirements for an ideal software monitoring system. Using that list of requirements, an evaluation of eleven existing software platforms in three general categories (proprietary forestry software, proprietary non-forestry specific software, and free and open source software) was completed and options listed for expanding the software to meet the system requirements. Data model and data integration workflows for a software system that met the majority of the system requirements were outlined, and PHS served as a test case for how such a system might work for tree planting and monitoring. The report concludes with a series of recommendations regarding cost and tech support, establishing an open data standard, creating a central data repository, and balancing collaboration and leadership.
Article by Dave Sammut. "Chemistry in Australia" magazine, August 2015
Riding on the ICT revolution, recruiting public help for research is on the rise, bringing benefits for both scientists and non-scientists
Location Gathering: An Evaluation of Smartphone-Based Geographic Mobile Field...Greenapps&web
Mobile field spatial data collection is the act of gathering attribute data, including spatial position, about features in a study area. A common method of field data collection is to use a handheld computing device attached to a global navigation satellite system in which attribute data are directly inputted into a database table. The market for mobile data collection systems was formerly dominated by bulky positioning systems and highly specialized software. However, recent years have seen the emergence and widespread adoption of highly customizable and user-friendly mobile smartphones and tablets. In this research, smartphone devices and smartphone data collection applications were tested and compared to a conventional survey-grade field data collection system to compare the capabilities and possible use cases of each. The test consisted of an evaluation of the accuracy and precision of several mobile devices, followed by a usability analysis of several contemporary data collection applications for the Android operating system. The results of the experiment showed that mobile devices and applications are still less powerful than dedicated conventional data collection systems. However, the performance gap is shrinking over time. The use cases for mobile devices as data collection systems are currently limited to general use and small to mid-size projects, but future development promises expanding capability.
Modern cities have an increasingly vital role to play in finding new ways to protect the environment. Now urban decision makers can use the City Performance Tool (CyPT) by Siemens to select bespoke technologies that offer their own cities maximum environmental and economic benefits.
Understanding citizen science and environmental monitoringGreenapps&web
Citizen science can broadly be defined as the involvement of volunteers in science. Over the past decade there has been a rapid increase in the number of citizen science initiatives. The breadth of environmental-based citizen science is immense. Citizen scientists have surveyed for and monitored a broad range of taxa, and also contributed data on weather and habitats reflecting an increase in engagement with a diverse range of observational science. Citizen science has taken many varied approaches from citizen-led (co-created) projects with local community groups to, more commonly, scientist-led mass participation initiatives that are open to all sectors of society. Citizen science provides an indispensable means of combining environmental research with environmental education and wildlife recording. Here we provide a synthesis of extant citizen science projects using a novel cross-cutting approach to objectively assess understanding of citizen science and environmental monitoring including:
1. Brief overview of knowledge on the motivations of volunteers.
2. Semi-systematic review of environmental citizen science projects in order to understand the variety of extant citizen science projects.
3. Collation of detailed case studies on a selection of projects to complement the semi-systematic review.
4. Structured interviews with users of citizen science and environmental monitoring data focussing on policy, in order to more fully understand how citizen science can fit into policy needs.
5. Review of technology in citizen science and an exploration of future opportunities.
One-in-two mobile owners in the US owns a smartphone, and many more own tablets. As most of these same consumers adapt their personal lifestyle to be “mobile first,” they expect their employers to be there to meet them. With the growing number of personal mobile devices in the hands of users, as well as increasingly remote organizations , there’s a great opportunity for organizations to increase productivity of their employees by allowing the use of these personal devices. Taking this on seems daunting, as IT has less ability to enforce a single standard than ever before. Not taking action, however, and ignoring this trend risks exposing corporate data to public clouds with no visibility on the part of IT. Enforcing a single standard will do a lot to serve all users partially, but none particularly well. "Power to the People: Identify and Empower Your Workforce," the new report by Altimeter Group analyst Chris Silva explores how companies are deploying mobile strategies to meet the the specific needs of their employees and the organization at large.
Change is everywhere. Technology has accelerated the change. Government needs to adapt its thinking and strategy to these new realities. This document is primer to decision makers to trigger their thinking in that direction. The future of Government is Open, Collaborative and Social.
Big data analytics and its impact on internet usersStruggler Ever
Big Data Analytic tools are promising techniques for a future prediction in many aspects of our life. The need for such predictive techniques has been exponentially increasing. even though, there are many challenges and risks are still of concern of researchers and decision makers, the outcome from the use of these techniques will considerable revolutionize our world to a new era of technology.
The concept of Big Data emphasizes the use of the complete data set to analyze process and predict various phenomena in the business world. This document describes the business uses of Big Data and outlines a Strategy for implementing Big Data analytics for Social Media
‘The State of Mobile Data for Social Good’ report is a collaboration between UN Global Pulse and the GSMA, the global mobile telecommunications industry association. The report, which identifies over 200 projects or studies leveraging mobile data for social good, aims to survey the landscape today, assess the current barriers to scale, and make recommendations for a way forward. It details some of the main challenges with using mobile data for social good and provides a set of actions that (i) can spur investment and use, (ii) ensure cohesion of efforts and of customer privacy and data protection frameworks and (iii) build technical capacity.
Thinking Small: Bringing the Power of Big Data to the MassesFlutterbyBarb
Thinking Small: Bringing the Power of Big Data to the Masses via Adobe with the results of improved access to insights, better user experiences, and greater productivity in the enterprise.
Serving the long tail white-paper (how to rationalize IT yet produce more apps)Newton Day Uploads
Businesses benefit from having fewer technology tools in their 'enterprise stack'. Yet CIOs still need to encourage innovation and employ software tools as an enabler for growth and cost reduction. This white paper focuses on the role of Situational Applications platforms to reduce the number of technology platforms whilst increasing opportunities to serve the long-tail of applications demands from individuals and communities of users whose needs are unfulfilled by core enterprise platforms.
Module 4/Unit 3 Digital Sustainability Tools for SMEsSMKCreations
This unit provides SMEs managers with a non exhaustive but still very rich list of possible tools, software and Apps that they or their teams can use in order to be more aware of how their environmental performance can be improved/become more sustainable through the use of digital tools.
Characterization and the Kinetics of drying at the drying oven and with micro...Open Access Research Paper
The objective of this work is to contribute to valorization de Nephelium lappaceum by the characterization of kinetics of drying of seeds of Nephelium lappaceum. The seeds were dehydrated until a constant mass respectively in a drying oven and a microwawe oven. The temperatures and the powers of drying are respectively: 50, 60 and 70°C and 140, 280 and 420 W. The results show that the curves of drying of seeds of Nephelium lappaceum do not present a phase of constant kinetics. The coefficients of diffusion vary between 2.09.10-8 to 2.98. 10-8m-2/s in the interval of 50°C at 70°C and between 4.83×10-07 at 9.04×10-07 m-8/s for the powers going of 140 W with 420 W the relation between Arrhenius and a value of energy of activation of 16.49 kJ. mol-1 expressed the effect of the temperature on effective diffusivity.
Artificial Reefs by Kuddle Life Foundation - May 2024punit537210
Situated in Pondicherry, India, Kuddle Life Foundation is a charitable, non-profit and non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to improving the living standards of coastal communities and simultaneously placing a strong emphasis on the protection of marine ecosystems.
One of the key areas we work in is Artificial Reefs. This presentation captures our journey so far and our learnings. We hope you get as excited about marine conservation and artificial reefs as we are.
Please visit our website: https://kuddlelife.org
Our Instagram channel:
@kuddlelifefoundation
Our Linkedin Page:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kuddlelifefoundation/
and write to us if you have any questions:
info@kuddlelife.org
WRI’s brand new “Food Service Playbook for Promoting Sustainable Food Choices” gives food service operators the very latest strategies for creating dining environments that empower consumers to choose sustainable, plant-rich dishes. This research builds off our first guide for food service, now with industry experience and insights from nearly 350 academic trials.
"Understanding the Carbon Cycle: Processes, Human Impacts, and Strategies for...MMariSelvam4
The carbon cycle is a critical component of Earth's environmental system, governing the movement and transformation of carbon through various reservoirs, including the atmosphere, oceans, soil, and living organisms. This complex cycle involves several key processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition, and carbon sequestration, each contributing to the regulation of carbon levels on the planet.
Human activities, particularly fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, have significantly altered the natural carbon cycle, leading to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and driving climate change. Understanding the intricacies of the carbon cycle is essential for assessing the impacts of these changes and developing effective mitigation strategies.
By studying the carbon cycle, scientists can identify carbon sources and sinks, measure carbon fluxes, and predict future trends. This knowledge is crucial for crafting policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions, enhancing carbon storage, and promoting sustainable practices. The carbon cycle's interplay with climate systems, ecosystems, and human activities underscores its importance in maintaining a stable and healthy planet.
In-depth exploration of the carbon cycle reveals the delicate balance required to sustain life and the urgent need to address anthropogenic influences. Through research, education, and policy, we can work towards restoring equilibrium in the carbon cycle and ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.
Willie Nelson Net Worth: A Journey Through Music, Movies, and Business Venturesgreendigital
Willie Nelson is a name that resonates within the world of music and entertainment. Known for his unique voice, and masterful guitar skills. and an extraordinary career spanning several decades. Nelson has become a legend in the country music scene. But, his influence extends far beyond the realm of music. with ventures in acting, writing, activism, and business. This comprehensive article delves into Willie Nelson net worth. exploring the various facets of his career that have contributed to his large fortune.
Follow us on: Pinterest
Introduction
Willie Nelson net worth is a testament to his enduring influence and success in many fields. Born on April 29, 1933, in Abbott, Texas. Nelson's journey from a humble beginning to becoming one of the most iconic figures in American music is nothing short of inspirational. His net worth, which estimated to be around $25 million as of 2024. reflects a career that is as diverse as it is prolific.
Early Life and Musical Beginnings
Humble Origins
Willie Hugh Nelson was born during the Great Depression. a time of significant economic hardship in the United States. Raised by his grandparents. Nelson found solace and inspiration in music from an early age. His grandmother taught him to play the guitar. setting the stage for what would become an illustrious career.
First Steps in Music
Nelson's initial foray into the music industry was fraught with challenges. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue his dreams, but success did not come . Working as a songwriter, Nelson penned hits for other artists. which helped him gain a foothold in the competitive music scene. His songwriting skills contributed to his early earnings. laying the foundation for his net worth.
Rise to Stardom
Breakthrough Albums
The 1970s marked a turning point in Willie Nelson's career. His albums "Shotgun Willie" (1973), "Red Headed Stranger" (1975). and "Stardust" (1978) received critical acclaim and commercial success. These albums not only solidified his position in the country music genre. but also introduced his music to a broader audience. The success of these albums played a crucial role in boosting Willie Nelson net worth.
Iconic Songs
Willie Nelson net worth is also attributed to his extensive catalog of hit songs. Tracks like "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," "On the Road Again," and "Always on My Mind" have become timeless classics. These songs have not only earned Nelson large royalties but have also ensured his continued relevance in the music industry.
Acting and Film Career
Hollywood Ventures
In addition to his music career, Willie Nelson has also made a mark in Hollywood. His distinctive personality and on-screen presence have landed him roles in several films and television shows. Notable appearances include roles in "The Electric Horseman" (1979), "Honeysuckle Rose" (1980), and "Barbarosa" (1982). These acting gigs have added a significant amount to Willie Nelson net worth.
Television Appearances
Nelson's char
Natural farming @ Dr. Siddhartha S. Jena.pptxsidjena70
A brief about organic farming/ Natural farming/ Zero budget natural farming/ Subash Palekar Natural farming which keeps us and environment safe and healthy. Next gen Agricultural practices of chemical free farming.
UNDERSTANDING WHAT GREEN WASHING IS!.pdfJulietMogola
Many companies today use green washing to lure the public into thinking they are conserving the environment but in real sense they are doing more harm. There have been such several cases from very big companies here in Kenya and also globally. This ranges from various sectors from manufacturing and goes to consumer products. Educating people on greenwashing will enable people to make better choices based on their analysis and not on what they see on marketing sites.
Growing the green apps ecosystem: best practices fos datar providers
1. GROWING THE GREEN APPS ECOSYSTEM:
BEST PRACTICES FOR DATA PROVIDERS
Open data strategies • Engagement tactics • Case studies • Developer interviews
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page1
2. About Brighter Planet
Brighter Planet is a sustainability tech company that helps organizations build brand, efficiency, and
revenue by integrating carbon and energy analytics into custom applications for managers, employees,
and customers. Since getting its start in a college classroom in 2005, Brighter Planet has partnered with
dozens of leading organizations, attracted hundreds of thousands of customers, performed tens of
millions of cloud-based carbon calculations, and prevented hundreds of millions of pounds of carbon
dioxide emissions. This work has been recognized with a Financial Times Social Innovation Award, a
TreeHugger Small Business of the Year award, and an EPA Best Overall Green Apps award, among
others.
Brighter Planet’s CM1 web service powers sustainability calculations inside client applications, helping
developers and organizations efficiently build green programs that harness hard scientific data to
inform decision making. Used by hobbyist programmers and Fortune 500 companies, the CM1 API
provides real-time, standards-certified impact calculations for activities ranging from travel to facilities
to product lifecycles.
For more information visit http://brighterplanet.com.
This paper was edited and reviewed for factual accuracy by Ethan McMahon, Office of
Environmental Information, U.S. EPA, in his capacity as an EPA employee.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page 2
The power of digital information to catalyze progress is limited only by the power of
the human mind. Data are not consumed by the ideas and innovations they spark but
are an endless fuel for creativity. A few bits, well found, can drive a giant leap of
creativity. The power of a data set is amplified by ingenuity through applications
unimagined by the authors and distant from the original field.
–Interagency Working Group on Digital Data, 2009
“
”
3. The green apps movement
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Green apps have enormous potential to mitigate
increasing threats to the environment by using
new data to power more sustainable decisions.
Data providers, such as government agencies,
can play a pivotal role in fostering a situation
that helps developers make green apps.
Two aspects of the ongoing global information
revolution are setting the conditions for
innovative software applications to create real
environmental good. First, the everyday
decisions that govern the behavior of individuals
and businesses are migrating to cyberspace.
Shopping, communication, navigation, social
interaction, banking, entertainment, utility
billing, and any number of other activities are
increasingly conducted or managed on
computers and smartphones. These activities
comprise the majority of human resource use
and environmental impact. Software architects
have more opportunity to influence them than
ever before.
Second, data available to application developers
is growing ever more abundant, more accessible,
and of higher quality. The world’s data volume is
doubling every 18 months1, and open data
movements are seeing more and more data
made available online from governments and
enterprises. This is true of environmental data
and of data related to many other activities that
can be cross-referenced to create new
environmental insights.
The real sustainability potential of these two
trends lies in using data to power informed
decisions. The app revolution is already
providing significant environmental benefits,
since many apps help users to be more efficient
by improving navigation, shopping for second-
hand goods, arranging carpools, or simply
eliminating the need for books, papers, and
gadgets by merging their functionality into
computers and phones. But the focus of this
paper is specifically on applications that connect
growing environmental data resources to the
digital platforms where everyday decisions are
now made.
Large organizations with control over
concentrated pools of resources are discovering
this potential, and are increasingly using
advanced software programs to manage their
actions for efficiency and environmental impact.
But the dispersed, decentralized actions of
individuals and small organizations are only just
beginning to be addressed by sustainability
applications. There is an abundance of
qualitative green claims and conservation tips in
mobile and web apps, but quantitative tools that
leverage hard data to drive environmentally-
informed decisions have yet to realize their
potential.
A community of green software developers
focused on this latter opportunity is beginning to
take root in the US, and data providers in
government and business have an important role
to play in fostering growth in this area. This
paper outlines best practices for the two major
roles these organizations can play in the green
apps ecosystem: ensuring their data provision is
as developer-friendly as possible, and engaging
the developer community to encourage
transformation of data into useful apps.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page 3
1 PricewaterhouseCoopers 2011
We think we can have a substantial impact on
making the world a better place by enabling
personal impact tracking.
–developer,
“
”
4. It is a common myth that the greatest data
challenge developers face is findability. In fact
data location is usually the easy part;
nevertheless data providers often—and with
good intentions—spend the bulk of their effort
publicizing their data. This is an understandable
pattern. Collecting, preparing, and publishing
data is an expensive and time-consuming
process that is most immediately rewarded (and
justified) by clicks, views, and downloads.
But long-term value depends on how engaged
developers become with the data, whether or
not they actually use it in an application, and
ultimately on their applications' value to society
and the environment.
This more comprehensive success relies on a
number of factors that pick up where publicity
leaves off. In the following pages we present
strategies for organizations to channel data
resources through green developers to create
real public good.
These open data- and developer engagement
best practices are informed by the results of
surveys and interviews we’ve conducted with
green developers, and our own experience with
environmental data and green apps at Brighter
Planet.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page 4
If you want the green apps community to
innovate and continue grow in a positive way,
we need access to resources, mentors, and
experts.
–developer,
“
”
5. Open data: a reassessment
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The open data movement has been around for
years, and has brought about major changes in
data practices at many key organizations. While
the basic tenets of open data have been
extensively documented elsewhere and aren’t
the focus of this paper, they do bear repeating
here. Open data is traditionally defined as:
• Free and not licensed in any way that
restricts use or redistribution.
• Accessible online, easily discoverable
through the organization’s website, and
available for download in bulk.
• Properly formatted in standard, non-
proprietary formats like CSV, XML , and
JSON that are readable by machines and
easily integrated into developers’ databases,
rather than in formats like PDF that aren’t
machine-readable, or closed formats
requiring licensed software.
• Primary raw source data that doesn’t
assume a particular use.
• Documented to ensure appropriate and
efficient use by as broad an audience as
possible.
• Current and timely to ensure relevance and
accuracy.
Amazing progress has been made in recent years
by government agencies and other institutions in
meeting the basic requirements of open data.
The next step in fostering innovative data-driven
applications is to reassess data provision policies
from two new perspectives: orientation and
lifecycle.
DATA ORIENTATION
Key takeaway: orient data files around topics,
not publications.
Current situation:
Even before the advent of electronic data
technologies, government agencies collected
and published data diverse topics. Data was
released through a scheduled (annual, quarterly,
monthly, etc.) series of print publications
available from the Government Printing Office
and other agencies.
As data has been moved online, this "publication
orientation" has continued. To use one popular
dataset as an example, the EPA's Fuel Economy
Guide is released annually, along with its print
version. There is undoubtedly value in this
orientation for certain audiences; the news
media, for example, could analyze a newly-
released annual guide to identify that model
year's most efficient vehicles. But it doesn’t help
developers.
Developer reality:
Developers can be most efficient with topic-
oriented data. To developers it’s not relevant if
the data was historically delivered in regular
publications. Rather, the developer needs the
data to drive her application.
With the fuel economy example, imagine a
developer building an app intended to help used
car buyers choose vehicles by looking at the total
cost of ownership (purchase price plus ongoing
fuel costs) rather than just upfront purchase
price. To inform this application, the developer
needs to feed it fuel economy data that covers all
used cars on the market. Much to her chagrin,
the current process involves downloading a
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page5
The biggest challenge to date has been
extracting meaningful, structured data, and
turning it into valuable information or
analytics.
–developer,
“
”
6. separate file for each model year, resolving
conflicting data formats and calculation
methodologies, and assembling her own unified
database. This hurdle is present throughout the
open data ecosystem and consistently thwarts
the efforts of green developers.
Solution:
Data providers should orient their data files
around topics, not publications. To continue the
fuel economy example, the Fuel Economy Guide
website should provide a single data file listing
all vehicle models since 1985 (adding a "model
year" column). When an annual Guide is
released, additional records are simply added to
this file. The URL to this file should never
change, so that developers and their apps know
where to refer to it.
DATA LIFECYCLE
Key takeaway: automate and facilitate two-way
data error correction and updates.
Current situation:
Data publications will always contain errors of
some sort. Traditionally, print publications will
be followed by one or more "errata" documents
that enumerate these errors and provide
corrections.
In many cases this tradition has persisted in the
context of electronic data: an initial file is
published, followed by one or more errata files
that make corrections to the original data. In
other cases, data providers integrate corrections
into the master data and publish new, corrected
data files, often incrementing a version number
or adding a suffix like "corrected" to the filename.
Data updates—new publications of data—work
similarly. A data provider will post a new file to
its website and link to it from a "news" page or
list of data files.
In all of these cases, the data provider requires
that the developer to regularly check a website
for revised data publications.
The reverse process—developers reporting
errors in and suggesting corrections to a data
provider's publication—is often equally
cumbersome. When an invitation for submission
is made, it often directs developers to a general
email inbox with little or no guidance about
reporting format or convention.
Developer reality:
Because the challenges outlined above, many
green developers choose to retrieve data onve
and never return for errata, corrected versions,
or subsequent publications. The result is that
new corrected data are not used, even if data
providers made the effort to revise and release
it, and derivative apps and decisions are
incorrect.
Enthusiastic developers will monitor data
provider websites for corrections and
publications. Some use automated monitoring
tools to heuristically recognize notifications of
new data, but most will make personal visits to
determine availability. Either way, one can
describe this effort as "polling"—frequent trips,
nearly all fruitless, with the occasional "Glad I
checked!" moment.
Upon finding posted corrections, the developer's
response will depend on the provider's method
of delivery:
• When errata are posted, they are often in
narrative (prose) form, requiring
interpretation and manual application by the
developer. Machine-readable errata are rare
and, when present, still require manual
examination to determine how to apply
them.
• New versions of complete files, while
nominally requiring less manual effort (i.e.,
the developer can simply re-run her import
procedure), present their own challenges.
Consider again the hypothetical fuel
economy app described in the previous
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page 6
7. section and imagine that the developer has
included a "my options" feature, allowing the
user to build a list of different automobiles
she is considering for easy access. In
software, this list would be persisted by
recording the "ID" of each automobile record
in its fuel economy database. But if an
updated data file is imported that changes
the order or number of records, these IDs
will no longer match what the user chose,
breaking the application. Recognizing this
danger, the developer is forced to look for
differences between the old and new files,
identify the changes, and apply them one-by-
one to the original data.
A developer who identifies an error in a
provider's data is similarly vexed. The easiest
route is just to fix the error in her local import of
the data—this is known as "forking" because
from that point forward, the developer's copy of
the data has diverged from the provider's. An
altruistic developer might choose instead to
report the error to the data provider and await a
data update—a process that could take weeks or
months.
Solution:
Solving the lifecycle challenge involves three key
practices—correction, notification, and error
submission.
First is the process of correcting published data.
In either case—errata or new file versions—the
key practice is “keying” the data. Just as every
U.S. citizen has a social security number, and
every house an address, every record of data
should have a unique key that never changes.
To see how this solves this problem, consider the
errata method: the data provider releases an
errata file in the same format as the original data
file, with one row for each corrected record. The
record's "key" is always provided—this allows the
developer's automation toolset to identify the
record in her local database that is being
corrected. Then, elements of that record that
have changed are provided in the errata file. This
way, the toolset knows which details to correct.
A consistent key also enables automation of the
"updated file" method. Returning to the fuel
economy app example, the app uses the data
provider's established key as the ID stored in the
"my options" list. That way, when the data is re-
imported, the list is still valid, because the
unique ID of the automobile never changes.
In some cases, keying systems already exist—the
International Air Transport Association defines
airport codes, the United States Postal Service
provides zip codes, etc. Where a universal keying
system does not exist, the data provider should
define one— they are the best equipped to
handle this task. Data providers that do create
their own keying systems should take care to
provide "conversion" dictionaries to match up
their own universal keying system with any
partial systems already in the wild.
Second is the means by which developers
become notified of new data. Having solved the
keying challenge, notifications of errata
publication vs. update file release can be made in
the same way; in either case, the developer's
toolset can be configured to retrieve the new
data and incorporate it automatically. If a
provider abides by the practice described above
in Orientation, the process of publishing new
data is equivalent to the "new version"
correction process, since brand new data is
simply added to a single master file.
The notification process itself depends on the
provider's method of publishing corrections:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page 7
The most difficult part was programmatically
reading data from [the provider’s] website.
It's a group of very old/slow web applications
with no API and off the wall conventions for
sending form data.
–developer, SmarterMeter
“
”
8. • If a data provider adopts the single-file-per-
topic practice described in the Data
Orientation section, and issues corrections
by updating that file, machine-readable
notification is unnecessary. The developer
will simply set her toolset's automated
import process to run at regular intervals
(hourly, daily, etc.)—this process will import
new and correct data soon after it is
published.
• If the provider prefers to release errata, the
developer's toolset will not automatically
know where to look for these files. The
provider can either provide an RSS/Atom
feed linking to new errata files (which the
developer's toolset will poll regularly) or
establish a PubSubHubBub subscription
point for each master data file they publish
(the developer will subscribe her toolset to
this endpoint which will thereafter receive
notifications whenever new errata are
available).
Third is facilitating the submission of errors from
developers. The key concept here is to enable
the developer to apply the correction to her own
local copy of the data, while also easily
submitting it for inclusion into the provider's file.
The most straightforward way to do this is to
accept submission of errata files, just as they
would be issued by the provider itself. The
developer can apply the file to her own data, and
the provider can either issue it publicly (after
review) or apply it to the master file for update
release.
CASE STUDY: DATA.GOV
Data providers sometimes try to help developers
but don’t always solve the right problems. In
early 2009, the U.S. federal government's first
Chief Information Officer announced the
creation of Data.gov, a single-source repository
for government-produced data. But as many
green developers will tell you, the lack of a single
repository for all data has never been their
greatest challenge. (Developers have a much
harder time understanding data than finding it.)
Developers are accustomed to identifying
authorities and assessing their publications for
desired data. What's more, Data.gov currently
weighs in at over 250,000 datasets, making
search the only practical navigation tool—a
process that, conducted with Google, would
often just as easily turn up the data at its original
location.
Data.gov does do an excellent job delivering data
in consistent formats. But this standardization
comes at a cost: when data is distanced from its
original compilers, subsequent challenges in
Orientation and Lifecycle will only intensify.
With budget cuts looming on the horizon,
Data.gov's place within the broader electronic
government effort may be evolving. Leaders
could consider a decidedly advisory role for the
organization, assisting agencies with applying
the best practices discussed here and elsewhere
to their own data publications. As an "internal
consulting firm," Data.gov could increase value
throughout the government data ecosystem
without distancing the data from its original
sources.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page 8
9. Engaging green developers
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Data availability and openness is critical, but
innovation in this space also depends on a
community of engaged software developers with
the motivation, knowledge, resources, and
audience to create compelling new apps. Data
providers, as well as players in other segments of
the app ecosystem, can help to propel the
success of sustainability applications by working
to engage developers and users through a
variety of initiatives.
Contests
Contests are a proven way to drive creative use
of data resources and development of green
apps. While prize money is an obvious motivator,
publicity, endorsements, and reputation can also
inspire competition. The scope of contests can
be tailored to the goals of the organizer (e.g.
open to the public, to students in a particular
class, or to clients of a certain company), as can
the deliverables (e.g. apps developed, new users
won, ideas generated, votes garnered).
Action: Don't treat participating developers like
your own private tech team—establish
significant prizes or incentives.
Case study: EPA Apps for the Environment
Challenge. In one of the top contests ever run on
the Challenge.gov platform, the EPA engaged
scores of developers across the country who
generated many innovative apps that use
environmental data. They organized a contest
that included both public voting and expert
judging, and motivated entrants with recognition
rather than prize money.
Hackathons
Hackathons bring groups of coders together for
short periods of time to collaborate on software
projects. The concept has been around for years,
and it’s a tried-and-true tactic for engaging
developers and inspiring innovative work. The
goals and parameters set by hackathon
organizers can range from focused to open-
ended depending on the objectives, but the
tradition is to leave coders as much leeway as
possible to encourage creativity.
Action: Partner with local programming
organizations, develop participation incentives
(great food, sponsored activities, etc.), include a
strong theme, provider access to data experts,
and publicize heavily.
Case study: EcoHack NYC. Nearly 100
developers, designers, and scientists came
together for a day in New York this month to
collaborate on environmentally-oriented apps,
helping to deepen network connections across
organizations and produce the seeds for
numerous innovative green projects.
Funding
One challenge facing the creation of data-driven
apps for individuals and small organizations is
economic. Many of the potential apps that could
provide major sustainability benefits for users
may not be viable as business plans, so
organizations with an interest in green app
development can help overcome this hurdle by
sponsoring the creation of apps. Grants,
fellowships, and one-time commissions can all be
viable funding models for software developers.
The funds could come from governments, non-
profits, donations, or by aggregating the
demands of multiple users.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page 9
Communal Hackathons [get] people of different
backgrounds to create something together—
not just computer hackers, but designers,
planners, city employees, students, writers, and
others converging on a single idea.
–developer,
“
”
10. Action: Recognize that third-party apps using
your data could potentially advance your
organization's purpose better than any in-house
program could. Offer grants/fellowships that can
be rapidly awarded with little to no red tape—
developers gain and lose interest quickly.
Case study: Summer of Smart. Summer of Smart,
an initiative that brings together citizens and
government to address urban issues in San
Francisco, has supported coding efforts by
funding residencies and development fees
associated with social apps.
Promoting existing apps
The success of the green apps movement
depends not just on the creation of innovative
environmental apps, but also on their market
penetration. Publicity is key in a media
environment flooded with hundreds of
thousands of software applications, and every
organization rooting for the success of green
apps has an important role to play in helping to
promote the apps it supports. Giving coverage to
other developers’ green apps through blogs,
social media accounts, and other channels can
help an organization engage the developer
community and support sustainability while also
building its own brand.
Action: Don't ask developers for an app that's
already available—closely monitor the green
apps space to identify outstanding works and
publicize them generously.
Developer hubs
Another tactic for engaging developers is to
bring the conversation to them on their own turf.
Sites like GitHub that host developer coding and
communication are a great place for data
providers to build awareness and networks by
commenting on projects and following key
developers. Encourage developers to collaborate
with ideas, code, functionalities, and user
interfaces. It’s often better for teams to combine
their skills than to compete with each other.
Action: Create an account on GitHub for your
organization. Get in-house developers or
volunteers to follow related repositories,
comment on commits, and offer patches via "pull
requests" when your data changes and a
corresponding modification is necessary.
Support
Data providers should be readily accessible to
developers. Simply having clearly stated points
of contact for each specific data set, so that the
human side of the organization is visible and
questions can be easily asked, is a great start. A
more engaging option is to open an Internet
Relay Chat (IRC) channel to provide data support
by allowing developers and data providers to
chat in real time via online text.
Action: Publish the email address of the
maintainer with every data set you provide,
along with a phone number if possible. Create a
#yourorganization channel on Freenode's IRC
network that's passively monitored by at least
one employee during business hours.
APIs
While not a requirement for open data, web
services built to easily serve data directly to
applications are a great way to engage and
empower developers. Application programming
interfaces (APIs) are a commonly used tool that
let developers integrate with data sources to
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page 10
It will be challenging to build partnerships that
generate revenue, since we are building a new
product without much precedent.
–developer,
“
”
[My biggest challenge was] access to subject
matter experts when I had questions about
the meaning and impact of the data.
–developer,
“
”
11. make real-time, automated data requests as their
apps are in use. They can save developers an
enormous amount of time importing, curating,
and processing data, or can enable apps that
would’t otherwise be possible.
Action: Especially if your organization’s data
changes frequently, consider exposing it via a
well-documented API that uses open standards.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page 11
12. Conclusions
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The emerging green developer community has
the potential to produce a new class of
environmental innovators. The passion and
creativity of a single developer can be magnified
exponentially as her app gains users and begins
to influence the billions of small decisions we all
make every day. These small steps can add up to
big change.
Data owners, such federal government agencies,
have an important and unique role in making this
a reality. They can create and maintain
relationships with developers that help them
truly understand developer needs. They can
provide data experts to ensure that data
developers use data properly. And they can also
provide incentives that encourage developers to
make apps that help the public.
To summarize the advice to data providers in this
paper: watch developers carefully, and see what
you can do to help. Take note of the things that
every individual developer must do to your data
before it can be used. Follow your error
reporting process from end to end and identify
failures. Align your organization's goals with
clear developer incentives. Above all, provide
specific contacts for each dataset, and make
them available via channels developers already
comfortably use.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
! page 12