Policy Practice And Digital Science

The explosive growth in data, computational power, and social media creates new opportunities for innovating the processes and solutions of Information and communications technology (ICT) based policy-making and research. To take advantage of these developments in the digital world, new approaches, concepts, instruments and methods are needed to navigate the societal and computational complexity. This requires extensive interdisciplinary knowledge of public administration, policy analyses, information systems, complex systems and computer science. This book provides the foundation for this new interdisciplinary field, in which various traditional disciplines are blending. Both policy makers, executors and those in charge of policy implementations acknowledge that ICT is becoming more important and is changing the policy-making process, resulting in a next generation policy-making based on ICT support. Web 2.0 and even Web 3.0 point to the specific applications of social networks, semantically enriched and linked data, whereas policy-making has also to do with the use of the vast amount of data, predictions and forecasts, and improving the outcomes of policy-making, which is confronted with an increasing complexity and uncertainty of the outcomes. The field of policy-making is changing and driven by developments like open data, computational methods for processing data, opining mining, simulation and visualization of rich data sets, all combined with public engagement, social media and participatory tools.

This report identifies seven policy dimensions that allow governments – together with citizens, firms and stakeholders – to shape digital transformation to improve lives. It also highlights key opportunities, challenges and policies related to each dimension, offers new insights, evidence and analysis, and provides recommendations for better policies in the digital age.

Conversations about climate change are filled with challenges involving complex data, deeply held values, and political issues. Understanding Climate Change examines climate change as both a scientific and a public policy issue. Sarah L. Burch and Sara E. Harris explain the basics of the climate system, climate models and prediction, and human and biophysical impacts, as well as strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The second edition has been fully updated throughout, including coverage of new advances in climate modelling and of the shifting landscape of renewable energy production and distribution. A brand new chapter discusses global governance, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, as well as mitigation efforts at the national and subnational levels. This new chapter makes the book even more relevant to climate change courses housed in social sciences departments such as political science and geography. An effective and integrated introduction to an urgent and controversial issue, this book is well-suited to adoption in a variety of introductory climate change courses found in a number of science and social science departments. Its ultimate goal is to equip readers with the tools needed to become constructive participants in the human response to climate change.

This symposium, which was held on March 10-11, 2003, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, brought together policy experts and managers from the government and academic sectors in both developed and developing countries to (1) describe the role, value, and limits that the public domain and open access to digital data and information have in the context of international research; (2) identify and analyze the various legal, economic, and technological pressures on the public domain in digital data and information, and their potential effects on international research; and (3) review the existing and proposed approaches for preserving and promoting the public domain and open access to scientific and technical data and information on a global basis, with particular attention to the needs of developing countries.

This book provides a comprehensive approach to the study of policy analytics, modelling and informatics. It includes theories and concepts for understanding tools and techniques used by governments seeking to improve decision making through the use of technology, data, modelling, and other analytics, and provides relevant case studies and practical recommendations. Governments around the world face policy issues that require strategies and solutions using new technologies, new access to data and new analytical tools and techniques such as computer simulation, geographic information systems, and social network analysis for the successful implementation of public policy and government programs. Chapters include cases, concepts, methodologies, theories, experiences, and practical recommendations on data analytics and modelling for public policy and practice, and addresses a diversity of data tools, applied to different policy stages in several contexts, and levels and branches of government. This book will be of interest of researchers, students, and practitioners in e-government, public policy, public administration, policy analytics and policy informatics.

This book provides an overview of science education policies, research and practices in mainland China, with specific examples of the most recent developments in these areas. It presents an insiders’ report on the status of Chinese science education written primarily by native speakers with first-hand experiences inside the country. In addition, the book features multiple sectional commentaries by experts in the field that further connect these stories to the existing science education literature outside of China. This book informs the international community about the current status of Chinese science education reforms. It helps readers understand one of the largest science education systems in the world, which includes, according to the Programme for International Student Assessment, the best-performing economy in the world in science, math and reading: Shanghai, China. Readers gain insight into how science education in the rest of China compares to that in Shanghai; the ways Chinese science educators, teachers and students achieve what has been accomplished; what Chinese students and teachers actually do inside their classrooms; what educational policies have been helpful in promoting student learning; what lessons can be shared within the international science education community; and much more. This book appeals to science education researchers, comparative education researchers, science educators, graduate students, state science education leaders and officers in the international communities. It also helps Chinese students and faculty of science education discover effective ways to share their science education stories with the rest of the world.

In recent years, it has become apparent that there are very distinct gaps between developed and developing regions in the world, especially in regards to e-government systems, infrastructures, and processes. Digital Public Administration and E-Government in Developing Nations: Policy and Practice examines e-government from the perspective of developing nations and addressing the issues and concerns arisen in its systems and processes. This publication is a valuable and insightful tool for researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and students in different fields who are interested in information systems, public policies, politics, and media and communication studies.

This book provides the latest research advancements and findings for the scientific systematization of knowledge regarding digital governance and transformation, such as core concepts, foundational principles, theories, methodologies, architectures, assessment frameworks and future directions. It brings forward the ingredients of this new domain, proposing its needed formal and systematic tools, exploring its relation with neighbouring scientific domains and finally prescribing the next steps for laying the foundations of a new science. The book is structured into three main areas. The first section focuses on contributions towards the purpose, ingredients and structure of the scientific foundations of digital transformation in the public sector. The second looks at the identification and description of domain's scientific problems with a view to stabilizing research products, assessment methods and tools in a reusable, extendable and sustainable manner. The third envisions a pathway for future research to tackle broader governance problems via the applications of information and communication technologies in combination with innovative approaches from neighbouring scientific domains. Contributing to the analysis of the scientific perspectives of digital governance and digital transformation, this book will be an indispensable tool for students, researchers and practitioners interested in digital governance, digital transformation, information systems, as well as ICT industry experts and policymakers charged with the design, deployment and implementation of public sector information systems.