Presentation of the Policy Compass FP7 Research Project in the context of the t-Gov 2014 Workshop.

1. EVIDENCE-BASED, TRANSPARENT AND
ACCOUNTABLE POLICYANALYSIS AND EVALUATION:
THE POLICY COMPASS APPROACH
Ourania Markaki, Panagiotis Kokkinakos, Sotiris
Koussouris, Habin Lee, Obaid Abdul Fatah, Martin
Löhe, Yuri Glikman
9 July 2014 t-Gov Workshop 2014 – Brunel University, West London

2. Project Overview
Policy Compass
http://policycompass.eu/
•STREP Project, co-funded by the European Union under
the “ICT for Governance and Policy Making” theme (ICT-
2013.5.4, Grant Agreement No: 612133)
•Project start: 1 October 2013
•Duration: 36 months
•Project Coordinator: Fraunhofer FOKUS (Germany)
•Consortium: 7 organizations from 5 different countries
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3. Policy Compass Consortium
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4. The Problem
• Wealth of information readily
available on the internet
• Lack of consensus about a
suitable metric for measuring
progress
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
• Human Development Index (HDI)
• Genuine Progress Index (GPI)
• Difficulty of tracking political events
to their practical effects
The Opportunity
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Context
easy to-use tools for both the lay public and
professional policy makers to improve the
quality and transparency of the policy analysis
and monitoring phases of the policy life-cycle.
open
public data
social
media
fuzzy
cognitive
maps
e-participation platforms
& argumentation
technology

5. The Policy Compass Promise:
Concept and Main Functionalities
• A research prototype of an easy-to-use, highly visual and intuitive tool for:
• Constructing prosperity and other policy metrics with an easy-to-use visual
language for defining variables and functions over open data sources.
• Constructing graphs and charts visualizing metrics for selected
geographical regions and time periods.
• Annotating graphs and charts with political or policy events
• Constructing causal models with an easy-to-use visual tool for Fuzzy
Cognitive Maps (FCM).
• Sharing and debating prosperity graphs and FCM across popular social
media platforms.
• Summarizing and visualizing the debates in argument maps and
conducting structured surveys about policy issues
• Aggregating opinions on policy issues, to formulate a common position
using delegated voting via the Adhocracy platform.
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Methodological Approach
Policy
Compass
Online
Deliberation
and
Argument
Mapping
(ODAM)
Building
Causal
Policy
Models
(BCPM)
Evaluating
Performance
of Policies
(EPP)

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Evaluating Performance of Policies (EPP)
EPP1. Data
Discovery
and
Processing
• Search for Open Data Sources
• Importing Data Series to Policy Compass
• Search Policy Compass Platform for existing metrics
EPP2.
Metrics
Definition
• Selection of Predefined Metrics
• Construction of Composite Metrics
EPP3.
Metrics
Calculation
and
Visualisatio
n
• Application of metrics on Open Data sets
• Visualisation of Metrics over Time
EPP4.
Improving
Understand
ing of
Trend
Lines
• Comparison of Metrics Trend Lines
• Search into Events registry to identify time points where graphs show abnormalities
• Annotating Graphs points through linking with Events
EPP5.
Seeking
further
explanation
of Policy
Impacts
• Seeking for existing Policy Models explaining interrelations and causal effects
• Identifying factors contributing to certain policy output/impact and their weighting
EPP5.
Sharing
Knowledge
and
Results
• Pushing Visualisation snapshots and metrics to the Policy Compass deliberation
tools
• Sharing Visualisations and Composite Metrics to Web2.0 channels
to BCMP
to ODAM

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Building Causal Policy Models (BCPM)
BCPM1.
Discovering
Open Data
related to
Policies
• Search for relevant available (open) data on the World Wide Web.
• Construct a library of data to be used for link data with impacts.
BCPM2.
Creating/Refi
ning Causal
Networks
• Create a new Policy Model or Edit an existing One
• Create concepts by relating data with their impacts
• Create Causal Networks by defining directional links
BCPM3.
Turning
Causal
Networks to
Fuzzy
Cognitive
Maps
• Setting fuzzy values on the Causal Model
• Turning the policy model into a Fuzzy Cognitive Map
BCPM4.
Simulating
FCMs and
Visualising
Impacts
• Select Simulation Variables for the FCM
• Perform Simulations
• Visualise Simulated Results for better understanding of Impacts
BCPM5.
Sharing
Knowledge
and Results
• Pushing Simulations snapshots to the Policy Compass deliberation tools
• Sharing Fuzzy Congintive Maps to Web2.0 channels
to
ODAM

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Online Deliberation and Argument
Mapping (ODAM)
ODAM1.
Initiate/Participat
e in Deliberations
• Create a new deliberation topic or participate in an existing topic
ODAM2.
Transforming
Structured
Discussions into
Argument Maps
• Identifying statements and opinions voiced
• Transforming statements and opinions into arguments
• Deriving the discussion argument map
ODAM3.
Navigating
Argument Maps
• Navigate through the argument maps to better understand the
relations and the debates amongst different positions.

10. • The Policy Compass will be
realized as an online Web
platform integrating the
tools developed in the
project.
• The platform will provide an
open API for integrating its
datastore and services into
external platforms, and
widgets for integrating its
user interfaces into
selected eParticipation
platforms and social
networks.
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Technical Approach

11. Added Value of the Approach (1/2)
• Simplify the way to utilize, interact, mash-up, visualize
and interpret the increasing amount of international open
economic data and wealth indicators.
• Improve the analysis and evaluation of policies
• Broaden the use of open data by citizens to support and
improve policy making.
• Raise and objectify the European public discourse on how
• to measure growth in the economy and society
• to develop holistic prosperity and progress indices
• Facilitate more objective, evidence-based and transparent
policy deliberations.
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12. Added Value of the Approach (2/2)
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• Visualize the effects of their politics
• Communicate policy outcomes to citizens clearer
• Stimulate public debate
• Build confidence in progress towards societal goals
• Create their own prosperity /community development indices
• Monitor and control the indicator modeling process
• Leverage open statistical data
• Monitor and critically discuss the quality of public policies
• Explore the effects and costs of policies
• Engage in the development of prosperity indices
• Participate in on-line debates
• Improve the objectivity and evidential basis of their
arguments
• Learn about the social and economic consequences of
policies
Decision
Makers
Civil Society
Citizens
and especially
the Younger
Generation

13. www.PolicyCompass.eu
www.twitter.com/PolicyCompassEU
www.facebook.com/PolicyCompass
PolicyCompass
Thank you!