We are looking for 30 COs or citizen-led initiatives, addressing issues such as Air Quality, Noise Pollution, Urban Heat, or other related topics, to work together with us in implementing, assessing and refining the tools and methodologies that our project is developing for co-creating data, knowledge and local action in an inclusive way.
This process will enable the project to take the next step towards its mission to enhance citizen observations and citizen-generated data so they can be relied upon, accessed and referenced for actions and policy decisions and empower citizens to be part of the solution for more inclusive, sustainable, and livable cities.
By becoming a CitiObs ALLIANCE CO you will be engaging in a mutual learning process consisting of peer activities that can help you enhance the impact and effectiveness of your initiative!
CitiObs offers to ALLIANCE cases:
Exclusive Access to useful Tools tailored to meet their CO's unique needs.
Comprehensive Training and Workshops on the necessary skills and knowledge to use our toolkits.
Network Engagement with 85 like-minded COs sharing common goals, fostering collaboration and collective growth. They will also have access to a network of Citizen Science Practitioners FabLabs and MakerSpaces, Creative Communities, and Communities of Practice.
Opportunity to work with, test and assess a variety of low-cost sensors.
CitiObs Alliance cases should expect:
An Onboarding Session with the CitiObs team.
Online Webinars and Workshops on how to implement the CitiObs tools and methodologies.
Peer-learning activities with other Alliance and Frontrunner cases working on similar topics to yours and experiencing similar challenges.
Network Engagement with 85 like-minded COs sharing common goals, fostering collaboration and collective growth. They will also have access to a network of Citizen Science Practitioners FabLabs and MakerSpaces, Creative Communities, and Communities of Practice.
An in-person study travel to one of the Cities of our Frontrunner cases.
Connection to Communities of Practice, FabLabs, Maker Spaces and Creatives.
Sensors for monitoring air quality, noise and temperature based on open hardware.
Opportunity to connect your data to our data hub, using our data validation and mapping algorithms.
CitiObs ALLIANCE COs will have the opportunity to attend online workshops and peer-learning activities with the CitiObs partners and other Citizen Observatories. At least 3 online sessions and an exciting study travel to one of the cities of our Frontrunner Cases, with expenses covered by the project, are lying ahead!
What are these Tools and Methodologies?
CitiObs Toolkits
The Leave No One Behind Toolkit is designed to help COs reflect on how to engage a more diverse and representative group of participants in the activities of the CO in light of the theme and geographic context. For example, what groups of people are particularly impacted by the issue being investigated, and how can they be included?
The Participation Toolkit is designed to help COs examine the interactions among stakeholders in the citizen observatory. It offers resources that can support addressing conflicts, strengthening cooperation and building trust among stakeholders.
The Citizen Led Action Toolkit is designed to provide tools to support citizens and communities within Citizen Observatories that are motivated to take action in the context of environmental protection. To do so, it offers a variety of co-creation tools to aid in devising, organizing, and executing citizen-led actions, or a series of actions, in collaboration with creative practitioners and artists to enable meaningful impact and foster positive change.
The Using Low-Cost Sensors Toolkit is designed to provide guidance on the use of technologies such as low-cost sensors to monitor the environment, taking advantage of the possibilities while also navigating the challenges. This toolkit is aimed at reducing the barriers to the use of sensor technologies. It provides answers to questions such as how to design a monitoring protocol, select a sensor that fits your needs, improve data quality and make data more interoperable.
Here is more:
On Low-Cost Sensors for Environmental Monitoring: The project can provide low-cost sensors monitoring PM2.5, noise and temperature. The data from the sensors connects to an open data platform where all the data collected is stored and made available.
On Interoperable Architecture: The project is recommending a set of standards and developing tools based on them for increasing data interoperability, so a dataset can be merged with other datasets, in that way for example, a map of air quality can be created not only for one city but for all Europe or understanding on how air quality relates to other data as health or biodiversity can be reached.
On Data Enhancement and Visualization: The project is developing algorithms for data quality control and data correction. This will help to increase trust in the data. The data is never deleted but assigned a flag that indicates its quality level (i.e. plausibility, how much we believe this data is correct). The data is then used to create statistics, plots, maps and stories that help you to understand the situation and foresee the evolution in a more visual way.
For more information please send us an email to: citiobs@nilu.no
