Difference between revisions of "Open assessment workshop 2009"

Revision as of 08:37, 13 January 2009

Open assessment workshop 2009 is the third workshop about new methods in assessments (previously more narrowly on risk assessment), organised by the National Public Health Institute (KTL), Kuopio, Finland. Its main purpose is to provide the workshop participants a broad perspective to assessments, promote the idea and practice of open assessment, as well as further develop methods to perform open assessments. The workshop has started following the needs of several EU-funded research projects, notably Intarese, Beneris, and Heimtsa. The workshop is mainly targeted to postgraduate students working in the fields of environmental health or risk assessment, but it is also open to anyone interested. If you want to join the workshop, please create a user account (by following the log in/create account link in the right-top corner of the page) with your contact information and add your username to the list on the bottom of this page. There is no deadline for registration nor a registration fee for the workshop, but early registration is highly recommended in order to help both the organizers and the participants to arrange the facilities, accommodation, programs etc.

General information

<googlemap lat="62.903976" lon="27.638855" type="map" zoom="11" width="375"> m62.893334, 27.679328, Kuopio, Finland 62.890603, 27.627397, KTL Neulaniementie 4, 70701 Kuopio, Finland 62.866252, 27.648468, Jätkänkämppä smoke sauna </googlemap>

5-day weather forecast for Kuopio by the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

5-day weather forecast for Kuopio (in Finnish) by Foreca.

Description

The workshop will provide information on designing, executing and using assessments by considering these issues according to the open assessment (OA) methodology. The main topics are:

• Assessment process
• Assessment product structure
• Assessment product use
• Appraisal of impacts
• Performance of assessments

The core of the workshop are practical group work exercises related to a real-life assessment case: open assessment on health impacts of climate change mitigation. The exercises are complemented with lectures and guidance aiming to provide understanding of the necessary concepts and methods as well as sufficient command of the technical tools for carrying out the exercise tasks.

Remote participation

If there should be any people who would like to participate in the workshop, but cannot come to Kuopio to attend the workshop in person, we try to organise a web-conference for the lecture sessions using Skype. The group work will be worked on using the Opasnet website, so also outsiders can relatively easily take part in that as well. This way you may also participate from wherever you are, as most major things - except the social program - will be made available via the Internet. Add your name on the list of remote via internet participants at the end of this page if you want to follow the workshop, but are unable to attend in person.

Daily program

• Morning session: 9:00 - 11:45
• Lunch 11:45 - 12:45 at Microteknia canteen (at participant's own cost).
• Afternoon session: 12:45 - 16:45
• Evening: 17:00 →

Suggestions

Workshop program is still being adjusted and further suggestions are welcome. See other people's suggestions and give your own suggestions on the discussion page. You can also have a look at the workshop program 2008 and the lecture slides from workshop 2008 as well as other preparation material at the end of this page.

Group work exercises

In the daily exercises the groups will explore different methodological questions/topics and apply the acquired knowledge in contributing to the contents of the case study. One group will study one question/topic each day, produce/develop methodological descriptions on the topic in the wiki, apply the method in developing a suitable variable/variables of the case study, and ultimately present the daily outcomes to other groups. The tentative topics/questions are listed below under five different headings. Feel free to add your own suggestions!

Assessment process

• argumentation - roles and relations free discussion, argumentation and corroborated information content
• collaboration - assessments as mediated processes of creating shared knowledge
• scientific method - assessments as testing of networked hypotheses

Structure

• causal diagram - application of causal diagrams in different phases of an assessment
• Bayes network - Bayes networks of variable results, creation and application
• information objects - types and roles (similarities/differences) of different information object types
• information structure - roles and relations of different attributes
• combining models - assessments and variables as meta-models comprising of sub-models

Appraisal

• appraisal matrices - targeting assessment information according to receivers
• DALY - making and use of DALYs
• monetarisation - conversion and communication of impacts as euros

Use process

• information need - identification of need and its translation to research questions
• policy advice - addressing real need in assessment design, execution and communication
• publishing/dissemination - targeting assessment information to secondary (?) receivers (scientists, stakeholders and public)
• communication - conveyance and convergence of assessment information

Performance

• assessment performance - evaluating/communicating performance as quality of content, applicability and efficiency
• quality criteria - evaluating goodness of contributions, contributions and group output
• method development - applying scientific method in developing assessment methodology

Social activities

Activities included in workshop program:

• Tuesday evening: smoke sauna and dinner on Jätkänkämppä
• Wednesday evening: skiing, sledding etc.
• Thursday morning: skating on lake Kallavesi

Other activities available

• Finland Ice marathon 18-22 February, 2009 [1]
• Tahko (ski resort 1 hour drive from Kuopio) [2]
• Puijo tower [3]
• Rauhalahti Spa [4]

Getting around in Kuopio

Arrival/departure by air

The distance from Kuopio airport to the city is about 17 km. There are two options to get from the airport to the hotel - bus and taxi.

Bus:

Airport buses (5 €/trip) operate (by Linja-Karjala Oy) from all domestic flights, except for the flight AY519, arriving 00.25! The bus leaves from the airport approximately 5-15 minutes after the flight has arrived (the bus will wait for the passengers to collect their luggage before leaving). Get off the bus at Market Square in the center of Kuopio. From the Market Square it is possible to walk to the hotel (distance 2,4 km, see map) or alternatively you can take a bus line 5 (2,70 €/trip) that goes by the hotel. Line 5 buses leave from the Market Square close to the Market Hall on the south end of the square (see map. The timetable (unfortunately only in Finnish) for line 5 can be seen here.

Airport buses operate to all domestic flights. Bus to the airport leaves from Market Square (front of Anttila department store, east end of the square, Puijonkatu 19) 55 minutes before flight departure.

Taxi:

After each flight arrival there will be taxis waiting outside the airport. You may choose the airport taxi service (18 €/person), which means that the driver will wait until the car is full (in practice 2-3 persons/taxi) before leaving and then takes each passenger to their destination. Alternatively you may choose the normal taxi service (about 30 €/trip). If there are 2 people or more sharing a normal taxi it will be cheaper to take the it instead of the airport taxi service. If there are no taxis waiting at the airport you can order one by calling +358 17 106 400.

When going to the airport, make your airport taxi bookings (18 €/person) at least 2 hours before your scheduled departure by calling +358 17 106 400. The taxi will come to pick you up from agreed location approximately 1 hour before the scheduled departure time. Again, if there are 2 or more people sharing the taxi, it is also possible to order a normal taxi from the same taxi center number +358 17 106 400.

Arrival/departure by train

Kuopio railway station is located close to the center. It is possible to walk to the hotel (distance 2,1 km, see map) or alternatively walk to Market Square and take bus line 5 going by the hotel. Line 5 buses leave from the Market Square close to the Market Hall on the south end of the square (see map. The timetable (unfortunately only in Finnish) for line 5 can be seen here. Getting from hotel to the railway station happens similarly, but vice versa.

Lectures and group work will take place at KTL, Neulanen building (see map). Meeting at the reception at 08.45, where you will receive your visitor cards.

Attendees

Please list your name and organisation here: (Requires login)

No accommodation needed:

• Jouni Tuomisto, KTL, Risk research group
• Juha Villman
• Päivi Meriläinen, KTL
• Mikko Pohjola, THL
• Juuso Uski, Toxicology student, University of Kuopio
  

Accommodation needed:

• Eva Kunseler (probably), PBL, Quality of the Local Environment
• Anne Knol, RIVM
• Audrey de Nazelle, CREAL
• Tek-Ang Lim, InVS

Participation via the Internet:

• Add your name

Workshop preparation material

• Guidebook provides guidance on the theory and methods related to the workshop. The guidebook is under development and will be updated frequently during the following weeks. Accessing Guidebook requires being logged in!
• Glossary is a collection of important concepts and terms and their explanations
• Download a free 15-day trial version of Analytica or an Analytica player for viewing the model from Lumina Decision Systems website. The free trials also include the user's guide and a tutorial (see Help menu). It is highly recommended to familiarize oneself with the basic functionalities of the software before the beginning of the workshop! An educational license to Analytica will be provided to the workshop participants for the duration of the workshop. The license key and information about how to activate it will be sent to the participants by e-mail.
• See Help:Contents for guidance on using Opasnet (this site, running on Mediawiki software platform).
• We also recommend that you familiarise yourself with the following topics
  • Open assessment
  • Open Assessors' Network
  • Variable
  • Assessment
  • Method
  • Opasnet base

See the contents of the workshop lectures 2008:

• Lecture 1: Introduction to Open Risk Assessment (ORA) and the workshop (also in Finnish!)
• Lecture 2: General assessment framework
• Lecture 3: Information structure of ORA: assessment products and their relations
• Lecture 4: Information structure of ORA: defining variables
• Lecture 5: participating in assessments: argumentation
• Lecture 6: participating in assessments: moderation and quality control
• Lecture 7: evaluating assessment performance
• Lecture 8: assessing uncertainties

Also see discussion page for more detailed lecture contents.

See also

• To see a flavour what it is like, see Kuopio Risk Assessment Workshop 2008.

Keep an eye on this page, this is the official website of the workshop. It will be updated as new information comes available.