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                                                            Call for Chapters

 

                                                                   BOOK:

                                           Information, Models, and Sustainability:

                    Policy Informatics in the Age of Big Data and Open Government

 

                     Public Administration and Information Technology (PAIT) Book Series

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Editors: Jing Zhang, Luis Luna-Reyes, Theresa A. Pardo, Djoko Sigit Sayogo

 

Time line:

Full chapter submission: March 31st, 2014

Notification for revise/resubmit/rejection: June 15th, 2014

Revised chapter submission: July 15th, 2014

Final publication decision: August 15th, 2014

Anticipated Book publication: 2015

 

Submission Instructions

Prospective authors are invited to submit their proposed chapter to the editors using the following email {jizhang@clarku.edu; dsayogo@ctg.albany.edu; luisf.luna@udlap.mx; tpardo@ctg.albany.edu} by March 31st, 2014. Prospective authors are encouraged to submit a two paragraph proposal or abstract explaining the issues discussed in the proposed chapter. All submission will undergo double-blind review by qualified reviewers and the Editors.

 

Introduction

Sustainability has become an important focus for government, civil society and the corporate community world-wide. Growing interest in addressing environmental deterioration and associated social inequality and economic challenges is shifting focus to this important issue. The lack of fresh water and arable land, extreme weather, rising cost of relying on fossil fuels, and poverty and regional instability, are drawing attention to the need for government intervention and policy instruments that encourage the development of sustainable alternatives. Sustainability refers to the “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987).

 

Governments can play a very important role in facilitating sustainable development through better public policies. First of all, public investments can be directed toward establishing incentives for renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture, and land and water conservation, or toward leveling the field for sustainable alternatives by phasing out the subsidies directed to unsustainable production and development. Second, regulatory and pricing mechanisms could help with the development of markets for sustainable products. Traditional production models dominate because externalities detrimental to social and environmental sustainability are largely unaccounted for by existing pricing mechanisms. Government policy in regulating prices, certification, or information can send correction signals to the market, and play key roles in establishing a favorable condition for sustainable products. In addition, policies can be made to encourage private investment and public-private collaboration in innovation and technological advancement. Finally, policy incentives for innovations and education development enable nations and regions to lead and capitalize on new technological and economic opportunities.

 

Delivering on the many promises of government interventions grounded in or enabled by such policies hinge, to a great extent, on the quality of those policies. Such policy decisions related to investments in sustainable development are situated in complex environments and involve large numbers of heterogeneous stakeholders. Understanding enabling conditions and trade-offs between long term benefits and short-term impacts, or between environmental sustainability and economic progress is challenging, in large part due to historical gaps between how and when information and information technology became a part of the policy informing, development and evaluation process.

 

As Dawes and Janssen (2013) however, point out, these gaps are closing; the availability of large quantity of new data, growth in computing power, and advanced analysis and presentation tools have given rise to an emerging field known as policy informatics, which involves groups of policy makers and other stakeholders in using models, data and other technical tools to analyze problems and policy alternatives. Policy informatics is especially suitable to the domain of sustainability, such as understanding the interactions of job growth and investing in environmental sustainability under certain regulatory framework, projecting the effectiveness of sustainable agricultural regime, monitoring the climate change, among other complex issues.

 

Concomitant with these new opportunities are new challenges, such as engaging stakeholders, interpretation of results, understanding the limitation and models and analytical tools (Dawes and Janssen, 2013). A book reflecting the emerging trends, development, and challenges of policy on sustainability using information technology will provide a unique opportunity to engage in discussion and debate on a timely issue, and generate valuable insights to both research and practice communities.

 

This book attempts to address the following topics in the interaction of sustainability and policy informatics:

 

• Analytical and modelling approaches

• Computing technologies and tools

• Simulation for climate and environment changes

• Policy on sustainable energy

• Policy on implementation of smart grid

• Policy on sustainable consumption and sustainable supply chain

• Policy on economic and social development of cities and regions

• Smart disclosure

• Big data

• Social media

• Stakeholder engagement

• Governance

• Limitation and challenges of contemporary tools and approaches

• Policy encouraging public and private collaboration

• Public education and debate on policy issues and alternatives

 

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by Springer International Publishing AG (Springer) in the Public Administration and Information Technology Series.  This publication is anticipated to be released in 2015.

 

Inquiries

Prospective authors are encouraged to submit an abstract or discuss ideas with any of the editors:

 

Jing Zhang

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Management, Clark University Worcester, MA 01610

Office: (508)7937102

Fax: (508)7938822

Email: jizhang@clarku.edu         

 

Luis Felipe Luna-Reyes

Professor, School of Business, Universidad de las Américas Puebla Santa Catarina Mártir San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, México 72810

Email: luisf.luna@udlap.mx

 

Theresa A. Pardo

Director, Center for Technology in Government Research Associate Professor, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy Research associate Professor, College of Computing and Information, University at Albany-State University of New York

Email: tpardo@ctg.albany.edu

 

Djoko Sigit Sayogo

Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany-State University of New York

Email: dsayogo@ctg.albany.edu

 

 

 

 

	Luis F. Luna Reyes Profesor Departamento de Administración de Empresas luisf.luna@udlap.mx Tel: +52(222) 229 2000 ext. 4536 Oficina: CS 213 F		UNIVERSIDAD DE LAS AMÉRICAS PUEBLA
			/universidaddelasamericaspuebla @luisfluna
udlap.mx

 

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