Project 8.5 Member Outreach Support
Citizen Reporting Peer Exchange
Crowdsourcing was coined in 2005 and is defined by Wikipedia (perhaps one of the best examples of information gathered by crowdsourcing) as the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people. Transportation agencies refer to citizen reporting as another way that crowdsourcing is being used for traveler information. The tool is becoming more popular as a way for agencies to increase the coverage, frequency and accuracy of information about what is happening on the roads.
North/West Passage sponsored two earlier projects that supported the development of citizen reporting in Idaho. The first, Project 5.1: Citizen Assisted Reporting, allowed Wyoming to share details of their Enhanced Citizen Assisted Reporting (ECAR) program with other states, to explore ways in which Wyoming's program could be improved upon in future implementations, and to explore the feasibility of citizen reporting expanding to additional states. The second effort, Project 6.3: Citizen Assisted Reporting – Phase 2, was sponsored by North/West Passage to develop a set of common messages that could be used by citizen reporters in both Idaho and Wyoming.
The purpose of this peer exchange was to discuss the North/West Passage states' continued interests in citizen reporting and to review the experiences in Wyoming and Idaho. Following is a brief summary and presentations highlighting the information that was exchanged during the webinar conducted on October 27, 2014.
- Summary of Peer Exchange: Citizen Reporting (PDF, 214K)
- Introductory Presentation (PDF, 445K)
- Wyoming Presentation (PDF, 5980K)
- Idaho Presentation (PDF, 2837K)