A master thesis from Aalborg University
Digitalization as communicative means in IA reporting: Digitalization as a way to design IAs as instrument to stimulate knowledge brokering activities?
[Digitalization as communicative means in IA reporting]
Author(s)
Term
4. Term
Publication year
2019
Submitted on
2019-06-06
Pages
91 pages
Abstract
Impact Assessments are recognized as a technical tool for assessing environmental impacts where find- ings and results are reported as an aid for decision- making. As an instrument IAs operates in a interplay between different parties where the communication around the reported environmental values and im- pacts influence how parties acts upon the reported findings and results. Nonetheless, it can be challeng- ing for IA producers to communicate reporting in a non-technical and proportioned way since the envi- ronment is complex. Due that IAs is a technical tool operating within different parties and knowledge, IAs has instrumental potential to stimulate social pro- cesses which bridge between parties. The processes of bridging between various of knowledge are known as knowledge brokering. Digitalization is a evolving field in IA context, which provides new possibilities of communication. Therefore, this master thesis elu- cidates communicative possibilities of digitalization as a way to design IA as an instrument which stim- ulates activities of knowledge brokering based in the reporting. In order to do that, it investigates the cur- rent practice of utilizing digitalization in IA report- ing. It describes how certain digitalized technologies stimulates knowledge brokering activities. Adopting digitalization in IA reporting changes the producers circumstances for sense-giving and the users circum- stances for sense-making. For future work within dig- italization in IA reporting it is from producers point of view reflected which benefits and challenges, that should be taken into consideration. Lastly, some gen- eral recommendations on how to adopt digitalization in IA reporting are giving for IA producers to use. The contribution of this master thesis is therefore twofold: it contributes with knowledge of digitaliza- tion in IA reporting assisted with practical examples, and it contributes to the discussion of IAs potential as an instrument for knowledge brokering.
Keywords
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