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"Near Data" and "Far Data" for Urban Sustainability: How Do Community Advocates Envision Data Intermediaries?

Han Qiao, Siyi Wu, Christoph Becker

TL;DR

This paper investigates how community advocates envision data intermediaries in urban sustainability, focusing on the distinction between near data (lived, self-collected) and far data (official/open datasets). Through semi-structured interviews with 17 advocates across 23 Toronto-based groups and using the Curbcut Toronto tool as a technology probe, the authors develop a vision to connect near data with far data and identify three actionable pathways: align data exploration with diverse storytelling, communicate context and uncertainties, and decenter artifacts to emphasize relationships. The analysis highlights how data feminism principles (DF1–DF7) shape advocates’ preferences for inclusive storytelling, contextualization, and relational work, while also surfacing tensions around data access, impartiality, and the politics of data in pursuit of The Right to the City. The work offers concrete design considerations for data intermediaries to empower marginalized communities and foster democratic, justice-centered urban futures in the datafied city. Overall, it contributes to data practices in civic tech by articulating a near/far data framework and pathways that translate advocacy insights into actionable design guidance for urban governance.

Abstract

In the densifying data ecosystem of today's cities, data intermediaries are crucial stakeholders in facilitating data access and use. Community advocates live in these sites of social injustices and opportunities for change. Highly experienced in working with data to enact change, they offer distinctive insights on data practices and tools. This paper examines the unique perspectives that community advocates offer on data intermediaries. Based on interviews with 17 advocates working with 23 grassroots and nonprofit organizations, we propose the quality of "near" and "far" to be seriously considered in data intermediaries' works and articulate advocates' vision of connecting "near data" and "far data." To pursue this vision, we identified three pathways for data intermediaries: align data exploration with ways of storytelling, communicate context and uncertainties, and decenter artifacts for relationship building. These pathways help data intermediaries to put data feminism into practice, surface design opportunities and tensions, and raise key questions for supporting the pursuit of the Right to the City.

"Near Data" and "Far Data" for Urban Sustainability: How Do Community Advocates Envision Data Intermediaries?

TL;DR

This paper investigates how community advocates envision data intermediaries in urban sustainability, focusing on the distinction between near data (lived, self-collected) and far data (official/open datasets). Through semi-structured interviews with 17 advocates across 23 Toronto-based groups and using the Curbcut Toronto tool as a technology probe, the authors develop a vision to connect near data with far data and identify three actionable pathways: align data exploration with diverse storytelling, communicate context and uncertainties, and decenter artifacts to emphasize relationships. The analysis highlights how data feminism principles (DF1–DF7) shape advocates’ preferences for inclusive storytelling, contextualization, and relational work, while also surfacing tensions around data access, impartiality, and the politics of data in pursuit of The Right to the City. The work offers concrete design considerations for data intermediaries to empower marginalized communities and foster democratic, justice-centered urban futures in the datafied city. Overall, it contributes to data practices in civic tech by articulating a near/far data framework and pathways that translate advocacy insights into actionable design guidance for urban governance.

Abstract

In the densifying data ecosystem of today's cities, data intermediaries are crucial stakeholders in facilitating data access and use. Community advocates live in these sites of social injustices and opportunities for change. Highly experienced in working with data to enact change, they offer distinctive insights on data practices and tools. This paper examines the unique perspectives that community advocates offer on data intermediaries. Based on interviews with 17 advocates working with 23 grassroots and nonprofit organizations, we propose the quality of "near" and "far" to be seriously considered in data intermediaries' works and articulate advocates' vision of connecting "near data" and "far data." To pursue this vision, we identified three pathways for data intermediaries: align data exploration with ways of storytelling, communicate context and uncertainties, and decenter artifacts for relationship building. These pathways help data intermediaries to put data feminism into practice, surface design opportunities and tensions, and raise key questions for supporting the pursuit of the Right to the City.
Paper Structure (30 sections, 6 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 30 sections, 6 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. “The Right to the City” Today
  4. Data intermediaries in HCI
  5. Data Practices in Grassroots and Nonprofit Organizations
  6. Method
  7. Participants and Sampling Method
  8. Data Collection
  9. Curbcut Toronto as a Data Intermediary Technology Probe
  10. Data Analysis
  11. The Vision and the Pathways for Data Intermediaries
  12. The Vision: Connect “near data” and “far data”
  13. How advocates engage with far data
  14. Connect near data and far data
  15. Pathway 1: Align data exploration with diverse ways of storytelling
  16. ...and 15 more sections

Figures (6)

  • Figure 1: Screenshots of Curbcut Toronto visualizing tree coverage in Toronto in three different geographic scales. Left: an example of visualization in ward level. Middle: an example of visualization in census tract level. Right: an example of visualization in dissemination area level.
  • Figure 2: Curbcut Toronto allows users to correlate the featured variable on the map with a census variable. In the top screenshot, the users can select a variable from a list of census variables. In the bottom screenshot, the user is visualizing the correlation between Toronto tree coverage and average rent. A description text box is showing on the right indicating that there is a weak positive correlation between the two variables.
  • Figure 3: Temporal exploration features of Curbcut Toronto. The tool allows users to look through available historic data and compare data at two different dates. Top left: visualizing active living potential in 2021. Top right: visualizing active living potential in 2011. Bottom: visualizing active living potential change from 2011 to 2021.
  • Figure 4: An illustration of a segment within the urban data ecosystem focusing on how data passes through data intermediaries to get to Curbcut Toronto. Data intermediaries processing and curating data before it is presented on Curbcut Toronto include people working on the Toronto Open Data Portal, Statistics Canada, CensusMapper and so on. Designers of Curbcut Toronto act as another data intermediary. Data from Curbcut Toronto can then passed on to other data workers for future uses.
  • Figure 5: Toronto Stories module on Curbcut Toronto. This module shows a map of place-based stories and advocacy campaigns happening around Toronto.
  • ...and 1 more figures