Designing Digital Institutions: Science in Government 2.0

Abstract

The current paradigm for decision-making is government is beset by instances of ideological bias and manipulation. The Bush-Cheney Administration, which imposed ideological litmus testing on scientific advisors, eliminated advisory panels, and selectively edited reports on environmental hazards and endangered species, represented the nadir of a slow descent into the abyss of abuse against scientific truth in policymaking that began with Nixon. Some of the consternation about \'science bending\' can be discounted to inevitable and perhaps even desirable political disagreement. But there are also genuine problems with the practices by which government gathers, analyzes and distributes scientific expertise that open the door to this kind of political abuse and manipulation. Even in the absence of bad intentions, there is simply a lack of access to good information and useful ways of taking advantage of good science. In this talk, I develop the argument that technology is changing the nature of expertise in public decision-making and might afford new opportunities for the scientific community to inform policy-making. I put forward proposals for how to design a more collaborative culture that involves the scientific community more directly in decision-making.