La obra compila lineamientos y herramientas para la aplicación de un enfoque de mapeo participati... more La obra compila lineamientos y herramientas para la aplicación de un enfoque de mapeo participativo y cartografía social de conocimientos culturales, históricos y arqueológicos. Está pensada como un recurso didáctico para profesores o estudiantes universitarios interesados en enseñar o aplicar este método en sus investigaciones o proyectos. Cuenta asimismo con sugerencias para una buena práctica en el trabajo con comunidades y diversos sectores sociales. Esperamos que está publicación sea un recurso valioso tanto para los estudiantes del postgrado del CIGA, como para los estudiantes de la ENES Morelia, dada la afinidad temática con los cursos allí impartidos y los temas de tesis derivados de estas instituciones.
This report provides a general introduction to educational gaming and describes a simulation game... more This report provides a general introduction to educational gaming and describes a simulation game developed primarily as a teaching device in the training of educational facility planners, but also beneficial for administrators, students, and community leaders. Objectives of the game are to sensitize players to issues and opinions outside their normal frame of reference, portray the complexity of planning issues, and teach that, because of the problems associated with complex and controversial social processes such as educational facilities planning, an acceptable solution can only be reached by cooperation. The game, therefore, emphasizes skills necessary to achieve cooperation, the ability to communicate constructively, and a willingness to compromise one's beliefs for the common good. An extensive bibliography is provided which is divided into general works on simulation and a select list of games pertinent to the educational facilities planning process. (Author/MLF)
Where will REDD+ lead? Foresters and community members map a community forest boundary with a mob... more Where will REDD+ lead? Foresters and community members map a community forest boundary with a mobile geographic information system, United Republic of Tanzania M. SKUTSCH
Rationale for community-based inventories. 3.4.1 Forest land in developing countries is increasin... more Rationale for community-based inventories. 3.4.1 Forest land in developing countries is increasingly being brought under community management under programs such as Joint Forest Management, Community-based Forest Management, Collaborative Management, etc., more generally called Community Forest Management (CFM). This movement has been stimulated by the recognition in many countries that Forest Departments (FD), which are nominally responsible for management of state-owned forest, do not have the resources to carry out this task effectively. Rural people, whose livelihoods are supplemented by, or even dependent on, a variety of forest products such as firewood and fodder, foods and medicines, have the potential knowledge and human resources to provide effective management capacity to take care of the forest resources when the FD cannot. These actors are not only forest peoples with indigenous entitlements or customary rights to the forest lands, but countless rural communities adjacent to forest areas with accumulated knowledge of them. The UNFCCC recognizes the special position that 'indigenous and forest peoples' have in REDD+, having repeatedly called for the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in REDD+ since the first decision on REDD+ was made by the COP at its 13th session in Bali, December 2007. The interpretation of full and effective is left to the individual countries implementing REDD+, but specific reference to monitoring and reporting is made in paragraph 3 of Decision 4/CP.15. In paragraph 72 of Decision 1/CP.16 countries are requested when developing and implementing their national strategies or action plans, to address, inter alia, the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, land tenure issues, forest governance issues, gender considerations and the safeguards […], ensuring the full and effective participation of relevant stakeholders, inter alia indigenous peoples and local communities. This issue is referred to directly in one of the safeguards. Developing countries implementing REDD+ therefore have to promote and support (paragraph 2 of Appendix I) this participation and provide information on how this is addressed and respected (paragraph 71(d)). There is increasing evidence that communities can be effectively engaged in different aspects of monitoring (Box 3.4.1; Danielsen et al. 2011; Larrazabal et al. 2012; Hawthorne & Boissière 2014). One component of CFM is to mitigate the over-exploitation which leads to degradation and loss of biomass. The CFM approach is to establish formal systems between communities and FDs in which, usually, communities receive a legalized right to controlled use of forest products from a given parcel of forest, and in return formally agree to protect the forest and manage it collectively. Different approaches to CFM are found in different countries. In Nepal and Tanzania, most of the forest parcels are relatively small, from 25 to 500 hectares, being managed by groups of 10 to 100 households on the basis of agreed off-take of firewood, fodder etc. In Mexico, forest areas may be from 300 to 15,000 hectares and are sometimes managed for timber. In the Amazon, much larger areas may be restituted to indigenous groups, and managed essentially for conservation. The conditions may vary widely-in Mexico for example, the majority of the forest area is legal property of communities, while in most African countries it is the property of the state.
Uto pía y Pra xis La ti noa me ri ca na / Año 14. Nº 44 (Ene ro-Mar zo, 2009) Pp. 39 - 51 Re vis ... more Uto pía y Pra xis La ti noa me ri ca na / Año 14. Nº 44 (Ene ro-Mar zo, 2009) Pp. 39 - 51 Re vis ta Inter na cio nal de Fi lo so fía Ibe roa me ri ca na y Teo ría So cial / ISSN 1315-5216 CESA FCES Uni ver si dad del Zu lia. Ma ra cai bo-Ve ne zue la ... Per cep cio nes so cioam ...
Based on fieldwork carried out over the last five years, this article presents the case for commu... more Based on fieldwork carried out over the last five years, this article presents the case for communities being permitted to make their own forest carbon inventories for the purposes of monitoring under national REDD+ programmes, following brief training. Modern technology, particularly PDAs (small, handheld computers), can provide the platform both for mapping and for storing data, and can easily be used by people with only a few years primary education, although a technical agency will be needed to back up such systems. There are many advantages to this approach: costs are much lower than when professionals do the work, while the data are equally accurate. ‘Ownership´ of the data may be important in legitimising communities´ claims to carbon credits in the forests they manage.
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental eBooks, 2023
El libro Integración global: el nuevo entorno de los territorios locales destaca los procesos que... more El libro Integración global: el nuevo entorno de los territorios locales destaca los procesos que surgen en el ámbito local como resultado de las conexiones con la escala global. Desde una perspectiva teórica y práctica el libro se articula en torno a dos preguntas: ¿Cómo los procesos de integración global han transformado el espacio, las relaciones, los patrones sociales y ambientales de los territorios locales? y ¿Cómo puede contribuir la Geografía Ambiental a la revisión del sistema global dominante y responder a prioridades de la sociedad y gobiernos? Los trece capítulos del libro, distribuidos en cuatro secciones, reflexionan en las complejas transformaciones del territorio para abonar a la comprensión de cómo los territorios locales participan, se adaptan o resisten a los cambios impuestos por las dinámicas globales.
This study identifies, characterizes, and represents children’s and adolescents’ perceptions of u... more This study identifies, characterizes, and represents children’s and adolescents’ perceptions of urban risks, using participatory mapping and Participatory Geographic Information Systems. Children and youth identified risks and georeferenced them using tools like CyberTracker, Google Earth and Google Maps embedded in a website. Data analysis showed that risk situations identified by the participants are real and concrete concerns, contextualized in their daily lives. This kind of study can be a starting point for community joint actions that include young people to help solve problems—from policy reviews, to effective structural and design changes, to general awareness-raising.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
14 hunters, NGO, Min. of Forests, GIS consultant Activities Involved Sketch mapping. Transects Ma... more 14 hunters, NGO, Min. of Forests, GIS consultant Activities Involved Sketch mapping. Transects Map of CF specifications from Community Boundary Agreement demarcated on ground by villagers (men). GPS by villagers. GIS by consultant Outputs Village sketch map, social village map, forest use map CF Boundary map. (GIS) Landuse zones. P-map of current uses Git Tools Topographic sheets GPS, airphoto interpretation, GIS mapping Degree Of Participation P-mapping. forest use survey. Decision-making, Empowerment P-mapping for forest description.
International Journal of E-Planning Research, 2021
Applications of participatory mapping (PMapping) and PGIS to the mapping of local spatial knowled... more Applications of participatory mapping (PMapping) and PGIS to the mapping of local spatial knowledge are expanding; therefore, updated ethics and good practice improvements are needed. The intention here is to secern, or distinguish between, two pairs of concepts essential to PMapping – between ‘facts' and ‘values' in the knowledge being mapped and between ‘representation' and ‘representativity in the Pmapping processes. Local spatial knowledge is not homogeneous; facts and values are distinct although intrinsically related. In a world of ‘fake news´ and attacks on science, it is even more essential to distinguish facts from values in maps and other media. Concerning representation of both facts and values, the questions are how to represent local knowledge. Concerning representativity in the process, whose local spatial knowledge is being presented, and why? PMapping is not democratic; it is exceptionalist and informed – that should be acknowledged as a strength, not a d...
Participatory spatial tools—community mapping, PGIS, and others—find increasing resonance among r... more Participatory spatial tools—community mapping, PGIS, and others—find increasing resonance among research and non-governmental organizations to make stakeholder claims and community perspectives explicit for more inclusive landscape governance. In this paper, we situate the use of participatory spatial tools in debates on integrated landscape approaches and inclusive development. We show that using such spatial tools is not new but argue that their application for inclusive landscape governance requires a new research agenda that focuses on expanding the scope of application of the tools, improving the inclusivity of the processes, and developing new technologies.
The first COVID-19 case in Mexico was confirmed on 26 February 2020 and by May 3 the number of re... more The first COVID-19 case in Mexico was confirmed on 26 February 2020 and by May 3 the number of registered cases had risen to 30,927. However the rate of transmission varied greatly from city to city. We used data on temperature, humidity and ultraviolet radiation (UV) from 45 cities all over the country to explore whether there was an association between these variables and rates of transmission and rates of accumulation of COVID-19 ascribed deaths. The advantage of an in-country study of this kind is that many of the variables that can confound international studies are held constant (e.g. public health policies, methods of reporting, cultural, behavioural and genetic factors). Although the official statistics undoubtedly greatly underestimate the situation in Mexico due to lack of testing, they are underestimated in all cities so this should not introduce bias across the sample. We found that temperature and humidity had no discernible association with transmission rates but that ...
In a project to classify livestock grazing intensity using participatory geographic information s... more In a project to classify livestock grazing intensity using participatory geographic information systems (PGIS), we encountered the problem of how to synthesize PGIS‐based maps of livestock grazing intensity that were prepared separately by local experts. We investigated the utility of evidential belief functions (EBFs) and Dempster's rule of combination to represent classification uncertainty and integrate the PGIS‐based grazing intensity maps. These maps were used as individual sets of evidence in the application of EBFs to evaluate the proposition that “This area or pixel belongs to the high, medium, or low grazing intensity class because the local expert(s) says (say) so”. The class‐area‐weighted averages of EBFs based on each of the PGIS‐based maps show that the lowest degree of classification uncertainty is associated with maps in which “vegetation species” was used as the mapping criterion. This criterion, together with local landscape attributes of livestock use may be co...
ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, Sep 26, 2015
This paper develops a framework for assessing how Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI) 2 sy... more This paper develops a framework for assessing how Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI) 2 systems, modalities and practices perform, as measured against principles of good governance and participation; the framework is applied to two case studies. From this, we argue for a shift towards recognising, valuing and incorporating into VGI, the values of participatory processes which are the essence of PGIS (Participatory GIS). We firstly overview the current range of handling citizen's local (spatial) knowledge in VGI by identifying two foundational drivers, which are: the recognition of the value of vulgar local knowledge, and the acceleration of cyberspace communication capacities. Section 2 analyses VGI modalities and systems in terms of their characteristics and practices, in a frame of good governance principles and participatory process. In Section 3 this analytical framework is used in evaluating two specific cases in terms of governance and participation principles and practice. The paper concludes with needs and challenges about shifting the boundaries of VGI towards a deeper, more participatory construct of 'vulgar grounded intelligence'. At the level of conceptualization of alternative knowledge formation, the proto-concepts behind VGI in this paper include: Citizen Science (Cohn 2008; Silvertown 2009; Haklay 2012) and Crowdsourcing (Howe, 2006; Elwood & Leszczynski 2012) 3 ; though these two are not necessarily dealing with spatial knowledge. These conceptualizations of knowledge formation and usage are critical and alternative, and often in conflict with authoritative information. However the growing demands for public engagement in participation, and the realisation by professionals that the public can provide knowledge, labour, skills, computing power and even funding, have led to the concept and reality of citizen science projects (Silvertown 2009; Cohn 2008). The Internet as a global infrastructure has enabled a reincarnation of Citizen Science. Innovative projects utilise the abilities of personal computers, GPS receivers, mobile phones and other personal e-devices to double as scientific instruments. This type of citizen science is sometimes termed 'citizen cyber science' (Grey 2009); within it can be identified three sub-categories: volunteered computing, volunteered thinking and participatory sensing (Haklay 2012). In volunteered computing, non-specialists-the volunteering citizens-participate in collaborative data collection and analysis. A pioneering project was SETI@Home which harnessed the idle computing time of millions of participants in the search for extra-terrestrial life; similarly with modelling of malaria epidemiology by Malariacontrol.net 4 5. An essential of volunteered knowledge production is that people are not just passive sensors, but active participants in checking, assessing or commenting on scientific observations' for example the observation and classification by volunteers of galaxies and 'habitable' planets circling stars, such as in Galaxy Zoo 6 with its celebrity volunteer Hanny van Arkel 7. Participatory sensing is the broadest category; for example, citizen scientists make detailed observations of the natural world, as in the long-running Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count 8 , now in its 114 th year. Crowdsourcing is usually considered as voluntary, participative and mutually-rewarding. "The undertaking of the task, of variable complexity and modularity, and in which the crowd should participate bringing their work, money, 3 Citizen journalism and blogs and Citizen Observatories would also belong under this category, but are not analysed here. 4 NOTE: all web references accessed in August 2013. 5
La obra compila lineamientos y herramientas para la aplicación de un enfoque de mapeo participati... more La obra compila lineamientos y herramientas para la aplicación de un enfoque de mapeo participativo y cartografía social de conocimientos culturales, históricos y arqueológicos. Está pensada como un recurso didáctico para profesores o estudiantes universitarios interesados en enseñar o aplicar este método en sus investigaciones o proyectos. Cuenta asimismo con sugerencias para una buena práctica en el trabajo con comunidades y diversos sectores sociales. Esperamos que está publicación sea un recurso valioso tanto para los estudiantes del postgrado del CIGA, como para los estudiantes de la ENES Morelia, dada la afinidad temática con los cursos allí impartidos y los temas de tesis derivados de estas instituciones.
This report provides a general introduction to educational gaming and describes a simulation game... more This report provides a general introduction to educational gaming and describes a simulation game developed primarily as a teaching device in the training of educational facility planners, but also beneficial for administrators, students, and community leaders. Objectives of the game are to sensitize players to issues and opinions outside their normal frame of reference, portray the complexity of planning issues, and teach that, because of the problems associated with complex and controversial social processes such as educational facilities planning, an acceptable solution can only be reached by cooperation. The game, therefore, emphasizes skills necessary to achieve cooperation, the ability to communicate constructively, and a willingness to compromise one's beliefs for the common good. An extensive bibliography is provided which is divided into general works on simulation and a select list of games pertinent to the educational facilities planning process. (Author/MLF)
Where will REDD+ lead? Foresters and community members map a community forest boundary with a mob... more Where will REDD+ lead? Foresters and community members map a community forest boundary with a mobile geographic information system, United Republic of Tanzania M. SKUTSCH
Rationale for community-based inventories. 3.4.1 Forest land in developing countries is increasin... more Rationale for community-based inventories. 3.4.1 Forest land in developing countries is increasingly being brought under community management under programs such as Joint Forest Management, Community-based Forest Management, Collaborative Management, etc., more generally called Community Forest Management (CFM). This movement has been stimulated by the recognition in many countries that Forest Departments (FD), which are nominally responsible for management of state-owned forest, do not have the resources to carry out this task effectively. Rural people, whose livelihoods are supplemented by, or even dependent on, a variety of forest products such as firewood and fodder, foods and medicines, have the potential knowledge and human resources to provide effective management capacity to take care of the forest resources when the FD cannot. These actors are not only forest peoples with indigenous entitlements or customary rights to the forest lands, but countless rural communities adjacent to forest areas with accumulated knowledge of them. The UNFCCC recognizes the special position that 'indigenous and forest peoples' have in REDD+, having repeatedly called for the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in REDD+ since the first decision on REDD+ was made by the COP at its 13th session in Bali, December 2007. The interpretation of full and effective is left to the individual countries implementing REDD+, but specific reference to monitoring and reporting is made in paragraph 3 of Decision 4/CP.15. In paragraph 72 of Decision 1/CP.16 countries are requested when developing and implementing their national strategies or action plans, to address, inter alia, the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, land tenure issues, forest governance issues, gender considerations and the safeguards […], ensuring the full and effective participation of relevant stakeholders, inter alia indigenous peoples and local communities. This issue is referred to directly in one of the safeguards. Developing countries implementing REDD+ therefore have to promote and support (paragraph 2 of Appendix I) this participation and provide information on how this is addressed and respected (paragraph 71(d)). There is increasing evidence that communities can be effectively engaged in different aspects of monitoring (Box 3.4.1; Danielsen et al. 2011; Larrazabal et al. 2012; Hawthorne & Boissière 2014). One component of CFM is to mitigate the over-exploitation which leads to degradation and loss of biomass. The CFM approach is to establish formal systems between communities and FDs in which, usually, communities receive a legalized right to controlled use of forest products from a given parcel of forest, and in return formally agree to protect the forest and manage it collectively. Different approaches to CFM are found in different countries. In Nepal and Tanzania, most of the forest parcels are relatively small, from 25 to 500 hectares, being managed by groups of 10 to 100 households on the basis of agreed off-take of firewood, fodder etc. In Mexico, forest areas may be from 300 to 15,000 hectares and are sometimes managed for timber. In the Amazon, much larger areas may be restituted to indigenous groups, and managed essentially for conservation. The conditions may vary widely-in Mexico for example, the majority of the forest area is legal property of communities, while in most African countries it is the property of the state.
Uto pía y Pra xis La ti noa me ri ca na / Año 14. Nº 44 (Ene ro-Mar zo, 2009) Pp. 39 - 51 Re vis ... more Uto pía y Pra xis La ti noa me ri ca na / Año 14. Nº 44 (Ene ro-Mar zo, 2009) Pp. 39 - 51 Re vis ta Inter na cio nal de Fi lo so fía Ibe roa me ri ca na y Teo ría So cial / ISSN 1315-5216 CESA FCES Uni ver si dad del Zu lia. Ma ra cai bo-Ve ne zue la ... Per cep cio nes so cioam ...
Based on fieldwork carried out over the last five years, this article presents the case for commu... more Based on fieldwork carried out over the last five years, this article presents the case for communities being permitted to make their own forest carbon inventories for the purposes of monitoring under national REDD+ programmes, following brief training. Modern technology, particularly PDAs (small, handheld computers), can provide the platform both for mapping and for storing data, and can easily be used by people with only a few years primary education, although a technical agency will be needed to back up such systems. There are many advantages to this approach: costs are much lower than when professionals do the work, while the data are equally accurate. ‘Ownership´ of the data may be important in legitimising communities´ claims to carbon credits in the forests they manage.
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental eBooks, 2023
El libro Integración global: el nuevo entorno de los territorios locales destaca los procesos que... more El libro Integración global: el nuevo entorno de los territorios locales destaca los procesos que surgen en el ámbito local como resultado de las conexiones con la escala global. Desde una perspectiva teórica y práctica el libro se articula en torno a dos preguntas: ¿Cómo los procesos de integración global han transformado el espacio, las relaciones, los patrones sociales y ambientales de los territorios locales? y ¿Cómo puede contribuir la Geografía Ambiental a la revisión del sistema global dominante y responder a prioridades de la sociedad y gobiernos? Los trece capítulos del libro, distribuidos en cuatro secciones, reflexionan en las complejas transformaciones del territorio para abonar a la comprensión de cómo los territorios locales participan, se adaptan o resisten a los cambios impuestos por las dinámicas globales.
This study identifies, characterizes, and represents children’s and adolescents’ perceptions of u... more This study identifies, characterizes, and represents children’s and adolescents’ perceptions of urban risks, using participatory mapping and Participatory Geographic Information Systems. Children and youth identified risks and georeferenced them using tools like CyberTracker, Google Earth and Google Maps embedded in a website. Data analysis showed that risk situations identified by the participants are real and concrete concerns, contextualized in their daily lives. This kind of study can be a starting point for community joint actions that include young people to help solve problems—from policy reviews, to effective structural and design changes, to general awareness-raising.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
14 hunters, NGO, Min. of Forests, GIS consultant Activities Involved Sketch mapping. Transects Ma... more 14 hunters, NGO, Min. of Forests, GIS consultant Activities Involved Sketch mapping. Transects Map of CF specifications from Community Boundary Agreement demarcated on ground by villagers (men). GPS by villagers. GIS by consultant Outputs Village sketch map, social village map, forest use map CF Boundary map. (GIS) Landuse zones. P-map of current uses Git Tools Topographic sheets GPS, airphoto interpretation, GIS mapping Degree Of Participation P-mapping. forest use survey. Decision-making, Empowerment P-mapping for forest description.
International Journal of E-Planning Research, 2021
Applications of participatory mapping (PMapping) and PGIS to the mapping of local spatial knowled... more Applications of participatory mapping (PMapping) and PGIS to the mapping of local spatial knowledge are expanding; therefore, updated ethics and good practice improvements are needed. The intention here is to secern, or distinguish between, two pairs of concepts essential to PMapping – between ‘facts' and ‘values' in the knowledge being mapped and between ‘representation' and ‘representativity in the Pmapping processes. Local spatial knowledge is not homogeneous; facts and values are distinct although intrinsically related. In a world of ‘fake news´ and attacks on science, it is even more essential to distinguish facts from values in maps and other media. Concerning representation of both facts and values, the questions are how to represent local knowledge. Concerning representativity in the process, whose local spatial knowledge is being presented, and why? PMapping is not democratic; it is exceptionalist and informed – that should be acknowledged as a strength, not a d...
Participatory spatial tools—community mapping, PGIS, and others—find increasing resonance among r... more Participatory spatial tools—community mapping, PGIS, and others—find increasing resonance among research and non-governmental organizations to make stakeholder claims and community perspectives explicit for more inclusive landscape governance. In this paper, we situate the use of participatory spatial tools in debates on integrated landscape approaches and inclusive development. We show that using such spatial tools is not new but argue that their application for inclusive landscape governance requires a new research agenda that focuses on expanding the scope of application of the tools, improving the inclusivity of the processes, and developing new technologies.
The first COVID-19 case in Mexico was confirmed on 26 February 2020 and by May 3 the number of re... more The first COVID-19 case in Mexico was confirmed on 26 February 2020 and by May 3 the number of registered cases had risen to 30,927. However the rate of transmission varied greatly from city to city. We used data on temperature, humidity and ultraviolet radiation (UV) from 45 cities all over the country to explore whether there was an association between these variables and rates of transmission and rates of accumulation of COVID-19 ascribed deaths. The advantage of an in-country study of this kind is that many of the variables that can confound international studies are held constant (e.g. public health policies, methods of reporting, cultural, behavioural and genetic factors). Although the official statistics undoubtedly greatly underestimate the situation in Mexico due to lack of testing, they are underestimated in all cities so this should not introduce bias across the sample. We found that temperature and humidity had no discernible association with transmission rates but that ...
In a project to classify livestock grazing intensity using participatory geographic information s... more In a project to classify livestock grazing intensity using participatory geographic information systems (PGIS), we encountered the problem of how to synthesize PGIS‐based maps of livestock grazing intensity that were prepared separately by local experts. We investigated the utility of evidential belief functions (EBFs) and Dempster's rule of combination to represent classification uncertainty and integrate the PGIS‐based grazing intensity maps. These maps were used as individual sets of evidence in the application of EBFs to evaluate the proposition that “This area or pixel belongs to the high, medium, or low grazing intensity class because the local expert(s) says (say) so”. The class‐area‐weighted averages of EBFs based on each of the PGIS‐based maps show that the lowest degree of classification uncertainty is associated with maps in which “vegetation species” was used as the mapping criterion. This criterion, together with local landscape attributes of livestock use may be co...
ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, Sep 26, 2015
This paper develops a framework for assessing how Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI) 2 sy... more This paper develops a framework for assessing how Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI) 2 systems, modalities and practices perform, as measured against principles of good governance and participation; the framework is applied to two case studies. From this, we argue for a shift towards recognising, valuing and incorporating into VGI, the values of participatory processes which are the essence of PGIS (Participatory GIS). We firstly overview the current range of handling citizen's local (spatial) knowledge in VGI by identifying two foundational drivers, which are: the recognition of the value of vulgar local knowledge, and the acceleration of cyberspace communication capacities. Section 2 analyses VGI modalities and systems in terms of their characteristics and practices, in a frame of good governance principles and participatory process. In Section 3 this analytical framework is used in evaluating two specific cases in terms of governance and participation principles and practice. The paper concludes with needs and challenges about shifting the boundaries of VGI towards a deeper, more participatory construct of 'vulgar grounded intelligence'. At the level of conceptualization of alternative knowledge formation, the proto-concepts behind VGI in this paper include: Citizen Science (Cohn 2008; Silvertown 2009; Haklay 2012) and Crowdsourcing (Howe, 2006; Elwood & Leszczynski 2012) 3 ; though these two are not necessarily dealing with spatial knowledge. These conceptualizations of knowledge formation and usage are critical and alternative, and often in conflict with authoritative information. However the growing demands for public engagement in participation, and the realisation by professionals that the public can provide knowledge, labour, skills, computing power and even funding, have led to the concept and reality of citizen science projects (Silvertown 2009; Cohn 2008). The Internet as a global infrastructure has enabled a reincarnation of Citizen Science. Innovative projects utilise the abilities of personal computers, GPS receivers, mobile phones and other personal e-devices to double as scientific instruments. This type of citizen science is sometimes termed 'citizen cyber science' (Grey 2009); within it can be identified three sub-categories: volunteered computing, volunteered thinking and participatory sensing (Haklay 2012). In volunteered computing, non-specialists-the volunteering citizens-participate in collaborative data collection and analysis. A pioneering project was SETI@Home which harnessed the idle computing time of millions of participants in the search for extra-terrestrial life; similarly with modelling of malaria epidemiology by Malariacontrol.net 4 5. An essential of volunteered knowledge production is that people are not just passive sensors, but active participants in checking, assessing or commenting on scientific observations' for example the observation and classification by volunteers of galaxies and 'habitable' planets circling stars, such as in Galaxy Zoo 6 with its celebrity volunteer Hanny van Arkel 7. Participatory sensing is the broadest category; for example, citizen scientists make detailed observations of the natural world, as in the long-running Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count 8 , now in its 114 th year. Crowdsourcing is usually considered as voluntary, participative and mutually-rewarding. "The undertaking of the task, of variable complexity and modularity, and in which the crowd should participate bringing their work, money, 3 Citizen journalism and blogs and Citizen Observatories would also belong under this category, but are not analysed here. 4 NOTE: all web references accessed in August 2013. 5
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Papers by Michael McCall