This article interrogates the techno-politics of crowdsourced data in the study of environmental hazards such as floods, storms, wildfires, and cyclones. We highlight some of the main debates around the use of citizen-generated data for assessing, monitoring, and responding to disasters. We then argue that, compared to the number of articles discussing the quality of citizen-generated data, little attention has been dedicated to discussing the social and political implications of this kind of practice. While this article does not intend to present definitive answers, it outlines inevitable challenges and indicates potential directions for future studies on the techno-politics of disaster data collection. Within a techno-politics approach, we argue for a model of political participation that recognizes citizens providing data to shape cities as equal experts in the production of knowledge and decision-making, rather than external contributors collecting data for formal authorities. This political participation approach, we believe, would increase the dependence of formal scientific knowledge on citizens' daily-lived experiences, create horizontal collaborations among diverse stakeholders, in terms of respect and recognition, and increase the humanization of marginalized communities, particularly from the Global South.
翻译:本文在研究洪水、风暴、野火和气旋等环境危害时,对多方源数据的技术-政治学进行了探讨。我们强调围绕使用公民产生的数据评估、监测和应对灾害的一些主要辩论。然后我们争辩说,与讨论公民产生的数据质量的文章数量相比,很少注意讨论这类做法的社会和政治影响。虽然这一条不打算提出明确的答复,但它概述了不可避免的挑战,并指明了未来研究灾害数据收集技术-政治学的潜在方向。在技术-政治学方法中,我们主张采用政治参与模式,承认公民提供数据,在创造知识和决策方面作为平等专家塑造城市,而不是外部贡献者为正式当局收集数据。我们认为,这种政治参与方法将增加正式科学知识对公民日常生活经验的依赖,在尊重和承认方面建立不同利益攸关方之间的横向合作,并提高边缘化社区,特别是来自全球南方的边缘化社区的人性。