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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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A subset of mobile computing apps and services are starting to allow the public to become more participatory in their home cities. The tools combine mobile computing devices that collect real- or recent-time data, with new forms of community participation, civic engagement, and local governance. In his research group at Georgia Tech, assistant professor Christopher La Dantec of the School of Literature, Media, and Communications has developed a smartphone app that interfaces with a larger regional planning project. The app, called Cycle Atlanta, enables cyclists to record their ride data—where they’ve gone, why they went there, what kind of cyclist they are—in an effort to collect more knowledge about cycling in the city. But more importantly, rather than just using data to identify faults in need of mending, Cycle Atlanta aggregates information with the explicit goal of helping the Atlanta cycling community advocate for particular infrastructural reforms.
