CIVIC Tech
PPOL 296 Part I Below are eight terms, choose SIX (target: three sentence target answer). Define the concept in the first sentence. The next two sentences should explain why the concept is important to the study of civic technology and provide detail (or an example). Provide an answer that shows a degree of knowledge on the issue that you gained from the course materials or lecture. Detail needed, avoid vague general answers and provide technical details in your examples (8 points each). Crowdsourced Information Remote Sensing Predictive Analytics Data Mining Shotspotter Data Journalism Natural Language Processing Dashboards Part II Answer any THREE of the provided questions. Each answer should be three (three to four sentence) paragraphs long. Please dont repeat the question. Your answer should show that you have achieved mastery of the concept through course materials and lectures. (17 points each) 1. Explain the shortcomings of data collection instruments (like surveys) for immigrant communities, minority groups, and the LGBT community. Offer examples of how their communities might be misrepresented or ignored because of poor cultural competence. 2. Discuss the use of citizens as sensors. What are the benefits and drawbacks of using data collected by citizens through mobile devices? Provide an example of an application that uses citizen-generated data. 3. Explain the differences between vector and raster data formats for storing geographic information. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each format? Provide an example of how each type of data may be used in a real-world application. 4. There are many types of bias that are introduced in data at different stages of its collection and use. Describe three phenomena that can cause incorrect inferences to be made from data. 5. Explain three reasons why governments publish open data, providing expansion and offering examples. Are there any drawbacks for proving open information? What reasons might a government seek to keep its data away from citizens?