About YouSayCity
Overview
YouSayCity is a public online platform offering an immersive and interactive 3D environment for you to share and explore development projects shaping the future of your city. The platform is open to all, allowing anyone to upload and share information, pictures, documents, websites, upload 3D models, and highlight particular views of a city or project. Our objective is to offer a platform through which all information concerning upcoming or completed project can be gathered, organized, and geolocated for the public to easily access, understand and contribute to. It is our hope that by inspiring more people to participate in city development discussions, and ultimately putting our collective ideas into the hands of those affecting change, we can begin to shape innovative and sustainable solutions to the problems facing our cities.
Research In a Nutshell
The YouSayCity platform stems from a prototype developed during an undergraduate research project at McGill University. Inspiration for the research/platform came while attending a public consultation for a major development project in the City of Montreal. Unfortunately, few people attended the formal project presentation with fewer people actually participating in the discussion, asking questions or voicing their opinion concerning the future of this project.
These public consultations are the front lines of citizen engagement offering a venue for information sharing, debate, and transparency. Unfortunately, these consultations are not always accessible for everyone to attend, and can often be intimidating structures for public participation. Also, the rich information concerning the projects is often reduced to presentations portraying static renderings of the project and the main components of a project. Many of these projects however have detailed reports, geographic information layers and 3D models that could be opened up to the public for greater understanding and more informed discussion.
With the ever-growing reach & power of the Internet, we set out to explore the possibility of building a tool that allows people to share these various information types (images, documents, 3D models, data layers, websites, etc.) and take part in constructive discussions online. By offering citizens an interactive and immersive portal through which they can voice their point of view (at any time and from anywhere via a computer), we believe that increasing online participation and knowledge sharing may translate to increased ‘real world’ awareness and participation.
Before building the prototype for platform, it was important to explore the various technologies and social-political contexts that may affect such a project. The realms of public participation, online applications, and 3D technologies were studied to better understand how to move forward with the project. The full research thesis is available belowe. Here are some passages that capture the outcomes of the research:
Brabham, 2009
Al-Kodmany, 2002
Full Research Paper
Our Team
Our Team
Over the course of the past few seasons, YouSayCity has evolved and grown thanks to the contributions of the following individuals:
- Pierre Beaudreau - @pierrebeaudreau
- Alix Gervaise - @alixtw
- Courtney Claessens - @sidewalkballet
- Renee Sieber - @re_sieber
- Jason Prince - @JasonEPrince
Join Our Team
We are still looking for people who are interested in joining our team. If you have experience you think is useful to our project (i.e. programming, urban planning, public partipation) feel free to contact us at the addresses below!
Join Our Team | join@yousaycity.com
Our Collaborators
We have had the chance to collaborate with some great organizations throughout our journey. If you would like to collaborate with us, or simply share thoughts and/or ideas, we would love to hear from you! A special thank you to:
Platform Features
The free platform will feature the following funtionalities in its BETA launch. We encourage you to explore the various functionalities and find ways of using them to the benefit of the projects being discussed!
Explore Projects
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View 3D Models
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Multiple Content Types
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Track Content and Projects
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Share with Friends
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Terms of Use
Last modified on June 1st, 2013
- This website and platform offer services to promote the spread of knowledge, information and collaboration for the future of our cities. It welcomes anyone willing to join us in this pursuit.
- Anyone 13 and over can join YouSayCity by providing basic contact information (first and last name, email address, occupation, city/country). Once registered, feel free to customize your profile and join the community in rating and commenting on projects across the world, participating in conversations, sharing ideas, or promoting that local organizations share their projects on the YouSayCity platform.
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Through promoting information sharing, we are seeking to build a mature online community centered around ideas that matter. Please be aware, when participating, that we reserver the right to remove:
- content promoting pseudo-science, conspiracy theories, zealotry, proselytizing, self-promotion, or any other content deemed inappropriate or unproductive for knowledge sharing
- content written in txtspeak, all-caps, or otherwise lazy grammar
- content posted by members using joke names or non-names
- disrespectful, distasteful, unconstructive, or illegal content
- If you are under the age of 13, you may not create a YouSayCity account. You're welcome to explore projects around the world, but you need to be at least 13 to create an account on YouSayCity.
- If you act disrespectfully, disruptively or illegally on YouSayCity, we reserve the right to terminate your membership, at any time, and without prior warning.
- Do not upload content to the platform that you do not fully own the rights to or is under copyright law from another individual, firm, etc. If you are unsure about ownership, add proper credit where credit is due. Such content can and will be removed if deamed proprietary.
- YouSayCity, nor any of its affiliates, partners or are responsible for any disrespectfull, disruptive or illegal actions, or content uploaded uploaded to, the YouSayCity platform.
- By using this Site, you signify your acceptance of these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these, please do not use YouSayCity. Your continued use of YouSayCity following the posting of changes to these terms of use or privacy policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.
- Our young platform is constantly evolving. Therefore, we reserve the right to update our Terms of Use at any time. Any changes will be posted here and the modification date header will be updated.
- We are serious about reading and considering all feedback we receive. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding these Terms of Use, please let us know.
- Thank you. And now, please enjoy!
Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which YouSayCity Inc. ('YouSayCity', 'we', 'us', 'our' and any other first person, plural personal pronoun) collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a 'User') of the YouSayCity platform ('Site'). This privacy policy applies to the Site and all products and services offered by YouSayCity.Personal identification information
We may collect personal identification information from Users in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, when Users visit our site, register on the site, fill out a form, and in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we make available on our Site. Users may be asked for, as appropriate, name, email address. Users may, however, visit our Site anonymously. We will collect personal identification information from Users only if they voluntarily submit such information to us. Users can always refuse to supply personally identification information, except that it may prevent them from engaging in certain Site related activities.
Non-personal identification information
We may collect non-personal identification information about Users whenever they interact with our Site. Non-personal identification information may include the browser name, the type of computer and technical information about Users means of connection to our Site, such as the operating system and the Internet service providers utilized and other similar information.
Web browser cookies
Our Site may use 'cookies' to enhance User experience. User's web browser places cookies on their hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to track information about them. Users may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If they do so, note that some parts of the Site may not function properly.
How we use collected information
YouSayCit.com may collect and use Users personal information for the following purposes:
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To improve customer service
Information you provide helps us respond to your customer service requests and support needs more efficiently. -
To personalize user experience
We may use information in the aggregate to understand how our Users as a group use the services and resources provided on our Site. -
To improve our Site
We may use feedback you provide to improve our products and services. -
To run a promotion, contest, survey or other Site feature
To send Users information they agreed to receive about topics we think will be of interest to them. -
To send periodic emails
We may use the email address to respond to their inquiries, questions, and/or other requests. If User decides to opt-in to our mailing list, they will receive emails that may include company news, updates, related product or service information, etc. If at any time the User would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, we include detailed unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email or User may contact us via our Site.
How we protect your information
We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of your personal information, username, password, transaction information and data stored on our Site.
Sharing your personal information
We do not sell, trade, or rent Users personal identification information to others. We may share generic aggregated demographic information not linked to any personal identification information regarding visitors and Users with our business partners, trusted affiliates and advertisers for the purposes outlined above.
Third party websites
Users may find advertising or other content on our Site that link to the sites and services of our partners, suppliers, advertisers, sponsors, licensors and other third parties. We do not control the content or links that appear on these sites and are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from our Site. In addition, these sites or services, including their content and links, may be constantly changing. These sites and services may have their own privacy policies and customer service policies. Browsing and interaction on any other website, including websites which have a link to our Site, is subject to that website's own terms and policies.
Compliance with children's online privacy protection act
Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, we never collect or maintain information at our Site from those we actually know are under 13, and no part of our website is structured to attract anyone under 13.
Changes to this privacy policy
YouSayCity.com has the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page and send you an email. We encourage Users to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically and become aware of modifications.
Your acceptance of these terms
By using this Site, you signify your acceptance of this policy and terms of service. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our Site. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes to this policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.
Contacting us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us at: info@yousaycity.com.
FAQ
This section is in progress. As we receive feedback from our BETA platform we will compile some of your most common questions.
Contact Us
| General Inquiries - | info@yousaycity.com |
| Join Our Team - | join@yousaycity.com |
| Reporting Problems - | report@yousaycity.com |