Summer Series: Spatial Literacy and Understanding Data, with Jack Barton

Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome back to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. As a reminder, we're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of your all time favourite episodes. This week we're sharing my interview with architect Jack Barton, from way back in Episode 83. This episode was right at the end of 2018, soon after we'd shifted from Smart City Podcast to the Smart Community podcast. Jack is the Outreach Manager at the GeoSpatial Research Innovation and Development Lab at the University of NSW. He was also running his private practice Jack Barton Digital Design (JBDD). Jack and I have a great discussion about how his upbringing in a regional area, his interest in cities, and his love of digital technology all combined to spark his interest in the Smart space. We talk about why Smart Cities is a good buzz word, and the reasons connections and communication are important in Smart Communities. Jack shares his view on how Australia is embracing Smart concepts, and why long term vision is important, especially during this age of experimental pilot programs. We cover Smart City Standards and what they mean for people working in the space; the importance of digital and spatial literacy, and the need for more people to properly understand data so that they can use is effectively. We discuss how open data can facilitate better integration across disciplines, governments and industry, and finish our conversation on the emerging trends of boring and somewhat old-fashioned things like protocols, accountability, transparency, governance and longevity. We'll be sure to get Jack back on the show in the future for a full update about what he's been up to and also how our thinking has progressed since 2018. But in the meantime, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Jack via Twitter @jbdd, on LinkedIn or visit the website jbdd.com Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.