Research-based information flows from a wide variety of sources, including dissertations, websites, peer-reviewed journals, policy briefings, or conference workshops, (Nutley, Walker & Davies, 2007). The information chain is a conceptual framework that attempts to demonstrate the transfer of this information. This framework models the various pathways information follows as it proceeds from the source to […]
Information Use & Influence
Social Science Information in Policy: Evidence-Based or Evidence-Informed?
The relationship between social science research and policy-making suggests policy may be informed by, rather than based on, evidence. Weiss (1977) supports this statement and claims that government uses social science to enlighten rather than dictate policy. Recently, Reimer & Brett (2013) agreed and believe that municipalities often do not have the expertise to make use […]
Doctoral Student Receives SSHRC Awards for Research Involving Governmental Organizations
Suzuette Soomai, Interdisciplinary PhD student with the EIUI initiative, has been named a recipient of a Michael Smith Foreign Study grant by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Suzuette currently holds a prestigious three-year Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) from SSHRC. The Michael Smith Foreign Study grant will support her […]
Communicating Fisheries Information: Challenges and Opportunities
Fisheries governance and information pathways in fisheries management are exceptionally complex. At the same time, large quantities of fisheries information on numerous subjects are available from a wide range of providers for a diversity of users. These points were emphasized in a public lecture at Dalhousie University on 20 September 2013 by Dr. Richard Grainger, […]
Challenges Facing the Altmetrics Movement
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]