Eric Gordon
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About Eric
Gordon studies technology, democracy, and public engagement, with a specific focus on the role of narrative, data, and algorithms on institutional trust and governance. He is the author of over 50 articles and chapters on media and urbanism, and the author of two books on the topic: The Urban Spectator (Dartmouth, 2010) and Net Locality (Blackwell, 2011). He is the co-editor of Civic Media: Technology, Design, Practice (MIT Press, 2016). His most recent monograph, Meaningful Inefficiencies: Civic Design in an Age of Digital Expediency (Oxford University Press, 2020) looks at collaborative design practices in the context of emerging technology inside government and journalism.
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Engages in design-based research that assesses the affordances and effects of a specific digital platform meant to deepen civic engagement: an interactive online game for local engagement called Community PlanIt (CPI). Drawing on an analysis of game mechanics, in-game actions, and interviews and focus groups with players, we ask if and how CPI can move citizen participation beyond isolated transactions. We draw two conclusions: CPI creates and strengthens trust among individuals and local community groups that is linked to confidence in the process of engaging, and it encourages interactive practices of engagement that we define as civic learning.
Presents a literature review exploring the intersection of theories of human behavior with the motivations for and benefits of engaging in civic life, bringing together literature from behavioral economics, sociology, psychology and communication studies to reveal how civic actors, institutions, and decision-making processes have been traditionally understood, and how emerging media tools and practices are forcing their reconsideration. Discusses how new technologies and corresponding social practices, from social media to mobile reporting, are providing different ways to record, share, and amplify that attentiveness.
Frames an emerging field of study called Civic Media. With contributions from leading scholars and practitioners in the field, this volume explores the range of activities, methodologies and theoretical approaches that can be applied to the intentionally civic uses of digital media.
Looks at how location-awareness on mobile phones is creating new forms of urban practice – from playful movements motivated by location-based games, to the practice of mapping neighborhoods and reporting civic problems, what we call networked locality is becoming a fundamental part of being in a city.