Caro Andrea, grazie del tuo messaggio, che mi trova particolarmente interessato perchè - se mi si consenti una memoria personale - già nel lontano 2009 (o era fine 2008?) in un incontro organizzato a Roma dal Ministero degli Esteri e coordinato da Stefano Rodotà proponevo precisisamente l'opportunità di introdurre un "impact on the Internet assessment" obbligatorio ogni qualvolta qualcuno volesse approvare delle norme in qualche modo connesse a Internet. Naturalmente passare dal principio testé espresso ad una vera e propria metodologia non è affatto facile... Io da allora non ho avuto alcuna occasione per approfondire, ne' posso certo dirmi un esperto di impact assessment studies. Mi verrebbe da dire che sarebbe un argomento perfetto per farci sopra un progetto di ricerca (o un call for tender).... Grazie ancora per stimolo (e link). Ciao, juan carlos On 29/04/13 13:13, Andrea Glorioso wrote:
Cari tutti,
recentemente ho mandato la riflessione / domanda riprodotta qui sotto sulla lista dell'"Internet Governance Caucus". Penso possa essere interessante anche per la lista NEXA. Sarei molto lieto di ricevere i vostri commenti / osservazioni, anche in forma privata se necessario.
Ciao,
Andrea
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: *Andrea Glorioso* <andrea@digitalpolicy.it <mailto:andrea@digitalpolicy.it>> Date: Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 12:10 PM Subject: Evidence-based policy-making and impact assessments for Internet-related policies To: "governance@lists.igcaucus.org <mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org>" <governance@lists.igcaucus.org <mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org>>
Dear all,
during the discussions concerning a possible statement by the IGC on the "nature of the Internet" someone - I think it was Milton - underlined the need to have a clear "problem definition" and to assess the impact of different policy options. I also noted that others - I think it was Mawaki - pointed out that this is rather high bar for an "advocacy" statement.
I take absolutely no position on the need for analysis / assessment before the IGC makes a statement on this, or other topics. The decision to issue a statement as the IGC is of course fully the responsibility of IGC members, which I'm not.
However, this particular exchange led me to a broader consideration. As you might know, the European Commission (similarly to other governments / public authorities) has a formal obligation to conduct an "impact assessment" before proposing new initiatives. In reality, there are some subtleties - not all "initiatives" require it - but the key concept remains.
You can find further information on the European Commission's approach to impact assessments at http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/index_en.htm. If you are interesed and have plenty of time at your disposal, you might also be interested in two recent papers analysing how well (or not :) the EC has performed in this particular area (G. Lucchetta, "Impact Assessment and the Policy Cycle in the EU", 2013, http://www.ceps.eu/book/impact-assessment-and-policy-cycle-eu; O. Fritsch, C. Radaelli, L. Schrefler, A. Renda, "Regulatory Quality in the European Commission and the UK: Old questions and new findings", 2012, http://www.ceps.eu/book/regulatory-quality-european-commission-and-uk-old-qu...).
When conducting impact assessments, there are certain agreed procedures which are rather generic or "horizontal", i.e. applying to different policy areas; but there are also add-on procedures and methodologies that are used when tackling more specific policy areas / impacts. To continue with the example of the European Commission Impact Assessment procedures, which are the ones I know best, specific guidelines / methodologies to assess the impact on SMEs, administrative simplification and fundamental rights have been introduced throughout the years.
I wonder whether there is a need to introduce specific guidelines / methodologies to assess the impact of Internet-related policies (which I define on the fly as "policies (including regulation, soft law, research activities) which either impact on, or are impacted by, the Internet). Questions that come to my mind:
- is the Internet an important enough phenomenon / infrastructure to justify having specific methodologies to assess the impact of policies on it, and its impact on policies? - are existing methodologies (e.g. concerning the impact on ICT or telecommunication networks generically) enough to cover this need? - which kind of basic questions should one ask when assessing the impact of Internet-related policies? - which kind of methodological tools (and from which disciplines) should one consider when performing such impact assessment?
Food for thought. I'd appreciate all your comments / reactions, either on the list or also privately.
Ciao,
Andrea
-- I speak only for myself. Sometimes I do not even agree with myself. Keep it in mind. Twitter: @andreaglorioso Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.glorioso LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=1749288&trk=tab_pro
--
-- I speak only for myself. Sometimes I do not even agree with myself. Keep it in mind. Twitter: @andreaglorioso Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.glorioso LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=1749288&trk=tab_pro
_______________________________________________ nexa mailing list nexa@server-nexa.polito.it https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa