Environmental Collaboration through Location-Based Mobile Messaging and Communication Tools

Abstract

The analysis is focused on situated knowledge and demonstrates the institutional and technical context in which new ways to integrate local knowledge into conventional environmental information systems can take place. Therefore the system architecture is designed for a usability test of how locative multimedia messaging of user-created environmental information performs as a tool for collaborative environmental information management. In this usescenario, the environmental information space will become more social, reflecting the individual perceptions and social reality of the users in the physical environment, rather than reflecting the views of environmental organisations or authorities. While accepting that the concept of collaborative environmental monitoring is not without its own problems, it is relevant to explore how situated knowledge of the environmental situation that are addressed in a collaborative environmental information approach are also mobilised through the use of two-way communication systems. If it is possible to reliably connect environmental information (from official sources) and annotations (information that people have created), user-generated information becomes something more like a transparent information layer, overlaid atop the more structured institutional environmental data layer.