The article reviews the debates and policies on access to publicsector information (PSI) in Europe in relation to the contests between policies of open access, rights of access to PSI by citizens and business, and the assessment of the cost benefits of PSI to the economy and society. The political dimension of these debates within the European Union is highlighted to demonstrate the complexities of the governance of information within a pan-European regulatory framework.This article focuses on the debates surrounding access to public-sector information (PSI) in the European Union (EU; currently 25 Member States), in particular as they relate to EU policies articulated by the European Commission (EC). We review the contest that exists between the "rights" of citizens to consume PSI, the "obligations" of PSI producers to "liberate" information, and the turbulences of globalized information spaces that complicate the task of matching these rights and obligations through the manifold distributional channels that exist today.There is a range of explanatory perspectives that could be adopted for this analysis. We could consider organizational theory, whereby the PSI owners (usually government agencies) remain obdurately structuralist organiza-
Geographical Information Systems are seen by many as a quick`fix' for the problems of lower-income countries and people in those countries have been encouraged to adopt this perception, along with the technology. As teachers of students from LICs, we seek to avoid reproducing a contextless transfer of technical skills and rather aim to promote an education based on the limitations of the technology and on the nature and construction of information. While identifying GIS as one of many components of`geographical information', we emphasise the importance of including`non-GIS' staff in the education process. We advocate a`problem-posing' approach to the teaching of`Geographical Information for Development' and discuss some of the challenges which this raises, both for teachers and students.
This article develops the findings of an evaluation of European Commission consumer education, information and capacity building actions conducted in 2011, with an examination of action taken by 2016 to address the recommendations. Based on empirical research of documents, in-depth interviews, focus groups and semi-structured surveys of Directorate General for Health and Consumers and Directorate General for Education and Culture policy networks, it discusses the journey taken to improve consumer education and empowerment throughout Europe. Implementation of the recommendations aims to transform consumer education and empowerment in Europe, with integrated and updated resources for the maximum number of teachers across the European Union, where teachers can focus the resources on consumer education activities relevant for their learners. A key focus of the new developments is to deliver higher European Union (pan-European) added-value, better coordination and synergies with national activities.
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