# A Primer on Civic Digital Trusts ## **Welcome!** Smart cities offer many potential benefits for residents - but only when data generated within cities can be shared and used to inform decision making. The purpose of this Primer is to explain as simply as possible how a civic digital trust could democratically and responsibly share smart city data and algorithms. ## A Work in Progress... Civic digital trusts are a relatively new idea, and our understanding of how they work is evolving rapidly. That means this Primer needs to evolve too. The first draft of the Primer was published online in December, 2018, following a workshop that convened a diverse group of stakeholders in Toronto in November, 2018. We are publishing the Primer as a [Gitbook](https://www.gitbook.com) because of its integration with Github, the platform that powers the Open Source movement. As an Open Source ebook, anyone can add to it, or use it to build other Open Source resources. This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). ​[​![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/88x31.png)​](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) To suggest changes to the Primer, click the \[Edit on GitHub] button on the top right of the screen and propose changes and additions to the handbook for our stewards to approve. For those of you who haven't used GitHub before, [here's a handy guide Enspiral created for people to contribute to their GitBook](https://handbook.enspiral.com/guides/contributing.html). If you've got something to add to the Primer but this process doesn't work for you, email your suggestions to . This Gitbook is not a [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki). However, the [five pillars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars) and [10 simple rules](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Ten_Simple_Rules_for_Editing_Wikipedia) of Wikipedia provide a useful guide for the editorial standards we are aiming for to provide a reliable, neutral and accessible reference. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://marsdd.gitbook.io/datatrust/master.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.