Citizen-sensor-networks to confront government decision-makers: Two lessons from the Netherlands
Citizen-sensor-networks to confront government decision-makers: Two lessons from the Netherlands
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.02.044
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发表时间：
2017-07-01
影响因子：
8.7
通讯作者：
Ache, Peter
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Carton, Linda;Ache, Peter
本文提出了一种新兴的社会技术创新：公民传感器网络的演变，在这种网络中，公民自下而上地组织自己，以便向治理官员提供有关环境质量的测量信息。我们观察到，在官方政府监督和商业组织留下空白的情况下，荷兰是如何启动公民传感器网络的。形成的公民感知网络收集有关影响当地社区生活质量的问题的信息。特别地，描述了两项社区倡议，其中分别通过网络地理信息方法发布了噪声污染和天然气开采诱发地震的感知环境信息。这两个社区倡议都率先开发了一种方法，该方法包括传感器数据流、实时地图门户和社区组织的综合建立。本文分析了两个具体案例，以追踪这种“网络地理信息工具”在实践中的出现和网络运行：(1)格罗宁根地震监测仪，(2)史基浦机场飞机监测仪。在这两种情况下，空间经济活动的环境“外部性”发挥了重要作用，具有国家重要性的经济层面（例如天然气开采和国家机场发展），同时影响区域社区的环境后果。本文分析的监测系统是由公民为公民自下而上建立的，在与政府机构的对话中充当“信息力量”。本文的目标是深入了解这些公民-传感器网络是如何产生的：建立传感器网络的想法是如何产生的，它们的价值是如何在整个“治理系统”中得到认可和采用的；它们在多大程度上带来了对抗既得利益和既定话语的力量，并在多大程度上影响了因环境压力而引发的权力冲突；以及他们是否实现了（某种形式的）制度化，并最终改变了政策。我们发现，通过联合众包数据的努力和活动，研究公民传感器网络获得了力量，为当地社区普遍关注的问题提供了“实地”情况的事实，“客观数据”或“证据”。通过满足当地社区的信息需求，一个与公民赋权相结合的“集体意义构建”过程可能会发展起来，从而影响社会话语，挑战公共机构的主流真理主张。在这两个类似的案例中，天然气开采公司和机场都开发了“竞争性”门户网站作为回应。但随着公民传感器网络的出现，我们得出结论，政府和受影响社区之间的权力平衡发生了变化，因为政府不再垄断环境测量的信息。(C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd.版权所有。
This paper presents one emerging social-technical innovation: The evolution of citizen-sensor-networks where citizens organize themselves from the 'bottom up', for the sake of confronting governance officials with measured information about environmental qualities. We have observed how citizen-sensor networks have been initiated in the Netherlands in cases where official government monitoring and business organizations leave gaps. The formed citizen-sensor-networks collect information about issues that affect the local community in their quality-of-living. In particular, two community initiatives are described where the sensed environmental information, on noise pollution and gas-extraction induced earthquakes respectively, is published through networked geographic information methods. Both community initiatives pioneered in developing an approach that comprises the combined setting-up of sensor data flows, real-time map portals and community organization. Two particular cases are analyzed to trace the emergence and network operation of such 'networked geo-information tools' in practice: (1) The Groningen earthquake monitor, and (2) The Airplane Monitor Schiphol. In both cases, environmental 'externalities' of spatial-economic activities play an important role, having economic dimensions of national importance (e.g. gas extraction and national airport development) while simultaneously affecting the regional community with environmental consequences.The monitoring systems analyzed in this paper are established bottom-up, by citizens for citizens, to serve as 'information power' in dialogue with government institutions. The goal of this paper is to gain insight in how these citizen-sensor-networks come about: how the idea for establishing a sensor network originated, how their value gets recognized and adopted in the overall 'system of governance'; to what extent they bring countervailing power against vested interests and established discourses to the table and influence power-laden conflicts over environmental pressures; and whether or not they achieve (some form of) institutionalization and, ultimately, policy change.We find that the studied-citizen-sensor networks gain strength by uniting efforts and activities in crowdsourcing data, providing factual, 'objectivized data' or 'evidence' of the situation 'on the ground' on a matter of local community-wide concern. By filling an information need of the local community, a process of 'collective sense-making' combined with citizen empowerment could grow, which influenced societal discourse and challenged prevailing truth-claims of public institutions. In both cases similar, 'competing' web-portals were developed in response, both by the gas-extraction company and the airport. But with the citizen-sensor-networks alongside, we conclude there is a shift in power balance involved between government and affected communities, as the government no longer has information monopoly on environmental measurements. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.