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The Fukushima nuclear power accident in March, 2011, made Japanese people, who originally felt uneasy when needed to get online, extensively use the internet to reach across boundaries of official channels for information not otherwise available, albeit forming new networks and using big data techniques for recording and visualizing radiation exposure. While corporatist style of Japanese policy has constrained political opportunities for Japanese environmental activists, big data techniques have a potential to enhance public engagement in science-driven policy leading to the production of new risk-related knowledge. Drawing on the case of Minna no Data Site: Combined Database of Independent Radioactivity Measurement Labs this paper seeks to explore how citizen generated data impacts environmental governance. More specifically, by analyzing the potential of citizen generated data to produce new knowledge related to radiation risks this paper argues that data alone can not significantly influence environmental debate and expert-citizen alliance needed to make use of data and to overcome the gap between different knowledge producers.
Research papers (proceedings of international meetings)
