Examining Open Data at the Urban Level: An Exploration of “Wellbeing Toronto”

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how Wellbeing Toronto (WT)—a free, open data, GIS tool that allows users to map information—has evolved into an extensive data repository with robust data analysis capabilities. Explored is the progress of open data scholarship in relation to municipal government and civic participation. Based on this, the authors note the following: (1) as open data becomes increasingly prevalent, a more varied understanding of the organization and structure of municipal government may emerge. (2) There is a need for measures of civic engagement to move beyond data co-production towards an organization-based interactive approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Open data
• Toronto
• wellbeing
• non-profit organizations
• civic engagement
• municipal GIS systems

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Kathryn Barber is a PhD candidate at York University in the Department of Sociology and the Managing Editor of Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees.

Duncan MacLellan is an associate professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration and a member of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies at Ryerson University.

Additional information

Funding

This study has been supported financially by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada (Grant Number 555310).