Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book by Nicholas Carr: “From the telegraph and telephone in the 1800s to the internet and social media in our own day, the public has welcomed new communication systems. Whenever people gain more power to share information, the assumption goes, society prospers. Superbloom tells a startlingly different story. As communication becomes more mechanized and efficient, it breeds confusion more than understanding, strife more than harmony. Media technologies all too often bring out the worst in us.

A celebrated writer on the human consequences of technology, Nicholas Carr reorients the conversation around modern communication, challenging some of our most cherished beliefs about self-expression, free speech, and media democratization. He reveals how messaging apps strip nuance from conversation, how “digital crowding” erodes empathy and triggers aggression, how online political debates narrow our minds and distort our perceptions, and how advances in AI are further blurring the already hazy line between fantasy and reality.

Even as Carr shows how tech companies and their tools of connection have failed us, he forces us to confront inconvenient truths about our own nature. The human psyche, it turns out, is profoundly ill-suited to the “superbloom” of information that technology has unleashed.

With rich psychological insights and vivid examples drawn from history and science, Superbloom provides both a panoramic view of how media shapes society and an intimate examination of the fate of the self in a time of radical dislocation. It may be too late to change the system, Carr counsels, but it’s not too late to change ourselves…(More)”.

How and When to Involve Crowds in Scientific Research

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book by Marion K. Poetz and Henry Sauermann: “This book explores how millions of people can significantly contribute to scientific research with their effort and experience, even if they are not working at scientific institutions and may not have formal scientific training. 

Drawing on a strong foundation of scholarship on crowd involvement, this book helps researchers recognize and understand the benefits and challenges of crowd involvement across key stages of the scientific process. Designed as a practical toolkit, it enables scientists to critically assess the potential of crowd participation, determine when it can be most effective, and implement it to achieve meaningful scientific and societal outcomes.

The book also discusses how recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) shape the role of crowds in scientific research and can enhance the effectiveness of crowd science projects…(More)”

Local Government and Citizen Co-production Through Neighborhood Associations

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Chapter by Kohei Suzuki: “This chapter explores co-production practices of local governments, focusing on the role of neighborhood associations (NHAs) in Japan. This chapter investigates the overall research question of this book: how to enhance government performance under resource constraints, by focusing on the concept of citizen co-production. Historically, NHAs have played a significant role in supplementing municipal service provisions as co-producers for local governments. Despite the rich history of NHAs and their contributions to public service delivery at the municipal level, theoretical and empirical studies on NHAs and co-production practices remain limited. This chapter aims to address this research gap by exploring the following research questions: What are NHAs from a perspective of citizen co-production? What are the potential contributions of studying NHAs to the broader theory of co-production? What are the future research agendas? The chapter provides an overview of the origin and evolution of the co-production concept. It then examines the main characteristics and activities of NHAs and discusses their roles in supplementing local public service provision. Finally, the chapter proposes potential research agendas to advance studies on co-production using Japan as a case study…(More)”.

The Access to Public Information: A Fundamental Right

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book by Alejandra Soriano Diaz: “Information is not only a human-fundamental right, but it has been shaped as a pillar for the exercise of other human rights around the world. It is the path for bringing to account authorities and other powerful actors before the people, who are, for all purposes, the actual owners of public data.

Providing information about public decisions that have the potential to significantly impact a community is vital to modern democracy. This book explores the forms in which individuals and collectives are able to voice their opinions and participate in public decision-making when long-lasting effects are at stake, on present and future generations. The strong correlation between the right to access public information and the enjoyment of civil and political rights, as well as economic and environmental rights, emphasizes their interdependence.

This study raises a number of important questions to mobilize towards openness and empowerment of people’s right of ownership of their public information…(More)”.

Digital Governance: Confronting the Challenges Posed by Artificial Intelligence

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book edited by Kostina Prifti, Esra Demir, Julia Krämer, Klaus Heine, and Evert Stamhuis: “This book explores the structure and frameworks of digital governance, focusing on various regulatory patterns, with the aim of tackling the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Addressing the various challenges posed by AI technologies, this book explores potential avenues for crafting legal remedies and solutions, spanning liability of AI, platform governance, and the implications for data protection and privacy…(More)”.

Anticipatory Governance: Shaping a Responsible Future

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book edited by Melodena Stephens, Raed Awamleh and Frederic Sicre: “Anticipatory Governance is the systemic process of future shaping built on the understanding that the future is not a continuation of the past or present, thus making foresight a complex task requiring the engagement of the whole of government with its constituents in a constructive and iterative manner to achieve collective intelligence. Effective anticipatory governance amplifies the fundamental properties of agile government to build trust, challenge assumptions, and reach consensus. Moreover, anticipatory governance sets the foundation to adapt to exponential change. This seismic shift in the governance environment should lead to urgent rethinking of the ways and means governments and large corporate players formulate strategies, design processes, develop human capital and shape instiutional culture to achieve public value.

From a long-term multigenerational perspective, anticipatory governance is a key component to ensure guardrails for the future. Systems thinking is needed to harness our collective intelligence, by tapping into knowledge trapped within nations, organizations, and people. Many of the wicked problems governments and corporations are grappling with like artificial intelligence applications and ethics, climate change, refugee migration, education for future skills, and health care for all, require a “system of systems”, or anticipatory governance.

Yet, no matter how much we invest in foresight and shaping the future, we still need an agile government approach to manage unintended outcomes and people’s expectations. Crisis management which begins with listening to weak signals, sensemaking, intelligence management, reputation enhancement, and public value alignment and delivery, is critical. This book dives into the theory and practice of anticipatory governance and sets the agenda for future research…(More)”

Collaborative Intelligence

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book edited by Mira Lane and Arathi Sethumadhavan: “…The book delves deeply into the dynamic interplay between theory and practice, shedding light on the transformative potential and complexities of AI. For practitioners deeply immersed in the world of AI, Lane and Sethumadhavan offer firsthand accounts and insights from technologists, academics, and thought leaders, as well as a series of compelling case studies, ranging from AI’s impact on artistry to its role in addressing societal challenges like modern slavery and wildlife conservation.

As the global AI market burgeons, this book enables collaboration, knowledge sharing, and interdisciplinary dialogue. It caters not only to the practitioners shaping the AI landscape but also to policymakers striving to navigate the intricate relationship between humans and machines, as well as academics. Divided into two parts, the first half of the book offers readers a comprehensive understanding of AI’s historical context, its influence on power dynamics, human-AI interaction, and the critical role of audits in governing AI systems. The second half unfolds a series of eight case studies, unraveling AI’s impact on fields as varied as healthcare, vehicular safety, conservation, human rights, and the metaverse. Each chapter in this book paints a vivid picture of AI’s triumphs and challenges, providing a panoramic view of how it is reshaping our world…(More)”

Rethinking Theories of Governance

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book by Christopher Ansell: “Are theories of governance useful for helping policymakers and citizens meet and tackle contemporary challenges? This insightful book reflects on how a theory becomes useful and evaluates a range of theories according to whether they are warranted, diagnostic, and dialogical.

By arguing that useful theory tells us what to ask, not what to do, Christopher Ansell investigates what it means for a theory to be useful. Analysing how governance theories address a variety of specific challenges, chapters examine intractable public problems, weak government accountability, violent conflict, global gridlock, poverty and the unsustainable exploitation of our natural resources. Finding significant tensions between state- and society-centric perspectives on governance, the book concludes with a suggestion that we refocus our theories of governance on possibilities for state-society synergy. Governance theories of the future, Ansell argues, should also strive for a more fruitful dialogue between instrumental, critical and explanatory perspectives.

Examining both the conceptual and empirical basis of theories of governance, this comprehensive book will be an invigorating read for scholars and students in the fields of public administration, public policy and planning, development studies, political science and urban, environmental and global governance. By linking theories of governance to concrete societal challenges, it will also be of use to policymakers and practitioners concerned with these fields…(More)”.

Collective Intelligence: The Rise of Swarm Systems and their Impact on Society

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book edited by Uwe Seebacher and Christoph Legat: “Unlock the future of technology with this captivating exploration of swarm intelligence. Dive into the future of autonomous systems, enhanced by cutting-edge multi-agent systems and predictive research. Real-world examples illustrate how these algorithms drive intelligent, coordinated behavior in industries like manufacturing and energy. Discover the innovative Industrial-Disruption-Index (IDI), pioneered by Uwe Seebacher, which predicts industry disruptions using swarm intelligence. Case studies from media to digital imaging offer invaluable insights into the future of industrial life cycles.

Ideal for AI enthusiasts and professionals, this book provides inspiring, actionable insights for the future. It redefines artificial intelligence, showcasing how predictive intelligence can revolutionize group coordination for more efficient and sustainable systems. A crucial chapter highlights the shift from the Green Deal to the Emerald Deal, showing how swarm intelligence addresses societal challenges…(More)”.

Informality in Policymaking

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book edited by Lindsey Garner-Knapp, Joanna Mason, Tamara Mulherin and E. Lianne Visser: “Public policy actors spend considerable time writing policy, advising politicians, eliciting stakeholder views on policy concerns, and implementing initiatives. Yet, they also ‘hang out’ chatting at coffee machines, discuss developments in the hallway walking from one meeting to another, or wander outside to carparks for a quick word and to avoid prying eyes. Rather than interrogating the rules and procedures which govern how policies are made, this volume asks readers to begin with the informal as a concept and extend this to what people do, how they relate to each other, and how this matters.

Emerging from a desire to enquire into the lived experience of policy professionals, and to conceptualise afresh the informal in the making of public policy, Informality in Policymaking explores how informality manifests in different contexts, spaces, places, and policy arenas, and the implications of this. Including nine empirical chapters, this volume presents studies from around the world and across policy domains spanning the rural and urban, and the local to the supranational. The chapters employ interdisciplinary approaches and integrate creative elements, such as drawings of hand gestures and fieldwork photographs, in conjunction with ethnographic ‘thick descriptions’.

In unveiling the realities of how policy is made, this deeply meaningful and thoughtfully constructed collection argues that the formal is only part of the story of policymaking, and thus only part of the solutions it seeks to create. Informality in Policymaking will be of interest to researchers and policymakers alike…(More)”.