From Participatory Sensing to Public-private Partnership: The Development of AirBox Project in Taiwan

A complete sensor network should include sensors, data processing, and data services. However, to establish the legitimacy of sensor data for urban governance, sensor networks should go beyond simple deployment of sensors in the built environment and strive for deeper integration of data services within civil society. This paper presents the Taiwan AirBox Project as an exemplary case of practical deployment of a sensor network to discuss the topics of open data, value-added services, and joint calibration services; as well as how these services generate productive public-private partnerships. The AirBox project adopted a strategy of combining opensource hardware, flexible database API, multiple value-added data services, and open-joint calibration to gradually enhance the data quality. The results suggested that: 1. open hardware and open source software are keys to expanding the deployment of the sensor network; 2. open data and diverse value-added services enhance the public's environmental awareness and advocacy; 3. the open jointcalibration system helps connect government policy formulation with public environmental awareness. In addition, the AirBox project demonstrates the feasibility of a democratized deployment strategy. "Openness" serves as the foundation for mutual trust, communication, cooperation, and cocreation among stakeholders involved in the deployment process.