Information Ecosystems of Policy Actors – Reviewing the Landscape
Authors: Batchelor Simon J. 
Published: January 2013

Executive Summary

This is a draft report to share some interim findings from the study –‘Information Ecosystems of Policy Actors – reviewing the landscape.’ This report is for general circulation on the understanding that it is a work in progress. The research was part of the Mobilising Knowledge for Development programme based funded by DFID (UK). The programme is based at IDS and works with a range of partners and collaborators to strengthen the knowledge intermediary sector.

The interim findings report on face‐to‐face structured interviews with 368 policy actors in 4 countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Nepal and India. The study presents data to inform key research questions. With each chapter the report makes recommendations for the knowledge intermediary sector.

What Information and Communication Technology (ICT) do policy actors have access to?

Although many countries have challenges over their use of modern ICT, policy actors as a part of the elite of the country have an equivalent access to the average American household.

For the overall sample, 90 per cent have a computer desktop either at home or the office, 88 per cent have a laptop for use in either the office or home. The report makes a comparison with USA statistics to illustrate that policy actors in these countries have a technological ownership comparable with the average household in the USA. Tablet use among policymakers in the South among the sample was comparable to average use among USA households, at 12 per cent. Almost all respondents had a cellphone, and 40 per cent had smartphones. Of these 8 per cent had iPhones, 12 per cent Blackberries and 31 per cent were ‘other’ smartphones. In some countries there was a considerable ownership of multiple handsets.

Early adopters of the newer forms of ICT are changing their behaviour and searching for information in new ways. Knowledge intermediaries need to adapt their mechanisms and pathways to ensure they provide content for such emerging patterns of behaviour. About 40 per cent of policy actors are already using smartphones, and the development of mobile apps that assist research communications is appropriate.

Do policy actors use traditional media to inform their work?

Policy actors do use the traditional media to update themselves about their work, but there are considerable issues of trust, and its use a primary source of local information is diminishing.

By ‘traditional media’, we mean newspapers, radio, television and other public forms of broadcasting. Policy actors do engage with the traditional media and while we have seen that they currently have very negative perceptions of the media's performance, nevertheless a significant proportion of them are engaging with the media day by day. There is therefore a role for the knowledge intermediary to assist the ‘translation’ of research and evidence into the media.

Do policy actors rely on being given information, or do they search for it themselves? The data seems to support conventional wisdom – that the presence of computers in an office environment is reducing the need for policy actors to be given face‐to‐face briefings.

There is an assumption in knowledge intermediary work that senior policy actors may not be searching for information directly themselves, and that they are presented with information. The information ecosystem is changing. While this may remain the case in the poorer more formal countries, it is less so in the mid‐range countries. The implication is that where connectivity is improving, policy actors will look for information themselves. They will spend a significant amount of time looking for information, and they will be ‘persistent and curious’.

When policy actors engage with the internet, what do they do?

Over 70 per cent of Respondents undertook three conventional internet‐related activities; engage with emails, obtain official information and read online news. Less than 50 per cent had undertaken internet‐based phone calls (in the last three months).

Where intermediaries intend to use the internet to communicate summaries of research and evidence, it is important to ensure that they can be seen through Google. While ranking across all search engines is important, the data confirms the dominance of Google (at the moment). In terms of existing websites that specialise in development information there was a reasonable awareness across the respondents. There is room for improvement.

How do policy actors value different origins of research?

International research is still trusted more highly than local research. But in India and Ethiopia local research is thought to be as relevant as international research. We can see that useful data like NGO surveys, and desk summaries of government policies, are accessed relatively frequently. This suggests it is the utility of the information that encourages frequent access. How can we make our research intermediation focus on usefulness to policy actors?

The report continues to present the data against a number of smaller questions. What does the survey tell us about the demand for ‘evidence’ (facts and figures)? What does the survey tell us about the demand for ‘information’ (are policy actors persistent)? Does Technology lead to information satisfaction? Do policy actors use libraries? Are the policy actors cost sensitive regarding research information? Do people prefer to print out or read on screen? What is the influence of children on policy actors?

Future use of the new ICT services

Finally the report uses the Theory of Planned Behaviour to investigate the future use of the new ICT services. These include Social and business networking, Twitter, instant messaging, Audio Online, Video Online and smartphone use.

In general positive attitudes towards the new ICT services, reinforced by positive social referents, and with very few limiting control factors, are all linked to a positive intention to use. It is likely that policy actors will be increasingly using the new ICT services in the coming year.