Citizens, Knowledge, and the Information Environment

In a democracy, knowledge is power. Research explaining the determinants of knowledge focuses on unchanging demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. This study combines data on the public's knowledge of nearly 50 political issues with media coverage of those topics. In a two-part analysis, we demonstrate how education, the strongest and most consistent predictor of political knowledge, has a more nuanced connection to learning than is commonly recognized. Sometimes education is positively related to knowledge. In other instances its effect is negligible. A substantial part of the variation in the education-knowledge relationship is due to the amount of information available in the mass media. This study is among the first to distinguish the short-term, aggregate-level influences on political knowledge from the largely static individual-level predictors and to empirically demonstrate the importance of the information environment .     

信息资源传播与知识产权保护

一、信息资源的内涵和特点 　　物质、能源、信息被称为人类社会的三大支柱。信息资源应当与物质、能源一样具有满足人类社会生存与发展的需求并为人类所用、产生使用价值与社会价值的共性。这种共性是信息被定义为信息资源的前提条件,而那些伪造的、虚假的信息不能被称之为信息资源。因此,信息资源应定义为：为满足人类需求,经过人类借助计算机等设备共同开发、生产、传递,能为人类所消费的信息的集合。这个定义包括四个方面的含义： 1信息资源是能够被利用的信息。 2信息资源是群体信息集合,而非单位信息。 3信息资源是指能够…     

Information Sharing and Public Sector Knowledge Networks

As pressures to engage in cross-agency and cross-sectoral partnerships become more widespread, information sharing becomes an ever more critical and daunting aspect of public administration. In this edition's exchange among scholars and practitioners, Sharon S. Dawes, Anthony M. Cresswell, and Theresa A. Pardo of the Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany, State University of New York, offer a "baker's dozen" of lessons they have culled from research and their own action research agenda studying the building of public sector knowledge networks in New York over the past 15 years. Grounded in a multidisciplinary, experientially based, and street-level view of the obstacles to and tactics for building successful public sector knowledge networks, the authors' warning to conceive collaborative information-sharing efforts as governance rather than information technology challenges is advice that practitioners ignore at their peril. Readers will find a more extensive eversion of this article on the PAR Web site (go to aspanet.org, click on PAR, then on the Theory to Practice icon). They also will find expert e-commentary on the article (plus the authors' response) from Lisa Bingham , Indiana University-Bloomington; Sharon Caudle , Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University; Louise K. Comfort , University of Pittsburgh; and Costis Toregas , American University.     

Political Scandals,Newspapers, and the Election Cycle

Political Behavior - Election outcomes are often influenced by political scandals. While a scandal usually has negative consequences for the ones being accused of a transgression, political...     

Transforming the FBI: A Challenge of Culture, Resources, and Mission

A recent review of restructuring efforts at the Federal Bureau of Investigation published by the National Academy of Public Administration examines several studies that precipitated the reorganization and discusses the current state of counterterrorism, intelligence, and internal security functions within the agency. However, the report fails to seriously engage the benefits of restructuring federal agencies to separate criminal investigation from antiterrorism or to address the financial implications of the current reorganization. Although it provides a useful overview of current changes within the FBI, it lacks theoretical linkages.     

Assumptions within Policy: A Case Study of Information Communications and Technology Policy

The deeply embedded nature of dominant assumptions creates an accepted language and way of thinking about ICT, leaving little space for alternative perspectives and ideologies. Policy directions link information technology, the information economy, innovation, competition and global markets. Innovation and information and communications technology constructs a particular application of innovation and directs funding accordingly. Given that policy is about how we categorise, about naming and naming shapes action, the question is what lenses do policy makers use to make choices in their synthesis of social, political and economic life? Using the Australian Information Communications and Technology (ICT) policy as a case study, this article will argue that policy reflects the economic, social and political ideologies of the decision makers. Despite opportunities for input into policy multiple perspectives are limited. Specifically the article looks at claims around consultation, the assumption that the information economy will benefit all Australians, the development of framework conditions for the information economy and the role of government.     

From Street-Level to System-Level Bureaucracies: How Information and Communication Technology is Transforming Administrative Discretion and Constitutional Control

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) is rapidly changing the structure of a number of large, executive public agencies. They used to be machine bureaucracies in which street‐level officials exercised ample administrative discretion in dealing with individual clients. In some realms, the street‐level bureaucrats have vanished. Instead of street‐level bureaucracies, they have become system‐level bureaucracies. System analysts and software designers are the key actors in these executive agencies. This article explores the implications of this transformation from the perspective of the constitutional state. Thanks to ICT, the implementation of the law has virtually been perfected. However, some new issues rise: What about the discretionary power of the system‐level bureaucrats? How can we guarantee due process and fairness in difficult cases? The article ends with several institutional innovations that may help to embed these system‐level bureaucracies in the constitutional state.     

Issue Publics,Campaigns, and Political Knowledge

Building on the growing body of research on campaign learning, this paper considers the way that learning about policy issues depends on the nature of the issue and its relevance for the individual citizen. Specifically, the analysis finds that seniors learned much more than non-seniors about candidate positions on an emerging Social Security issue that was heavily emphasized in the 2000 campaign, but not when the same issue was more familiar and largely ignored by the candidates and press in the 2004 campaign. Yet, even without additional learning or campaign emphasis, seniors still knew more than non-seniors in the later contest. These results suggest that once party positions become familiar to them, issue publics will hold their information advantage across future elections without dependence on further campaign emphasis.     

Knowledge for Governance,Governance of Knowledge: Inclusive Knowledge Management in Collaborative Governance Processes

ABSTRACT

Different ways of knowing (WOKs) present in governance processes easily give rise to controversies and conflicts and forestall collective action. To resolve these conflicts it is necessary to understand what constitutes a WOK and how we can organize inclusion through collaborative governance. This paper argues that WOKs contain different knowledge elements: they contain different bodies of factual knowledge, formulate specific knowledge questions, and prefer different methods and knowledge institutes. WOKs also encompass different frames, interpretations, or normative perceptions of reality. And finally, different WOKs make use of different sources and types of organizing capacity.

Realizing successful collaborative governance processes means organizing inclusion of these different components of knowledge. This paper investigates the implications of this knowledge diversity for realizing collaborative governance processes and the challenges for inclusive knowledge management—through an in-depth case study of a collaborative governance process between the Netherlands and Flanders.

We conclude that realizing inclusion between various WOKs and their knowledge components contributes to the overall success of a collaborative governance process. However, managing inclusive knowledge is as much a matter of conscious strategies as it is the result of an emergent interaction process between stakeholders, experts, and officials within various WOKs. Furthermore, although knowledge inclusion facilitates successful negotiation between stakeholders, it doesn't guarantee a successful outcome of these negotiations.     

Searching for a Cyprus Settlement: Considering Options for Creating a Federation, a Confederation, or Two Independent States

Greek and Turkish Cypriote have had a poor record in managingtheir political differences. The bicommunal government establishedat independence in 1960 at the behest of Greece and Turkey proveda failure after three years. Its collapse triggered communalviolence. No Cypriot government has represented both communitiessince then, and the partition on the island has hardened. Considerablethird-party mediation, spanning a few decades, has failed tofind a compromise settlement. Neither a federation nor a confederationappears to have reasonable prospects of success in view of thedeep mistrust between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Moreover,it is doubtful whether European Union membership of Cyprus couldprovide a sufficient framework for resolving the island's enduringcommunal dispute. Consequently, the merits of a two-state solutiondeserve serious consideration.     

Government Information Policy in the Era of Big Data

Reliable public sector information serves as a pivotal source for big data. Government postal codes, for instance, have been crucial for predicting demographics. Confidentiality, however, may be at risk when combined with other sources. Public sector information not only describes government activity but contains material, such as campaign finance filings, produced by outside sources. How does information production impact policy concerns if material is reused for big data projects? Information production is analyzed using a framework of five methods of production. The framework considers information that the public sector writes, publishes, manages, produces through research, and compiles through legal mandates. This paper examines the policy implications of using U.S. federal public sector information in big data projects.     

The Political Budget Cycle and Subnational Debt Expenditures in Federations: Panel Data Evidence from India

What political variables explain variations in subnational fiscal expenditures on interest payments on the debt? The author argues that the political budget cycle and center‐right political party ideology—rather than the effective number of parties, alternation of power, ideological proximity between the central government and constituent units, or most forms of political party ideology—can help explain the level of expenditures on interest payment of subnational debt in India. The core empirical finding is that significant increases in expenditures on the debt occur the year in which a state assembly election is held in India.     

Democratization,International Knowledge Institutions,and Global Governance

The central problem of democracy has long been theorized as how to place appropriate constraints on the responsible exercise of power. Today, this problem is most acute in global governance. This article examines the rapid rise in the creation of international knowledge institutions, arguing that these institutions reflect a growing effort by nations and publics to assert democratic constraints on the on the global exercise of power through their ability to structure processes of reasoning and deliberation in global society. Specifically, the article argues for the need to attend carefully to processes of knowledge‐making in international institutions, including the roles of international institutions in setting standards for the exercise of reasoning, their contributions to the making of global kinds through their work in classifying and reclassifying the objects of international discourse, and through their roles in opening up and constraining participation in international deliberation. The article concludes that the construction and deployment of policy‐relevant knowledge are a significant source of power in their own right in global governance that need to be subject to their own democratic critique.     

政策知识生产：知识属性、过程特征与主要模式

政策知识生产理论是基于知识视角的政策制定理论的组成部分。政策知识生产过程,即生产者将各种分散知识集中、整合、集成,产出现状知识、预测知识、因果知识、目标知识、协调知识等,为政策方案提供知识基础。政策知识属性有公共产品性质、专门知识、创新本质、操作性知识、集中性知识等。这些属性决定了政策知识生产过程的一般特征是智力投入为主、不确定性与可设计性并存、通过知识转换而创新等,独特特征是生产者多样性与决策者角色多重性。以专门/隐性知识等的分布特征、持有者是否主动转移其知识为标准,政策知识生产模式可归纳为单干、合作、收购、重组、剧场式、广场式、常规信息系统、博览会式、社会调查式等数种。知识生产理论需要与政策价值理论结合起来,才能形成完善的政策制定理论。     

Tax Code Knowledge and Behavioral Responses Among EITC Recipients: Policy Insights from Qualitative Data

We build on the robust quantitative literature on behavioral responses to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) by using in‐depth qualitative interviews with 115 EITC recipients to examine how they understand and respond to its incentive structures regarding earnings, marriage, and childbearing. We find that respondents consider their tax refund as a whole, without differentiating the portion from the EITC; as a result, they cannot predict how their EITC refund would change if they altered their labor supply or marital status. Incentives for childbearing are better understood, but are not specific to the EITC; rather, parents respond to a combination of tax deductions and credits as a whole. Respondents would like to maximize their refunds, but most cannot or would not alter their behavior due to structural constraints they face in the labor and marriage markets. Rather than adjust work hours, defer marriage, or have additional children, respondents exhibit a different type of behavioral response to the incentive structure of the EITC: They alter their tax filing status in order to maximize their refunds. They routinely claim zero exemptions and deductions on their W‐4s, file their tax returns as head of household rather than as married, and divide children among the tax returns of multiple caregivers. Although some of these behaviors qualify as tax noncompliance, they emerge because the intricacies of the tax code conflict with the complexity and fluidity of finances and family life in low‐income households.