PhDcourse2007 Paradigms for SDI development

Paradigms for Development of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI)

A PhD course, September 24 - 26 2007, at Centre for eGovernment,
Aalborg University, Denmark

ECTS: 2-3
Deadline for application: August 27, 2007

26. Sept: Final course programme with links

Motivation:

The vision of establishing an information society has materialized among others in a number of governmental units which support such development, as well as research addressing the technical and institutional aspects. Restricting the following to the geospatial domain, INSPIRE, the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe, is the most prominent example in Europe. The INSPIRE directive was published in April 2007 and the member states have only two years to comply with the directive. The directive creates a legal framework for establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community. However, in order to serve its purpose, the legal framework has to be populated with agency and commercial units, information bases and network services, and a host of rules and agreements. This task is complex, especially because it spans technical and institutional issues.

Research on the development of a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) is emerging. For example, Georgiadou and Harvey at the recent 10^th AGILE conference in Aalborg, May 2007, identified a weakness in SDI studies which they found largely bound to positivist and technological perspectives. They review a broader set of approaches and suggest interactionism with social construction(ism) as a relevant paradigm for SDI studies. - Research on development of cadastres, that is: administrative infrastructures, which support individual property rights, similarly needs a theoretical basis which spans technical and institutional issues. Research in these issues is documented in Stubkjær (2004) and at a seminar at Aalborg University, May 2005, on the Nature of Socio-Technical Systems. The Centre for E-government at Aalborg University contributed to the seminar and provides a frame for further research in the issue of SDI development.

This PhD course presents competing paradigms for understanding SDI development and introduces philosophy of social sciences, including communication, for PhD students with a rather technical background, e.g. geodetic surveyors. Participants are strongly invited to prepare a critical understanding of a selected SDI paradigm and present it during the course. Participants successfully presenting a selected SDI paradigm are awarded 3 ECTS for course participation, for others 2 ECTS will apply. Literature suggestions are briefly mentioned in the draft programme overleaf.

Enrolment application should be mailed before August 27, 2007, to course organizer professor, Dr. Erik Stubkjær, est_land.aau.dk. Enrolment is finally decided by the International Doctoral School of Engineering and Science at Aalborg University who also provides for course attestation. Please motivate your interest in the course, and annex a one-page description of your PhD research and a one-page CV.

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Course programme:

24. September, 9.00 - 16; Fibigerstraede 11, room 115

The needs and the theoretical setting

Welcome. Overview, Objectives, Logistics (Erik Stubkjær, Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University)
Levels of social analysis: Exchanges according to rules, Exchanges to change rules, and the Constitutional and Cultural context, by Erik Stubkjær
Paradigm, ontology and epistemology - An introduction, by Lars Brodersen, Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University
The validity of computer simulations - The case of modelling transactions in real estate, by Charlotte Bruun, The Economic Research Group, Department of Economics, Politics and Public Administration, Aalborg University.

Ongoing PhD research (research aim, theory, method, prospective results), emphasizing SDI aspects, by PhD students

25. September, 9.00 - 16; Fibigerstraede 11, room 115

Competing paradigms

The Notion of Socio-Technical Systems: The concept, related research, and application on SDI development, by Erik Stubkjær
An evaluation of the positions in the Georgiadou-Harvey paper, by PhD student, e.g. based on Georgia..paper, see below
The Finnish RASKE project and its paradigm, by PhD student, e.g. based on Salminen paper, see below
The 3Dframework for interoperability realisation, by PhD student, e.g. based on Dietrich et al paper, see below.

Social event?

26. September, 9.00 - 16; Fibigerstraede 11, room 115

SDI implementation from a national perspective

SDI implementation in Denmark, by Jes Ryttersgaard, The National Survey and Cadastre, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Players of the Danish SDI development and their resources, by Bent Hulegaard Jensen, Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University
The Commitology Procedure applied for implementation of the INSPIRE infrastructure, by Erik Stubkjær
Panel debate: SDI implementation - Research positions and research needs, chaired by Esben Munk Sørensen, Centre for eGovernment and Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University
Course evaluation and close of course.

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For previous PhD courses by the same organiser, please see: Cadastral Development
For alternative study options at Aalborg University, see e.g. the M.Sc. Programme in Surveying with Land Management and Cadastral Development.

Literature:

Danish SDI and e-Government: Practise, activities, reflections

Cimander, Ralf; Kubicek, Herbert (2006): Good Practice Case in Interoperability at Local and Regional Level: The Danish OIO-XML Project. in: European Commission, DG Information Society and Media, eGovernment Unit, D 1.7/1.8: Report with existing and additional case studies of eGovernment interoperability good practice, Brussels: http://www.egov-goodpractice.eu/gpd_details.php?&gpdid=1936
The Danish OIOXML project's web-page http://www.oio.dk/dataudveksling/danishXMLproject
Digital Taskforce (2006) Geodata - Rygraden i effektiv digital forvaltning. http://e.gov.dk/nyheder/tema/succesfulde_tvaeroffentlige_samarbejder/servicefaellesskabet_for_geodata/index.html
Hall, M (2006) EC-INSPIRE: Spatial Data Infrastructures in Europe: State of play Autumn 2006 Denmark http://www.ec-gis.org/inspire/reports/stateofplay2006/rcr06DKv101.pdf
International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration (ICA) - Country Report from Denmark – ICA Conference 2006
http://www.ica-it.org/conf40/docs/Conf40_country_report_Denmark.pdf
Kjeldgaard, M B (2004) The Danish XML Project http://www.brreg.no/workshop/DanishOIO_%20XMLproject.ppt and its Infostructurebase http://isb.oio.dk/info (You may want to compare the Infostructurebase with the Geodata-info metadatabase http://www.geodata-info.dk/ )
Ryttersgaard, Jes (2006) INSPIRE vil gøre mange ting lettere Geoforum Perspektiv Nr. 10 (2006). - S. 25-32
Servicefællesskabet for Geodata (2007) Handlingsplan 2007 Rev. 27.-02.-2007./ars http://www.xyz-geodata.dk/../Handlingsplan2007v5.pdf

General references

Andersen, Kim Viborg (2006) Strategier for digital forvaltning. CITA-seminar, den 2. marts 2006. (Presentation)
Colomb, Robert M.; Mohammad Nazir Ahmad (2007) Merging ontologies requires interlocking institutional worlds Applied Ontology 2/1, 1 - 12
de Man, W. H. Erik (2006) Understanding SDI; complexity and institutionalization. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 20 (3) 329 – 343.
Dietrich, Elisabeth; Daniel Schmidt; Maria Wimmer (2007) A Three Dimensional Framework to Realise Interoperability in Public Administrations. A paper prepared within the R4eGov research project, co-funded by the eGovernment Unit at the European Commission (Paper)
Georgiadou, Yola; Francis Harvey (2007) A Bigger Picture: Information Systems and Spatial Data Infrastructure Research Perspectives. AGILE 2007. 6 p. Paper
Ottens, Maarten (2005) Conceptualizing large complex engineering systems as socio-technical systems - The case of cadastral systems. Presentation at Seminar on Methodology: “The Nature of Socio-Technical Systems”, The Interplay between The Actor and Technology May 26th at Danish Centre for Philosophy and Science Studies, AaU, see further literature references to this issue
Rose, Jeremy (2005) The Double Dance of Agency: a socio-technical account of how machines and humans interact. Presentation at Seminar on Methodology: “The Nature of Socio-Technical Systems”, The Interplay between The Actor and Technology May 26th at Danish Centre for Philosophy and Science Studies, AaU
Salminen, Airi (2003) Towards Digital Government by XML Standardization: Methods and Experiences (Paper)
Salminen, Airi (2005) Building Digital Government by XML. Proceedings of the 38th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2005 (Paper)
Statskontoret (2005) ICA Country report 2005 - Sweden http://www.statskontoret.se/statskontoret/templates/Page____2703.aspx
Stubkjær, Erik (2004) Matrikulær udvikling - Er forklaring og påvirkning mulig? I: Jens Christensen (red): Vidensgrundlag for handlen. AUF, 2004.
Verva (2007) Hur går det med e-förvaltningen? En modell för uppföljning av myndigheternas arbete http://www.verva.se/upload/publikationer/2007/Hur-gar-det-med-e-forvaltningen-2007-05-15.pdf
Williamson, Oliver E. (2003) The New Institutional Economics: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead Journal of Economic Literature 38 (3), September 2000, pp. 595-

Further literature, etc.-links will be provided through this webpage.

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* Logistic information *

General tourist and accommodation information for Aalborg at http://www.visitaalborg.com/
For information on the Aalborg student life, you might consult http://studyguide.aau.dk/ and http://studyguide.aau.dk/studentlife/economy
The location of university department is depicted at AaU-Aalborg. The Department of Development and Planning is located at place 2: Fibigerstraede 11.

Welcome!

Erik Stubkjær, est@land.aau.dk, 2007-07-29; 06-25; 06-01; 05-11