Journal of Spatial Information Science (JoSIS)

CALL FOR PAPERS – Special Feature on Open Geographic Information

Guest editors:  Dr. Hanif Rahemtulla, Horizon Digital Economy Research, Nottingham University and Professor Paul Longley, Department of Geography, University College London.

Call for papers

This special feature aims to bring together some of the key developers, academics and writers on Open Data to document its lineage, debate its philosophy and methods and to envision its future. Contributions are welcome from any source, and in any style appropriate to the arguments being made.

We invite full research articles. Potential contributions should consult the Guidelines for Authors and discuss their article with the Guest Editors Hanif Rahemtulla or Paul Longley before submission. All papers will go through the normal JOSIS peer review process. The deadline for submission is 30th June 2011. We look forward to receiving a wide variety of stimulating papers dealing with either the theoretical and/or practical aspects of this emerging research

Background

The term “Open Data” refers to the philosophical and methodological approach to the democratization of data enabling citizens to access and create value through the reuse of public sector information. Today, Open Data is gathering momentum and forms part of a global movement linked to Open Access and comparable to other Open movements such as Open Source. To date, this movement is being led by government institutions in the UK, USA and Australia through pioneering initiatives such as Data.Gov and the London DataStore. These initiatives, which are being replicated across cities, states and countries (i.e., Open Toronto and New Zealand Open Data Catalogue) provide access to “non-sensitive government datasets, at no cost, to citizens, citizen groups, non-governmental-organisations (NGOs) and businesses” (Lauriault, 2008).

The Open Data Initiative will, it is envisaged, support greater transparency and accountability within Government and create new economic and social value (see Oxera Study, 1999; Cambridge Study, 2008). Furthermore, as O’Reilly (2009) and others argue, the advent of Open Data will fundamentally change the nature by which citizens interact with government. Specifically, the release of public data online and public APIs (which is already underway in some places) will create a platform supporting the development of third-party communication applications outside of government (Headd, 2010). This it is expected will provide a vehicle for expanding public outreach and enhancing public engagement leading to “a more responsive and citizen-focused government” (Madera, 2009).

Today, the Open Data movement has created great excitement in the developer community with a seemingly endless stream of novel and innovative applications, tools and visualizations that repurposes and enriches public data. This new wave of creativity characterised by Sir Tim Berners-Lee as the combination of information, creative vision and digital technology – has lead to some of the most exciting developments in mobile GIS, web-cartography, and LBS in recent years.

However, while Open Data gives rise to a many new opportunities it also poses many challenges. As Boyd (2010) states, access to public information to promote transparency represents only the first step to a more informed citizenry. The success of Open Data will depend in part upon addressing existing barriers to access which encompasses issues such as digital inclusion and information literacy. As such, there is much work still to do to make this promised future happen.

GUEST EDITORS:

Dr. Hanif Rahemtulla

Horizon Digital Economy Research

University of Nottingham

Nottingham NG7 2TU

Email: hanif.rahemtulla@nottingham.ac.uk

Professor Paul Longley

Department of Geography,

University College London

London WC1 6BT

Email: p.longley@ucl.ac.uk

A call for papers has been issues for a Special Edition of Espace, Populations, Sociétés (December 2010).

Espaces, Populations, Sociétés is an interdisciplinary and international journal, and has published original contributions in French, English and Spanish since 1983. Espaces, Populations, Sociétés is a thematic journal, with each issue focussing on a specific topic.

In this special issue the aim is to present a variety of empirical and conceptual papers which illuminate risks for health in societies, as operating at and across different geographic levels from the local, regional, national and international levels, and in developing and developed countries.

Papers are sought which address risks for health in societies in various ways, through the development of theoretical and conceptual frameworks, analysis of primary or secondary empirical data, qualitative or quantitative review of existing literature, or policy analysis. For example, this might include:

-     The unequal distribution of risks for health within and across societies, vulnerability and resilience

-     The influence of social, economic, cultural and policy context for risk and health

-     New and emerging (infectious) diseases and sanitary crisis

-     New risks and uncertainties for health

-     The impact of globalisation on health

The co-editors of the thematic issue on Health, Risk, and Society are: Alain Vaguet, Department of Geography, University of Rouen (Upper Normandy), France. Laboratory CNRS-IDEES, 6266. Mylene Riva, Department of Geography, Institute of Hazard and Risk Research, and the Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University, UK.

Ideas should initially be submitted in the form of a 350 word abstract by 15th January 2010, send by email to alain.vaguet@univ-rouen.fr and mylene.riva@durham.ac.uk.  Decision of acceptance of abstracts is 15th February 2010. Final date for submitting articles will be April 30th 2010.

Call for Papers: National Social Maps

Contributions are invited to a special edition of the Journal of Maps devoted to National Social Maps. The broad theme is mapping of value added social data covering a whole country. We are interested in maps which show clear and distinct socio-geographic patterns, we are especially interested in:

• The mapping of previously unmapped data and indices
• Non-standard representations of space such as cartograms
• New and non-standard geographies
• New and innovative ways of mapping social data

To submit a paper, authors should do the following:

1. Submit a short draft (500 word limit) outlining the key themes and scope of the paper, where possible including example mapping, by 30th April 2009, to Dan Vickers.
2. Submit a completed paper (2500 word limit) to the Journal of Maps by 31st July 2009.
3. The special edition will be published in March 2010.

Reviewers are happy to discuss ideas for papers and their suitability with potential contributors prior to the short draft submission stage. Please email Dan Vickers (d.vickers@sheffield.ac.uk) in in the first instance. For more information visit http://www.journalofmaps.com/

In-Spire Journal of Law, Politics and Societies
www.in-spire.org

Are We Too Many? Sustainability and Population Politics

In-Spire, the postgrad-led journal of law, politics and societies, calls for contributions for a special issue for on-line publication in summer 2009. We are looking for original academic articles that critically engage with the question of sustainability and population politics or one of its countless
aspects. We encourage contributions from a broad range of disciplines in the social sciences, including (but not limited to) political theory, criminology, sociology, international relations, law, and gender.

The question deals with two fundamental crises that seem to afflict human societies on a global scale: a crisis of the global biosphere and a crisis of the regeneration of resources, especially energy, food and water. One of the most controversial ways of dealing with the problem of
resource-finiteness in the past has been by controlling the growth of human populations. A wide range of population politics in all its variants, from birth control to migration regulation to city planning have characterised modern societies.

To what extent, and on what justification, will population politics determine the future development of societies around the globe? What, in particular, is the relation between population politics and one of the most important signifiers of contemporary political vocabulary: sustainability?  Can global capitalism only become ‘sustainable’ if human populations are stabilized or even reduced?

We invite contributions that deal with questions including (and not limited to):

- discourses about population and overpopulation
- means of regulating population and (the construction of) ‘environmental
  crimes’
- planning and transformation of cities in the context of over-population
- issues of environmental justice and morality
- feminist responses to issues of population control and sustainability
- issues of climate chaos, environmental refugees and resource distribution.

For a more detailed version of this call for papers and for more information about the journal and details on our formatting style please see the In-Spire website at: www.in-spire.org.

If you are interested in reviewing a book for our Summer issue, we have a list of books available.  Please email bookreviews@in-spire.org for an up to date copy of the list, we would love to hear from you. 

Articles, including a 200-word abstract, should be submitted in word format (or equivalent) to the managing editor, at l.j.thompson@pol.keele.ac.uk by 30th March 2009. 

Thanks,
Lucinda Thompson
In-Spire Journal of Law, Politics and Societies
www.in-spire.org
�
Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice
Keele University
Staffordshire
United Kingdom
ST5 5BG
l.j.thompson@pol.keele.ac.uk