Cyber society and digital policies: Challenges to evaluation?

Abstract

In this article, the authors explore the relationship between (impact) evaluations and cyber society, in particular digital policies. There appears to be a gap between the pace at which internet and digital policies are penetrating society and the attention professional evaluators are paying to these policies. First, we present an analytical framework for studying these policies, while examples of policies are described and categorized. Next, efforts evaluators have made in this area are described based on three different sources. We begin by looking at three public sector institutions and their evaluation activities; then study what peer reviewed evaluation journals have published about digital policies. Finally, we approach a specific field of interventions: digital piracy. A systematic review of 14 studies evaluating the impact of (hypothetical) interventions and mechanisms is presented. Although several studies use designs that are questionable, there is evidence that some mechanisms are able to influence behavioural intentions regarding illegal downloading.

Exploring a Warrior Paradigm to Design Out Cybercrime

“…Here, we elaborate upon Ekblom's framework on the conjunction of criminal opportunity [48]. Currently there is not enough attention paid to evaluation of the impacts of cybercrime intervention mechanisms [49]. We will start our work with investigating how the "statedpreference" method can be applied (a) to model the behavior of a cybercrime such as digital piracy (i.e., downloading and uploading of digital objects) and (b) to measure the impacts of the existing or new intervention mechanisms against digital piracy.…”

Comparing Behavioral Assumptions of Policy Tools: Framework for Policy Designers

“…The recent social distancing and remote work requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic has speeded up the emergence of digital reality and cyber society. That gives a new and challenging context for utilizing policy tools in designing compliance mechanisms for policy addressees (Leeuw and Leeuw 2012). For example, the "inform tool" has traditionally been a one-way communication, but in a digital society every information campaign turns into "multi-communication" -it can be commented on, confronted, and often even fought by different ad hoc groups.…”

Evaluatieonderzoek, Big Data en Artificiële Intelligentie: een verkenning

“…Tabel 1 Resultaten van literatuuronderzoek (Leeuw & Leeuw 2012) Enkele jaren later werden indicatoren gebruikt, die evenmin wezen op grote belangstelling van evaluatoren voor de digitale samenleving en in het bijzonder Big Data. Zo vonden Forss en Norén (2017) in een inhoudsanalyse van een steekproef van zo'n 25 Terms of Reference (TOR)-documenten ten behoeve van evaluaties op het gebied van ontwikkelingssamenwerking, dat Big Data nog steeds zo goed als niet genoemd werden.…”