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International Seminar
SHARING ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION:
ISSUES OF OPEN ENVIRONMENTAL DATA IN LATIN AMERICA
August, 23 & 24 2012
Universidade Federal de Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil
Organized by
Laboratório de Geoprocessamento-UFRGS (Brazil)
Laboratoire PRODIG-Université Panthéon Sorbonne (France)
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement – Brésil (France)
Instituto Gino Germani-Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)
!! – please find the submission form at the end of this document.
SHARING VIEWS ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DATA. Several convergent factors explain the current
rising phenomenon of open environmental data diffusion. Permanent innovations in techniques are
accompanied and driven by an increased demand by citizens to be informed about their
environment, the recognition by states of a right to information, as well as an acceleration of
environmental changes and the associated risks and conflicts they convey. In consequence, we can
observe the multiplication of online biodiversity observatories, websites about environmental
conflicts, geographical information systems, spatial data infrastructures and several other kinds of
free-access databases or open environmental data. Due to its novelty and magnitude, this process
has not yet been sufficiently analyzed, and several of the issues at stake for society have not yet
been evaluated. What are the characteristics of free-access environmental information and its
similarities and differences with other kinds of information? What are the dissemination strategies
adopted by those who have decided to share their data and their technical options (kind of website,
type of software…)? Is the social impact of the information diffused measurable? To what extent is
this diffusion changing citizens’ perceptions of environmental problems, the development of
environmental public policies and the possibility of exerting social control over these policies?
The seminar “Sharing Environmental Information” proposes to bring together people of different
fields interested by the scientific, institutional and social implications of open environmental data.
To start addressing some of the above mentioned questions, it is necessary to bring together the
institutions in charge of data release, the potential users of this data and researchers from several
disciplines. It is also necessary to encourage exchanges of specialists in seemingly separated
themes (biodiversity, pollution, social conflicts, land use, etc.), or in different data formats
(geographical data, statistical data, journalism, etc.), who together contribute to creating the
“supply” of open data.
A BALANCE OF LATIN AMERICAN INITIATIVES IN OPEN ENVIRONMENTAL DATA. This event is an
invitation to discuss the issues relating to the diverse Latin American initiatives to release open
environmental data. How can the projects that diffuse environmental data be adapted to
heterogeneous social and environmental contexts? Which technologies or data formats are best
suited to inform citizens about environmental questions? How can transnational information
systems be designed? How has the internet changed access to environmental information on the
continent? What are the consequences of open data for environmental democracy and justice?
Our objective is to bring together people of several Latin American countries, to exchange and
discuss experiences, with the participation of members of European institutions dedicated to
environmental information. We will also present the preliminary results of the Baguala project, on
the social uses of environmental data in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and France (see website:
http://baguala.hypotheses.org/).
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THEMATIC AXES. We invite all people or institutions interested to send a proposition for the
seminar linked to at least one of the following axes:
1. Detailed presentations of open environmental data diffusion. Description of the project’s
history, its technical and organizational aspects, its current applications, its evolution and its future
prospects. This axis includes specific online projects (environmental observatories, spatial data
infrastructures or gateway websites about a particular environmental theme) and more globally
data release policies.
2. Methods of analyzing the supply of open environmental data (available data on the
Web). Presentation and/or comparison of methods of analysis, studies of the spatial heterogeneity
of the territorial coverage of open data, identification of gaps in information relating to specific
themes or territories, characterization of emerging actors in civil society who produce and release
open data.
3. Open data and environmental governance. Public policies on open data release, political
challenges in building open databases, ways of determining which data may or may not be
released, role played today by open data in public environmental policies, new social uses of open
environmental data.
4. How to measure the social impact of open environmental data? Methods of measuring
the social impacts, case studies, characterization of the main types of open data users,
differentiation of the impacts according to the kind of data (spatial, statistic, iconic…).
PRESENTATION AND SELECTION OF PAPERS. We invite researchers, public or private institutions
linked to issues of open data and users of these data (NGOs, consultants, associations, etc.) to
propose a paper, related to the questions and the four axes detailed above. The submission
deadline for proposals (summarized in up to 450 words) is the 1st of March 2012. The scientific
committee will establish the list of selected papers on the 15th of March 2012. To participate as a
speaker, we invite you to send an extended summary of your paper (14,000 characters, not
including spaces) for the 15th of July.
Papers may be presented in Portuguese, Spanish or English.
Extended summaries of the selected papers will be published on the Baguala project website.
Following the seminar, the scientific committee will select a group of papers to be presented to a
scientific journal or as the proceedings of the seminar.
COST AND REGISTRATION. Participation in the seminar as a speaker is free of charge. To attend the
seminar as a member of the audience, the cost is 60 Reais. Please email [email protected] for advance registration as a member of the audience.
SCIENTIFIC COMMITEE
- Heinrich Hasenack (Universidad Federal de Rio Grande do Sul).
- Gabriela Merlinsky (Universidad de Buenos Aires).
- Pierre Gautreau (Université Panthéon Sorbonne).
- Yuri Sandoval (Universidad Mayor de San Marcos)
- Arilson Favareto (Universidade Federal do ABC, São Paulo)
- Richard Raymond (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris)
- Matthieu Noucher (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bordeaux)
IMPORTANT DATES
- 15t March 2012: deadline for sending paper proposals.
- 30th of March 2012: selection of papers.
- 15th of July 2012: deadline for sending extended summaries by the accepted participants.
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- 30 of August: deadline for sending the complete manuscripts of accepted participants.
ORGANIZATION
Laboratório de Geoprocessamento
Centro de Ecología, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brasil.
http://www.ecologia.ufrgs.br/labgeo/
Laboratorio PRODIG
Centre National de la Recherche, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne,
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement.
http://www.prodig.cnrs.fr/
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Brésil
http://www.brasil.ird.fr
Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani
Universidad de Buenos Aires.
http://iigg.sociales.uba.ar/
Proyecto Baguala
“Usos de las Bases de datos Geoambientales de Utilización y
Acceso Libre en América del sur y Francia”
http://baguala.hypotheses.org/
CONTACT
Pierre Gautreau: [email protected]
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Submission Form
International
Seminar.
SHARING
ENVIRONMENTAL
INFORMATION:
ENVIRONMENTAL DATA IN LATIN AMERICA. August, 23 & 24 2012.
Universidade Federal de Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil
Name:
Institution/ organization:
Email:
Phone number:
Proposed title for the presentation:
Presentation summary (450 words):
Axes:
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Send to: Pierre Gautreau, [email protected]
ISSUES
OF
OPEN