Practicing Responsible Research and Innovation in a crowdsourcing project

This paper examines the socially responsible research and innovation aspects of a project that aimed to test various information communication technology-enabled tools and methods for crowdsourcing data on urban environmental challenges and measures. Using the responsible research and innovation (RRI) framework as a point of departure and analytical lens, this paper considers “socially responsible crowdsourcing” an iterative and recursive process of inclusion, anticipation, reflexivity, and responsiveness. RRI is increasingly being requested in publicly funded projects involving disruptive technologies; however, a response to this demand requires more studies on RRI field practices. This paper discusses the benefits, challenges, and contextual factors associated with the application of RRI to a research project on crowdsourcing in particular and to RRI-based projects in general. The paper indicates the need for incorporating a variety of skills and forging stronger cooperation between government entities and researchers. Moreover, based on the results of three case studies, three types of responsiveness in RRI practice were identified. They are incorporation, mutual learning, and discontinuation.