GeoDem: Geography democracy, European citizenship in a digital age

619917-EPP-1-2020-1-BE-EPPJMO-SUPPA
developing, sharing and promoting
Karl Donert, former President, Vice
President, EUROGEO
Geography, Democracy,
European citizenship and
the digital age

Background
• GeoDem connects Geography,
democracy, European citizenship and
the digital age
• geo-technology and European policies
• open data empowering citizens - Spatial
Citizenship
• connecting Spatial Thinking and Global
Understanding

Jean Monnet Award
• European geopolitical issues
- climate change - sustainable development
- migration and the environment
- Green Deal
• improve geo-education
• address employability and
• digital competences

Digital Space and
the Digital Citizen

Emerging Digital
Spaces (Cope, 2011)

• establishing standards (in law) – ethical
and responsible society
• dealing with challenges concerning
emergent technologies
• growth in computing power
• doing much more behind the scenes –
deep learning
Context: Digital Geography

• open data opportunities
• potential for citizen science – grassroots
action
• Artificial Intelligence plays a growing role
in the way that governments and public
institutions operate
• also the way in which citizens interact
and participate in the democratic process
Digital Geography Opportunities

• increased democratic engagement for
citizens
• dilemma of assisted technologies - like
autonomous vehicles
• better decision making ……
• but in the nature of challenges it is
necessity to leave essential decision-
making to humans and not to
mathematical models!!
Digital Geography Opportunities

• really important issues concerning rights
and responsibilities eg Artificial Intelligence
• AI is already with us – changing the
information that we receive, the choices
that we make, and the ways in which our
societies function
• We need to ensure that the use of digital
technology and data driven research
promotes and protects our standards for
society - need for regulation and standards
Digital Geography Challenges

Examples:
i) Surveillance and privacy – profiling (health, job
selection, evidence in courts, consumers)
ii) Power = Rights / Justice – need for transparency
iii) Digital as a tool for social movement - digital
protest – defend freedom of expression (journalism) -
at the same time promote the control of hatred and
terrorism – open Internet (access for all) – dangers of
cyber war
iv) Protecting our culture and heritage

• There already exist norms, regulations and
laws = but need to be implemented = who
polices them = in Europe, globally?
• Council of Europe has set up an ad hoc
Committee – exploring the challenge of
issues like intelligent politics – influencing
elections, policy and politicians
• drafting of the first global treaty on AI
• Point of contact is the Digital Citizen

• Need to focus on the differences the digital
makes to our lives
• Engagement of citizens central to the role of
the digital in relation to understandings of
spaces, places, and spatialities, like the
political / economic activities in the community,
society and world.
• Teaching about the digital geographies –
and its impacts on our way of life – from digital
politics to digital economies – digital shopping –
digital communication and digital culture
Role of Digital Geography

• Example: Rise of Precision Agriculture
• SEED project – digital farming - precision location
methods and decision quality agronomic information
to illuminate, predict, and affect the decision making
issues across the farm – supporting move towards
sustainable development – creating a qualification to
enable this – not necessarily the farmers themselves
but the digital experts who can support and advise
farmers….
• Conclusion: Education developments should be
used to create a critical interface between the
digital and the economic / social implementation

SEED Project
https://www.digitalseed.eu

• Challenge of open digital / open data for all
• Example: Need for Literacies = Open data –
digital world
• D3 (Developing Digital Data Literacy)
project …. tools - ideas - training
https://d3.youthmetre.eu – producing a digital
data literacy toolkit for teachers
• Moving from data to knowledge is essential –
need education to help citizens find their way
through the fog / maze of information

KA2 - 2019-1-BE02-KA201-060212
D3: Developing Digital
Data literacy

GeoLand Project

VGlobal Project

• Digital evidence – use and re-use issues –
manipulation of data and information
• Education and training = still a long way
behind digital developments
• Seeking to encourage promotion and reflection
– GeoDem Jean Monnet project
• Focus on taking the advantages offered by
digital earth / digital geography
• Consider the impacts on the digital citizen
Conclusions

GeoDem: Geography democracy, European citizenship in a digital age

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