How do polycentric governance systems respond to the emergence of new collective-action problems?We study this question in the context of the evolution of polycentric systems of sea-level rise adaptation in the San Francisco Bay Area. We focus on how the structure of polycentric systems changes over time to support cooperation and learning and whether those changes represent a process of centralization or decentralization. The ecology of games framework provides the theoretical background for developing hypotheses about the structure of the system over time. We test the hypotheses by analyzing the polycentric system as a two-mode network where actors are linked to policy, divided into five time periods from 1991 to 2016. The results suggest that the polycentric system for sea-level rise adaptation started with a centralized set of actors, which evolved over time to a more decentralized structure. The research has general implications with respect to how polycentric systems manage the trade-off between maintaining local autonomy and coordinating decisions at the regional level across fragmented policy communities.
Science communication scholars have debated over what factors are related to public support for science and technology. This study examines the relationship between factual knowledge of gene editing technologies, value predispositions, and general science attitudes among four major U.S. agricultural stakeholder groups: farmers, scientists, policymakers, and the general public. Understanding these factors will aid in guiding message strategies for engagement with stakeholder groups. Findings indicate that gene editing knowledge was positively associated with science attitudes for all four groups, while conservative ideology was negatively associated with science attitudes among three of the groups. Implications and limitations are discussed.
The world’s first gene-edited babies event has stirred controversy on social media over the use of gene editing technology. Understanding public discussions about this controversy will provide important insights about opinions of science and facilitate informed policy decisions. This study compares public discussion topics about gene editing on Twitter and Weibo, as wel asthe evolution of these topics over four months. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) was used to generate topics for 11,244 Weibo posts and 57,525 tweets from September 25, 2018, to January 25, 2019. Results showed a difference between the topics on Twitter versus Weibo: there were more nuanced discussions on Twitter, and the discussed topics between platforms focused on different areas. Temporal analysis showed that most discussions took place around gene-edited events. Based on our findings, suggestions were provided for policymakers and science communication practitioners to develop more effective communication strategies toward audiences in China and the U.S.
The promise of CRISPR-Cas9 (CRISPR) genomic editing applied to agriculture is promoted widely by scientists. We utilized textual analysis methods to compare perceptions of this innovation held by various stakeholder groups — scientists, policymakers, farmers, and the general public. Results reveal distinctions in the semantic structure and concepts emphasized across groups. Scientists and policymakers exhibited a high level of technical sophistication while emphasizing the potential societal benefits, while farmers and the general public focused on perceived personal benefits and familiarity with the issue. These results will aid development of message strategies bridging the gap between the scientific community and key publics.
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