Catching up or falling
behind?
University-based policy development
and issues management in the
bioeconomy
Kari Doerksen and Cami Ryan
University of Saskatchewan
ICABR 2012
Outline
Introduction
Background: strategies & implications
Methodology
Analysis & Results
Concluding Thoughts
Information and the ‘just in time’ user
 Widespread adoption of internet
connected mobile devices
 Internet use growing 400% per
year since 2000
 Internet is main source of info
for learning about issues in
climate change/biotech
 ‘just in time’ users account for
62% of the entire adult
population (Rainie & Fox 2012)
“New reality of activism…”
Organizations use the Internet to:
Share information, build relationships and
brand equity, develop campaigns
i.e. Anti-GM groups
Adopting social media to influence public
opinion
Info can circulate like wildfire, unchecked and
lacking accountability mechanisms
“…claims often gain quick acceptance…
can impact government policy…”
(Paarlberg and Pray 2008).
Academia in an ‘just in time’ info context
Public sector in Canada
employs:
65% of total PhDs
57% of science/engineering
PhDs
Higher education personnel / researchers
are well positioned to engage in
dialogues in a more strategic manner but may not have
the range of media tactics open to them that are sometimes
exercised by private organizations and special interest groups.
“…slow to move beyond traditional forms
of communication…”
 Less than 50% of scientists
used social media (VALGEN
2010 survey)
 < 50% use Twitter (n =
1958, Family Focus 2009)
 Non-adopters
 “passing fad”, “distraction”,
“creates poor writing skills”,
“time constraints”, “privacy
and security”
 “…beneath my dignity…”
Ingrained culture of academe
“Publication is the hard currency of science – it is
the primary yardstick for establishing priority, the
chief source of recognition from one’s peers, and
the standard on which the advancement of science
is based.” (Iverson et al 2003).
New Age of
Information
Traditional
Approaches in
Academia
Methodology
Discourse: institutionalized way of
thinking or a social boundary defining
what can be said about a specific topic
“...every piece of discourse has a textual form
or can acquire it; the same text may include
different discourses or the same discourse may
adopt different textual forms” (Ruiz Ruiz 2009)
Textual analysis:
NVivo: conduct queries based upon key terms
Incentives: Traditional, Outreach, Non-traditional
Social media language: proactive and reactive
Textual analysis & results
 n= 15 / total of 22 source documents
 Collective agreements & tenure/promotion policies
 Textual analysis based upon the following query
terms:
 Traditional :publications, patents, presentations,
funding/grants, training graduate students
 Outreach: professional memberships, social media,
training/mentoring
 Non-traditional :collaboration, relationship-building,
interdisciplinary activities, international collaboration
average coverage
across source
documents
Traditional
Outreach
Non-Traditional
total # of source
documents
(out of 22)
21
21
18
average coverage
across source
documents
0.44%
0.19%
0.06%
Textual analysis: social media policies
 Only 6 CDN Unis had social media policies in place
 Textual analysis based upon the following factors:
 Proactive terms: transparency, relationship-building,
respectful, accuracy, authentic and ethical
 Reactive terms: don’t, do not, be aware, breach cautious.
Canadian Universities
N = 15
# source
documents
Other Institutions
N = 15
Proactive Terms
6
average
coverage across
source
documents
1.09%
# source
documents
(n=15)
15
average
coverage across
source
documents
24.31%
Reactive Terms
6
0.31%
14
0.36%
Policy Structure
6
1.87%
15
1.47%
Observations
“transparency”
Only used in context of ‘identity clarification’
Social media policy appears to mostly
focus on ‘on campus’ use
Tone changes in ‘off-campus’ applications
‘language’ matters
Social media is inherently social
Observations
Tools, guidelines and support needed!
i.e. Laurentian University’s ‘Decision Tree’
Solutions? Issues Management
The ‘Land-grant’ initiative 2011
‘predict trouble spots’ and ‘deal with them if
they develop’ (Boone 2011)
Strategic: from static & reactive to dynamic
and proactive…
Static
•One way
•Hierarchical
•Slow
•Reactive
•???
Dynamic
•Connected
•Fast
•Proactive
•????
Are you a social media cynic?
Media
Paranoia Social
Currency
15
Concluding Thoughts
 Widening gap between (mis)information
circulated and shared in the public online
sphere and the lack of academic voice in that
online debate.
 Issues management policy implications are
two-fold
 Tenure and promotion - evidence from a variety of
sources suggests that non-traditional
communication should be rewarded.
 Social media – new proactive approach to assist
researchers in uncovering the value of new
communication tools.
Thank you! Questions/Comments?
 Kari Doerksen
 @karidoerksen
 Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy,
University of Saskatchewan
 Cami Ryan
 @DocCamiRyan
 Agriculture & Bioresources, University of
Saskatchewan