Civic Tech and Journalism: Impact through Collaboration

TY - ABST

T1 - Civic Tech and Journalism:

T2 - Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC) 2024

AU - Raetzsch, Christoph

AU - Hamm, Andrea

AU - Shibuya, Yuya

PY - 2024/6/13

Y1 - 2024/6/13

N2 - Impact beyond a project's runtime depends on embedding stakeholder interests from the start, to ensure uptake after a project is finished. Through European and Japanese examples of citizen-sensed data and journalistic storytelling as well as audience engagement, the presentation underlines the need for collaborations between civic tech activists and journalists. This paper highlights the contributions of civic tech projects within data journalism projects and digital civic infrastructures, drawing on examples from Europe and Japan. Its main focus are impact pathways between civic tech activism, journalism and infrastructures for civic participation.Impact beyond a project’s runtime depends on accommodating different field logics and embedding stakeholder interests from the start, to ensure uptake after a project is finished. Through examples of citizen-sensed data and journalistic storytelling as well as audience engagement, the presentation underlines the need for collaborations between civic tech activists and journalists. One core example of such a collaboration is a project from Berlin, where citizen-sensed data was used both in policy and in journalistic reporting to effect changes in the division of public road space to ensure safety of cyclists. Further examples include data interfaces and journalistic visualisations, which make climate change scenarios and their local ramifications understandable on a granular and everyday level. Such collaborations between journalists and civic tech activists here go beyond the provision of data or content for reporting, but contribute to shaping public knowledge platforms which act as civic infrastructures for decision-making. Co-designing platforms and interfaces to make climate and sustainability transitions relatable to individual citizens as well as policy makers can thus be a core pathway to impact.

AB - Impact beyond a project's runtime depends on embedding stakeholder interests from the start, to ensure uptake after a project is finished. Through European and Japanese examples of citizen-sensed data and journalistic storytelling as well as audience engagement, the presentation underlines the need for collaborations between civic tech activists and journalists. This paper highlights the contributions of civic tech projects within data journalism projects and digital civic infrastructures, drawing on examples from Europe and Japan. Its main focus are impact pathways between civic tech activism, journalism and infrastructures for civic participation.Impact beyond a project’s runtime depends on accommodating different field logics and embedding stakeholder interests from the start, to ensure uptake after a project is finished. Through examples of citizen-sensed data and journalistic storytelling as well as audience engagement, the presentation underlines the need for collaborations between civic tech activists and journalists. One core example of such a collaboration is a project from Berlin, where citizen-sensed data was used both in policy and in journalistic reporting to effect changes in the division of public road space to ensure safety of cyclists. Further examples include data interfaces and journalistic visualisations, which make climate change scenarios and their local ramifications understandable on a granular and everyday level. Such collaborations between journalists and civic tech activists here go beyond the provision of data or content for reporting, but contribute to shaping public knowledge platforms which act as civic infrastructures for decision-making. Co-designing platforms and interfaces to make climate and sustainability transitions relatable to individual citizens as well as policy makers can thus be a core pathway to impact.

KW - civic tech

KW - impact

KW - japan

KW - Germany

KW - resilience

KW - civic communication

KW - journalism

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

Y2 - 12 June 2024 through 13 June 2024

ER -