IMPACT

Integrated Method for Policy Making Using Argument Modelling and Computer Assisted Text Analysis

IMPACT is a European Framework 7 project (Grant Agreement No 247228) in the ICT for Governance and Policy Modeling  theme (ICT-2009.7.3). The project began January 1, 2010 and will run for three years.

IMPACT is conducting original research to develop and integrate formal, computational models of policy and arguments about policy, to facilitate deliberations about policy at a conceptual, language-independent level. These models will be used to develop and evaluate a prototype of an innovative argumentation toolbox for supporting open, inclusive and transparent deliberations about public policy. 

To support the analysis of policy proposals in an inclusive way, respecting the interests of all stakeholders, research on tools for reconstructing arguments from data resources distributed throughout the Internet is being conducted. 

Prior research on using argumentation schemes to generate focused surveys, minimizing noise and the need for manual moderation, is being extended in this project to support argumentation schemes needed for policy deliberations and generate surveys in multiple languages. 

Research on tools enabling stakeholders to simulate the legal effects of policy proposals in real and hypothetical cases is being conducted, using the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and the Legal Knowledge Interchange Format (LKIF) to model policies. 

Finally, research is being conducted on how to visualize arguments about policy, building on previous research by the participants, but extended to visualize relationships between arguments and policies, in multiple languages. 

The prototype argumentation toolbox will manage its content using existing standard APIs for content management systems, enabling the toolbox to be used with a variety of existing e-participation platforms. The user interfaces of the tools in the argumentation toolbox will be Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) and widgets, implemented using only web standards, to increase usability, help overcome the digital divide and enable their use with any standards-compliant web browser, without requiring plug-ins.