Crowdsourcing
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The availability of new mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) equipped with many sensors is changing or, better, enriching the way we monitor and sense the world that surrounds us. The internet has permeated completely not only our scientific and technological development, but also our life. Only some years ago, we used geospatial data and GIS software installed within our computers. Nowadays, data and operators are provided via the net by means of distributed and shared geo-services and a simple and powerless mobile device is enough to connect them. The possibility of interaction has become not only faster and more user friendly but also active, being individuals and communities free of adding, deleting, and changing contents in real time in the new GeoWeb2.0. This chapter explores GeoWeb2.0.

In knowledge society the utilization of social media as a communication channel between people, groups and even companies is increasing. Current innovation and social media research has already shown the potential of crowdsourcing in the business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. The authors argue in this paper, however, that crowdsourcing has a great and yet partly undiscovered potential also in the context of business-to-business (B2B) markets. In order to get the full potential, a more detailed understanding of the logic of value creation in crowdsourcing activities between multiple stakeholders in B2B context is needed. This paper presents an exploratory study that is carried out as an empirical netnography-based multiple case study. The study opens up potential future research avenues by starting the discussion of value creation logic in B2B crowdsourcing. Practical implications are created through cases revealing what kind of value companies have already been able to gain from crowdsourcing in B2B context.

Crowdsourcing is an emerging technique adopted by companies in the process of innovation. It can be also adopted by university spin-offs that play the significant role in the process of knowledge and technology transfer. In recent years, they have been researched from diverse perspectives. However, there are hardly any studies based on university spin-offs that have implemented crowdsourcing. This chapter presents how crowdsourcing business model might be applied to develop a university spin-off. The paper explains the rationale behind the adaptation of crowdsourcing by innovation-driven spin-offs. One overarching question of the chapter is “Can crowdsourcing be well adopted by university spin-offs?” Our study will open new paths for research and discussion, and its results will be supportive for decision making in the context of innovation and entrepreneurship. The logic of this paper is to speculate how university spin-offs can create value with the groups of online users through adopting crowdsourcing in its operation.

In June 2011, during the ice hockey Stanley Cup, as the Vancouver Canucks were losing, riots started in downtown Vancouver. Social media were used to communicate between authorities and citizens, including the rioters. The media reporting on these events framed these communications within different narratives, which in turn raised ethical considerations. The authors identify and reflect upon ideas of justice, fairness, responsibility, accountability and integrity that arise in the media stories. In addition they investigate (1) the “institutional unpreparedness” of the Vancouver police department when receiving such quantity of material and dealing with new processes of inquiry such material requires; (2) the “unintended do-it-yourself-justice”: the shift from supporting crisis responders to social media vigilantes: citizens overruling authorities and enforcing justice on their own terms and by their own means through social media and; (3) the “unintended do-it-yourself-society” supported by the potential-of social media's use for prompting people to act.

This chapter introduces the idea of accessing new resources by collaborative interaction with stakeholders to optimize the value chain and product development process. It is acknowledged that Creating Shared Value (CSV) could be a value driver by revisiting the supply chain (Porter & Kramer, 2011); however, in a world of scarce and often inaccessible resources, wastage is becoming increasingly detrimental. With project expenditure rising (PMI, 2012) and continuing high rates of failure (Balogun & Hope Hailey, 2008; Langley, 2014) small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) could find themselves in a position where crucial innovation becomes unaffordable and non-achievable. It is suggested that utilizing ‘the crowd', pragmatically incorporating collaborative engagement with stakeholders, could not only alleviate this problem but increase project success rates, lower costs and allow SMEs to fulfil social responsibilities with CSV.

This article undertakes a literature review on such articles on social media and citizen-centric e-government services. This research uses 139 articles to perform the intended literature review. The keywords analysis of these articles indicates that Web 2.0, participation and open government/open data were some of the frequently used keywords in addition to the two major themes of e-government and social media on which all the articles were searched for. The analysis of research methods indicated that majority of the studies were analytical, conceptual, descriptive, or theoretical in nature. The theoretical analysis however indicated that there is a lack of theory-based research in this area. The review of literature indicated that research themes such as electronic participation, engagement, transparency, communication/interaction, trust, security and collaboration are some of the most frequently used categories under this area of research. A research framework has also been proposed from the key themes emerging from the review.

A renewed interest has appeared in citizen co-production of public services due to financial pressure on governments. While social media are considered an important facilitator, many digital participatory platforms (DPPs) have been developed to facilitate co-production between citizens and governments in the context of urban development. Previous studies have delivered a fragmented overview of DPPs in a few socio-spatial contexts and failed to take stock of the rise of DPPs. This article aims to provide a more comprehensive picture of the availability and functionalities of DPPs. Through a systematic review, 113 active DPPs have been identified, analysed, and classified within a citizen-government relationship typology. Almost a quarter of these DPPs demonstrate a realistic potential for online and offline co-production between governments and citizens. The article critically analyses the characteristics of these DPPs and explores their real-world applications in urban development. The article concludes with directions for further research.

During large-scale manmade or natural disasters, such as Superstorm Sandy and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, collaborations among government agencies, NGOs, and businesses need to be coordinated to provide necessary resources to respond to emergency events. However, resources from citizens themselves are underutilized, such as their equipment or expertise. The citizen participation via social media enhanced the situational awareness, but the response management is still mainly handled by the government or government-sanctioned partners. By harnessing the power of citizen crowdsourcing, government agencies can create enhanced disaster situation awareness and facilitate effective utilization of resources provided by citizen volunteers, resulting in more effective disaster responses. This chapter presents a public engagement in emergency response (PEER) framework that provides an online and mobile crowdsourcing platform for incident reporting and citizens' resource volunteering as well as an intelligent recommender system to match-make citizen resources with emergency tasks.

Maps were historically used as tools of the elite to maintain and expand power and control. The development of participatory mapmaking and the geoweb have opened new avenues for broader citizen engagement and therefore challenge traditional power dynamics. This chapter analyzes three examples and presents experiential learning around participatory processes and VGI contributions. Specifically we explore who is contributing their information, what are their motivations and incentives, in what ways do users interact with available technologies, and how is this contributing to change? We conclude by discussing the roles of motivations, the type of contribution, organizational capacity and leadership, and objectives. In comparing and contrasting these case studies we examine the individual and organizational dynamics of engagement, and how this can better inform the discourse about VGI.

Integral to some conceptualizations of the “smart city” is the adoption of web-based technology to support civic engagement and improve information systems for local government decision support. Yet there is little to no literature on the “smartness” of gathering information about historic places within municipal information systems. This chapter provides three case studies of technologically augmented planning processes that incorporated citizens as sensors of data about historic places. The first case study is of SurveyLA, a massive effort of the city of Los Angeles to comprehensively survey over 880,000 parcels for historic resources. A second case study involves Motor City Mapping, an effort to identify the condition of buildings in Detroit, Michigan and a parallel historical survey conducted by volunteers. In Austin, Texas, a university-based research team designed a municipal web tool called the Austin Historical Survey Wiki. This chapter offers insights into these prior efforts to augment planning processes with “digitized memory,” web-based technology, and public engagement.