Recently, I have written on this blog about the rise of altmetrics: alternative measures of research influence and impact that have the potential to fundamentally transform the academic promotion process and encourage unprecedented levels of scholarly and scientific communication. However, for all their promise, and for all their proponents’ lofty proclamations that altmetrics will “distill […]
Author: Admin
Grey Literature Matters — Climate Change Especially Matters
Grey literature takes centre stage in international circles today (27 September 2013) when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases the first of three summaries on the state of the world’s climate, specifically written for policy makers. This summary is the first part of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, which will culminate in the […]
EIUI Presents Workshop “Marine Information Matters” 20-21 September 2013
The Environmental Information: Use and Influence research initiative presents a workshop on “Marine Information Matters: Probing Its Use and Influence in Policy and Decision Making” on Saturday, 21 September. The one-day workshop will be preceded by a public lecture by Dr. Richard Grainger, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (Rome) on Friday, 20 […]
Information of the Marine Stewardship Council Certification Process and Developing Countries
The way fisheries are managed and how participatory mechanisms are rooted in policy and regulatory systems present implications for information providers, users, and decision-makers (FAO, 2009). Research has shown that the use and influence of fisheries scientific information are shaped and defined by the context in which stakeholders (e.g., fishers, mangers, and policy makers) operate, […]
Richard Grainger to Give Public Lecture in Halifax on How Fisheries Information Influences Policy
Dr. Richard Grainger, recently Chief of Statistics and Information in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, will give a public lecture at Dalhousie University on Friday, 20 September, entitled “How does information influence policy? The role of fishery organizations in policy-making for fisheries.” Date / Time: […]
Altmetrics: New Measures of Influence for the Web 2.0 Age
With the increasing popularity of academic blogging, the emergence of Twitter as a tool for promoting and sharing scholarly resources, and the proliferation of open access journals, there are more ways for researchers to share their discoveries, and more ways for interested parties to learn about and engage with those findings, than ever before. A […]
Information Mobilization in the Science-Policy Interface for Integrated Coastal Management
A recent paper by Bremer and Glavovic (2013) reviews the practice and theory of the science-policy interface in integrated coastal management (ICM). They describe two interpretations of the science-policy interface: the science-based interface and the participatory interface. Advocates of the science-based interface see the inherent uncertainty in science as a lack of available information, warranting […]
Scientific Communication and the Problems of Scale
I love to solve puzzles. It has been a fascination of mine ever since I was a child, and my thoughts were and are consumed by new stratagem to resolve any puzzle placed before me. I am fortunate, I guess, that as time goes on, new and more challenging ones keep emerging. I came to […]
Does the global focus on Marine Protected Area (MPA) targets undermine long-term conservation objectives?
Elizabeth De Santo, a member of the EIUI research team, has published a paper in the Journal of Environmental Management titled “Missing marine protected area (MPA) targets: How the push for quantity over quality undermines sustainability and social justice.” The paper takes a critical look at the global trend towards designating enormous swaths of marine […]
The Difficulty and Necessity of Communicating Scientific Information: The Gardasil Story
The failure thus far of the Canadian government’s efforts to promote Gardasil, a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), the leading cause of cervical cancer, carries important lessons for advocates of evidence-based policy-making. The Public Health Agency of Canada’s 2006 approval of Gardasil was the culmination of a policy-making process that prioritizes evidence over political concerns. […]