Citizen Participation via Mobile Applications

2022 ◽  
pp. 988-996
Author(s):  
Lisa Beutelspacher ◽  
Agnes Mainka ◽  
Tobias Siebenlist
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Smartphone Apps ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Current State ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
Game Elements ◽  
The City

Participatory smartphone apps empower citizens to interact with the city's administration. The purpose of this case study is to investigate the current state of participatory apps in Germany. Within this study, we examined 248 applications aimed at strengthening citizen participation. These apps were found in Google Playstore and Apple Appstore using search terms extracted from the relevant literature. Many of the apps give users the opportunity to report problems within their cities, such as broken street lamps or potholes. The information created and disseminated by the citizens through the app mainly includes the topics “mobility” and “environment.” Information provided by the city itself is much more diverse. Topics such as “Points of Interest,” “News and Events,” “Government” or “City Services” can be identified here. In the southern part of Germany, there is a significantly larger number of municipalities which have a citizen participation app. None of the apps examined uses gamification, although the use of game elements is very promising to foster the engagement and motivation of citizens.

Citizen Participation via Mobile Applications

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 18-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Beutelspacher ◽  
Agnes Mainka ◽  
Tobias Siebenlist
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Smartphone Apps ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Current State ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
Game Elements ◽  
The City

Participatory smartphone apps empower citizens to interact with the city's administration. The purpose of this case study is to investigate the current state of participatory apps in Germany. Within this study, we examined 248 applications aimed at strengthening citizen participation. These apps were found in Google Playstore and Apple Appstore using search terms extracted from the relevant literature. Many of the apps give users the opportunity to report problems within their cities, such as broken street lamps or potholes. The information created and disseminated by the citizens through the app mainly includes the topics “mobility” and “environment.” Information provided by the city itself is much more diverse. Topics such as “Points of Interest,” “News and Events,” “Government” or “City Services” can be identified here. In the southern part of Germany, there is a significantly larger number of municipalities which have a citizen participation app. None of the apps examined uses gamification, although the use of game elements is very promising to foster the engagement and motivation of citizens.

scholarly journals Citizen Participation and Machine Learning for a Better Democracy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Procter ◽  
Miguel Arana-Catania ◽  
Felix-Anselm van Lier ◽  
Nataliya Tkachenko ◽  
Yulan He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
City Council ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Democratic Systems ◽  
The City

The development of democratic systems is a crucial task as confirmed by its selection as one of the Millennium Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. In this article, we report on the progress of a project that aims to address barriers, one of which is information overload, to achieving effective direct citizen participation in democratic decision-making processes. The main objectives are to explore if the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning can improve citizens? experience of digital citizen participation platforms. Taking as a case study the ?Decide Madrid? Consul platform, which enables citizens to post proposals for policies they would like to see adopted by the city council, we used NLP and machine learning to provide new ways to (a) suggest to citizens proposals they might wish to support; (b) group citizens by interests so that they can more easily interact with each other; (c) summarise comments posted in response to proposals; (d) assist citizens in aggregating and developing proposals. Evaluation of the results confirms that NLP and machine learning have a role to play in addressing some of the barriers users of platforms such as Consul currently experience.

scholarly journals New public spaces as the basic nodes for development of new city areas (case study of Kronstadt, Russia)

2020 ◽  
Vol 164 ◽  
pp. 04026
Author(s):  
Olga Kokorina ◽  
Dmitry Zinenkov ◽  
Tamara Datsuk
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Current State ◽  
New Public ◽  
Independent Unit ◽  
New City ◽  
The City ◽  
Further Development

The article presents research materials and analysis of factors affecting the creation of new nodes of public spaces, as starting points for the development of Kotlin Island and the city of Kronstadt. Their current state and problems, resources and opportunities are described. Currently, there is a process of rethinking the value of the coastal territories of Kronstadt, the potential of which is not realized. One of the possible ways to solve this problem is to increase the use of coastal territories by creating tourism and public-business infrastructure along the coastline. Kronstadt has a number of unique characteristics, the use of which can transfer it from degrading to developing. This is possible by creating a polycentric model in the city - new growth points, as well as rethinking the value of abandoned and coastal territories. This approach will not only increase funding, attract more people, provide a sufficient number of jobs, but also subsequently create conditions for the further development of the city as an independent unit - the center of the St. Petersburg metropolitan area.

scholarly journals Prototypes of User Interfaces for Mobile Applications for Patients with Diabetes

Computers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Pavlas ◽  
Ondrej Krejcar ◽  
Petra Maresova ◽  
Ali Selamat
Keyword(s):  
Blood Glucose ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Eating Habits ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Glucose Levels ◽  
Current State ◽  
Blood Glucose Levels ◽  
Patients With Diabetes

We live in a heavily technologized global society. It is therefore not surprising that efforts are being made to integrate current information technology into the treatment of diabetes mellitus. This paper is dedicated to improving the treatment of this disease through the use of well-designed mobile applications. Our analysis of relevant literature sources and existing solutions has revealed that the current state of mobile applications for diabetics is unsatisfactory. These limitations relate both to the content and the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of existing applications. Following the analysis of relevant studies, there are four key elements that a diabetes mobile application should contain. These elements are: (1) blood glucose levels monitoring; (2) effective treatment; (3) proper eating habits; and (4) physical activity. As the next step in this study, three prototypes of new mobile applications were designed. Each of the prototypes represents one group of applications according to a set of given rules. The most optimal solution based on the users’ preferences was determined by using a questionnaire survey conducted with a sample of 30 respondents participating in a questionnaire after providing their informed consent. The age of participants was from 15 until 30 years old, where gender was split to 13 males and 17 females. As a result of this study, the specifications of the proposed application were identified, which aims to respond to the findings discovered in the analytical part of the study, and to eliminate the limitations of the current solutions. All of the respondents expressed preference for an application that includes not only the key functions, but a number of additional functions, namely synchronization with one of the external devices for measuring blood glucose levels, while five-sixths of them found suggested additional functions as being sufficient.

scholarly journals Detection of silent subsidence over extensive area by SBAS DInSAR: a case study of Southern Bali, Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 153 ◽  
pp. 02003
Author(s):  
Putu Edi Yastika ◽  
Norikazu Shimizu ◽  
Ni Nyoman Pujianiki ◽  
I Gede Rai Maya Temaja ◽  
I Nyoman Gede Antara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Subsidence ◽  
Groundwater Extraction ◽  
Severe Damage ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
Linear Behavior ◽  
The World ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The City

Numerous cities around the world are facing the problem of land subsidence. In many cases, it is the excessive groundwater extraction to meet human needs that leads to this subsidence. Since land subsidence rates are very slow (a few centimeters per year), the subsidence usually remains unnoticed until it has progressed to the point of causing severe damage to buildings, houses, and/or other infrastructures. Therefore, it is very important to detect the presence of subsidence in advance. In this study, screening for the presence of land subsidence in the city of Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia is conducted. The Sentinel-1A/B SAR dataset, taken from October 2014 to June 2019, is processed using the SBAS DInSAR method. Subsidence is found in the districts of Denpasar Selatan, Denpasar Barat, and Kuta, which falls in the range of -100 mm to -200 mm in an area of about 93.03 ha. All the extracted points of interest show the subsidence having linear behavior. The spatio-temporal behavior of the subsidence in Denpasar is presented clearly. However, the mechanism and the deriving factors of the subsidence remain unclear. Therefore, further studies are needed.

Co-Designing Mobile Applications for Data Collection in Citizen Science Projects – Challenges and Lessons Learned within the Nachtlicht-BüHNE Project

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Klan ◽  
Christopher C.M. Kyba ◽  
Nona Schulte-Römer ◽  
Helga U. Kuechly ◽  
Jürgen Oberst ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Smartphone Apps ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Citizen Science Project

<p>Data contributed by citizen scientists raise increasing interest in many areas of scientific research. Increasingly, projects rely on information technology such as mobile applications (apps) to facilitate data collection activities by lay people. When developing such smartphone apps, it is essential to account for both the requirements of the scientists interested in acquiring data and the needs of the citizen scientists contributing data. Citizens and participating scientists should therefore ideally work together during the conception, design and testing of mobile applications used in a citizen science project. This will benefit both sides, as both scientists and citizens can bring in their expectations, desires, knowledge, and commitment early on, thereby making better use of the potential of citizen science. Such processes of app co-design are highly transdisciplinary, and thus pose challenges in terms of the diversity of interests, skills, and background knowledge involved.</p><p>Our “Nachtlicht-BüHNE” citizen science project addresses these issues. Its major goal is the development of a co-design process enabling scientists and citizens to jointly develop citizen science projects based on smartphone apps. This includes (1) the conception and development of a mobile application for a specific scientific purpose, (2) the design, planning and organization of field campaigns using the mobile application, and (3) the evaluation of the approach. In Nachtlicht-BüHNE, the co-design approach is developed within the scope of two parallel pilot studies in the environmental and space sciences. Case study 1 deals with the problem of light pollution. Currently, little is known about how much different light source types contribute to emissions from Earth. Within the project, citizens and researchers will develop and use an app to capture information about all types of light sources visible from public streets. Case study 2 focuses on meteors. They are of great scientific interest because their pathways and traces of light can be used to derive dynamic and physical properties of comets and asteroids. Since the surveillance of the sky with cameras is usually incomplete, reports of fireball sightings are important. Within the project, citizens and scientists will create and use the first German-language app that allows reporting meteor sightings.</p><p>We will share our experiences on how researchers and communities of citizen scientists with backgrounds in the geosciences, space research, the social sciences, computer science and other disciplines work together in the Nachtlicht-BüHNE project to co-design mobile applications. We highlight challenges that arose and present different strategies for co-design that evolved within the project accounting for the specific needs and interests of the communities involved.</p>

scholarly journals SOCIAL METRICS APPLIED TO SMART TOURISM

2016 ◽  
Vol IV-4/W1 ◽  
pp. 117-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Cervantes ◽  
E. Gutiérrez ◽  
F. Gutiérrez ◽  
J. A. Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Graph Model ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
Centrality Metrics ◽  
Social Metrics ◽  
The City ◽  
Smart Tourism

We present a strategy to make productive use of semantically-related social data, from a user-centered semantic network, in order to help users (tourists and citizens in general) to discover cultural heritage, points of interest and available services in a smart city. This data can be used to personalize recommendations in a smart tourism application. Our approach is based on flow centrality metrics typically used in social network analysis: flow betweenness, flow closeness and eccentricity. These metrics are useful to discover relevant nodes within the network yielding nodes that can be interpreted as suggestions (venues or services) to users. We describe the semantic network built on graph model, as well as social metrics algorithms used to produce recommendations. We also present challenges and results from a prototypical implementation applied to the case study of the City of Puebla, Mexico.

scholarly journals Urban sprawl and citizen participation. A case study in the municipality of La Pobla de Vallbona (Valencia)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Gielen ◽  
Yaiza Pérez Alonso ◽  
José Sergio Palencia Jiménez ◽  
Asenet Sosa Espinosa
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Urban Sprawl ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
City Council ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
High Dispersion ◽  
Good Government ◽  
The City

The accelerated urban growth of the last decades in Europe has caused, especially in the Spanish Mediterranean coast, a paradigm shift in much cities, moving from a mostly compact urban form to a more diffuse one. The concept of city has changed so much that even in a lot of dispersed municipalities, it becomes difficult to define its limits. This change implies not only ecological and economic impacts, but also, social effects. Urban sprawl makes difficult social interaction and reduces the community feeling, and therefore, social cohesion and identity. This produces also changes in the relations of citizens between them and with the city council. The research propounds a discussion about the challenges that the urban sprawl causes for the application of participative models in the decision making, understanding them as basic criterion of good government. We analyze a case study to extract the complexity of articulating processes of citizen participation in territory with high dispersion based on a project carried out in the municipality of La Pobla de Vallbona (Valencia) on participatory budgets. It analyzes the results of the process carried out in relation to the urban model, the morphology of their urban pieces and spatial structure, and the demographic and social characteristics of the municipality. The question is identifying the problematic for the articulation of participative processes in territories with this idiosyncrasy. Finally, the article suggests a series of strategic lines as starting points to achieve participatory processes in the city characterized by urban sprawl.

scholarly journals E-PARTICIPATORY AND COMMUNICATION MOBILE APPLICATIONS: CASE STUDY OF PRAGUE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Fanta ◽  
◽  
Radek Soběhart ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Mobile Internet ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Content Analysis Method ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The City ◽  
Google Play

Worldwide usage of mobile Internet significantly increases, which underlines the importance of mobile applications as a tool for involving residents in local public affairs and decision-making processes. However, the Czech level of e-participation is below the EU average in the long term. Using an exploratory case study, tis article aims to identify all available e-participatory and communication mo-bile applications designed for the city of Prague and its inhabitants offered on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Moreover, using the content analysis method, features of identified mobile applications are explored and described. The majority of identified applications serve as one-way communication channels, and one application has a function that allows it to collect opinions of residents through voting polls. It is essential to significantly increase the user base of these applications and thus to ensure efficient development of e-participation in Prague and also in the Czech Republic in the future.

scholarly journals THERAPY IN ENDOCRINE DISEASE: Etomidate in the management of hypercortisolaemia in Cushing's syndrome: a review

2012 ◽  
Vol 167 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica A Preda ◽  
Jonathan Sen ◽  
Niki Karavitaki ◽  
Ashley B Grossman
Keyword(s):  
Cushing’S Syndrome ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Cushing's Syndrome ◽  
International Consensus ◽  
Treatment Protocols ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Small Series ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Effective Use

This review addresses the practical usage of intravenous etomidate as a medical therapy in Cushing's syndrome. We reviewed the relevant literature, using search terms ‘etomidate’, ‘Cushing's syndrome’, ‘adrenocortical hyperfunction’, ‘drug therapy’ and ‘hypercortisolaemia’ in a series of public databases. There is a paucity of large randomised controlled trials, and data on its use rely only on small series, case study reports and international consensus guideline recommendations. Based on these, etomidate is an effective parenteral medication for the management of endogenous hypercortisolaemia, particularly in cases with significant biochemical disturbance, sepsis and other serious complications such as severe psychosis, as well as in preoperative instability. We suggest treatment protocols for the safe and effective use of etomidate in Cushing's syndrome.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document