Martin Stewart. Weeks. twittered this interesting read. It is an apt rendition of the thesis that, unless the #DigitalTransformation project has something useful to say or add to these political, structural, institutional questions, it won’t be worth much.
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Sousveillance: Civic Surveillance of Surveillance Cameras

How can citizens reclaim transparency in a world increasingly shaped by networked safety and enforcement cameras? Join our ThingsCon workshop to explore the power of sousveillance—using the tools of surveillance to scrutinize the systems that watch us.
Networked safety and enforcement cameras increasingly shape urban life, yet their presence and function often remain opaque. This workshop explores how citizens can turn the tools of surveillance back onto the systems that watch them: Redirecting object recognition to identify street camera's for civic scrutiny. Building on several camera spotting tours supported with various versions of a “mobile transparency app”, we introduce a new prototype that uses object recognition to detect street cameras and log them through a civic annotation workflow.
The workshop is for anyone interested in civic tech, democratic oversight, and human-scale alternatives to opaque “smart city” systems. Together, we explore how civic sousveillance might evolve into a deeper practice of scrutinizing—and reshaping—the technologies embedded in our streets.
More info and tickets: https://thingscon.org/events/things-2025
More info on the Human Values for Smarter Cities research project we are conducting: https://humanvaluesforsmartercities.nl/
Waag Open: nepnieuws, no thanks

Trollen, nepprofielen en Russische desinformatiecampagnges. Het is helaas de realiteit van het internet vandaag de dag. In Nederland zijn we het er gelukkig over eens dat het van belang is om de geloofwaardigheid en betrouwbaarheid van bronnen, informatie en digitale content te kunnen analyseren.
Mediawijsheid en kritisch nadenken krijgen dan ook sinds een aantal jaren meer aandacht op scholen, maar eigenlijk kan iedereen wel een crash course fake news gebruiken. Want met de komst van generatieve AI is het makkelijker dan ooit om content te genereren. Teksten en beelden worden aan de lopende band geproduceerd en kunnen betrouwbaar nieuws vertroebelen. Hoe kan je tegenwoordig desinformatie herkennen? En wat moeten we met de hoeveelheid fake news?
Tijdens deze Waag Open leer je in een workshop hoe je misinformatie kunt maken, herkennen en ontdek je waar je op kunt letten om nepnieuws te ontkrachten. We starten de avond met een presentatie van Sophie Morosoli en Teresa Weikmann van het AI, Media & Democracy Lab van de UvA. Aan het einde van de avond beschik jij over de tips & tricks om mis- en desinformatie te herkennen én te duiden
Programma
| 19:30 - 19:45 uur | Welkom & introductie |
|---|---|
| 19:45 - 20:15 uur | Presentatie door Sophie Morosoli en Teresa Weikmann |
| 20:15 - 21:30 uur | Workshop digitale weerbaarheid |
Waag Open
Elke eerste donderdagavond van de maand opent Waag haar deuren! Kom langs om te discussiëren en te doen. Want we gaan niet alleen in discussie over maatschappelijke thema's en de toekomst – je leert daarnaast ook altijd iets praktisch. Iets dat je altijd al hebt willen uitproberen, zoals de 3D-printer in het FabLab, of juist iets dat je nooit had verwacht, zoals uitpluizen hoe DNA in elkaar zit in ons biotech-lab. Waag Open vindt plaats in de maakplaatsen op de eerste en tweede verdieping van het historische Waaggebouw op de Nieuwmarkt.
Toegankelijkheid
Mocht je krap bij kas zitten en wel graag aan dit evenement willen deelnemen, neem dan contact op met sanna [@] waag [punt] org.
How to maintain good intentions in the smart city?

During this ThingsCon Salon, we explore how to give good intentions a lasting place in smart city projects. Join us!
On October 29th from 16:00-19:00 we will be at the stunning Scheveningen Pier for a workshop and talks on how to give good intentions a lasting place in government digital projects. Sign up here!
What is the Thingscon Salon about?
When you interact with the municipality, you often first encounter a digital tool: a website, a menu system, an algorithm, or a parking scan car. There are important reasons behind such digital systems: they're convenient and often efficient.
But if things go wrong, citizens shouldn't get lost in the digital reality. That's why the municipality promises its residents, for example in a coalition agreement, the human dimension in the digital city. And according to project plans, a digital tool should be fair, accessible, transparent, and just.
These kinds of good intentions are formulated before or at the beginning of development processes, but can sometimes slip out of view along the way. During procurement, development and implementation, choices are made that later seem to clash with the original intentions.
How do we design so that good intentions remain leading not just at the beginning, but also during execution?
During this ThingsCon Salon, we explore how to give good intentions a lasting place in government digital projects. Using one or two case studies, we'll develop concrete methods in a workshop to make intentions tangible and maintain them throughout the entire process – from administrative agenda to technical implementation and practical, daily use.
This Salon is co-organized by the 'Human Values for Smarter Cities' project from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and Smart City The Hague. The program consists of a workshop and several speakers.
Tessa Steenkamp and Mike de Kreek will host the workshop.
Date: Wednesday October 29th
Time: 16:00-19:00
Location: Infopunt Scheveningen