Date:January30,2014
Attn: Niagara Media Outlets
Niagara Sustainability Initiative (NSI) and Niagara Research, Niagara College’s research and innovation division, have announced their collaborative website project – Crowdsourcing Sustainability. Set to launch in May 2014, the goal of this platform is to build relationships among, and increase awareness about environmental organizations and efforts in the Niagara Region.
Users will be able to upload information about different sustainability information from across the Niagara Region. This information will be displayed and organized as ‘pins’ overlaid on a map of the region. Each pin will represent a different environmental organization, business, local food provider, tourist spot, green space, etc. These points will be sorted into different categories, which the user can filter through to find the posts they are interested in.
By bringing together all this information in one database, NSI hopes to create a ‘one stop shop’ for everything green in our region. Whether you are seeking events, community garden groups, green products and services, parks & trails, or even volunteer and job opportunities in the environmental field, this will be the place to look.
What is different about this website in particular, is that it will depend on crowdsourcing to remain current. Crowdsourcing is the act of obtaining information by assigning a task to the public over the Internet, rather than to an employee. In this case, users of the website will be able to post sustainability–‐related information in order to share it with the rest of the Niagara community.
Local green businesses and organizations will be contacted in the upcoming weeks to provide them with more information and the opportunity to get involved prior to the website’s launch. You are invited to take a moment to explore the website’s splash page to learn more and view Crowdsourcing Sustainability’s future layout: http://crowdsourcingsustainability.com/
For further information contact:
Lila Karolak, Crowdsourcing Sustainability Coordinator
crowdsource@niagarasustainability.org 905-380-4174
