Canada is a data and technological society. There is no sector that is uninformed by data or unmediated by code, algorithms, software and infrastructure. Consider the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities, and precision agriculture; or smart fisheries, forestry, and energy and of course governing. In a data based and technological society, leadership is the responsibility of all citizens, a parent, teacher, scholar, administrator, public servant, nurse and doctor, mayor and councillor, fisher, builder, business person, industrialist, MP, MLA, PM, and so on. In other words leadership is distributed and requires people power. This form of citizenship, according to Andrew Feenberg, Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Technology, requires agency, knowledge and the capacity to act or power. In this GovMaker Keynote I will introduce the concept of technological citizenship, I will discuss what principled public interest governing might look like, and how we might go about critically applying philosophy in our daily practice. In terms of practice I will discuss innovative policy and regulation such as the right to repair movement, EU legislation such as the right to explanation, data subjects and the right to access and also data sovereignty from a globalization and an indigenous perspective.

1. Data and Technological Citizenship:
Principled Public Interest Governing
GovMaker Conference
Fredericton, New Brunswick
November 20, 2017
Dr. Tracey P. Lauriault
Critical Media and Big Data
School of Journalism and Communication
Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Tracey.Lauriault@Carleton.ca
@TraceyLauriault
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1847-2738

2. Databased &
Technological Society
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University

3. Datafication

4. Data & Technological Society

5. Technology in the environment collects data
We are a
Databased & technological society

6. Are more than the unique arrangement of objective and politically
neutral facts & things
&
they do not exist independently of ideas, techniques, technologies,
systems, people and contexts regardless of them being presented
in that way
&
data are inseparable from their technological enablers – storage,
computational power, network, ID, ubicomp/IOT –
infrastructure
Data & Technology are social constructions
Tracey P. Lauriault, 2012, Data, Infrastructures and Geographical Imaginations. Ph.D. Thesis,
Carleton University, Ottawa, http://curve.carleton.ca/theses/27431

7. Data & technology are an assemblage
Kitchin’s Data Assemblage, 2015
Material Platform
(infrastructure – hardware)
Code Platform
(operating system)
Code/algorithms
(software)
Data(base)
Interface
Reception/Operation
(user/usage)
Systems of thought
Forms of knowledge
Finance
Political economies
Governmentalities & legalities
Organisations and institutions
Subjectivities and communities
Marketplace
System/process
performs a task
Context
frames the system/task
Digital socio-technical assemblage
Algorithm Studies
Critical code studies
Software studies
Critical data studies
New media studies
game studies
Critical Social Science
Science Technology Studies
Platform studies Places
Practices
Flowline/Lifecycle
Surveillance studies
HCI, remediation studies

8. Framing Data
1. Technically
2. Ethically
3. Politically &
economically
4. Spatial/Temporal
5. Philosophically

9. Data & technological
citizenship
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University

10. Agency
“Citizenship implies agency, but what is agency and
how is agency possible in a technologically advanced
society where so much of life is organized around
technological systems commanded by experts?”
Andrew Feenberg, (2011)

11. Data & Technological Citizenship
• Agency = Capacity to act
• Capacity to act implies 3 conditions:
1. Knowledge
2. Power
3. Appropriate occasion to act
Politics – Citizen agency is the legitimate right and power to
influence political events
Data & Technological politics
Feenberg (2011)

12. Data & technological
context in government
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University

13. Open Data Definitions
• 1959 Antarctic Treaty
• 1992 - UNCED – Agenda 21 Chapter 40,
Information for Decision Making
• 1996 Global Map
• 2002 – UNCED – Ageda 21 + 10 Down To Earth
• 2005 - Open Knowledge Foundation (OKNF) -
11 Principles (Licence specific)
• 2007 GEOSS - Data Sharing Principles for the
Global Earth Observing System of Systems
• 2007 - US Open Government Working Group -
8 principles of Open Government Data
• 2007 Science Commons Protocol for
Implementing Open Access Data
• 2007 Sunlight Foundation - 10 Principles for
Opening Up Government Information
• 2007 OECD, Principles and Guidelines for
Access to Research Data from Public Funding
• 2008 OECD, Recommendations on Public
Sector Information
• 2009 W3C - Publishing Open Government Data
• 2010 Tim Berners-Lee 5 Star of Open Data
• 2010 Panton Principles for Open Data in
Science
• 2010 Ontario Information Privacy
Commissioner - 7 Principles
• 2013 Open Economics Principles
• US Association of Computing Machinery
(USACM) – Recommendations on Open
Government
• American Library Association (ALA) – Access to
Government Information Principles
• 2013 G8 Open Data Charter
• 2015 International Open Data Charter

14. Earth Summit 1992, 2002
Agenda 21 – Chapter 40
INFORMATION FOR DECISION-MAKING
40.1. In sustainable development, everyone is a user and provider of
information considered in the broad sense. That includes data,
information, appropriately packaged experience and knowledge.
The need for information arises at all levels, from that of senior
decision makers at the national and international levels to the grass-
roots and individual levels. The following two programme areas
need to be implemented to ensure that decisions are based
increasingly on sound information:
a. Bridging the data gap;
b. Improving information availability.

15. Data Communities
Research/scientific
Data
GovData
GeoData
Physical
Sciences
AdminData
Public Sector Data
NGOs
Access to Data Open Data
Social
Sciences
2005
Operations Data
Infrastructural Data
Sensor Data
Social Media Data
AI/Machine Learning Data
Smart Open Data?
2015
Private Sector
IOT
- Smart Cities
- Precision Agriculture
- Autonomous Cars
SM Platforms
Algorithms
P2P – Sharing Economy
Predictive Policing
Surveillance
Digital Labour
Drones
5GPublic/Private Sector Data?
Crowdsourcing
Citizen Science
Civic Teck
OCAP
Local and
Traditional
Knowledge

16. Digital Strategies
• Delivering faster, better and ‘consistently good’
• government services online to citizens
• web bases government enterprise services for public
servants/administrators
• Providing greater and easier access to government information
and resources on the multiple devices and platforms
• Enterprise-wide alignment and cost-effective use of information
resources, and to promote and sustain a culture of innovation

17. Open
Platform
Open
data
Open
Source Open
Government
Digital Strategies
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
YesNo Maybe LikelyUnlikely
Digital
StrategiesOpen
Science
Smart Cities/
Precision Ag/
IoT Web
Services

18. Open Government
• “is about making government more accessible to everyone. This
means giving greater access to government data and information
to the …public and the businesses community”
• “is about creating a more open and transparent government for
the people of…”
• “foster a global culture of open government that empowers and
delivers for citizens, and advances the ideals of open and
participatory 21st century government.

19. Digital
Strategies
Open
Platform Openness
Policy
Law
Open Government
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
YesNo MaybeUnlikely
Open
data
Open
Science
Smart Cities/
Precision Ag/
IoT
Open
Government
Likely

20. Open Data
“is digital data that is made available with the technical and legal
characteristics necessary for it to be freely used, reused, and
redistributed by anyone, anytime, anywhere”
1. Access
2. Redistribution
3. Reuse
4. Absence of Technological Restriction
5. Attribution
6. Integrity
7. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
8. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
9. Distribution of License
10. License Must Not Be Specific to a Package
11. License Must Not Restrict the Distribution of Other Works
(Inernational Charter)

21. Digital
Strategies
Open
Platform
Open
Source
Open
Government
Open Data
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
YesNo MaybeUnlikely
Open
Science
Smart Cities/
Precision Ag/
IoT
Open
Data
Likely

22. Open Science
“Open Science is the
practice of science in such a
way that others can
collaborate and contribute,
where research data, lab
notes and other research
processes are freely
available, under terms that
enable reuse, redistribution
and reproduction of the
research and its underlying
data and methods.”
https://www.fosteropenscience.eu

23. Digital
Strategies
Open
Science
Open
Platform
Open Source
Open
Government
Open Science
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
YesNo MaybeUnlikely
Smart Cities/
Precision Ag/
IoT
Open Data
Likely

24. Open Platform
Federal Geographic Data Platform
• Comprehensive collection & sharing of authoritative
data
• Search, discovery, access, & visualization tools
built once & reused many times, search once and
find everything
• Common web-based environment enabling data
integration, analysis, & visualization to support
informed decision-making
• Shared governance & management of geospatial
assets and capabilities, through operational standards
& policies
2015…
http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/geomatics/canadas-spatial-data-
infrastructure/geospatial-communities/federal

25. Open Data
Open
Science
Open
Platform
Open Source
Open
Government
Open Platforms
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
YesNo MaybeUnlikely
Digital
Strategies
Smart Cities/
Precision Ag/
IoT
Likely

26. Smart Cities / Precision Agriculture

27. Digital
Strategies
Open
Data
Open
Science
Open
Platform
Open Source
Open
Government
Smart Cities / Precision Ag. /IoT
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
YesNo MaybeUnlikely
Smart Cities/
Precision Ag/
IoT
Likely

28. Open Data
Digital
Strategy
Open
Science
IoT Smart
City /
Prec. Ag.
Open
Platforms
Open
Source
Open
Gov’t
Integration
of
data and
Technologies Alllevelsofgovernment

29. Data Brokers
They are consuming government open data & fuse them with big
data, and HQ may not be here!

30. Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
Convergence of corporate surveillance & government
Dataveillance

31. What will be encoded?
Can food security & ecosystem farming be encoded locally?
Can we improve the quality of life of city residents?

33. Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
Can we equalize access to transportation & have shared
ownership? What of the loss of autonomy and anonymity?

34. Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
Reducing waste & recycling, energy efficiency, fair Labour
practices, mining in the congo, ability and right to repair.

35. Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
What does predictive policing look like in a paramilitary context?
Who’s future is being managed & which bodies are being
managed? Should the smart city & predictive policing converge?
Who watches the watchers & the algorithm makers?

36. Labour, Robotics, AI
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University

37. Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
Data invisibilities, counting choices, data politics.

38. Public Interest
Law is underfunded

39. Rights & Principles
1. The right to remain natural, i.e. ‘merely’
biological and organic
2. The right to be inefficient if, when and where it
defines our basic humanness
3. The right to disconnect
4. The right to be, or remain anonymous
5. The right to employ or engage people instead of
machines
6. The right to data sovereignty
7. Technological citizenship

40. What kind of
technological society do
we want?
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University

41. What kind of data based technological
society do we want?
How do we act as a community of data and
technological citizens for the public good?
What does data & technological governance look like?
How are open data & corporate responsibility related?
What do open & ecosystem based & local ‘smart’
sensored cities/farms look like?

42. Asking hard questions & debating critically & doing
data politics about data & technological issues
Open
Data
Digital
Strategy
Open
Science
IoT
Smart
City /
Prec. Ag.
Open
Platforms
Open
Source
Open
Gov’t
Civil Society
Private Sector
Academia
Journalism
Alllevelsofgovernment

43. General Data Protection Regulation
• Data Subjects
• Breach Notification
• Data Sovereignty
• Data Portability
• Right to Access
• Right to Explanation – Algorithms
• Right to Repair????
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University

44. Conclusion
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University

45. Capacity to act in a technological society?
Knowledge
We do, but especially those of us who work with
data, technology, policy, law and governance.
Power
We do, but especially those of us who have jobs,
pensions, live in a safe country, who are
educated, …
Appropriate occasion to act (when & where)
Here now!

46. Abstract
Canada is a data and technological society. There is no sector that is uninformed by data or
unmediated by code, algorithms, software and infrastructure. Consider the Internet of Things (IoT),
smart cities, and precision agriculture; or smart fisheries, forestry, and energy and of course
governing. In a data based and technological society, leadership is the responsibility of all
citizens, a parent, teacher, scholar, administrator, public servant, nurse and doctor, mayor and
councillor, fisher, builder, business person, industrialist, MP, MLA, PM, and so on. In other
words leadership is distributed and requires people power. This form of citizenship,
according to Andrew Feenberg, Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Technology, requires
agency, knowledge and the capacity to act or power. In this GovMaker Keynote I will introduce the
concept of technological citizenship, I will discuss what principled public interest governing might
look like, and how we might go about critically applying philosophy in our daily practice. In terms
of practice I will discuss innovative policy and regulation such as the right to repair movement,
EU legislation such as the right to explanation, data subjects and the right to access and also data
sovereignty from a globalization and an indigenous perspective.
Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University

47. CGDI Principles
1. Open:
enables better decision making, the CGDI is based
on open, barrier-free data sharing and standards
that allow users to exchange data.
2. Accessible:
allows users to access data and services seamlessly,
despite any complexities of the underlying
technology.
3. Evolving:
the network of organizations participating in the
CGDI will continue to address new requirements
and business applications for information and
service delivery to their respective users.
4. Timely:
the CGDI is based on technologies and services
that support timely or real-time access to
information.
5. Sustainable:
is sustained by the contributions of the participating organizations and broad
user community and through the infrastructure’s relevance to these groups.
6. Self-organizing
the CGDI enables various organizations to contribute geospatial information,
services and applications, and guide the infrastructure’s development.
7. User and community driven
emphasizes the nurturing of and service to a broad user community. These
users, including Canadians in general, will drive the CGDI’s development based
on user requirements.
8. Closest to source
maximizes efficiency and quality by encouraging organizations closest to source
to provide data and services. Thereby eliminating duplication and overlap.
9. Trustworthy
is continually enhanced to protect sensitive and proprietary data. The CGDI
offers this protection through policies and mechanisms that enable data to be
assessed for quality and trusted by users.
Source: : 2012, Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure Vision, Mission and Roadmap - The Way Forward DOI:10.4095/292417