We want to supplement the information the City provides on cycling in Calgary, and help out the other groups by providing the information they need. Do you have research skills? Do you know statistics, accounting, or traffic law? Are you familiar with the City's budget process?  Do you enjoy scouring the Internet for information?  Please help out!

Contact: research at bikecalgary dot org

Mission

To act as a information resource and support the Media and Infrastructure Task Forces by Collecting information about cycling in cities and compiling it in a useful way.

Goals

Finding raw data and compiling it in a useful way

1. Linkspam posts divided by topics should be a good start
2. a wiki is a notion too
3. “Provides for all the groups involved”--information should be presented in a way that you don’t need to have someone in research translating, which means the information resources need to be both public and well organized.

Needs

Talent

1. database building
2. Wikipedia creation and maintenance
3. search engine knowledge
4. Expertise in statistics, public health, engineering, economics, traffic law

A central information site

Collecting information and presenting it in a useful way requires an online "place" to find information and a means to submit useful links for inclusion in the library.

Contacts

The research Task force will be compiling lists of contacts useful to the cycling advocacy community in Calgary, including information on what that contact is most interested in and the best means of contacting them.

Areas of Interest or Focus for the Research Task Force

There are certain areas of interest for the information database of particular interest to bike advocacy in Calgary, and the research Task force will be concerned most with these general Categories:

Opposition Analysis

1. serves to identify the opposition to bikeplan and pinpoint what issues are the reason for that opposition in order to counter them
2. Are there any groups who are antagonistic to cycling or the Cycling Strategy? Why?
3. A profile on councillors' opinion on cycling on their support and focus issues
4. The art of the press release: find information for the steering committee on how to write a good press release, and list the people who should recieve them
5. The Law: What laws exist to protect cyclists? Identify opportunities to identify gaps in the law to protect cyclists - this could be anything from determining fault to road regulations that hamper the installation of cycling tracks, changing the legal landscape of the intersection, etc.

Opposition analysis was of particular interest to the team and it was generally agreed that we needed to know what barriers stood in the way of getting funding approved for the bike plan in November's budget planning, so this is going to be emphasized in the short term.

Finance

1. Money is a big deal in discussing the bikeplan, but it’s the perceptions held that hold more sway than objective data - related to Opp. Analysis
2. How much does it cost to do a thing?
3. Where do the figures in the report come from?
4. How much do other cities spend? What do they get for that money?

City Liaison

1. Creating a contact database and to interpret the structure of how a strategy will actually be implemented, and by whom
2. Who works at city hall?
   
   • What is the best way to contact them?
   • What can we do to help them get #yycbikeplan on the budget and implemented?
3. What are the processes to put in bike infrastructure?
4. Who does the approvals?
5. Navigating the City of Calgary Websites
   
   • shortcuts to departments and useful information