For the past several months, a few folks from Tumblr have been working with IBM to create the Smarter Cities Scan. IBM describes the project well:
…IBM is also partnering with New York-based Tumblr to launch the Smarter Cities Scan, a social media project in crowdsourced research and open knowledge exchange. The initiative is using advanced IBM analytics technology to scan participants’ input to build a public blueprint for Smarter Cities. The output will be available to cities and grass-roots groups to use as a foundation for projects to make urban centers smarter via a Smarter Cities Open Model.
This is a great use of the submissions feature on Tumblr. It demonstrates the power of crowdsourcing the Tumblr community. It’s also representative of the depth and scale of our community’s engagement with socially conscious initiatives.
I encourage everyone to participate in this scan. It’s a unique opportunity to contribute to something that can have a tangible impact worldwide. By generating vast datasets of people’s opinions, research, and ideas, projects like this can help direct the development of major urban, environmental, and political projects.
The most important part of this project is that it demonstrates how social media can be utilized to influence real initiatives that effect the daily lives of people on a global scale. It’s crowdsourcing at its finest - leveraging the creative commons and putting it to work. Tumblr is the ideal place to make this happen. Our community is opinionated and socially active - a perfect combination for success. I hope this inspires people to both participate in and start their own initiatives around the things they find important.
