• Laura Willumsen
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.
SpecialisationEnvironmental Management and Sustainability Science
LanguageEnglish
Publication date30 Jun 2019
Number of pages91
ID: 305259329