Role of visual analytics in supporting mental healthcare systems research and policy: A systematic scoping review

The availability of healthcare data has exponentially grown, both in quantity and complexity. The speed of this evolution has generated new challenges for translating complex data into effective evidence-informed policy. Visual analytics offers new capacity to analyze healthcare systems and support better decision-making. We conducted a systematic scoping review to look for evidence of visual analytics approaches being applied to mental healthcare systems and their use in driving policy. We found 79 relevant studies and categorized them in two ways: by study purpose and by type of visualization. The majority (67.1%) of the studies used geographical maps, and 11% conducted highly complex studies requiring novel visualizations. Significantly, only 15% of the studies provided information indicating high levels of usability for policy and planning. Our findings suggest that while visual analytics continues to evolve rapidly, there is a need to ensure this evolution reflects the practical needs of policy makers.     

On sharks, trolls, and their patent prey—Unrealistic damage awards and firms’ strategies of “being infringed”

Patent trolls (or sharks) are patent holding individuals or (often small) firms who trap R&D intensive manufacturers in patent infringement situations in order to receive damage awards for the illegitimate use of their technology. While of great concern to management, their existence and impact for both corporate decision makers and policy makers remains to be fully analyzed from an academic standpoint. In this paper we show why patent sharks can operate profitably, why they are of growing concern, how manufacturers can forearm themselves against them, and which issues policy makers need to address. To do so, we map international indemnification rules with strategic rationales of small patent-holding firms and large manufacturers within a theoretical model. Our central finding is that the courts’ unrealistic consideration of the trade-offs faced by inadvertent infringers is a central condition for sharks to operate profitably.     

Compulsive policy-making—The evolution of the German feed-in tariff system for solar photovoltaic power

In recent years, policy approaches that build upon the notion of innovation systems have enjoyed increasing attention in science, technology and innovation policy. But while the usefulness of systemic thinking in policy-making has been demonstrated in a large number of empirical settings, we still lack a detailed understanding of the dynamics at play when policy makers address systemic problems. In this paper, we show how complex interdependencies and the uncertain nature of technological change shape the process of targeted policy interventions in socio-technical systems. Toward this end we analyzed the evolution of the German feed-in tariff (FIT) system for solar photovoltaic power, a highly effective and widely copied policy instrument targeted at fostering the diffusion and development of renewable energy technologies. We find that the policy has been subject to a considerable amount of changes, many of which are the result of policy makers addressing specific system issues and bottlenecks. Interestingly, however, often these issues themselves were driven by unforeseen technological developments induced by previous policy interventions. We argue that the pattern of policy serving as both a solution to and a driver of technological bottlenecks shows strong similarities with what Rosenberg (1969) called ‘compulsive sequences’ in the development of technical systems. By shedding more light on how the characteristics of socio-technical systems affect policy interventions, our framework represents a first step toward more closely integrating the literature on innovation systems with the work on policy learning.     

Analyzing the functional dynamics of technological innovation systems: A scheme of analysis

Various researchers and policy analysts have made empirical studies of innovation systems in order to understand their current structure and trace their dynamics. However, policy makers often experience difficulties in extracting practical guidelines from studies of this kind. In this paper, we operationalize our previous work on a functional approach to analyzing innovation system dynamics into a practical scheme of analysis for policy makers. The scheme is based on previous literature and our own experience in developing and applying functional thinking. It can be used by policy makers not only to identify the key policy issues but also to set policy goals.     

科学使用科学咨询是提升决策公信力的关键——来自英国的经验启示

科学的、民主的公共决策流程可分为确定政策议题、制定具体政策、推行实施政策和评估修订政策四个环节。科学咨询贯穿于整个决策流程并成为确保决策质量和提高决策公信力的关键。当前我国公共决策急需一个关于如何科学使用科学咨询的宏观指导文件。本文介绍了英国科学办公室分别于1997、2000、2005、2010年颁布实施4版本有关科学咨询和政策制定的指导方针的概要情况,阐述了"英国经验"给我国公共决策机制改进带来的三点启示:一是尽早制定有关如何在公共决策过程中更好使用科学和工程咨询的规范性文件;二是明确相关管理机构;三是在决策实践中借鉴英国指导方针的部分核心理念、关键原则和有益做法。     

互动导向的新兴产业政策决策过程研究

本文采用纵贯研究、内容分析、访谈相结合的定性研究方法,以推动我国物联网产业发展的三个政策决策过程为研究对象,旨在探讨不确定性的情况下,互动是如何帮助政府进行政策决策的。研究结论表明:第一,互动是政府进行宏观政策决策的基石。新兴产业的政策决策是由数个渐进式决策阶段组成,每个阶段中建立在互动基础上的微观政策的决策和实施为推动力量。第二,新兴产业政策决策过程中存在五种互动方式,并且互动主导者因行政职位或决策事项的不同采取不同的互动方式。第三,随着决策事项的渐进式演变,互动规律存在显著差异。研究结论为政策决策者建立互动导向的政策决策机制,更好地推动我国战略性新兴产业发展提供了依据与建议。     

Media Literacy and Universal Access in Europe

The promotion of media literacy as way of increasing access to the range of services available via today's media and communication technologies is currently an emphasis in Europe's information society policy debates. The notion of media literacy heralds a shift in the communications policy arena, especially with regard to media access as a policy goal. Taking into account the situated origins of the inherited regulatory concepts of access, this article argues that the way in which we operationalize media access must reflect how individuals engage with convergent electronic media services. It proposes a context- and user-sensitive approach, where the situation of media (non)users is assessed in terms of the technological and social infrastructure needed to support their access to particular media services.     

资源节约型社会建设中的水资源管理问题

面对日益严重的水资源短缺,运用管理、制度和政策的手段来建设节水型社会逐渐得到了我国决策者的高度重视。文章从治水理念和治水手段两个方面讨论了在建设节水型社会中面临的一些水资源管理问题。治水理念转变的关键是努力实现从供水管理向需水管理的转变;在实现治水理念的转变中,同时要特别注重从分散水资源管理体制向综合水资源管理体制的转型。在治水手段的转变方面,如何实现从原来的以行政手段为主向以市场为导向的经济、政策和制度等手段(如水价、水权和用水户参与管理)转变是关系到需水管理策略能否有效实现的关键与保障。尽管我国在水价、水权和用水户参与管理方面取得了一些进展,但如何有效实施还面临着很多挑战,尤其在农业用水部门面临更多的困难。     

From dignity to security protocols: a scientometric analysis of digital ethics

Our lives are increasingly intertwined with the digital realm, and with new technology, new ethical problems emerge. The academic field that addresses these problems—which we tentatively call ‘digital ethics’—can be an important intellectual resource for policy making and regulation. This is why it is important to understand how the new ethical challenges of a digital society are being met by academic research. We have undertaken a scientometric analysis to arrive at a better understanding of the nature, scope and dynamics of the field of digital ethics. Our approach in this paper shows how the field of digital ethics is distributed over various academic disciplines. By first having experts select a collection of keywords central to digital ethics, we have generated a dataset of articles discussing these issues. This approach allows us to generate a scientometric visualisation of the field of digital ethics, without being constrained by any preconceived definitions of academic disciplines. We have first of all found that the number of publications pertaining to digital ethics is exponentially increasing. We furthermore established that whereas one may expect digital ethics to be a species of ethics, we in fact found that the various questions pertaining to digital ethics are predominantly being discussed in computer science, law and biomedical science. It is in these fields, more than in the independent field of ethics, that ethical discourse is being developed around concrete and often technical issues. Moreover, it appears that some important ethical values are very prominent in one field (e.g., autonomy in medical science), while being almost absent in others. We conclude that to get a thorough understanding of, and grip on, all the hard ethical questions of a digital society, ethicists, policy makers and legal scholars will need to familiarize themselves with the concrete and practical work that is being done across a range of different scientific fields to deal with these questions.     

Go with the flow—a conceptual framework for supply relations in the era of the extended enterprise

The paper analyses the changes that an extended enterprise model of firms introduces into supply relations. After outlining the nature and characteristics of extended enterprises and the evolving nature of supply relations, the paper suggests a tool for supply network policy makers and a practical benchmarking tool for sectoral supply network management. It introduces the idea of value streams and flows and illustrates with empirical evidence from West Lothian, Scotland how and why supply networks are conduits of value and knowledge. The paper suggests how the value flow benchmarking tool may be used to approach decisions on the use of e-procurement and concludes with suggestions for further research.     

新冠疫情应对决策中的研究证据使用:基于十个国家的定性比较分析

循证政策制定有助于提高政府决策的科学性和公共政策质量,尤其在公共危机状态下能够帮助决策者快速高效地做出决策。在当前的新冠疫情应对中,如何提升研究证据在决策中的使用已成为中外学界和实务界高度关注并亟待解决的问题。本文采用模糊集定性比较分析方法,以10个国家为研究样本,试图分析多重因素影响新冠疫情应对决策中研究证据使用的复杂因果机制。结果表明,各国新冠疫情应对决策中研究证据使用受到了多元复杂因素的影响,具有两条高研究证据使用的驱动路径和三条非高研究证据使用的驱动路径,决策者对研究证据的重视、足够的研究证据和良好的政治共识对各国新冠疫情应对决策中研究证据使用起着重要的促进作用。     

Towards system oriented innovation policy evaluation? Evidence from EU28 member states

Many years after the introduction of the innovation system concept in innovation policy design, it is still not clear whether innovation policy evaluation practices follow a system approach. Building on evaluation and innovation studies, this article develops the concept ‘system oriented innovation policy evaluation’ based on four attributes (coverage, perspective, temporality and expertise). The attributes are used as analytical devices for gathering extensive empirical evidence on the actual practices of EU28 member states. The findings show that few countries have developed a type of innovation policy evaluation that is system oriented. The advent of a system approach to innovation policy evaluation offers the opportunity of comprehensive, contextualized and evidence-based innovation policy-making. However, there are still serious obstacles as such an approach requires important knowledge and organisational capacities. Overcoming these obstacles would need more decided evaluation capacity-building at the national level.     

Entrepreneurial experiments in science policy: Analyzing the Human Genome Project

We re-conceptualize the role of science policy makers, envisioning and illustrating their move from being simple investors in scientific projects to entrepreneurs who create the conditions for entrepreneurial experiments and initiate them. We argue that reframing science policy around the notion of conducting entrepreneurial experiments - experiments that increase the diversity of technical, organizational and institutional arrangements in which scientific research is conducted - can provide policy makers with a wider repertoire of effective interventions. To illustrate the power of this approach, we analyze the Human Genome Project (HGP) as a set of successful, entrepreneurial experiments in organizational and institutional innovation. While not designed as such, the HGP was an experiment in funding a science project across a variety of organizational settings, including seven public and one private (Celera) research centers. We assess the major characteristics and differences between these organizational choices, using a mix of qualitative and econometric analyses to examine their impact on scientific progress. The planning and direction of the Human Genome Project show that policy makers can use the levers of entrepreneurial experimentation to transform scientific progress, much as entrepreneurs have transformed economic progress.     

Supporting “Everyday Analysts” in Safety- and Time-Critical Situations

The need for quick, timely, and accurate information is critical in emergency events. During mass emergencies, people assemble information from both official and unofficial sources. As digital access expands, people will increasingly incorporate information from digital sources into decision making and assess it against the local circumstances they experience. If we extrapolate what such behavior means for the future, we can see that information management under emergency conditions will need to become increasingly socially distributed. The key question then is how to assess the quality of information: how “good” or “bad” it is; whether it is “misinformation” or “disinformation.” Borrowing from Simon's notion of satisficing, the authors argue that people's assessment of information helpfulness and credibility is a function of the “everyday analytic” skills they employ during mass emergencies. To facilitate the critical work of “everyday analysts,” we outline a research agenda for the development of analytical support tools.     

Advancing innovation in the public sector: Aligning innovation measurement with policy goals

There is sufficient evidence, drawn from surveys of innovation in the public sector and cognitive testing interviews with public sector managers, to develop a framework for measuring public sector innovation. Although many questions that are covered in the Oslo Manual guidelines for measuring innovation in the private sector can be applied with some modifications to the public sector, public sector innovation surveys need to meet policy needs that require collecting additional types of data. Policy to support public sector innovation requires data on how public sector organizations innovate and how a strategic management approach to innovation can influence the types of innovations that are developed. Both issues require innovations surveys to delve deeply into the innovation processes and strategies that are used by public sector managers. Implementation of the measurement framework proposed in this paper would open up opportunities for a new, policy-relevant research program on public sector innovation.     

草根创新可持续驱动模式探析——来自农民“创客”的依据

草根创新是我国经济增长的新动力。本文通过最大变异抽样,选取了中国10个农民草根创新案例,在扎根理论的基础上,采用质性研究严格归纳法,分析在资源限制条件下创新是怎样产生并且对社会产生影响的效用机制。研究结果表明草根农民“创客”在进行创新的过程中,追求三重底线,不仅能创造经济价值和社会效益,还带来了环境收益,草根农民也能成为创新的重要力量,促进社会的可持续发展。本研究对于政策制定以及创新模式的探索有着重要的借鉴意义。     

Modeling the adoption rates of manufacturing technology innovations by small US manufacturers: a longitudinal investigation

This study provides conclusive evidence to support the view that small plants are slower than larger plants to adopt manufacturing innovations. This empirical study based on over 1000 US manufacturing plants engaged in producing discrete products, studies the adoption of manufacturing technologies in small plants relative to large plants between 1993 and 1997.Under the assumption that small manufacturers are disadvantaged, several federal and state programs have been created to assist small manufacturers in acquiring and adopting manufacturing innovations. Through quantification of technology adoption in small manufacturing firms, this study’s findings reveal which manufacturing innovations are in greater need of governmental assistance programs. While small plants are making progress over time in catching up with larger plants in computerized technology use, they are not making similar progress in adopting manufacturing technology innovations in soft technologies. Several propositions for future research and recommendations for public policy are offered.     

Against misleading technocratic precision in research evaluation and wider policy – A response to Franzoni and Stephan (2023), ‘uncertainty and risk-taking in science’

Franzoni and Stephan (2023) recommend a probabilistic ‘subjective expected utility’ technique for addressing challenges of uncertainty in research evaluation. Whilst acknowledging strengths in F&S's analysis, this Response highlights a series of important practical, theoretical and methodological deficiencies. The stakes are raised, in that these are widely shared in a growing body of practice across research policy and beyond. This practice seeks to reduce and aggregate real-world complex, ambiguous, qualitative, multidimensional and contested challenges through ostensibly precise calculation. Taking associated problems in turn, this Response shows how F&S: make scientifically dubious claims; understate the depths of uncertainty; overstate the sufficiency of quantification; neglect foundational limits to calculation; and ignore crucial interpretive dimensions of policy making. Highlighting roles for greater methodological diversity, this Response points at the end to alternative methods that collectively allow more robustly plural approaches to contrasting aspects of incertitude. In the process, the steering of directions for research can become more rigorous and accountable and less vulnerable to manipulation and inadvertent bias. With globally growing ‘post-truth’ authoritarian populism arguably partly provoked by the kind of technocracy criticised here, research evaluation may in a small way help re-invigorate democracy by ‘opening up’ in this particular area, the hiding of politics behind expertise.     

Mis-spending on information security measures: Theory and experimental evidence

Information resources are becoming increasingly important to individuals and organizations, and ensuring their security is a major concern. While research in information security has adopted primarily a quantitative method to determine how and how much to invest in security, most decision makers rely on non-quantitative methods for this purpose, thereby introducing a considerable amount of as yet unexplained subjective judgment to the problem. We use a behavioral decision making approach to investigate factors causing possible inefficiencies of security spending decisions. Decision makers in our experiment performed a series of economic games featuring the key characteristics of a typical security problem. We found several biases in investment decisions. For budgeting their investment between major classes of security measures, decision makers demonstrated a strong bias toward investing in preventive measures rather than in detection and response measures, even though the task was designed to yield the same return on investment for both classes of measures. We term this phenomenon the “Prevention Bias.” Decision makers also reacted to security threats when the risk was so small that no investment was economically justified. For higher levels of risk that warranted some security investment, decision makers showed a strong tendency to overinvest. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Nuclear Power and Antiterrorism: Obscuring the Policy Contradictions 1

Abstract

Some governments are promoting both nuclear power and antiterrorism, but without much attention to connections between the two issues. Nuclear power increases the risk of nuclear terrorism directly and via nuclear proliferation, but this is seldom mentioned by policy‐makers. Governments use a set of rhetorical moves to hide the tensions in their policies concerning nuclear power and terrorism.