Minish HAT: A Tool for the Minimization of Here-and-There Logic Programs and Theories in Answer Set Programming

[Abstract] When it comes to the writing of a new logic program or theory, it is of great importance to obtain a concise and minimal representation, for simplicity and ease of interpretation reasons. There are already a few methods and many tools, such as Karnaugh Maps or the Quine-McCluskey method, as well as their numerous software implementations, that solve this minimization problem in Boolean logic. This is not the case for Here-and-There logic, also called three-valued logic. Even though there are theoretical minimization methods for logic theories and programs, there aren’t any published tools that are able to obtain a minimal equivalent logic program. In this paper we present the first version of a tool called that is able to efficiently obtain minimal and equivalent representations for any logic program in Here-and-There. The described tool uses an hybrid method both leveraging a modified version of the Quine-McCluskey algorithm and Answer Set Programming techniques to minimize fairly complex logic programs in a reduced time

Civil Society and Civic Engagement in a Time of Change

This article draws on contributions to the IDS 50th Anniversary Conference stream dedicated to citizen voice, agency and accountability to explore the shifting relationship between civil society, the state and the private sector, as well as looking at the nature of civic engagement. The role of digital technologies in civic engagement in the context of a turbulent new political landscape is also examined in order to understand the spaces that might be opened and closed by these technologies

Creando la "ciudad simbiótica": una propuesta para el diseño participativo interdisciplinar y la construcción colaborativa de sistemas de software cívico

La idea de que Internet podría utilizarse para mejorar el funcionamiento democrático de nuestros sistemas políticos es tan antigua como la propia Internet. La realización de este anhelo se ha visto limitada, sin embargo, tanto por problemas técnicos como por la falta de voluntad política y permanece hoy en día en un estado apenas embrionario. La investigación académica, por su parte, ha tendido a alinearse con la agenda de los actores gubernamentales y ha promovido y estudiado experiencias de participación administrativa con un potencial transformador y esclarecedor muy limitado. Esta tesis doctoral lleva a cabo, en primer lugar, un análisis crítico de los principales avances conceptuales, metodológicos y técnicos promovidos desde los campos de la participación ciudadana y la democracia digital. Combinando "trans-disciplinariamente" enfoques provenientes de la Ingeniería de Sistemas, la Sociología Política y la investigación etnográfica se llevaron a cabo una serie de trabajos de campo y de experimentos aplicados que han fundamentado el desarrollo de modelos conceptuales con capacidad para englobar las formas más emancipadas de participación digital. Sobre esa base teórica y conceptual, la tesis plantea un marco de referencia para orientar los procesos de diseño y construcción colaborativos de plataformas de Software Cívico que se atiendan las necesidades de los actores sociales afectados. Siguiendo esta metodología se realizarán en un futuro una serie investigaciones aplicadas de alto impacto y con un gran potencial para vincular sinérgicamente la investigación académica con su aplicación al entorno social

Creando la "ciudad simbiótica": una propuesta para el diseño participativo interdisciplinar y la construcción colaborativa de sistemas de software cívico

La idea de que Internet podría utilizarse para mejorar el funcionamiento democrático de nuestros sistemas políticos es tan antigua como la propia Internet. La realización de este anhelo se ha visto limitada, sin embargo, tanto por problemas técnicos como por la falta de voluntad política y permanece hoy en día en un estado apenas embrionario. La investigación académica, por su parte, ha tendido a alinearse con la agenda de los actores gubernamentales y ha promovido y estudiado experiencias de participación administrativa con un potencial transformador y esclarecedor muy limitado. Esta tesis doctoral lleva a cabo, en primer lugar, un análisis crítico de los principales avances conceptuales, metodológicos y técnicos promovidos desde los campos de la participación ciudadana y la democracia digital. Combinando "trans-disciplinariamente" enfoques provenientes de la Ingeniería de Sistemas, la Sociología Política y la investigación etnográfica se llevaron a cabo una serie de trabajos de campo y de experimentos aplicados que han fundamentado el desarrollo de modelos conceptuales con capacidad para englobar las formas más emancipadas de participación digital. Sobre esa base teórica y conceptual, la tesis plantea un marco de referencia para orientar los procesos de diseño y construcción colaborativos de plataformas de Software Cívico que se atiendan las necesidades de los actores sociales afectados. Siguiendo esta metodología se realizarán en un futuro una serie investigaciones aplicadas de alto impacto y con un gran potencial para vincular sinérgicamente la investigación académica con su aplicación al entorno social

Doing Digital Development Differently: lessons in adaptive management from technology for governance initiatives in Kenya

Development projects don’t always work as planned. This has long been acknowledged by those in the sector, and has led to several approaches that seek to solve complex development problems through enabling and encouraging greater adaptiveness and learning within projects (e.g. Doing Development Differently and Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation). Digital development projects experience many of these issues. Using technology for transparency and accountability (Tech4T&A) projects in Kenya as case studies, this research analysed the many different theoretical approaches to learning and adaptation, and then tested how these play out in reality. Firstly, the authors conducted an extensive review of the literature on the spectrum of approaches to adaptive learning. The findings were used to develop a framework through which to analyse adaptiveness at the different layers of complexity in projects (e.g. software design and development, programme design and management). The second part of the research consisted of interviews and focus group discussions with members of Tech4T&A projects in Kenya. Respondents helped identify the main characteristics of adaptiveness in Tech4T&A projects (e.g. who needs to adapt, and how and when) and the challenges and issues that inhibit projects’ ability to be adaptive. This process also revealed how accountability interplays with adaptiveness, and considered how better collaboration flows can enable adaptiveness. From a literature review and empirical study, the authors drew several conclusions for increasing adaptiveness in digital development projects. These include simplifying the many adaptive theories that abound, increasing responsiveness to project beneficiaries and stakeholders – and for stakeholders to keep on experimenting, networking and advocating.DFIDUSAIDOmidyar NetworkSid

The Impact of Digital Technology on Environmental Sustainability and Resilience: An Evidence Review

Striving for ‘environmental sustainability and resilience’ (ESR) is postulated as a crucial, universal and global challenge of the twenty-first century. Today, this challenge has to be addressed in a world that is dynamic in its societal, economic and political constituents, heightened by increased interconnectedness resulting from globalisation. From a developing country perspective these issues need to be reconciled alongside developmental priorities, producing ongoing controversies and contradictions. This is further compounded by the fundamental matter of climate change. Undeniably the multitude of dimensions interlinked to achieving ESR are inherently complex and dynamic, inter-related across geographies of scale, space and place. Hence recent academic literature depicts the necessity of a systems-based approach in effectively conceptualising the field in the future. It is proposed that to account for the competing challenges and complexity, radical rethinking and innovation of approaches are required. This standpoint contrasts strongly with conventional development approaches, which predominantly focus on ‘palliative care’. One area from which relevant innovation stems is the digital sector. As this is now firmly what many term the ‘digital age’ or even ‘digital revolution’, there has recently been increasing application of digital technologies in developing country contexts. To date, this innovation has incorporated a spectrum of developmental initiatives, inclusive of those categorised under ESR headings. Inevitably, evidence on the impact of these innovations in practice is key in justifying resources, continuous learning and enabling effective progress. The latest World Development Report, Digital Dividends, explores impact from a development perspective focused largely on increased prosperity and inclusivity through economic growth, social dynamics and public service delivery in developing countries. Similarly, there are examples such as the UK Department for International Development’s recent review exploring the impact of digital technologies across their own development programmes. However, there appears to be relatively limited work to date collating and addressing the existing evaluative evidence specifically from the ESR viewpoint. The evidence that does currently exist on these areas seems to be primarily documented at the individual intervention level. The objective of this report was, therefore, to contribute to this evolving field by exploring and synthesising existing documented evidence. Commonalities and disjoints of successes and failures were drawn from across the findings, to produce a stronger evidence base on the impact of digital innovation in ESR. Impacts were considered alongside the academic theorisations of innovation with particular reference to complexity. This aims to identify emerging themes and gaps to ultimately deduce research-informed policy and to practice relevant lessons moving forward.UK Department for International Developmen

The Contribution of Digital Technologies to Service Delivery: An Evidence Review

The explosion in digital connectivity, globalisation and the rapid growth in digital technologies over the last two decades has revolutionised the way that businesses perform and compete globally. Governments around the world have been put under strong pressure to transform themselves into electronic governments, in recognition of the efficiencies brought about by the appropriate use of information communication technologies (ICTs) in businesses and the need for development. The aim has been to maximise the state’s capacity to serve its stakeholders: namely citizens, business, employees and other government and non-government agencies. E-government or digital government has been a significant feature of public sector reform in recent years in both developed and developing countries with a substantial amount of resources dedicated to the development of necessary systems and infrastructure. Yet the transformational potential of digital for development risks not being replicated in the real world. Large-scale and sustainable use of ICTs for education is not yet being realised in developing countries, despite the fact that digital technologies have the potential to reduce costs and strengthen education systems. In the field of health care, mHealth systems are reaching significant scale in many developing countries but there is still a lack of concrete evidence with which to fully assess the economic impact of these technologies. This report explores and assesses the evidence for the impact and use of digital technologies in development, identifying cross-cutting themes that are important for use, implementation and scale-up. These include funding and infrastructure, policy commitments by government, skills and leadership.UK Department for International Developmen

Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development

The report finds clear evidence of the potential of frontier technologies to contribute to social, economic and political development gains in a number of ways, by: • Driving innovations in business models, products and processes that provide new goods and services to ‘bottom of the pyramid’ consumers; • Providing the means by which to make better use of existing underutilised household and productive assets; • Catalysing increases in demand, nationally and internationally, which create new industries and markets, leading to macro- and microeconomic growth; and • Changing demand for labour and capital, leading to direct job creation and transformation of the workforce. For all of the potential upsides, potential downsides must also be considered. While it will largely be the private sector that will drive deployment of these technologies, the public sector through national regulation, as well as development financing, will have a major role in mediating the pace and direction of technological change, both to achieve development objectives, and to protect potential losers.As new technologies and digital business models reshape economies and disrupt incumbencies, interest has surged in the potential of novel frontier technologies to also contribute to positive changes in international development and humanitarian contexts. Widespread adoption of new technologies is acknowledged as centrally important to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. But while frontier technologies can rapidly address large-scale economic, social or political challenges, they can also involve the displacement of existing technologies and carry considerable uncertainty and risk. Although there have been significant wins bringing the benefits of new technologies to poor consumers through examples such as mobile money or off-grid solar energy, there are many other areas where the applications may not yet have been developed into viable market solutions, or where opportunities have not yet been taken up in development practice

The Contribution of Digital Technology to Citizenship, Accountability and Rights: An Evidence Review

The use of digital technologies has risen dramatically in the past century, building excitement among governments and technology experts about applying technology to improve accountability, transparency and the effectiveness of authorities. All 193 member states of the United Nations now have, for example, national websites. Among these, 101 have enabled citizens to create personal online accounts; 73 to file income taxes; and 60 to register a business. For the most common core government administrative systems, 190 member states have automated financial management, 179 have used such systems for customs processing, and 159 for tax management. This readiness is the result of a change in the dynamics of citizenship, accountability and rights (CAR), which demands a rethinking of the roles and relationship between governments and citizens. The use of technology in development, and specifically its potential to close the gap between citizen voice and state responsiveness, holds great promise. Emergent conceptions such as e-governance are considered to have the power to inspire new tools and practices for citizenship, as well as to make existing practices more effective. While the use of digital technologies has made communication with citizens much easier, an increased and empowered citizen participation, by which citizens are able to hold governments accountable, remains still a distant dream. This report is an attempt to see the extent to which digital technologies can enable citizens and state agencies to increase the flow of information, challenge powerful interests, increase levels of institutional responsiveness and protect citizens’ rights, therefore making it imperative to examine the connection between the role of citizen participation in monitoring the enforcement of rights and in demanding public scrutiny and transparency. Furthermore, the questions that this report attempts to answer are: (a) What is the contribution of digital technologies to CAR?; (b) How can the use of technology influence the structuring, restructuring, shaping and reshaping of the relationship between citizens and governments?UK Department for International Developmen

The Impact of Digital Technology on Economic Growth and Productivity, and its Implications for Employment and Equality: An Evidence Review

As digital technology has begun to ‘eat the world’ it has also influenced the way that humans interact and transact with each other. Thus, it has inevitably had an effect on global, regional, national and local economies. This Evidence Report reviews the literature assessing the economic impact of digital technologies – namely information communication technology (ICT) – on economies and people. In terms of the economic effects of digital technology on economies, this literature review summarises its relationship with economic growth and productivity. Although increases in ICT infrastructure/equipment investment and increased ICT adoption tend to be strongly correlated with economic growth and productivity, causality is yet to be resolved, and the potential for endogenous, simultaneous and reverse causality remains. In other words, there is still the possibility that the economic impacts of the internet are caused by a third variable, that the economic impacts lead to internet adaption at the same time that internet adaption leads to economic impacts, and that it is economic growth that causes internet adaption rather than vice versa. Furthermore, the correlations tend to be highly heterogeneous – different across space and time – suggesting that the relationship is not always given. The review also summarises the literature concerning the effects of digital technology on employment and inequality.UK Department for International Developmen