Suchergebnisse

Motivation for this research was the need to perceive the relations among actors involved in the rural-forest policy networks. The problem of an objective analysis of formal and informal power and information flow structure measurement and visualization in policy-making is tried to be solved. The policy network of "Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park" is used as a case study as it includes a great variety of actors. An answer to the much-discussed problem of digital perception of politico-administrative power are in part the results about: (1) how complexity of policy making can be measured and what this practically means, (2) who controls the communication, (3) where the most important information resources are located, and (4) who is most trustworthy in this network. It is concluded that: "Important" information is not a source of trust, but rather inversely, through trust one can impose information as being important. Between actors of relatively high trust status, the most trusted one does not need to control information in order to strengthen its position. A less trusted actor may supplement the lack of power status with information control. The leading role that forestry sector may play even in cross-sectoral issues is pointed out in this case study.

Is an effective knowledge exchange and cooperation between academic community and practitioners possible? Implementation of e-learning in specialized policy fields pertains to the most challenging priorities of ICTs and software engineering. In multidisciplinary academic areas which combine environmental policy studies with positivist subjects (like environmental issues, forest policy, rural development, Landscape Architecture etc), the using of e-learning system in analyzing policy issues steadily gains in importance and is a method which connects the academic community and the researchers with the practitioners and field experts. Such initiatives incorporate a number of politometrics- relevant algorithms embedded in a context of political geography (i.e. visualized hierarchies in different regionrelated policy issues). This is the case addressed in this paper. The GIS learning management system introduced in this paper is based on certain criteria concerning organizational models and region-specific politico-administrative hierarchies. Scenarios of politico-administrative metadata achieving optimal power synergy are extracted through a sequencing technique, combining vector-algebra software and statistics and can be used for both teaching and research purposes.