Opasnet WSA contest preparation
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This page contains preparational stuff for WSA contest
Contents
Timeline
- Registration starts 1.2.2011
- Registration ends 25.3.2011
- Jury evaluation starts 7.4.2011 and ends 14.4.2011
- Opasnet must be in top shape before 7.4.2011
Evaluation criteria
- Quality and comprehensiveness of content
- Ease of use: functionality, navigation and orientation
- Value added through interactivity and multimedia
- Quality of design (aesthetic value of graphics / music or sounds)
- Quality of craftsmanship (technical realisation)
- Strategic importance for the global development of the Information Society
- Accessibility according to the W3C (http://www.w3.org)
Product data
Short description
(in English, max. 1000 characters) Lyhyt teksti, tarkoituksena vakuuttaa tuomari siitä että tähän työhän kannattaa paneutua tarkemmin. Hissipuhe!
Opasnet is a collective knowledge production environment for improving societal decision-making. It is designed for self-organised groups to bring in, synthesize, and critically discuss scientific information and value judgements related to decisions through open assessments. These can take many shapes ranging from testing the validity of claims presented in mass media to constructing policy recommendations and expert advice for the decision makers. According to the Opasnet philosophy, everyone can contribute and utilize the results for free. Citizens can offer their values, expectations and data for the basis of the assessments. For experts, government officials, professional scientists etc., Opasnet offers a range of tools that help in (1) generating, presenting and storing the results for others to re-use and validate, (2) integrating the results systematically with the existing body of knowledge from other assessments, and (3) assessing the quality of the contributions.
Long description
(in English, max. 4000 characters) Tämä on yksityiskohtaisempi selostus työstä, jos on hyviä käyttäjätilastoja tai palautetta, ne kannattaa myös esitellä tässä.
The knowledge generation in Opasnet goes beyond the encyclopedic question-setting “What is X?”. Opasnet is designed for analysis and interpretation of information of general kind, and it enables publication and collaborative production of original research, which has practical relevance for society both in the long term and in the short term.
A typical assessment task in Opasnet would be to collectively answer a question such as “How should Country X/Town Y satisfy its energy needs in the next 10 years?” from the economic, public health and ecological perspectives. Some parts of the analysis can utilize scientific facts and data more directly (e.g. life-cycle analysis of CO2 emissions of different options) whereas some others rely on the values and expectations of the citizenry (do I opt for the more expensive choice Z if it halves the probability of acquiring a health problem W?). These types of questions typically appear as parts of assessments, which take the form of a risk-benefit analysis. For historical reasons, Opasnet contains several risk-benefit type of studies of questions related to environmental health. However, all types of research issues and methodologies can be utilized in Opasnet.
To help the users utilize the growing body of knowledge produced in the assessments, Opasnet relies on systematic theory of information representation which helps the users to organize the results in terms of well-defined variables and data structures that can be re-used and combined by other users. Therefore, in addition to offering MediaWiki tools for textual knowledge generation, Opasnet also provides tools for model-based analysis. This is important because from policy planning to engineering problems model-based decision making is becoming more prevalent in all areas of governance. Opasnet provides an environment where the underlying assumptions of the models can be debated, where the models and the data can be published and shared, and where the methods and assumptions can be openly challenged and collectively improved.
The numerical data related to the quantifiable variables used in the studies can be stored in a data base integrated with the wiki. The data base, Opasnet Base, is a storage and retrieval system operated simply through the browser. It is designed to be flexible enough to store information in almost any format: probability distributions or deterministic point estimates; spatially or temporally distributed data; or data with multiple dimensions. It can be used as a direct source of model input data, thus making it possible to use shared input information sources (JUHA: MITÄ TARKOITTAA SHARED?) such as population data, climate scenarios, or dose-responses of pollutants. Data can be uploaded into Opasnet Base directly from tables in the wiki pages or by using any external statistical software which supports database connections.
Any numerical method and program, OpenSource or proprietary, can, of course be used to compute the mathematical models used in quantification of the variables, and the results can be stored in OpasnetBase. In order to help users with no access to proprietary computing software, as well as for the ease of use, Opasnet supports R-language code to be embedded directly on the wiki page and also run from an external server. All parts of the integrated Opasnet environment including the R-solver are Open source.
In year 2010 Opasnet had almost 2000 unique visitors and average time spend on site was over 9 minutes. In the same year Finnish language version of Opasnet had over 6500 unique visitors and nearly doubled its average time spend on site and the number of pages. The English language version, which contains considerably more articles/assessments is driven mainly by international science collaborations, and will be the focal point of PR work in 2011.
Favourite path to the product
(in English, max. 2000 characters) Tähän kannattaa panna selostus siitä, mitä valikkoja/painikkeita klikkaamalla kilpailutyöstä saa mahdollisimman nopeasti parhaan yleiskuvan.
JOUNI, MINKÄ ESIMERKKIEN KAUTTA KÄYTTÖÄ PITÄISI LÄHESTYÄ? SULLA ON TÄHÄN PARAS TUNTEMUS. EHDITKÖ KIRJAILLA TÄMÄN KOHDAN VAI YRITÄMMEKÖ ITSE?
- composite traffic model
- DARM
- Climate change?
Installation procedure
No installation procedure is needed. Opasnet is a web service which be accessed from anywhere and it can be used with any modern web browser.
(in English, max. 2000 characters)
Special technical requirements
No special technical requirements are needed. Opasnet can be used with any modern web browser. However we recommend to use Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari.
(in English, max. 2000 characters)
Short description of the reason for production
(in English, max. 2000 characters)
Target group for the product
(in English, max. 2000 characters)
Target group for Opasnet is very wide ranging from normal citizens to scientific specialists. Different users may have different user roles but roles can be very overlapping. Citizens may for example contribute by offering their values, expectations and data for the basis of the assessments. Scientists can provide up-to-date scientific information, combine them with information provided by citizens and produce models based on collaborative knowledge. Politicians can use these models and data they provide to make better decisions.
