As part of our activities to strengthen the link between argumentation researchers and practitioners of policy analysis and policy-making, IMPACT has initiated the Policy Argumentation Network. This network is established as an online community of practice focusing on the topic of computer-supported policy argumentation. Members of the network are informed about current developments in computer-supported argumentation, share experiences with and discuss expectations of computer-supported argumentation. They also have the opportunity to provide feedback on the design of the IMPACT tools to support the use of arguments in policy-making. The network currently has about 50 members with diverse backgrounds in policy analysis, ranging from public administration and international organisations to business organisations, scientific institutions and e-participation facilitators. If you would like further information or if you are interested in joining the network, please contact us.

In connection with the IFIP conference on eGovernment in Delft, Netherlands, last week, a workshop with the title "Open Government", organized by Maria Wimmer and Vishanth Weerakkody, was held on Friday, September 2, to provide the European projects of  the "ICT for Governance and Policy Modeling" objective of the Seventh Framework Programme, including IMPACT, to present their work and exchange results with other projects working on the same objective.  A special issue of an eGovernment journal is being planned, to publish the results of the workshop.

D6.1 Argument Analysis, Tracking and Visualisation Tool Requirements Analysis, Tool Specification and Construction Plan Report is now available.  The report describes the requirements analysis and specification, as well as the construction plan, for the Argument Analysis, Tracking and Visualisation tool (AVT), which is one of the components of the IMPACT argumentation toolbox. The AVT is intended to support the work of relevant actors by provid- ing them with the ability to navigate through arguments and persistent link- ages to relevant consultation and policy documents. The tool will be based on the state-of-the-art in the field of computational models of argument and ar- gument visualisation methods. WP6 will conduct research on how to improve the readability of very large, Web-based argument maps. We will also inves- tigate the mediating role that such large, Web-based argument maps can play in e-participation scenarios. In particular, we intend to investigate the method and practice of how various stakeholders use the AVT tool in the policy- making process.

Deliverable D3.1, Computational Linguistics State-of-the-Art, Argument Reconstruction Requirements Analysis and Specification, is now available. This document describes the Argument Reconstruction tool. It formulates the requirements, reviews the applicability of currently available computational linguistics techniques, discusses the functionality of comparable existing tools and provides a specification of the first version of the tool with a walk-through of an example.

New sections of the IMPACT web site have been added, listing publications and presentations about the project in 2011.  See the menu on the left of the web page.

The D2.2 report ("Argumentation Toolbox User Interface Design") is now available.  The report defines the user interface design of the IMPACT toolbox, taking into account the results of the requirements analysis, the discussions with partners about the specifications of the individual tools as well as the technical basis described in the Argumentation Toolbox System Architecture Report (D2.1 ).

The user interface design described in this deliverable will serve as the guidelines along which all tools as well as the toolbox are developed to ensure a common look and feel as well as a high visual and interaction quality of the IMPACT toolbox.

An overall design has be created that allows to create an impression of what the IMPACT toolbox will look like, including different views of the start page with containers in which teasers for the individual tools can be placed as well as views for users that are registered with the platform or just visiting. The individual tools have as much space within the toolbox as possible to ensure that users can focus on their tasks.

A control library is described (chapter 7) and the user interface elements created in this work package are shown with the according descriptions about their usage. Additionally, social media elements that might be relevant as future extensions of the IMPACT toolbox are included (chapter 7.1).

Vital elements of the user interface design are colours (chapter 11), fonts (chapter 12) and icons (chapter 13). These are defined according to the overall toolbox design and are also based on the results of the mood chart workshop. An additional chapter describes the use of the IMPACT logo (chapter 9).

The visual concept as well as the design were developed according to the user interface design process based on ISO 9241 part 210, as described in chapter 4. One part that is vital for this development process was the conduction of a mood chart workshop (chapter 8.1) to define the design requirements and to ensure that the developed design meets the projects objectives.

Deliverable D5.1, the Structured Consultation Tool Requirements Analysis and Specification, is now available. This report presents the requirements specification and some design elements for the Structured Consultation Tool (SCT), which is a database application. The SCT is a tool for constructing and presenting detailed surveys to solicit feedback from the public concerning topics on public policy; the tool is underwritten by a computational model of argumentation which incorporates fine-grained, interconnected argumentation schemes. Research into the appropriate form of and relationships between fine-grained argumentation schemes is currently ongoing and preliminary results have been made available as documents internal to the IMPACT Project. Until this work is completed, we can only indicate the requirements specification and design elements particular to the SCT for fine-grained argumentation, in part with reference to design elements of a prototype implementation of Parmenides, a web- based structured policy consultation tool, some of which we will adapt and enrich for the SCT.

Deliverable D4.1, the Policy Modelling Tool Requirement Analysis and Specification, is now complete.  The report defines the functionalities that will be implemented in the Policy Modelling Tool (PMT), including the application programmer interfaces (APIs) to be provided by its components.  The PMT enables stakeholders of the public to analyse the legal effects alternative policies put forward in policy debates would have in particular cases, real or hypothetical. The Policy Modelling Tool helps stakeholders to form well-founded opinions about the legal effects of policies on cases and to make case-based arguments about the pros and cons of alternative policies which can be contributed to policy debates.

The workflow is as follows: 1) modelling alternative policies; 2) simulating the effects of these policies on cases and, finally, 3) evaluating the simulation results to formulate a position about which policies to prefer. Whereas policy modelling is done by a policy analyst using third party tools such as XML and OWL ontology editors, policies are simulated and evaluated by the public using a custom Rich Internet Application (RIA) to be developed for the PMT. We describe how policy models are developed by analysts using the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and the Legal Knowledge Interchange Format (LKIF), specify the components and APIs of the PMT and explain how these components build upon the framework described in the System Architecture Report (D2.1).

The services provided by the Policy Modelling Tool for simulating and evaluating alternative policies will enable public users to better understand the effects of policies on cases and to more easily formulate informed opinions about the policy issues being deliberated and contribute constructive and rational arguments to policy debates.  

The Argumentation Toolbox System Architecture Report, D2.1, is now complete and available for downloading.

The report defines the system architecture of the IMPACT argumentation toolbox, taking into consideration the results of a requirements analysis, the state-of-the-art of prior eParticipation systems, including results of prior European eParticipation projects, standards and emerging standards for content management systems (CMS), middleware standards for Web services, as well as available platforms and tools for developing Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). This architecture will serve as the platform upon which all of the argumentation tools of the project shall be built, to ensure their usability, interoperability, portability and compliance with relevant standards. 

The IMPACT argumentation toolbox provides a set of web applications for helping members of the general public to participate effectively in policy deliberations. The toolbox will also provide applications to help analysts to construct models of policies and argument maps of policy deliberations. 

To the extent possible, the server-side of the web applications of the toolbox will be built upon the Java platform, for execution on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Tools can be implemented in any programming language with a compiler or interpreter for the JVM and the possibility to package the resulting artefact as an OSGi bundle, such as Java and Clojure. In exceptional cases, components which are not based on the JVM can be used, but this must be shown to be justified in order to meet requirements in the specifications of the tool. 

The tools will be packaged both as Java components, using the OSGi Framework, and as Web Services. The usage of OSGi will allow for the installation and updating tools of the IMPACT argumentation toolbox, without requiring the toolbox to be restarted. The use of Web Services will make it possible to access the services of the tools from other applications over the Internet, enabling independent developers to develop custom web applications and mash-ups. 

The persistent storage of documents and data on the server-side by the IMPACT toolbox will be managed using an abstract API for accessing the underlying Content Management System (CMS) independent of proprietary interfaces specific for a certain CMS solution. Using an abstract API like the CMIS (Content Management Interoperability Services) or WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) standards will ease the integration of the IMPACT argumentation toolbox with existing and future eParticipation platforms. 

The client-side of the web applications of the IMPACT toolbox will be implemented as Rich Internet Applications using Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax). Web components may be packaged as web widgets using Googles iGadget specification. Gadgets are small web applications which can be stored locally on the client computer and run outside a browser in a special web container or may be included by other platforms supporting the gadget specification This will enable the web user interfaces of the IMPACT tools to be published on pages of eParticipation and other web sites and be used with any standards-compliant web browser, without requiring plug-ins. 

A possible exception is the IMPACT argument analysis, tracking and visualization tool. Further evaluation is required to determine whether Ajax libraries exist which are sufficient for implementing this tool. As a fall-back position, if necessary it may be implemented as a Java applet or a Flash component. 

To ensure that all IMPACT web clients have a common look and feel, they will all be implemented using the jQuery JavaScript library. The jQuery library was chosen because it is open source, mature, well documented and widely used. 

In addition to describing the technical platform of the IMPACT toolbox, this report also includes a set of guidelines and principals for the developers of IMPACT tools with regard to usability, ergonomics, accessibility, security, internationalization and other issues.

The Requirements Analysis Report, Deliverable D1.1, is now complete and available for downloading.