will result in a multitude of innovations that cannot
Their free labor, in a way, helps companies like
be predicted. The crowd is now making our
Google, and city governments, like the City of
annotations, and there is an economic reason to
Paris, build powerful platforms. Meu Rio strives to
use this information, as well as civic hope.
make people aware of the power they have, to help people tell their own stories, and encourages
Jean-Louis Missika explained that if
citizens to curate their own information rather than
cities have been annotated for centuries, for
letting a few choose the data we use. The type of
example, through street signs or graffiti, the main
data also matters. While some data is given
difference is that today there is a mash-up of
freely, other critical pieces of information are not
information rather than a divide between
being released to people with the same ease.
information produced by the people and by
Because of this, people should demand the
government. Because of this, open data and
information that matters to them.
technology obliges city governments to interact with citizens, who are making tags online.
The discussion raised points to be thought of
However, a difficulty arises when you co-innovate
concerning the future of the annotated city. What
a city, as everyone in the city adopts the position
are the implications of this phenomenon on privacy
of “decision-maker”, rather than a select few.
issues? What infrastructure is needed to provide
Cities are now obliged to keep the old, but make
people with the tools for the annotated city, such
room for the new. However, making room for the
as free WiFi? Is access to information equal, or
new is not always welcome. For Missika, leading
are social inequalities further deepening? Overall,
the open data policy of Paris is not easy because
the role of data, and how governments, big
some leaders do not want to give away data
companies and citizens decide to handle its
freely, especially financial data. Because of this,
delicacy and transparency will affect the future of
Paris has started giving away geographical
how urban dwellers live in their city.
information first. Alessandra Orofino represented a critical perspective of the people, or “the new power.” Through Meu Rio, Orofino advocates for the voices of the people in Rio de Janeiro that are not being heard by encouraging their participation in the city. Part of the citizens’ fight in having their voice heard is fought in the realm of information. In this aspect, crowd-sourcing has changed the balance of power. Now, big companies and city governments are relying on people for their input. 11