In partnership with UN-Habitat, Ericsson has carried out a social impact assessment of the use of Minecraft as a community participation tool in public space design in Kirtipur, Nepal.
This toolkit provides the methodology for focusing the data-gathering power of existing communities, increasing their capacity to work together and building awareness of the potential of the data created by this work. It aims to help citizens identify and articulate their own problems using the supplementing data in their communities.
Paper: A review of the value of social media in countrywide disaster risk red...Neil Dufty
This input paper was developed for the HFA Thematic Review and as an input to the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 (GAR15). It examines the current and potential value of social media in raising risk awareness and forming communities of practice before a disaster happens.
A presentation from the Online Deliberation conference in Leeds. Its intended use is jump-starting the idea of developing a "Leeds Declaration" that draws attention to online (and offline) deliberation as an important tool for civic society.
This toolkit provides the methodology for focusing the data-gathering power of existing communities, increasing their capacity to work together and building awareness of the potential of the data created by this work. It aims to help citizens identify and articulate their own problems using the supplementing data in their communities.
Paper: A review of the value of social media in countrywide disaster risk red...Neil Dufty
This input paper was developed for the HFA Thematic Review and as an input to the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 (GAR15). It examines the current and potential value of social media in raising risk awareness and forming communities of practice before a disaster happens.
A presentation from the Online Deliberation conference in Leeds. Its intended use is jump-starting the idea of developing a "Leeds Declaration" that draws attention to online (and offline) deliberation as an important tool for civic society.
This keynote presentation was delivered by Tiago Peixoto from the World Bank 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
The Global Knowledge Center Network (GKCN) with The Global University System ...Ed Dodds
Acknowledgements: The author’s sincere gratitude goes to extraordinary cooperation and help for
our projects given by Dr. Hans Rudolf Herren of Millennium Institute, Profs. Victor Lawrence and Ali Mostashari of Stevens Institute of Technology, Dr. Greg Cole of the University of Tennessee, Mr. Francisco Bozzano-Barnes, Mr. Daniel P. Molina and many others.
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E.
Chairman, GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association
in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA)
43-23 Colden Street, #9L, Flushing, NY 11355-5913
Tel: 718-939-0928, Cel: 646-589-1730
takutsumi0@gmail.com, http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/
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Secretariat, Emerging GLOBAL UNIVERSITY SYSTEM (GUS) CONSORTIUM
Chairman: Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D.; Vice Chairman: Louis Padulo, Ph.D.;
Board Members: David Johnson, Ph.D., Peter Knight, Ph.D., Joseph Pelton, Ph.D., Tapio Varis, Ph.D.; Treasurer: Hisae Utsumi
social media in disaster rescue operations post disaster management and futur...JibinShajiMukalepara
the use of social media in disaster rescue operations, post disaster management and future surveillance. this paper helps understand how social media can be used to meet the emergency crisis
Enhancing transparency and accountability mechanisms that directly empower citizens to better participate in decision-making processes of government and international donors is an imperative to achieving better and more sustainable development results on the ground. This paper analyzes the emerging Open Development Paradigm and investigates to what extent such a new approach towards citizen-centered development can make development programs more effective, responsive and inclusive. It provides concrete case studies of open governance programs that enhance the transparency and accountability of development agencies and foster the collaboration among all development actors in order to achieve better development outcomes and enhance the well-being of the poor.
Crowd-Sourced Mapping for Open GovernmentMicah Altman
The Program on Information Science is pleased to continue a series of brown bag lunch talks addressing topics from preservation storage technology, to University Library hiring practices, to "3D Printing," with speakers from MIT and beyond.
Title: Crowd Source Mapping for Open Government
Discussant: Dr. Micah Altman, Director of Research, MIT Libraries
This talk reflects on lessons learned about open data, public participation, technology, and data management from conducting crowd-sourced election mapping efforts.
Information & Communication Technology key to enable sustainable urbanizationEricsson
For the first time in human history more people live in cities than in rural areas. By 2050 it is expected that 7 out of 10 people will be urbanites, with the majority of growth occurring in cities of the Global South. A new report co-written with UN Habitat shows how technology can enable economically, socially and environmentally sustainable cities, with emphasis on solving the challenge of access to water.
Social Media for public administrations: opportunities and challengesAlessandro Lovari
My presentation at the European Project eCitizens II, event organized by Municipality of Bologna, Italy. My speech was about the role of social media for public communication, focus on the potentialities of these platforms for administrations. Moreover I also discuss some empirical outputs coming from some studies I did with some colleagues. In the last part I discussed the managerial implications and guidelines
This keynote presentation was delivered by Tiago Peixoto from the World Bank 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
The Global Knowledge Center Network (GKCN) with The Global University System ...Ed Dodds
Acknowledgements: The author’s sincere gratitude goes to extraordinary cooperation and help for
our projects given by Dr. Hans Rudolf Herren of Millennium Institute, Profs. Victor Lawrence and Ali Mostashari of Stevens Institute of Technology, Dr. Greg Cole of the University of Tennessee, Mr. Francisco Bozzano-Barnes, Mr. Daniel P. Molina and many others.
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E.
Chairman, GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association
in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA)
43-23 Colden Street, #9L, Flushing, NY 11355-5913
Tel: 718-939-0928, Cel: 646-589-1730
takutsumi0@gmail.com, http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/
Google Profiles <https: />2312
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Secretariat, Emerging GLOBAL UNIVERSITY SYSTEM (GUS) CONSORTIUM
Chairman: Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D.; Vice Chairman: Louis Padulo, Ph.D.;
Board Members: David Johnson, Ph.D., Peter Knight, Ph.D., Joseph Pelton, Ph.D., Tapio Varis, Ph.D.; Treasurer: Hisae Utsumi
social media in disaster rescue operations post disaster management and futur...JibinShajiMukalepara
the use of social media in disaster rescue operations, post disaster management and future surveillance. this paper helps understand how social media can be used to meet the emergency crisis
Enhancing transparency and accountability mechanisms that directly empower citizens to better participate in decision-making processes of government and international donors is an imperative to achieving better and more sustainable development results on the ground. This paper analyzes the emerging Open Development Paradigm and investigates to what extent such a new approach towards citizen-centered development can make development programs more effective, responsive and inclusive. It provides concrete case studies of open governance programs that enhance the transparency and accountability of development agencies and foster the collaboration among all development actors in order to achieve better development outcomes and enhance the well-being of the poor.
Crowd-Sourced Mapping for Open GovernmentMicah Altman
The Program on Information Science is pleased to continue a series of brown bag lunch talks addressing topics from preservation storage technology, to University Library hiring practices, to "3D Printing," with speakers from MIT and beyond.
Title: Crowd Source Mapping for Open Government
Discussant: Dr. Micah Altman, Director of Research, MIT Libraries
This talk reflects on lessons learned about open data, public participation, technology, and data management from conducting crowd-sourced election mapping efforts.
Information & Communication Technology key to enable sustainable urbanizationEricsson
For the first time in human history more people live in cities than in rural areas. By 2050 it is expected that 7 out of 10 people will be urbanites, with the majority of growth occurring in cities of the Global South. A new report co-written with UN Habitat shows how technology can enable economically, socially and environmentally sustainable cities, with emphasis on solving the challenge of access to water.
Social Media for public administrations: opportunities and challengesAlessandro Lovari
My presentation at the European Project eCitizens II, event organized by Municipality of Bologna, Italy. My speech was about the role of social media for public communication, focus on the potentialities of these platforms for administrations. Moreover I also discuss some empirical outputs coming from some studies I did with some colleagues. In the last part I discussed the managerial implications and guidelines
Thrilled to release our five-year report from 2018 to 2023. This report captures our journey in fostering sustainable development, showcasing the impact of our initiatives and the collaborations that have driven positive change globally.
Throughout these five years, the Local Pathways Fellowship has been at the forefront of nurturing emerging leaders passionate about effecting positive change in their communities. The report provides an in-depth overview of the diverse initiatives undertaken, highlighting the multifaceted impact across various spheres of sustainable development.
From empowering local communities to advocating for environmental stewardship, the report delves into the myriad ways our fellows have spearheaded initiatives, fostering innovation and resilience. Their dedication and ingenuity have led to tangible outcomes, influencing policies, driving awareness, and creating lasting change on a local and global scale.
The report also serves as a narrative of collaboration, showcasing partnerships forged with organizations, governmental bodies, and grassroots movements. These collaborations have amplified the impact of our programs, enabling us to reach new horizons and broaden the scope of our endeavours.
Moreover, the report sheds light on the milestones achieved, lessons learned, and the roadmap ahead. It encapsulates the collective efforts, challenges, and triumphs that have shaped the journey of the Local Pathways Fellowship over these transformative years.
Including the Excluded Can ICTs empower poor communities? Towards an alternat...Soren Gigler
nder which conditions can information and communications technologies (ICTs) empower poor communities? This paper investigates this question, focusing on the role of information and communications technologies in promoting indigenous people's development in Latin America. First, the paper analyzes key factors under which information and knowledge can be instrumental and substantive for the empowerment of marginalized groups. Hereby, we argue that improved access to information and ICT skills, similar to the enhancement of a person's writing and reading skills, can enhance poor peoples' capabilities to make strategic life choices and to achieve the lifestyle they value. Furthermore, the paper develops an alternative evaluation framework for ICT interventions based on Sen's capability approach. This framework places, in contrast to the current discourse around the "digital divide", the human development of the poor and not technology at the center of the analysis. The paper concludes that there does not exist a direct and causal relationship between ICTs and empowerment, but that in fact this relationship is being shaped by a dynamic, multi-dimensional interrelationship between technology and the social context.
The main goal of this book chapter is to present a framework for analysis of online participation platforms. Recently, the whole range of various participation platforms emerged and there is a need for a model, which would enable to analyze their specific characteristics. The framework presented in this chapter, the participatory cube, is based on models proposed by Fung (2006) and Ferber et al. (2007). It consists of three axes which include interactive communication, access to space of participation, and decision power. These three categories play a major role in the analysis of the implemented study cases. The study cases were taken from two countries; Germany and Brazil. We concentrated on the selection of a variety of different examples of technologies that support to give voice to citizens either as an actor or as principal interlocutor of civil society organizations, aiming to offer, inform or try new ways and solutions to problems and issues raised by contemporary urban life. The participatory cube served as the model for the comparison of the selected cases. We conclude the article with a discussion about the framewok and further research directions.
ATA 2017: Languages and Open Data, Trinaistic, E. and Cano, L.M. Eliana Trinaistic
This presentation shared at the American Translator Conference (ATA) in 2017 explores relationship between language services and smart cities indicators, the gaps and opportunities, and the role of language services professionals as active mediators of access to critical information and services in smart cities. #MigrahackTO
Semantic Social Mashup approach for Designing Citizen DiplomacyAmit Sheth
Amit Sheth, "Semantic Social Mashup approach for Designing Citizen Diplomacy," position paper/talk at NSF Workshop on Designing Citizen Diplomacy, Irvine, CA, January 27-28, 2011.
Are there ways in which we could use new smart technologies to aid the shift to a participative democracy rather then merely increasing passive consumption?
This handbook will serve as a guide for use by municipal leaders in future public space projects laying out 10 best practices for public space projects. These 10 facets of the Placemaking approach illustrate the process that PPS and UN-Habitat have undertaken together, and demonstrate the effectiveness of such global partnerships in sustainable urban development through networks such as SUD-Net.
UN-Habitat has been developing a vision for public space. PPS has taken this vision as a starting point and has expanded it to incorporate case study narratives describing the impact of the Placemaking process in nearly a dozen cities throughout the Global South. The goal is to bring Placemaking to bear in the development of public space on a global scale.
UN-Habitat plans to use this document as a template for other public space projects and will share these tools, examples, and processes with other cities for them to then adopt for their own public space projects. This is a draft that will continue to evolve and be expanded over time to incorporate the outcomes of additional joint Placemaking initiatives.
Governance is about the processes by which public policy decisions are made and implemented. ICT can become a catalyst to improve governance in towns and cities and help increase the levels of participation, efficiency and accountability in public urban policies, provided that the tools are appropriately used, accessible and affordable. This book examines how ICT enabled governance is applied to urban policy design and highlights case studies, tools, methodologies, all reflecting current challenges and potential for the use of ICT in governance processes in cities. See chapter: Dumb Phones, Smart Youth: Impact of ICT and Mobile Platforms on Youth Engagement in Local Governance
E-participatory Approaches in Urban Design
* 1 Araf Öykü Türken Image result for research orcid, 2 Assoc. Prof. Dr Engin Eyüp Eyuboğlu Image result for research orcid
1 Department of City and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Yildiz Technical University, Turkey
2 Department of City and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Email 1: araf.turken@gmail.com, Email 2: eyuboglu@itu.edu.tr
ARTICLE INFO:
Article History:
Received 9 June 2020
Accepted 20 Augustus 2020
Available online 8 September 2020
Keywords:
E-participation;
Public Participation;
Urban Design.
ABSTRACT D:\My Journal\papers\Vol 4 ISSUE 1\1 senem sadri Turkey\check for updates2020ijcua.tif
The phenomenon of planning involving citizen’s participation in planning literature has been from the second half of the 20th century. Indeed, different methods and techniques have been used in the process. However, participatory practices are time-consuming and negotiations are tiresome. Accordingly, the integration of developing digital technologies into participatory processes has been seen as a potential to reach large audiences and provide time-space independence. Within the scope of this research, a detailed literature review was done regarding e-participation, and ten (10) examples representing the upper levels at the ladder of participation were examined within the context of the project, participation, and socio-technical criteria. SWOT analyzes were structured by grouping similar applications, and current trends for the use of e-participation in urban design have been revealed. The analysis showed that citizens e participation- participation tend to allow citizen design or location-based interaction, playful interfaces and game elements which can be sources for encouragement.
JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY URBAN AFFAIRS (2021), 5(2), 169-182.
Writing Sample 2 -Bridging the Divide: Enhancing Public Engagement in Urban D...Rahsaan L. Browne
Bridging the Divide: Enhancing Public Engagement in Urban Development
This paper delves into the critical role of public engagement in urban development, emphasizing the need for community involvement to create sustainable and inclusive urban spaces. It discusses the motivations behind public participation, the challenges faced in engaging diverse communities, and the strategies for overcoming these barriers. The paper also highlights successful case studies and explores the use of technology and effective communication to facilitate broader and more meaningful engagement. By examining these elements, the paper underscores the importance of bridging the gap between planners and residents to ensure urban development reflects the collective vision and needs of the community.
Ericsson Technology Review: Versatile Video Coding explained – the future of ...Ericsson
Continuous innovation in 5G networks is creating new opportunities for video-enabled services for both consumers and industries, particularly in areas such as the Internet of Things and the automotive sector. These new services are expected to rely on continued video evolution toward 8K resolutions and beyond, and on new strict requirements such as low end-to-end latency for video delivery.
The latest Ericsson Technology Review article explores recent developments in video compression technology and introduces Versatile Video Coding (VVC) – a significant improvement on existing video codecs that we think deserves to be widely deployed in the market. VVC has the potential both to enhance the user experience for existing video services and offer an appropriate performance level for new media services over 5G networks.
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL REALITIES
The key role that connectivity plays in our personal and professional lives has never been more obvious than it is today. Thankfully, despite the sudden, dramatic changes in our behavior earlier this year, networks all around the world have proven to be highly resilient. At Ericsson, we’re committed to ensuring that the network platform continues to improve its ability to meet the full range of societal needs as well as supporting enterprises to stay competitive in the long term. We know that greater agility and speed will be essential.
This issue of our magazine includes several articles that explain Ericsson’s approach to future network development, including my annual technology trends article. The seven trends on this year’s list serve as a critical cornerstone in the development of a common Ericsson vision of what future networks will provide, and what sort of technology evolution will be required to get there.
ERIK EKUDDEN
Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Group Function Technology
Ericsson Technology Review: Integrated access and backhaul – a new type of wi...Ericsson
Today millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum is valued mainly because it can be used to achieve high speeds and capacities when combined with spectrum assets below 6GHz. But it can provide other benefits as well. For example, mmWave spectrum makes it possible to use a promising new wireless backhaul solution for 5G New Radio – integrated access and backhaul (IAB) – to densify networks with multi-band radio sites at street level.
This Ericsson Technology Review article explains the IAB concept at a high level, presenting its architecture and key characteristics, as well as examining its advantages and disadvantages compared with other backhaul technologies. It concludes with a presentation of the promising results of several simulations that tested IAB as a backhaul option for street sites in both urban and suburban areas.
Ericsson Technology Review: Critical IoT connectivity: Ideal for time-critica...Ericsson
Critical Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity is an emerging concept in IoT development that enables more efficient and innovative services across a wide range of industries by reliably meeting time-critical communication needs. Mobile network operators (MNOs) are in the perfect position to enable these types of time-critical services due to their ability to leverage advanced 5G networks in a systematic and cost-effective way.
This Ericsson Technology Review article explores the benefits of Critical IoT connectivity in areas such as industrial control, mobility automation, remote control and real-time media. It also provides an overview of key network technologies and architectures. It concludes with several case studies based on two deployment scenarios – wide area and local area – that illustrate how well suited 5G spectrum assets are for Critical IoT use cases.
5G New Radio has already evolved in important ways since the 3GPP standardized Release 15 in late 2018. The significant enhancements in Releases 16 and 17 are certain to play a critical role in expanding both the availability and the applicability of 5G NR in both industry and public services in the near future.
This Ericsson Technology Review article summarizes the most notable new developments in releases 16 and 17, grouped into two categories: enhancements to existing features and features that address new verticals and deployment scenarios. This analysis and our insights about the future beyond Release 17 is an important component of our work to help mobile network operators and other stakeholders better understand and plan for the many new 5G NR opportunities that are on the horizon.
Ericsson Technology Review: The future of cloud computing: Highly distributed...Ericsson
The growing interest in cloud computing scenarios that incorporate both distributed computing capabilities and heterogeneous hardware presents a significant opportunity for network operators. With a vast distributed system (the telco network) already in place, the telecom industry has a significant advantage in the transition toward distributed cloud computing.
This Ericsson Technology Review article explores the future of cloud computing from the perspective of network operators, examining how they can best manage the complexity of future cloud deployments and overcome the technical challenges. Redefining cloud to expose and optimize the use of heterogeneous resources is not straightforward, but we are confident that our use cases and proof points validate our approach and will gain traction both in the telecommunications community and beyond.
Ericsson Technology Review: Optimizing UICC modules for IoT applicationsEricsson
Commonly referred to as SIM cards, the universal integrated circuit cards (UICCs) used in all cellular devices today are in fact complex and powerful minicomputers capable of much more than most Internet of Things (IoT) applications require. Until a simpler and less costly alternative becomes available, action must be taken to ensure that the relatively high price of UICC modules does not hamper IoT growth.
This Ericsson Technology Review article presents two mid-term approaches. The first is to make use of techniques that reduce the complexity of using UICCs in IoT applications, while the second is to use the UICCs’ excess capacity for additional value generation. Those who wish to exploit the potential of the UICCs to better support IoT applications have the opportunity to use them as cryptographic storage, to run higher-layer protocol stacks and/or as supervisory entities, for example.
Mobile data traffic volumes are expected to increase by a factor of four by 2025, and 45 percent of that traffic will be carried by 5G networks. To deliver on customer expectations in this rapidly changing environment, communication service providers must overcome challenges in three key areas: building sufficient capacity, resolving operational inefficiencies through automation and artificial intelligence, and improving service differentiation. This issue of ETR magazine provides insights about how to tackle all three.
Ericsson Technology Review: 5G BSS: Evolving BSS to fit the 5G economyEricsson
The 5G network evolution has opened up an abundance of new business opportunities for communication service providers (CSPs) in verticals such as industrial automation, security, health care and automotive. In order to successfully capitalize on them, CSPs must have business support systems (BSS) that are evolved to manage complex value chains and support new business models. Optimized information models and a high degree of automation are required to handle huge numbers of devices through open interfaces.
This Ericsson Technology Review article explains how 5G-evolved BSS can help CSPs transform themselves from traditional network developers to service enablers for 5G and the Internet of Things, and ultimately to service creators with the ability to collaborate beyond telecoms and establish lucrative digital value systems.
Ericsson Technology Review: 5G migration strategy from EPS to 5G systemEricsson
For many operators, the introduction of the 5G System (5GS) to provide wide-area services in existing Evolved Packet System (EPS) deployments is a necessary step toward creating a full-service, future-proof 5GS in the longer term. The creation of a combined 4G-5G network requires careful planning and a holistic strategy, as the introduction of 5GS has significant impacts across all network domains, including the RAN, packet core, user data and policies, and services, as well as affecting devices and backend systems.
This Ericsson Technology Review article provides an overview of all the aspects that operators need to consider when putting together a robust EPS-to-5GS migration strategy and provides guidance about how they can adapt the transition to address their particular needs per domain.
Ericsson Technology Review: Creating the next-generation edge-cloud ecosystemEricsson
The surge in data volume that will come from the massive number of devices enabled by 5G has made edge computing more important than ever before. Beyond its abilities to reduce network traffic and improve user experience, edge computing will also play a critical role in enabling use cases for ultra-reliable low-latency communication in industrial manufacturing and a variety of other sectors.
This Ericsson Technology Review article explores the topic of how to deliver distributed edge computing solutions that can host different kinds of platforms and applications and provide a high level of flexibility for application developers. Rather than building a new application ecosystem and platform, we strongly recommend reusing industrialized and proven capabilities, utilizing the momentum created with Cloud Native Computing Foundation, and ensuring backward compatibility.
The rise of the innovation platform
Society and industry are transforming at an unprecedented rate. At the same time, the network platform is emerging as an innovation platform with the potential to offer all the connectivity, processing, storage and security needed by current and future applications. In my 2019 trends article, featured in this issue of Ericsson Technology Review, I share my view of the future network platform in relation to six key technology trends.
This issue of the magazine also addresses critical topics such as trust enablement, the extension of computing resources all the way to the edge of the mobile network, the growing impact of the cloud in the telco domain, overcoming latency and battery consumption challenges, and the need for end-to-end connectivity. I hope it provides you with valuable insights about how to overcome the challenges ahead and take full advantage of new opportunities.
Ericsson Technology Review: Spotlight on the Internet of ThingsEricsson
The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a fundamental cornerstone in the digitalization of both industry and society as a whole. It represents a huge opportunity not only in economic terms, but also from a global challenges perspective – making it easier for governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to address pressing food, energy, water and climate related issues.
5G and the IoT are closely intertwined. One of the biggest innovations within 5G is support for the IoT in all its forms, both by addressing mission criticality as well as making it possible to connect low-cost, long-battery-life sensors.
With this in mind, we decided to create a special issue of Ericsson Technology Review solely focused on IoT opportunities and challenges. I hope it provides you with valuable insights about the IoT-related opportunities available to your organization, along with ideas about how we can overcome the challenges ahead.
Ericsson Technology Review: Driving transformation in the automotive and road...Ericsson
A variety of automotive and transport services that require cellular connectivity are already in commercial operation today, and many more are yet to come. Among other things, these services will improve road safety and traffic efficiency, saving lives and helping to reduce the emissions that contribute to climate change. At Ericsson, we believe that the best way to address the growing connectivity needs of this industry sector is through a common network solution, as opposed to taking a single-segment silo approach.
The latest Ericsson Technology Review article explains how the ongoing rollout of 5G provides a cost-efficient and feature-rich foundation for a horizontal multiservice network that can meet the connectivity needs of the automotive and transport ecosystem. It also outlines the key challenges and presents potential solutions.
This presentation explains the importance of SD-WAN technology as part of the Enterprise digital transformation strategy. It goes over the first wave of SD-WAN in a single vendor deployment, with Do-it-yourself (DIY) as the preferred model. Then continues with the importance of orchestration in the second wave of SD-WAN deployments in a multi-vendor ecosystem, turning to SD-WAN Managed Services as the preferred model. It ends up with some examples of use cases and the Verizon customer case. More information on Ericsson Dynamic orchestration - http://m.eric.sn/6rsZ30psKLu
Ericsson Technology Review: 5G-TSN integration meets networking requirements ...Ericsson
Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is becoming the standard Ethernet-based technology for converged networks of Industry 4.0. Understanding the importance and relevance of TSN features, as well as the capabilities that allow 5G to achieve wireless deterministic and time-sensitive communication, is essential to industrial automation in the future.
The latest Ericsson Technology Review article explains how TSN is an enabler of Industry 4.0, and that together with 5G URLLC capabilities, the two key technologies can be combined and integrated to provide deterministic connectivity end to end. It also discusses TSN standards and the value of the TSN toolbox for next generation industrial automation networks.
Ericsson Technology Review: Meeting 5G latency requirements with inactive stateEricsson
Low latency communication and minimal battery consumption are key requirements of many 5G and IoT use cases, including smart transport and critical control of remote devices. Thanks to Ericsson’s 4G/5G research activities and lessons learned from legacy networks, we have identified solutions that address both of these requirements by reducing the amount of signaling required during state transitions, and shared our discoveries with the 3GPP.
This Ericsson Technology Review article explains the why and how behind the new Radio Resource Control (RRC) state model in the standalone version of the 5G New Radio standard, which features a new, Ericsson-developed state called inactive. On top of overcoming latency and battery consumption challenges, the new state also increases overall system capacity by decreasing the processing effort in the network.
Ericsson Technology Review: Cloud-native application design in the telecom do...Ericsson
Cloud-native application design is set to become standard practice in the telecom industry in the near future due to the major efficiency gains it can provide, particularly in terms of speeding up software upgrades and releases. At Ericsson, we have been actively exploring the potential of cloud-native computing in the telecom industry since we joined the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) a few years ago.
This Ericsson Technology Review article explains the opportunities that CNCF technology has enabled, as well as unveiling key aspects of our application development framework, which is designed to help navigate the transition to a cloud-native approach. It also discusses the challenges that the large-scale reuse of open-source technology can raise, along with key strategies for how to mitigate them.
Ericsson Technology Review: Service exposure: a critical capability in a 5G w...Ericsson
To meet the requirements of use cases in areas such as the Internet of Things, AR/VR, Industry 4.0 and the automotive sector, operators need to be able to provide computing resources across the whole telco domain – all the way to the edge of the mobile network. Service exposure and APIs will play a key role in creating solutions that are both effective and cost efficient.
The latest Ericsson Technology Review article explores recent advances in the service exposure area that have resulted from the move toward 5G and the adoption of cloud-native principles, as well as the combination of Service-based Architecture, microservices and container technologies. It includes examples that illustrate how service exposure can be deployed in a multitude of locations, each with a different set of requirements that drive modularity and configurability needs.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
Climate Impact of Software Testing at Nordic Testing DaysKari Kakkonen
My slides at Nordic Testing Days 6.6.2024
Climate impact / sustainability of software testing discussed on the talk. ICT and testing must carry their part of global responsibility to help with the climat warming. We can minimize the carbon footprint but we can also have a carbon handprint, a positive impact on the climate. Quality characteristics can be added with sustainability, and then measured continuously. Test environments can be used less, and in smaller scale and on demand. Test techniques can be used in optimizing or minimizing number of tests. Test automation can be used to speed up testing.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Observability Concepts EVERY Developer Should Know -- DeveloperWeek Europe.pdfPaige Cruz
Monitoring and observability aren’t traditionally found in software curriculums and many of us cobble this knowledge together from whatever vendor or ecosystem we were first introduced to and whatever is a part of your current company’s observability stack.
While the dev and ops silo continues to crumble….many organizations still relegate monitoring & observability as the purview of ops, infra and SRE teams. This is a mistake - achieving a highly observable system requires collaboration up and down the stack.
I, a former op, would like to extend an invitation to all application developers to join the observability party will share these foundational concepts to build on:
Sudheer Mechineni, Head of Application Frameworks, Standard Chartered Bank
Discover how Standard Chartered Bank harnessed the power of Neo4j to transform complex data access challenges into a dynamic, scalable graph database solution. This keynote will cover their journey from initial adoption to deploying a fully automated, enterprise-grade causal cluster, highlighting key strategies for modelling organisational changes and ensuring robust disaster recovery. Learn how these innovations have not only enhanced Standard Chartered Bank’s data infrastructure but also positioned them as pioneers in the banking sector’s adoption of graph technology.
Removing Uninteresting Bytes in Software FuzzingAftab Hussain
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Using Minecraft as a citizen participation tool in urban design and decision making
1. 1
Using Minecraft as a citizen participation tool in urban design and decision
making
Fanny von Heland1
*, Pontus Westerberg2
& Marcus Nyberg3
1
Sustainability Performance, Ericsson Research, Färögatan 6, 16480 Stockholm, Sweden
2
External Relations Office, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), P.O. Box
30030, Nairobi, Kenya
3
UX Lab, Ericsson Research, Färögatan 6, 16480 Stockholm, Sweden
*Corresponding author: Fanny von Heland. Phone: +46 72 583 83 78, Email:
fanny.von.heland@ericsson.com
Abstract
The existence of high quality public space is decreasing in many parts of the world due to rapid and
unplanned urbanization. Once a city is built, its land use patterns and physical form can be locked in
for generations, emphasizing the need for well-designed design and decision making processes.
Citizen participation in political deliberation is needed to create inclusive public space and to provide
planning agencies with the collective knowledge, ideas, and expertise of the population. Information
and communication technology (ICT) offers new opportunities to engage citizens in urban design and
decision making. Drawing on qualitative interviewing, this study examines the use of the computer
game Minecraft to encourage and facilitate the active participation of youth in urban design. The study
builds on a case study of a public space improvement project in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal and
examines social impacts associated with the use of Minecraft. The results show that Minecraft
increased youth interest in urban design and provided a new venue for youth to frame policy issues
related to urban design. The use of Minecraft was also found to encourage the development of both
action-oriented and intrinsic skills among youth. At the same time, current institutional arrangements
and digital skills were shown to influence whether or not youth could effectively use Minecraft to
increase their representation, participation and voice.
2. 2
1. Introduction
Already today, 54 percent of the world’s population lives in cities, projected to increase to 66 percent
by 2050 (UN 2014). The speed and scale of urbanization brings many challenges, including meeting
accelerated demand for basic services, infrastructure and high quality public space (UN-Habitat 2013).
Public spaces – places of public use which are accessible and enjoyable by all – are crucial for a city to
be well-functioning. In addition, it is widely agreed that dense cities are more likely to be
environmentally sustainable. However, in order to support high levels of density without being
overcrowded, cities must provide high-quality public spaces that are human in scale, sustainable,
healthy, safe and accessible (Gehl 2010). Once a city is built, its land use patterns and physical form
can be locked in for generations, emphasizing the need for well-designed design and decision making
processes that can improve the quality of urban life (World Bank 2013).
It is widely agreed that citizen participation is important for governments to deal with urban
management (Abbot 1996). To create inclusive and sustainable cities, urban planners need to consider
the needs, interests and knowledge of different stakeholders (Amado et al. 2010). This requires
collaborative design and decision making processes where government works together with citizens to
address public problems and create new policies (Purdy 2012). Collaboration is important to provide
government with the collective knowledge, ideas, and expertise of the population (Chun et al. 2010).
Yet, many public policies are determined not through deliberation but rather through the technical
expertise of public officials (Fung 2006) and when deliberation occurs it is usually biased towards
more powerful stakeholders with greater resources (Adams 2004; Leach 2006). From this it follows
that critical interests are not always represented in decision making.
Participation of citizens in design and decision making is a cornerstone of democracy, especially of
marginalized groups which are often excluded from central political and economic processes,
hindering them to influence how goals and policies are set (Arnstein 1969). According to the OECD,
governments need to direct special attention towards engaging groups such as women, youth and
indigenous communities (OECD 1992). When some groups cannot influence agenda-setting and
decision-making, or obtain relevant information to assess how well different policy alternatives serve
their interests, they are more likely to be ill-served by new laws, policies and development plans (Fung
2006; Tahvilzadeh 2013). Lack of citizen participation may translate into a ‘citizenship deficit’ where
the preferences of citizens are less known and reflected in public policy. Over time, this deficit may
lead to an erosion of civil society, civic engagement and social capital among citizens (Nabatchi
2010).
Greater citizen involvement in urban design and decision making is needed to increase knowledge
about complex problems, better mediate divergent interests and promote improved quality of life for
everyone (Nelson and Wright 1995; Irvin and Stansbury 2004; Adams 2004). Citizen involvement
may also help produce policies with greater public acceptability and improve trust in government
(Sousa and Klyza 2007; Yang and Pandey 2011). This is increasingly important due to the present
trend towards increasing intra-urban inequality and stratification in many cities (UN-Habitat 2014).
Information and communication technology (ICT) offers new opportunities to engage citizens and
improve the quality of political deliberation and decision making (Conroy and Evans-Cowley 2006;
Howard and Gaborit 2007; Wang and Bryer 2012). For example, ICT can be useful in providing
technical information and enhancing understanding of context (Appleton and Lovett 2005), providing
public access to information previously available only to experts and officials (Al-Kodmany 2000;
Elwood 2002), and gathering real-time feedback from citizens (Han and Peng 2003). Visualization
through ICT may also help to build shared understanding and facilitate interaction among citizens and
government (Bryson et al. 2004). Yet, there have been few efforts to study the social impact associated
with the use of ICT on citizen participation in urban design and decision making.
3. 3
This study responds to the identified need to establish innovative means of facilitating and
encouraging active participation of youth in decision making (OECD 1992). It examines the use of the
computer game Minecraft as a tool to enhance youth participation in urban design and is based on a
qualitative case study of a public space improvement project in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The
aim of the study is twofold: First, it explores the potential of Minecraft to foster greater citizen
participation in urban design and decision making. Second, it examines social impacts associated with
the use of Minecraft, both at and individual and community level.
2. Background
Kirtipur is an ancient city in the Kathmandu Valley, approximately 5 km south-west of Nepal’s capital
Kathmandu. UN-Habitat is supporting Kirtipur Municipality, Center for Integrated Urban
Development (a local NGO) and local communities to conserve and upgrade existing public spaces for
better community utilization through a people-centric process where the computer game Minecraft has
been utilized to integrate youth into the design process surrounding the revitalization of public spaces.
In Nepal, public spaces play an important role in many cultural activities and for maintaining
community resilience as well as for recreation. Public water bodies occupy a central position in many
public spaces and are important resources for women who are often responsible for water-related
household activities. However, the existence and quality of public space in Kirtipur is rapidly
decreasing because of unplanned urbanization and lack of management, and several of the public
water bodies are in poor condition.
Figure 1: Kirtipur
Minecraft is one of the world’s most popular computer games with over 100 million players
worldwide. In Minecraft, players interact with the game world by placing and breaking various types
of colored blocks – similar to a ‘digital Lego’ – in a three-dimensional environment with the purpose
of building creative structures, such as buildings, cities, or whole worlds. Minecraft is often played
online on multiplayer servers, or in single player worlds, across multiple game modes.
4. 4
In February 2015, UN-Habitat and Center for Integrated Urban Development organized a three-day
Minecraft design workshop to initiate a participatory design process and develop design suggestions
for the revitalization of a park area. Before the workshop a digital version of the public space was
created in Minecraft using google maps, plans and images. Youth then created their design suggestions
in the digital version of the park. In total, 37 people, primarily youth from Kirtipur, participated in the
workshop (men=26 and women=11). Participants were divided into ten groups, each group having
three to four members (most groups had one female participant). During the first two days of the
workshop youth designed in Minecraft and on the last day the design proposals were presented for a
broader audience of inhabitants, community leaders, officials and experts. A Minecraft expert from
UN-Habitat facilitated the design process. Before developing their designs, youth were given
presentations about the importance of public space, participatory decision making and the Minecraft
tool. After the workshop, youth’s Minecraft designs will be used as input to the
architectural design and construction process.
Figure 2: Part of the park which will be upgraded
5. 5
Figure 3: Minecraft design by one group of participants
3. Methods
3.1 Data collection
The study is based on empirical data generated through qualitative interviewing (Kvale and
Brinkmann 2009) and a smaller questionnaire in Kirtipur and Kathmandu in April 2015. In total, 23
interviews were conducted with people who had participated in the Minecraft workshop (men=16 and
women=7). Seven of the interviewees were representatives of other groups than youth (NGOs= 4,
municipality=1 and community leaders=2). A group interview with four women involved in the public
space revitalization project was also conducted. Appendix A lists all interviewees. The study aligns
with the UN definition of youth as people between the ages of 19 and 24 (UN 2015). All interviews
were semi-structured and recorded when respondents gave their consent. The quotations that appear in
the results section are from the transcripts but interviewees are kept anonymous. The majority of
interviews were conducted in English, except for a minor number of interviews that were conducted
with the help of a Nepali interpreter. Qualitative interviews were focused on conceptualizing issues
around the participation process, perceptions of the Minecraft tool, and making connections between
the use of Minecraft and various social impacts (Appendix B). All youth participating in the interview
study were also asked to complete the questionnaire aimed at summarizing the viewpoints of the
individual participants (Appendix C). The questionnaire was completed by all youth participating in
the interview study (men=10 and women=6). The diagrams presented in Section 4 are based on the
results of the questionnaire.
3.2 Data analysis
The study is descriptive and the focus of the data analysis was to investigate social impacts associated
with the use of Minecraft as a citizen participation tool in urban design and decision making. Interview
transcripts were coded to organize the data. Coding is “the process of breaking down, examining,
comparing, conceptualizing and categorizing data” (Strauss and Corbin, 1990: 61). Social impacts of
interest were labeled with codes (i.e. a word or short phrase) aiming to find regularities in viewpoints
and experiences of the interviewees. The aggregated results of the coding are presented in Section 4
and structured around a series of key social impacts.
6. 6
4. Minecraft: an emerging citizen participation tool?
4.1 Voice and representation
In Kirtipur, there had been few previous initiatives to facilitate and encourage the active participation
of youth and women in decision making around urban design. Planning experts and local officials
perceived Minecraft as a useful way of bridging the gap to youth and considered the computer game
an effective tool for generating interest and engagement among youth for urban design. Among local
officials, Minecraft was also valued for providing an easy way of complementing the work of
engineers and architects. In the words of a local official:
“In our social context women and youth don’t have much influence. Here they were at the front line. […]
Minecraft helped to start a discussion at the grassroots level. We [the municipality] are very weak in this
regard – to create participation among youth and women. Minecraft boosted communication and participation
in a way we have not seen before. […] It created a platform for discussion” (Male local official. Interview
20).
Designing and presenting the Minecraft models were for the majority of youth the first time they
publically expressed personal opinions about public affairs. There was common agreement between
youth that Minecraft made it much easier to start a dialogue and speak about individual and group
interests associated with the use of public space. This way, many youth felt that they could share
knowledge about their situation and interests with a larger audience. Accordingly, youth valued
Minecraft for enabling them to communicate interests and new ideas, while at the same time
increasing youth engagement and ownership of the design process. The following two quotations
illustrate the position of youth:
“It totally impacted on our involvement in decision making, we had to think about what we wanted to see in
the park and then give shape to it in our design. This means that we could define not only the problem but
also the solution” (Female university student. Interview 12).
“It was my first time to express ideas in public. It was a good experience and it made me excited. I felt that
we had an impact on decision making by standing up for and showing our ideas. We gave knowledge about
youth to the rest of the community” (Female university student. Interview 7).
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
strongly
disagree
strongly
agree
Designing in Minecraft
improved youth involvement
in descision making
7. 7
4.2 Learning
Regardless of age and profession, many workshop participants felt that designing in Minecraft helped
to generate new thinking and learning. Whereas a large number of youth joined the workshop because
of their interest in gaming, learning was described as a positive and unexpected side effect of team
work and community input on youth’s Minecraft models. According to many youth, the workshop
made them aware of the importance of creating inclusive designs and that Minecraft provided a useful
means to thinking about and visualizing the needs of different genders and age groups, as described by
a student:
“One thing that I learned was that children are now playing in the road because of lack of space. As playing
in the road can be dangerous we needed to build something for them – a playground. Old people wanted us
to build a garden. I didn’t think you could actually use this land for this purpose. The Minecraft workshop
forced us to think about the community. I learned a lot. It also made us aware of gender because boys and
girls wanted to build different things […] so Minecraft made us start speaking about new things and aware of
our differences” (Male university student. Interview 2).
In terms of gender, many male workshop participants emphasized that Minecraft helped to increase
knowledge about women-specific problems, for example related to public water bodies. Spending
longer hours helping their mothers and elders with household activities, female workshop participants
played an important role in contributing knowledge about the interaction between gender and public
space into the design process. Knowledge about cultural heritage was another area where youth felt
that learning occurred as the discussion around their designs put divergent interests and conflicts on
the table. A common feedback from community leaders on youth’s Minecraft models was that they did
little to preserve important aspects of culture and did not address the role of cultural heritage in
sustaining social identity and community resilience. On the other hand, community leaders expressed
that the visualizations helped them to better understand the interests and aspirations of youth:
0
2
4
6
8
10
strongly
disagree
strongly
agree
Designing in Minecraft
increased knowledeg of
other people's needs and
interests
0
2
4
6
8
10
strongly
disagree
strongly
agree
Minecraft helped to create a
meaningful dialogue
8. 8
“Youth involvement was a great achievement and learning process for us elders. We community leaders are
old-fashion-people and we have old ideas in our minds. Youth created design with wifi, solar panels and eco-
toilets. These are ideas and designs for the future. They learned from us and we learned from them” (Male
community leader. Interview 10).
However, a substantial number of youth expressed that learning would improve with broader
community participation and more time for dialogue. A number of youth perceived the feedback as
focused on identifying flaws rather than creating a constructive and engaging dialogue between the
different groups. Many youth felt that improving community participation would be important to learn
more in-depth about community needs as well as to strengthen social cohesion, as illustrated in the
below quotations:
“I think it was mostly one-way communication during the last feedback session with the community. We
didn’t get much room for speaking about the background to the design to improve understanding. There was
two-way communication between youth but there was little time for youth to exchange ideas about our
designs and discuss the designs from a broader perspective. So this is something that needs to be improved,
to not only have time for designing but also for discussing” (Male university student. Interview 24).
“Broader community participation is important and will lift our models. This will also improve ownership of
the design. Now youth feel strong ownership but maybe not everyone else in the community. A common
feedback from the community was that “why didn’t you design that?” but how could we have known”
(Female university student. Interview 13).
4.3 Communication and creativity
The reason why Minecraft was understood to be a good learning and participation tool was that
visualization was seen as particularly helpful to express and present opinions, as well as for increasing
understanding between different groups. In addition, youth felt that they became more creative and
could generate more ideas when using Minecraft, as voiced by a student:
“You can say that Minecraft helped building our thoughts. [...] Minecraft was helpful because it visualized
our ideas and then it was easier to explain our thinking. I think it even developed our creativity” (Male
university student. Interview 2).
0
2
4
6
8
10
strongly
disagree
strongly
agree
Designing in Minecraft
improved my ability to
communicate important
viewpoints
9. 9
The opportunity to work creatively with design and problem solving while building in Minecraft was
believed to generate ideas that could not be born out of just talking about public space. Another
appreciated feature was that Minecraft made it easy to try ideas out and easily change them. According
to youth, this kind of creative and intellectual flexibility allowed experimenting with different ideas
and visualizing different scenarios. A common remark was that visualization was crucial to start the
discussion around the public space and that Minecraft was an important medium for facilitating not
only the conversation about space but also visioning about space. As many youth had little previous
experience of speaking in public they also felt that Minecraft was a social mobilizer with potential to
catalyze awareness about youth interests. The subsequent quotations are illustrative:
“Minecraft became like a bridge between thought and reality” (Male university student. Interview 19).
“Through the power of the visual we could have a bigger impact than by just speaking about our ideas”
(Male university student. Interview 24).
While Minecraft was useful in catching the interest of youth and making the process more engaging, a
number of youth experienced that the use of Minecraft provided limited opportunity to express
personal viewpoints (as compared to the opportunity for youth as a group) because of insufficient
computer skills, as expressed in the below quote:
“The first workshop day was a headache. The second day was a bit better because then I could design a little
bit. The third day when I started to understand the workshop was over. I had limited opportunity to express
my ideas so for me Minecraft didn’t help” (Male university student. Interview 4).
4.4 Gender and digital skills
Many interviewees describe that women and men are often subject to sex segregation and are given
very unequal opportunities to engage in the public sphere as well as to develop their digital skills.
According to the municipality, women often have many ideas but no platform to express them, as a
consequence of which female participation in policy making is very low. Female interviewees
described that women seldom speak in public meetings because of gender stereotypes (with women
depicted as running the house) and few female workshop participants knew how to design in
Minecraft at the first workshop day, as compared to the large number of men who were already
familiar with the computer game. As emphasized by the vast majority workshop participants,
differences in women’s and men’s computer skills influenced both process dynamics and process
outcomes:
0
2
4
6
8
10
strongly
disagree
strongly
agree
When designing in Minecraft
people with more computer
skills had more influence
10. 10
“Boys participated more because they generally had more computer skills and many of the boys were IT-
students and they generally play more computer games. Boys were more active in front of the computers but
all girls were active in contributing ideas but still there was a bit of a mismatch” ( Female NGO officer.
Interview 11).
“Computer skills helped a lot. Skilled people could spend more time in front of the computer and design
ideas while people who couldn’t design first had to learn how to use the tools. So skilled people got an
advantage. They could take the lead. Learning took away focus from the ideation process. Many times we
gave feedback on their ideas” (Female university student. Interview 12).
Whereas the majority of youth thought that computer skills affected the ease by which individuals
could share their ideas, resulting in an advantage for men, a number of youth appreciated the
Minecraft workshop for triggering collaboration between the sexes.
“Boys and girls have not before been asked to create and communicate ideas together. In this workshop we
worked together and presented together. This is important to break with old traditions that preserve male
superiority. Here we had a female influence. This can be very good for breaking gender stereotypes” (Male
university student. Interview 22).
In accordance with the above interviewee, the municipality perceived Minecraft as a possible means of
introducing youth to new gender roles that could possibly help encouraging greater gender equality.
Many female workshop participants also expressed that designing in Minecraft had increased their
interest in technology and that they now would like to explore how to make better use of technology
for both leisure and skills development.
4.5 Capacity building and social cohesion
A considerable number youth perceived the Minecraft workshop as important in terms of capacity
building. For the majority of youth the final presentation at the last day of the workshop was their first
time to speak in front of a large audience and few youth had any previous experience of participating
public meetings. Most significantly, youth experienced that by designing in Minecraft their self-
confidence and communication skills improved and many youth felt proud over their personal
achievement and contribution to the revitalization project, as expressed below:
“Designing in Minecraft improved my confidence and belief in myself – we can do the same job as
architects. It gave a sense of empowerment. It was fun to present the design. I felt happy because I could
express my ideas and other people could see it” (Male university student. Interview 3).
“I now have a little bit better confidence to convince other people about my own ideas. I also developed my
skills to interact with other people” (Female university student. Interview 8).
0
2
4
6
8
10
strongly
disagree
strongly
agree
Designing in Minecraft
improved my confidence to
speak in groups
11. 11
According to many youth, designing towards a common mission and with the purpose of creating
something good for society was important in terms of strengthening group identity. Another outcome
of the teamwork incited by Minecraft was the opportunity to make new friends, and for a number of
youth the interest to engage more actively in other forms of community work was triggered. With the
help of Minecraft, youth experienced that they could seize the role of change agents and help enabling
the kind of change they wished to see in society. This way, many youth, especially men, appreciated
Minecraft for empowering them to utilize their time and skills for doing something good for society,
rather than just ‘roaming around’. A participant describes:
“At first I just wanted to play the game but then as time passed it got me engaged in so many other ways, for
example how we can bring change and new things to that area. It was a about producing change and being
the change we want to see. That was a big motivator” (Male university student. Interview 19).
4.6 Expectations and tensions
Youth’s expectations on the implementation process are a potential area of controversy and tension.
NGO officials voiced that youth may expect big things and that this may create disappointment and
distrust, especially as only some design suggestions will be endorsed due to budget limitations, social
desirability and urban form. A number of youth thought of their design as feasible to implement,
whereas an equally large number of youth had more moderate expectations. In the words of an NGO-
official:
“Most of the designs were not compatible with field conditions. They would be too expensive to build.
Youth, including myself, got overexcited. There are no limitations to what you can build Minecraft – there is
no budget reality” (Male NGO officer. Interview 5).
A number of workshop participants, both professionals and youth, experienced a tension between
embracing creativity and the unknown budget reality of the whole revitalization project. On the one
hand, many youth felt that it would be desirable with more information about budget issues, and, on
the other, they feared that having such information could compromise creativity. In the view of NGO
officials, tension could also arise because of a mismatch between youth expectations and the time
frame for implementing the project. An NGO official also drew attention to the fact that when
designing in Minecraft you are not limited by urban form meaning that many design suggestions may
be impossible to construct because of the physical terrain. Designing in Minecraft also illustrated the
delicate balance between supporting cultural preservation as opposed to innovation. Whereas all youth
recognized the important of preserving important aspects of culture, some youth felt that there was a
big gap in understanding between the different groups and that addressing this gap would be both
necessary and challenging. A lot of times, youth felt that the feedback of community leaders was
focused towards discussing the importance of tradition rather than also looking at other essential
aspects, for some youth a source of disappointment. A student explains:
“We didn’t share the same perceptions of the area. Its original meaning has been forgotten by our generation.
The area has not been used for such a long time other than for waste dumping. […] Community leaders
wanted us to add more traditional things and focus in our designs. In one way this is good, but we also need
to embrace modernity and look at what youth think is exciting and relevant for the future” (Female university
student. Interview 12).
Like youth, community leaders also felt that there was a gap in interest between the two groups:
“Youth are busy with their own style – with modern things. We had to explain the meaning of our culture
that was not very present in the designs. We also had to explain about traditional building patterns. Youth are
losing ground with tradition. They don’t know about it anymore” (Male community leader. Interview 10).
12. 12
Trust in the process and in the municipality was another key concern for a number of youth who
expressed a fear for an implementation failure. This fear was partly a consequence of the existing lack
of public management and a feeling of being neglected, as well as a reflection of the very limited
involvement of the municipality in the workshop. In the words of a participant:
“I don’t think the new park will be built. I don’t trust the municipality. We have to organize and send people
there every week in order for something to happen” (Male university student. Interview 6).
5. Discussion and conclusions
Given the marginalized position of youth in decision making, organizations and governments should
establish innovative procedures, projects and services that facilitate for and encourage youth to
actively contribute knowledge and perspectives to policy making (OECD 1992). As a response to this
need, this study has examined the use of the computer game Minecraft as a citizen participation tool to
strengthen youth involvement in urban design and decision making in Kirtipur, Nepal. The study
shows that Minecraft 1) increased youth interest for urban design, 2) provided a new venue for youth
to influence the political agenda and frame policy issues related to urban design, 3) helped youth to
develop important skills and networks, and 4) that existing institutional arrangements and digital skills
influenced individuals’ representation, participation and voice. In the below paragraphs these insights
are elaborated to increase understanding of the use of Minecraft as a citizen participation tool as well
as of possible social impacts.
First, addressing the marginalized position of any group in governance requires understanding of the
mechanisms that may incite group engagement (Lowndes et al. 2006). ICT is becoming an important
life style factor for an increasing number of youth and their interest in embedding new technology in
their daily life is often higher than among the average public. This means that an increasing number of
youth on a daily basis make decisions about everyday life with the help of technology
(Voxburner/YouGov 2014). As illustrated in this study, organizations and governments can capture
the interest of youth to engage in political deliberation by embracing ICT and by learning about how
young people value and use (or aspire to use) technology. With regard to Europe and the US, the
opportunity to use ICT to develop new incentive mechanisms is increasingly important given concerns
over a reduction in civic engagement among youth (Bakker and de Vreese 2011; Abrahamsson 2013).
At the same time, there is lack of scientific knowledge about what procedural challenges and social
conflicts that ICT-based participation tools, including gamification, may generate.
Second, designing in Minecraft allowed youth to discuss and consider the merits of various urban
design alternatives as well as visualize their aspirations and needs for a wider audience. As the design
and visualization process helped to bring in new and different types of information to the discussion,
the participants could explore and develop their interests and perspectives, and to some extent call
these into question. The opportunity for youth to visualize their interests and express visionary ideas in
Minecraft was experienced as instrumental in facilitating youth participation. Drawing on Latour
(1996) and Mosse (2004), visualization can be instrumental in framing how individuals and the public
perceive and communicate about reality, thus essential in establishing value and prescribing certain
solutions and policy orientations. The discursive power that stems from the ability to influence how
information is presented is particularly important in participation processes as they require the
participants to not only negotiate, but also develop common meanings (Huxham and Vangen 2005).
By providing youth with the opportunity to frame and convey information to officials and expert, to
some degree influence public opinion, and communicate with other citizens, we think that the use of
Minecraft may serve an important democratic function by offering a way to address the citizenship
deficit (Nabatchi 2010) among youth.
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With that said, many youth called for a more genuine dialogue between themselves, community
leaders and officials as well as broader community participation to further improve learning between
different groups. Whereas Minecraft was recognized to create some new, common ground for youth
and community leaders, additional deliberation mechanisms were called for to start bridging
generational knowledge gaps and build consensus about urban design. As emphasized by Wang
(2002), the use of multiple participation methods is positively correlated with stakeholder consensus,
responsiveness and trust in experts and authorities. This stresses the importance of looking at how
ICT-based participation tools can be combined with other deliberation methods to support the
emergence of principled agreement, build trust among participants and produce outcomes with
widespread public acceptability. However, even though designing in Minecraft did not achieve to
transform or reconcile divergent preferences, discussion around youth’s visualizations generated new
understanding among the participating groups, and perhaps also new tolerance for opposing views
because individuals were pushed to think beyond their own self-interest (Nabatchi 2010). Seen from a
community-wide perspective, this could lead to a greater concern for others (Cooke 2000; Gutmann &
Thompson 2004).
Third, perhaps equally important as the ability of youth to participate in urban design and decision
making was the opportunity to develop new action-oriented and intrinsic skills. Action-oriented skills
are skills that help individuals to efficaciously contribute to social change (Fisher 2006). Whereas
intrinsic skills refer to intangible impact resulting from participation, such as a sense of personal
fulfillment, heightened self-worth, or a stronger identification with one’s community (Fisher 2006).
The deliberative process that emerged when designing in Minecraft encouraged youth to experiment
with and develop more holistic understandings of their surrounding environment, speaking in public
with greater confidence and build new social networks. Many individuals also emphasized that
designing in Minecraft helped them to cultivate skills such as eloquence and imagination. Mastering
such skills is essential for any individual to achieve personal goals, engage in critical thinking and
contribute to social and political change. Such skills could also have a positive impact on social
cohesion by increasing relational bonds between community members and by improving
understanding of diversity. This suggests that ICT may not only provide critical resources for
participation processes, but also foster important skills and networks from which resources for civic
engagement can be drawn (Vitak et al. 2011; Gursoy 2014; Dolnicar and Fortunati 2014).
Forth, citizen participation is always constrained by a series of political, social, economic, and
individual factors (Yang and Pandey 2011). Participation processes therefore need to be carefully
designed and implemented to manage power dynamics and avoid causing disappoint among
participants, or an erosion of trust (Adams 2004). In Nepal, different forms of gender-based
discrimination make the society unjust and unequal in many respects (UNDP 2014). When using
Minecraft as a participation tool differences in digital skills linked to gender have a significant impact
on group dynamics and participants’ ability to participate in the design and visualization process. As
shown in this study, young men are at an advantageous position to use a tool such as Minecraft to
increase their voice. Young women often have fewer opportunities for learning about and using ICT
because of deeply entrenched gender roles and the division of labor within the household, often
constraining young women to the domestic sphere. There is a risk that initiatives that use ICT as
participation tools end up engaging the easily recruited – young men who are reasonably comfortable
with using ICT, while it may be more difficult to recruit female participants. Considering reports about
low levels of female participation in science, technology and innovation even in the wealthiest nations
(OWSD 2012), this risk is probably valid beyond Nepal where it manifests in the predominantly male
gender of workshop participants. Raising the interest of females to use ICT by designing Minecraft is
therefore an important impact in terms of capacity building and bridging the gendered digital divide
(even if at a small scale). There is a need to actively consider how power dynamics associated with,
for example, gender and digital knowledge influence how women and men can participate in design
and decision making (Forester 2009), especially when utilizing a tool such as Minecraft. Without such
consideration the use of ICT risks reproducing or even strengthening the position of more powerful
groups. Organizations that use ICT to encourage and facilitate participation processes therefore have
14. 14
to think extra carefully about which participants are recruited as well as design participation processes
which are highly inclusive and can engage diversity productively (Irvin and Stansbury 2004; Bryson et
al. 2012). Without such consideration the potential of ICT to promote democratic outcomes will be
seriously undermined (Min 2010). In relation to this, we call for more research on how ICT-based
participation tools and gamification are adopted by different demographic groups.
Last, the power of a technology like Minecraft to cultivate eloquence and imagination may also,
paradoxically enough, be its Achilles heel by raising participants’ expectation level on outcomes and
the capacity of officials or informal leaders to mobilize support for youth’s design proposals. Another
possibly negative outcome is that the tool itself is so powerful in creating attractive visualizations of a
possible future that it is seen as the ‘final’ outcome and not as a proposal for further discussion.
Without careful communication about resources, divergent interests, time frames and physical
constraints, participation tools like Minecraft may lead to disillusionment among citizens and reinforce
the disconnect between citizens and their government (Adams 2004). This emphasizes the need for
organizations and governments to openly acknowledge and share where uncertainty exists and provide
clarity about the external environment affecting decision making and implementation outcomes
(Friend and Hickling 2005; Bryson et al. 2012). It also stresses the need for research on the interplay
between technology and participants’ perceptions of process outcomes to improve understanding
about potential social impacts of ICT-based citizen participation tools. Likewise, we identify a need
for studying how gamification influences participants’ perceptions of urban space.
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