Presenting citizen engagement opportunities online: The relevancy of spatial visualization

Abstract

Public administrations and cities increasingly use modern information and communication technologies to enhance their processes and services. As the fabric of cities becomes more complex, and collaboration and participation are emphasized, citizens thus need to be empowered to find available engagement opportunities and citizens need to identify those that they want to engage with. We report on the use of an online information platform that offered citizen engagement opportunities in a traditional textual form and via an interactive geo-visualization. The platform was deployed in a real-world study and integral component in a campaign to raise volunteer engagement in a medium-sized German city. We first introduce our approach to letting citizens explore engagement opportunities and follow up with an analysis of how people used the platform. Subsequently, evidence is presented and discussed that spatial visualization and interaction is relevant for informing citizens online. Since we released the information platform as open source, others can easily benefit from our insights.