tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/openness-8386/articlesOpenness – The Conversation2023-01-24T13:22:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973412023-01-24T13:22:12Z2023-01-24T13:22:12ZNew passport rankings show that the world is opening up – but not for everyone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505903/original/file-20230123-25-d6r6ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C7%2C4905%2C3268&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Muslim pilgrims go through passport control in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on June 5, 2022, prior to the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/muslim-pilgrims-go-through-passport-control-upon-their-news-photo/1241119045">Amer Hilabi/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Salman Rushdie, the celebrated Anglo-Indian writer, once declared that <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Step-Across-This-Line">the “most precious book” he possessed was his passport</a>. </p>
<p>Rushdie had already published dozens of works, including novels, short stories, essays and travelogues, to wide acclaim and considerable controversy. But he acknowledged that it was his British passport, doing “its stuff efficiently and unobtrusively,” that enabled him to pursue a literary career on the world stage. </p>
<p>On the other hand, Rushdie viewed the Indian passport he had held as a boy in the 1950s as “a paltry thing.” “Instead of offering the bearer a general open-sesame to anywhere in the world,” he recalled, “it stated in grouchy bureaucratic language that it was only valid for travel to a specified – and distressingly short — list of countries.” </p>
<p>Today, global mobility is on the rise. According to <a href="http://passportindex.org">The Passport Index</a>, an interactive ranking tool created by the investment firm <a href="https://www.artoncapital.com/">Arton Capital</a>, the “<a href="https://www.passportindex.org/world-openness-score.php">World Openness Score</a>” reached an all-time high at the end of 2022. And the score has only continued to increase.</p>
<p>This means that passport holders around the world are receiving permission to travel to more countries without first obtaining a visa than ever before. As pandemic-related travel restrictions waned in 2022, the total number of visa waivers increased 18.5% globally. Nearly every passport on the index, which includes 193 United Nations member countries and six territories, became more powerful, with holders receiving immediate access to 16 additional countries on average.</p>
<p>But there’s still a massive <a href="https://www.worldwideerc.org/news/global-workforce/minding-the-mobility-gap">mobility gap</a> between the most and least powerful passports – and it has big implications for where people can travel, reside and work. The <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights">United Nations</a> may proclaim that “everyone has the right to leave any country, including one’s own, and to return to one’s country,” but the fact is, not all passports are created equal or treated with equal respect. </p>
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<h2>Mobility for some</h2>
<p>In my book “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520375857/license-to-travel">License to Travel: A Cultural History of the Passport</a>,” I explore the evolution of travel documents and how passports have influenced the emotions and imaginings of those who hold them. Writers and artists like Rushdie have played an important role in identifying and contesting disparities in freedom of movement. They have also led the way in envisioning new forms of international openness.</p>
<p>Despite ongoing <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/what-we-do/issues/refugee-and-migrant-crisis">migrant crises</a>, <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/05/chinas-zero-covid-whiplash/">disease outbreaks</a>, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/conflict-key-understanding-migration">military conflicts</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/03/decades-of-progress-on-extreme-poverty-now-in-reverse-due-to-covid">economic challenges</a> and <a href="https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823287482/crimmigrant-nations/">rising nationalist movements</a>, the world is trending toward greater openness. Still, the international community has dedicated little effort to collapsing persistent inequities in the global passport regime. </p>
<p>Whether we like it or not, our passports define who we are in the geopolitical order. And unsurprisingly, the world’s wealthy have better prospects. </p>
<p>Firms such as Arton Capital and Henley & Partners, the curators of a <a href="https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index">competing passport ranking index</a>, have arisen in recent years to assess these prospects. They also advise investors, businesspeople and other affluent individuals on ways to attain a second passport when it is advantageous. </p>
<p>At the top of Arton’s <a href="https://www.passportindex.org/byRank.php">power ranking</a>, holders of a United Arab Emirates passport can travel visa-free or obtain visas on arrival in 181 countries and territories. U.S. passport holders rank a bit lower, with access to 173 countries. </p>
<p>At the bottom of the list is Afghanistan, whose passport holders have direct access to just 39 countries. Holders of Syrian, Iraqi, Somalian and Bangladeshi travel documents fare only slightly better.</p>
<p>Nations sink to the low ranks for <a href="https://discover.passportindex.org/reports/why-afghanistan-syria-and-iraq-had-the-weakest-passports-in-2022/">many reasons</a>, including struggling economies, large displaced populations and turbulent histories of foreign invasion and civil war. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505898/original/file-20230123-17-w0rdtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A hand holds a passport and airline ticket." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505898/original/file-20230123-17-w0rdtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505898/original/file-20230123-17-w0rdtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505898/original/file-20230123-17-w0rdtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505898/original/file-20230123-17-w0rdtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505898/original/file-20230123-17-w0rdtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505898/original/file-20230123-17-w0rdtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505898/original/file-20230123-17-w0rdtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A passenger prepares to board a flight at Sanaa International Airport in Yemen on May 16, 2022. A truce in Yemen’s civil war enabled commercial flights to resume in 2022 for the first time in six years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/passenger-holds-his-passport-and-boarding-pass-as-he-news-photo/1240718778">Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In effect, Arton’s passport index has codified the disparity that Rushdie remarked on. Even today, after the Brexit referendum, a U.K. passport still allows for travel to 173 countries without a prior visa. An Indian passport provides access to just 71. </p>
<h2>Envisioning mobility for all</h2>
<p>How do we account for the human costs associated with these passport scores and rankings? </p>
<p>Renowned German choreographer Helena Waldmann explored this divide in her 2017 dance work, “<a href="https://www.helenawaldmann.com/works/goodpassports-badpassports/">Good Passports Bad Passports</a>.” This production stages a series of dramatic encounters between two groups of dancers, sometimes separated by a wall of other performers. It evokes frontier crossings, border patrols, passport checks and other aspects of the global migrant crisis. </p>
<p>Waldmann’s inspiration was the mobility gap. Traveling with dancers and crews from various parts of the world, she has frequently witnessed those with “bad” passports being delayed and subjected to intense questioning. Meanwhile, with her “good” German passport, Waldmann has navigated the customs and immigration process quickly and easily. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for the dance production ‘Good Passports Bad Passports.’</span></figcaption>
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<p>“Good Passports Bad Passports” ends with a remarkable gesture of human solidarity. As a spectral voice proclaims, “I believe that one day national borders won’t exist,” the entire cast steps to the front of the stage, interlocks arms and gazes out into the audience.</p>
<p>Famed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei highlighted these issues in his award-winning 2017 documentary, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mha7FvpCDeA">Human Flow</a>,” which captures the overwhelming scale of the migrant crisis. In a striking scene, filmed in a rain-swept migrant camp on the Greek-Macedonia border, Ai chats with a Syrian refugee. To demonstrate their kinship, the men take out their passports and playfully offer to exchange them on the spot. </p>
<p>It’s a devastating parody of the familiar passport control ritual. Rather than inspecting the document and interrogating the holder, Ai extends a gesture of radical hospitality. He offers, if only symbolically, his own passport, his own citizenship – his own place in the world.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">In this clip from ‘Human Flow,’ Ai Weiwei and Mahmoud, a Syrian refugee, pretend to exchange passports and identities.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>An alternative ‘Passaport’</h2>
<p>A world without borders or passport controls may be a utopian dream, but that hasn’t stopped other artists from imagining correctives to our current situation. </p>
<p>In 2009, Maltese writer Antoine Cassar published a protest poem titled “<a href="https://antoinecassar.net/passport-2009/">Passaport</a>,” printed in a small format and bound in a red cardboard cover mimicking the Maltese passport. Rather than enclosing a photograph, personal data and the legalese of the nation-state, it contains about 250 lines of verse that object to the wounding force of the international passport system and its often brutal forms of exclusion and expulsion. </p>
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<p>“Passaport,” as Cassar puts it, envisions “a world without customs and checkpoints, without border police out to snatch away the dawn, without the need for forms, documents, or biometric data. … A world without the need to cross the desert barefoot, nor to float off on a raft, on an itinerary of hope all too quickly struck out by the realities of blackmail and exploitation.” </p>
<h2>Opening up the future</h2>
<p>In 2022, Arton Capital co-founder <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/12/06/2568139/0/en/The-Passport-Index-reveals-that-Despite-Conflict-in-Europe-and-Global-Border-Anxieties-99-5-of-the-World-Experiences-Growth-in-Global-Mobility-in-2022.html">Hrant Boghossian</a> commented that “the rise in passport power that we have seen this year brings great cause for optimism.” This is surely true. </p>
<p>“The world has surpassed the benchmark of ‘openness’ set prior to the pandemic,” Boghossian continued, “and there are strong indicators that this upward trend is here to stay.” He finds particular encouragement in the fact that this has happened during a time of increased economic tumult and political tension, as well as lingering concerns regarding homeland security and mass migration.</p>
<p>Indeed, as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and face the devastating <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-more-climate-migrants-cross-borders-seeking-refuge-laws-will-need-to-adapt-159673">effects of climate change</a>, the motivation to leave home in search of work and safety will only continue to grow. But the world still has a long way to go to open itself to the entire global community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197341/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Bixby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A passport from the United Arab Emirates will get you into far more destinations than one from Afghanistan. Gaps like this have big implications for people’s ability to travel, reside and work.Patrick Bixby, Associate Professor of English, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1691272021-10-18T12:11:42Z2021-10-18T12:11:42ZHow to nurture creativity in your kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426475/original/file-20211014-7324-1u31syx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4998%2C3344&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Creativity has many academic, professional and personal benefits.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/four-children-drawing-with-chalk-on-pavement-royalty-free-image/AB15713">Stephen Simpson/Stone Collection via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Parents who want their kids to be more creative may be tempted to enroll them in arts classes or splurge on STEM-themed toys. Those things certainly can help, but as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OzW_dWUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">professor of educational psychology</a> who has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316979839">written</a> <a href="https://www.springerpub.com/creativity-101-9780826129529.html">extensively</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013688">about creativity</a>, I can draw on more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0063487">70 years of creativity research</a> to make additional suggestions that are more likely to be effective – and won’t break your budget. </p>
<h2>1. Be cautious with rewards</h2>
<p>Some parents may be tempted to reward their children for being creative, which is traditionally defined as producing something that is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3902_1">both new and useful</a>. However, rewards and praise may actually <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.50.1.14">dissuade your child’s intrinsic interest</a> in being creative. That’s because the activity may become <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780306420221">associated with the reward and not the fun</a> the child naturally has doing it. </p>
<p>Of course, I am not saying you should not place your child’s artwork on your fridge. But avoid being too general – “I love every bit of it!” – or too focused on their innate traits – “You are so creative!” Instead, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316832134.028">praise specific aspects</a> that you like in your child’s artwork – “I love the way you made such a cute tail on that dog!” or “The way you combined colors here is pretty!” </p>
<p>Some rewards can be helpful. For example, for a child who loves to draw, giving them materials that they might use in their artwork is an example of a reward that will <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316979839.020">help them stay creative</a>. </p>
<p>It is also important to note that there are many activities – creative or otherwise – for which a child may not have a particular interest. There is no harm – and much potential benefit – in using rewards in these cases. If a child has an assignment for a creative school activity and hates doing it, there may not be any inherent passion to be dampened in the first place.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Boy draws at table partially covered with art supplies" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426576/original/file-20211014-7324-vetody.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426576/original/file-20211014-7324-vetody.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426576/original/file-20211014-7324-vetody.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426576/original/file-20211014-7324-vetody.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426576/original/file-20211014-7324-vetody.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426576/original/file-20211014-7324-vetody.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426576/original/file-20211014-7324-vetody.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If a child already enjoys a creative activity, offering rewards or nonspecific praise for it may actually dampen their enthusiasm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-boy-at-home-drawing-at-the-table-royalty-free-image/1257515701">Noel Hendrickson/DigitalVision Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>2. Encourage curiosity and new experiences</h2>
<p>Research shows that people who are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316228036">open to new experiences and ideas</a> are more creative than those who are more closed off. Many parents have children who naturally <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2014.07.004">seek new things</a>, such as food, activities, games or playmates. In these cases, simply continue to offer opportunities and encouragement. </p>
<p>For those whose children may be more reticent, there are options. Although personality is theoretically stable, it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.694157">possible to change</a> it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000088">in subtle ways</a>. For example, a study – although it was on older adults – found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025918">crossword or sudoku puzzles</a> can help increase openness. Childhood and adolescence is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.1">natural period for openness to grow</a>. Encouraging curiosity and intellectual engagement is one way. Other ways might include encouraging sensible risk-taking – such as trying a new sport for a less athletic child or a new instrument for one less musically inclined – or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022110361707">interest in other cultures</a>. Even very simple variations on an evening routine, whether trying a new craft or board game or helping cook dinner, can help normalize novelty. </p>
<h2>3. Help them evaluate their best ideas</h2>
<p>What about when children are actually being creative? Most people have heard of brainstorming or other activities where <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/divergent-thinking">many different ideas are generated</a>. Yet it is equally important to be able to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1803_13">evaluate and select one’s best idea</a>. </p>
<p>Your child might think of 30 possible solutions to a problem, but their creativity will not be expressed if they select the one that’s least interesting – or least actionable. If giving praise can be tricky, feedback can be even tougher. If you are too harsh, you risk <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1037/a0036618">squashing your child’s passion</a> for being creative. Yet if you are too soft, your child may not develop their creativity <a href="https://doi.org/10.2190/EM.28.1.b">to the fullest extent possible</a>.</p>
<p>If your child seeks out your input – which in adults can be a <a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.64870144">good indicator of creativity</a> – make sure to give feedback <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10400410802391827">after they have already brainstormed</a> many possible ideas. Ideally, you can ensure your child still feels competent and focus on <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487">feedback that connects to their past efforts</a>: “I like the imagery you used in your poem; you are getting better! What other metaphors might you use in this last line?”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Girl walks over an aerial bridge made of rope and planks surrounded by trees" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426574/original/file-20211014-28-ysbysf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426574/original/file-20211014-28-ysbysf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426574/original/file-20211014-28-ysbysf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426574/original/file-20211014-28-ysbysf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426574/original/file-20211014-28-ysbysf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426574/original/file-20211014-28-ysbysf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426574/original/file-20211014-28-ysbysf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">More guarded kids may need to be encouraged to try new foods or activities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/girl-walks-through-one-of-the-circuits-of-the-aventura-news-photo/1335426205">Rafael Bastante/Europa Press via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>4. Teach them when not to be creative</h2>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2013.799413">creativity isn’t always the best option</a>. Sometimes, straightforward solutions simply work best. If the toilet is clogged and you have a plunger, you don’t need to make your own from a coat hanger and bisected rubber duck. </p>
<p>More notably, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj0801_1">some people</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.2005.tb01247.x">including teachers</a>, say they like creative people but actually have negative views of creative kids without even realizing it. </p>
<p>If your child is in a class where their creativity is causing some blowback, such as discipline issues or lowered grades, you may want to work with your child to help them understand the best course of action. For example, if your child is prone to blurt out their ideas regardless of whether they are related to the discussion at hand, emphasize that they should <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13598139.2014.905247">share thoughts that are directly relevant</a> to the class topic. </p>
<p>If, however, you get the feeling that the teacher simply does not appreciate or like your child’s creativity, you may want to suggest that your child keep an “idea parking lot” where they <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789462091498/BP000003.xml">write down their creative thoughts</a> and share them with you – or a different teacher – later in the day.</p>
<p>Creativity has a host of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000433">academic</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2001.tb00234.x">professional</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691618771981">personal</a> benefits. With some gentle nudges, you can help your child grow and use their imagination to their heart’s content.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169127/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James C. Kaufman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Art classes and STEM toys are nice, but there are simple and free ways parents can encourage their child’s creativity – or keep it from getting squashed.James C. Kaufman, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1526882021-01-25T15:00:06Z2021-01-25T15:00:06ZAs the world changes, science does too – and that’s a good thing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377154/original/file-20210105-15-1gco1pj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Science can become more open and inclusive and can shift its culture.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Suwit Rattiwan/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The term “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/09/02/what-is-industry-4-0-heres-a-super-easy-explanation-for-anyone/?sh=8deb2ac9788a">Industry 4.0</a>” has been used for years to describe the need for societies to adapt their work and productivity to the “4th Industrial Revolution”, in which new technologies bridge the virtual, physical and biological domains. These terms have become so dominant that <a href="https://www.4ir.gov.za">governments</a> have adopted them into their policies and planning.</p>
<p>Against this backdrop it is important to ask whether – and how – the world of science is effectively adapting to an ever more connected and data intensive world. Is there such a thing as “Science 4.0”? What does this mean for society?</p>
<p>As scientists who have been involved in research, technological development, advocacy, diplomacy and the realisation of societal benefits from science, we believe that yes, “Science 4.0” is real. It is about a revolution in which science is an integral part of society, rather than being confined to public or private laboratories and institutions of higher learning. It is about recognising that scientists are people, subjective and opinionated – and people are scientists, curious and eager to learn. It is about embracing new technologies to do better science more responsibly and more inclusively.</p>
<p>Over the past nearly three decades, we have observed trends that show what is possible. These include openness, the importance of data, artificial intelligence, inclusion and crucial changes in the culture of science. </p>
<h2>Openness</h2>
<p>The term “open science” was first captured by the <a href="https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read">Budapest Open Access Initiative</a> in 2002. It originated from open source software and open access literature; it includes the openness of data, methods, software, results and publications.</p>
<p>Openness is a shift away from traditional thinking around the protectionism of intellectual property. Its <a href="https://content.iospress.com/articles/information-services-and-use/isu861">benefits to science</a> have become increasingly clear. </p>
<p>Today most organisations have policies of openness, from the <a href="https://osp.od.nih.gov/scientific-sharing/nih-data-management-and-sharing-activities-related-to-public-access-and-open-science/">National Institutes of Health in the US</a> to <a href="https://en.unesco.org/science-sustainable-future/open-science/recommendation">UNESCO</a>. The <a href="http://africanopenscience.org.za/">African Open Science Platform</a>, meanwhile, aims to grow open science practices across the continent. </p>
<p>Several business ventures have emerged. The <a href="https://www.cos.io/products/osf">Center for Open Science</a>, for instance, sees people generating value by helping scientists to make their science more open. </p>
<h2>Data-driven science</h2>
<p>Increasingly, scientific research involves very large data sets. From the massive <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1532046413001007">genomics data</a> to the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2019.0060">data</a> expected from future telescopes, data-intensive research is becoming the norm. </p>
<p>There is a shift in the scientific method from, for example, single observations to large scale statistical analyses. This progression calls for new infrastructure models to support scientific research. <a href="https://www.labiotech.eu/genomics/cloud-genomics-big-data-problem/">Cloud computing technologies</a> are at the forefront of this shift; these combine easy access to and collaboration on data and analysis with high-performance computing.</p>
<p>Nowadays, data and codes are part of scientific publications. <a href="https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1435800">Containerisation</a>, a technology that packages code and the computer environment in which codes are run, helps make results easily reproducible by others. Containers can be shared and cited.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cloud-computing-could-be-key-to-speeding-up-africas-development-121344">Cloud computing could be key to speeding up Africa's development</a>
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<h2>AI scientists</h2>
<p>Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a tool of science as both data storage and computing power have become cheaper. Machine learning (computer algorithms improving with experience) is <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200114074044.htm">accelerating the rate of discovery</a> in anything from drug development to image analysis.</p>
<p>AI is becoming advanced enough that <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/artificial-intelligence-evolving-all-itself">it could do the whole cycle from hypothesis to result</a>. As research accelerates, the rate of publications follows and AI <a href="https://iris.ai/">can even be used to sift through</a> the overwhelming literature. Scientific unions and other councils are also now <a href="https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/ai-and-society">discussing</a> the ethics of AI.</p>
<h2>Culture of science</h2>
<p>Science 4.0 is not just a transformation of scientific tools and methods. It also affects the culture of science and how we evaluate scientific work. <a href="http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2017/04/14/the-next-generation-of-science-outreach/">Outreach</a> is increasingly valued as a part of a scientist’s tasks. Counting publications and citations is limited and doesn’t reflect the true impact of research.</p>
<p>Scientists are also admitting that science is done by people – and that means acknowledging their failings. Misconduct by scientists is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-19/science-brilliant-free-pass-bad-behaviour/9879704">not taken lightly</a>. Science is slowly becoming <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07782-3">more family friendly</a> too, with some <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2018/12/are-conferences-providing-enough-child-care-support-we-decided-find-out">conferences offering childcare</a> facilities.</p>
<p>One area that’s worth watching is the speed of science. The race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 has demonstrated that science can be done fast, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-1015-0">albeit sometimes at the expense of quality</a>.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/international-statistic-of-the-year-race-for-a-covid-19-vaccine-152064">International Statistic of the Year: Race for a COVID-19 vaccine</a>
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<p>This speed may become more common in some areas of science. And that’s potentially a good thing because it brings the benefits of science to more people, more rapidly.</p>
<h2>Inclusion</h2>
<p>However, these new ways of science won’t benefit everyone unless scientists have a serious conversation about inclusion. For example, the pandemic also showed a <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/women-in-science-may-suffer-lasting-career-damage-from-covid-19/">disproportionate effect on women scientists</a> as compared to men.</p>
<p>Inclusion has risen to the surface in recent years: minorities have <a href="https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.3536">denounced</a> science as an unwelcoming space of rampant implicit bias that needs to be claimed by diverse identities. This has given rise to large grassroots visibility campaigns such as the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BlackInSTEM">#BlackInSTEM</a> hashtag on social media and open conversations about inclusion.</p>
<p>In the developing world, academic isolation is a multifaceted challenge. Academics in relative isolation can become the targets of <a href="https://predatoryjournals.com/publishers/">predatory publishers</a>. Developing countries can be led to giving away their data, for example genomics of endemic species, or oral traditions recorded without permission but with misplaced good intentions of preservation. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/global-academic-collaboration-a-new-form-of-colonisation-61382">Global academic collaboration: a new form of colonisation?</a>
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<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/international-research-collaborations-how-can-we-shift-the-power-towards-africa-142421">This situation is not sustainable</a>. <a href="http://trust-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/San-Code-of-RESEARCH-Ethics-Booklet-final.pdf">Initiatives are emerging</a> to ensure communities are involved and benefit from research carried out on them, on their environment, and ultimately their universe.</p>
<p>It is also worth noting the growth of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-tracked-the-eating-habits-of-snakes-in-africa-with-the-help-of-a-facebook-group-143569">citizen science</a> and <a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/">its evolution</a> from passive data gathering to participatory approaches to research.</p>
<h2>Role of Science 4.0 in a changing world</h2>
<p>Progress in science is not about bringing more people into an ivory tower. It is about breaking down the tower completely and helping scientists work with and among people. </p>
<p>As the world grapples with building back better, the scientific community needs to display engaged leadership and play an active, humanistic role in shaping policies, public perceptions and technologies for a sustainable future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152688/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Science 4.0’ is real. It is about a revolution in which science is an integral part of society.Carolina Odman, Associate Professor, University of the Western CapeKevin Govender, Director, International Astronomical Union Office of Astronomy for DevelopmentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1423642020-07-15T12:13:30Z2020-07-15T12:13:30ZPersonality can predict who’s a rule-follower and who flouts COVID-19 social distancing guidelines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347340/original/file-20200714-139854-1wyiypp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=107%2C86%2C3368%2C2069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who will wait on the checkout line footprints and who will rage against them?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vons-shopper-maintain-safe-distance-in-the-checkout-line-at-news-photo/1212798930">Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As states struggle to get the COVID-19 balance right – between eased restrictions and rising infection rates – it falls to individuals to abide by mask-wearing rules and to maintain six feet of distance between themselves and others when out and about.</p>
<p>Some people dutifully endure the hardships of coronavirus lockdown, while others can’t be bothered to keep their distance. Why?</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fXwMNNMAAAAJ&hl=en">As a cognitive researcher</a>, I’m interested in how what psychologists call the <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/the-big-five-personality-dimensions-2795422">“Big Five” personality traits</a> influence the ways individuals deal with social distancing rules in daily life. Who is more likely to mask up every time they leave their home? And who is more likely to flout these evolving behavioral expectations?</p>
<h2>Personal space, territorial invasion</h2>
<p>How comfortable you are being near to other people has a big cultural component. Anthropologist Edward T. Hall made a study of <a href="https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-proxemics-definition-examples.html">what he called proxemics</a>, measuring personal space expectations around the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347172/original/file-20200713-50-13b1guu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Pandemic response means the personal space bubble is now bigger than the previous norm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Personal_Spaces_in_Proxemics.svg">Jean-Louis Grall/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Touching or whispering happens in the closest zone. From about 1.5 to 4 feet away is the distance reserved for communicating with friends. Now public health recommendations have extended that zone to 6 feet or more, the distance that had been normal for interactions with those you don’t know well.</p>
<p>When people violate proximity norms, it can feel like they’re invading your territory. And nowadays, the stakes are higher than just your personal comfort – these distance guidelines are meant to protect you from infectious germs.</p>
<p>Subconsciously, everyone knows the traditional spatial zones. The “wait here” foot emblems now found at a store’s checkout line are necessary to help rewrite the cognitive script for where you stand until it becomes a mindless habit. You are forced to “unlearn” subconscious behavior; old dogs must learn new tricks. </p>
<p>Strangers who invade your social distance are being aggressive if they’re aware of what they’re doing. But if it’s done mindlessly or subconsciously, then personality traits are helping drive the behavior.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Predictions based on personality traits</h2>
<p>For more than four decades, psychology researchers have divvied people up by personality types based on an individual’s <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781849200479.n9">combination of five key traits</a>. They’re used to predict how people make purchases, <a href="https://www.floridatechonline.com/blog/business/how-the-big-five-personality-traits-influence-work-behavior/">behave at work</a>, even <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/personality-traits-life-outcomes-replication.html">long-term life outcomes</a> like marriage stability and career achievement. <a href="http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/counseling-psychology/history-of-counseling/paul-costa-and-robert-mccrae/">Paul Costa and Robert McRae</a> popularized the acronym OCEAN, for openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347342/original/file-20200714-38-fdgfjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Everyone varies from high to low on each of the five personality traits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/big-five-personality-traits-psychology-concept-royalty-free-image/1242962102">Olivier Le Moal/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
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<p>An open individual is inclined to be curious, imaginative, creative, original, artistic and flexible. Openness reflects a tendency to think in abstract, complex ways. People high in openness tend to be adventurous and intellectual and enjoy the arts, while those on the opposite end of the spectrum tend to be practical, conventional and focused on the concrete. The more open your personality is, the better you might cope with uncertainty over a long, sustained period – as in the case of a global pandemic.</p>
<p>Conscientiousness is the tendency to be habitually careful, reliable, hard-working, well-organized and purposeful. A conscientious person controls, regulates and directs their impulses. They would likely be early adopters of mask-wearing, even without direction to do so. This trait makes someone less willing to violate territorial space and social distancing guidelines.</p>
<p>Extroversion is characterized by being outgoing and drawing energy from interacting with others, compared to introverts who get their energy from within themselves. Behavioral neuroscience research has <a href="https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-014-0331-6">revealed two subtypes of this trait</a>.</p>
<p>Agentic extroversion is about being comfortable in the limelight and taking a leadership position. These people are less likely to feel a strong bond with others and have more interest in going for rewards in social or workplace contexts.</p>
<p>On the other hand, affiliative extroverts don’t seek out leadership roles as much and have close social bonds with a lot of people from which they gather happiness and meaning.</p>
<p>Both types of extroverts would likely enjoy virtual networking during isolation, while probably struggling with isolation if sheltering alone.</p>
<p>Agreeableness reflects compliance. It is the opposite pole of antagonism and reflects a tendency to be good-natured, acquiescent, courteous, helpful and trusting. People high in this trait would probably go along with mask-wearing right away and be more likely to follow social distancing guidelines as soon as they’re announced without grumbling about the rules.</p>
<p>Neuroticism is characterized by impulsivity and a tendency to experience negative emotions including anxiety, worry, fear, anger, depression or sadness, hostility, self-consciousness and loneliness. This trait is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100352">wishful thinking and disengagement</a> in order to escape feelings of distress. Presumably people high on neuroticism would tend to react to the pandemic with avoidance and denial.</p>
<h2>The dark triad of personality traits</h2>
<p>Personalities can have their dark sides, too.</p>
<p>Narcissism involves loving oneself obsessively; it goes along with grandiosity and vanity.</p>
<p>Machiavellianism is about manipulating others; it’s characterized by cynicism and long-term, calculating strategies.</p>
<p>Finally there’s psychopathy, meaning a lack of empathy. Psychopathic people are usually impulsive and have cold interpersonal relations. Individuals at the higher end of the continuum are deceptive, aggressive, sexually promiscuous and coercive.</p>
<p>All of these dark triad traits, as psychologists group them, would likely be associated with more social distancing violations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347344/original/file-20200714-22-102fpcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Personality traits influence who’s fine with masks and who isn’t.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/taxi-driver-with-thumbs-up-and-wearing-a-facemask-royalty-free-image/1223488542">andresr/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Personality influences your behavior</h2>
<p>Everyone varies on all of those personality traits from high to low. It’s possible to deduce a personality profile for someone more likely to rampantly violate social distancing guidelines.</p>
<p>Pulling from meta-analyses of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2017.14">how personality affects pro-social behaviors</a>, I’ve come up with this formulation. I have in mind coronavirus-mitigating behaviors in the U.S., but it could be tested cross-culturally and in other contexts.</p>
<p>Social distancing violator = Low openness + Low conscientiousness + Low agreeableness + High neuroticism + High Machiavellianism + High narcissism + High psychopathy + Error</p>
<p>My model predicts that a person who scores lower in openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness would be more likely to violate social distancing guidelines. Same for someone higher in neuroticism, Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy.</p>
<p>The error term in the equation is a bit of a fudge factor; it represents all the variation in social distancing that is not explained by the personality traits. For example, political ideology influences social distancing compliance, with <a href="https://voxeu.org/article/political-beliefs-and-compliance-social-distancing-orders">Republicans less likely to adhere</a> to social distancing orders.</p>
<p>Psychology researchers are starting to collect data during the pandemic that supports this model. In one study, for instance, Pavel Blagov found that people with lower levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness were less likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620936439">endorse health recommendations</a> related to social distancing and hygiene during the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p>Personality is not fixed; it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00543.x">can evolve over one’s lifespan</a>. As the coronavirus crisis drags on, I’ll be interested to see how adherence to social distancing guidelines changes over time – and wondering how much personality traits are changing too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142364/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James M. Honeycutt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Psychologists call these traits the ‘Big Five’: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. A researcher suggests your profile implies your response to social distancing.James M. Honeycutt, Lecturer in Executive Education; Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies from Louisiana State University, University of Texas at DallasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/588032017-11-06T12:32:06Z2017-11-06T12:32:06ZWhy openness, not technology alone, must be the heart of the digital economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151298/original/image-20161221-4085-1qyx1j8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tyndale_Bible_John_5.jpg">Kevin Rawlings</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440 it was, just as the internet has been in our time, a revolutionary development. Before the printing press, it is estimated there were <a href="http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg/books/legacy/">just 30,000 books in all of Europe</a>. Fifty years later, there were more than ten million. Over the next 500 years Gutenberg’s invention would transform our ability to share knowledge and help create the modern world. </p>
<p>Less than a century later on October 6, 1536, a man named <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/william_tyndale/">William Tyndale</a> was burnt at the stake as a heretic for producing <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/william-tyndales-new-testament">the Bible in English that bore his name</a>. Just 40 years old, Tyndale grew up in a world transformed by Gutenberg’s invention. Educated at Cambridge, Tyndale became a scholar and a priest. At that time it was forbidden and deemed heretical to translate the Bible from Latin. The reason was simple: control of the information in the Bible provided immense power. </p>
<p>Very few could read Latin, not even most aristocrats. By ensuring the Bible remained in Latin only the Pope and priests of the Catholic Church retained control of the information within it. This allowed the church to exert religious authority and also to maintain secular power and generate revenues, for example by inventing new “pay-for” sacraments with no scriptural basis – the most egregious of these were “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/indulgence">indulgences</a>” which permitted their purchaser automatic forgiveness of sins.</p>
<p>Tyndale had an independent mind. Inspired by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/william_tyndale/">Martin Luther’s call to reformation</a> he became a medieval information freedom fighter. Tyndale was committed to opening up information by translating the Bible into English. Between 1524 and 1527 he produced the first printed English translation of the Bible from abroad to avoid prosecution, which was secretly shipped back to England. Despite being banned and publicly burnt, his translation spread rapidly, giving ordinary people access to the Bible and sowing the seeds of the Reformation in England.</p>
<p>Fast-forward to today and we are living through another information revolution as digital technologies such as the internet change how information is created and communicated. Our world may seem very different from that of Gutenberg and Tyndale, but if we look deeper there is much we can learn.</p>
<p>Gutenberg’s technology may have laid the groundwork for change, but the printing press could very well just have been used to produce more Latin Bibles for priests – enabling only more of the same without changing the balance of power. It was Tyndale’s efforts to translate the Bible in order to democratise access to it that created real change: the printing press was just the means to carry his message to the masses. In doing so he empowered and liberated ordinary people and gave them the opportunity to understand, think and decide for themselves. This was open information as freedom, as empowerment, as social change.</p>
<p>Knowledge power in the 16th century came through control of the Bible. Today, in our data-driven world it’s much broader: everything from maps to medicines, sonnets to statistics. And so today we need to open up public data and information, making it freely available to anyone for any purpose, building insight and knowledge from it together.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Technology that no one can access is no more use than a book no one can read.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maksim Kabakou/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact we already have concrete examples of how this would work. For example, <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org">OpenStreetMap</a> is an open, global map service based on freely available sources. <a href="http://opentrials.net/">OpenTrials</a> is an open database of medical and clinical trials, open source software such as <a href="http://www.phonearena.com/news/Android-is-taking-over-the-world-80-of-all-smartphones-run-Googles-OS_id46001">Linux and Android powers 80% of all smartphones</a> and of course there is a vast amount of publicly-funded research made available through open journals.</p>
<p>Tyndale’s example highlights the crucial role of openness: too often we focus on technology and forget the structures of law, ownership and power that technology operates within. Dazzled by the astonishing pace of technological advance we can easily think that information technology is itself the solution. Instead we must think about the purpose, power and politics of information technology, and not presume some in-built positive aim. Put simply: the medium is not the message, and the internet’s open architecture will not itself guarantee a more democratic or open world – as the events of 2016 should demonstrate.</p>
<p>If we need reminding of this we need only look to radio or even cable TV. Discussions of radio from the 1920s sound eerily familiar to <a href="https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence">early utopian visions of the internet</a>: radio would revolutionise human communication, creating a peer-to-peer world where everyone could broadcast, enabling a new and better democracy. Radio may have delivered on its technological promise but not on its social one. Far from a peer-to-peer communications democracy, instead we have a one-way medium dominated by state broadcasters and a few huge corporations.</p>
<p>Likewise, take a look at the 21st century internet and it’s clear that the internet’s costless transmission enables the creation of information empires and <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21637338-todays-tech-billionaires-have-lot-common-previous-generation-capitalist">information “robber barons”</a> as much as it does digital democracy and information equality. Modern information technology offers unprecedented opportunities for surveillance, as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/19/extreme-surveillance-becomes-uk-law-with-barely-a-whimper">newly passed Investigatory Powers Act in the UK demonstrates</a>, and for the manipulation of information. It is just as easily used to exploit as to empower.</p>
<p>Which brings us back to Tyndale. He took the possibility the printing press offered and married it with openness. In doing so he created something truly transformative – modern versions of the Bible incorporate much of Tyndale’s translation. The same is true for us: in all areas, from databases to drug formula, we must combine the possibilities offered by digital technology with a policy of openness. Only by putting openness at the heart of the information age can we fully realise its potential – be that for creativity and collaboration, or for freedom and fairness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58803/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rufus Pollock is an Associate of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law at the University of Cambridge; the Founder and non-executive President of Open Knowledge International (<a href="https://okfn.org">https://okfn.org</a>), a not-for-profit dedicated to creating a world where knowledge creates power for the many, not the few, where data empowers us to make informed choices about how we live, what we buy and who gets our vote and where information and insights are accessible – and apparent – to everyone; and the co-Founder of Art / Earth / Tech a community of people seeking a wiser, weller world - <a href="https://artearthtech.com/">https://artearthtech.com/</a>.
He and these associated organisations have been the recipient of numerous grants including a 3 year Mead Research Fellowship in Economics at the University of Cambridge, a Shuttleworth Fellowship, FP7 and H2020 EU funding, and UK innovation and research funding as well as grants from foundations such as the Omidyar Network, Hewlett Foundation, Open Society Foundations and others.
</span></em></p>The printing press, like the internet, has been revolutionary. But technology alone is not enough – access to to it must be open to ensure its benefits are felt.Rufus Pollock, Associate Fellow, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/770832017-05-28T20:04:12Z2017-05-28T20:04:12ZPeople with creative personalities really do see the world differently<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168293/original/file-20170508-14398-ap0nxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How do you see the world?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/en/eye-man-pupil-lid-eyebrow-world-231633/">pixabay.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What is it about a creative work such as a painting or piece of music that elicits our awe and admiration? Is it the thrill of being shown something new, something different, something the artist saw that we did not? </p>
<p>As Pablo Picasso <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1611-others-have-seen-what-is-and-asked-why-i-have">put it</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The idea that some people see more possibilities than others is central to the concept of creativity. </p>
<p>Psychologists often measure creativity using divergent thinking tasks. These require you to generate as many uses as possible for mundane objects, such as a brick. People who can see numerous and diverse uses for a brick (say, a coffin for a Barbie doll funeral diorama) are rated as more creative than people who can only think of a few common uses (say, for building a wall). </p>
<p>The aspect of our personality that appears to drive our creativity is called openness to experience, or openness. Among the <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2008-11667-004">five major personality traits</a>, it is openness that best predicts <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1987-28199-001">performance on divergent thinking tasks</a>. Openness also predicts <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25487993">real-world creative achievements</a>, as well as engagement in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656609001317">everyday creative pursuits</a>. </p>
<p>As Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire explain in their book <a href="http://www.scottbarrykaufman.com/books/wired-to-create/">Wired to Create</a>, the creativity of open people stems from a “drive for cognitive exploration of one’s inner and outer worlds”. </p>
<p>This curiosity to examine things from all angles may lead people high in openness to see more than the average person, or as <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886902000041">another research team</a> put it, to discover “complex possibilities laying dormant in so-called ‘familiar’ environments”. </p>
<h2>Creative vision</h2>
<p>In our research, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656617300338">published in the Journal of Research in Personality</a>, we found that open people don’t just bring a different perspective to things, they genuinely see things differently to the average individual. </p>
<p>We wanted to test whether openness is linked to a phenomenon in visual perception called <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Binocular_rivalry">binocular rivalry</a>. This occurs when two different images are presented to each eye simultaneously, such as a red patch to the right eye and a green patch to the left eye. </p>
<p>For the observer, the images seem to flip intermittently from one to the other. At one moment only the green patch is perceived, and at the next moment only the red patch – each stimulus appearing to rival the other (see illustration below). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168666/original/file-20170509-7918-96e9pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168666/original/file-20170509-7918-96e9pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168666/original/file-20170509-7918-96e9pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168666/original/file-20170509-7918-96e9pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168666/original/file-20170509-7918-96e9pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168666/original/file-20170509-7918-96e9pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168666/original/file-20170509-7918-96e9pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168666/original/file-20170509-7918-96e9pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Binocular rivalry task.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Intriguingly, participants in binocular rivalry studies occasionally see a fused or scrambled combination of both images (see middle frame, above). These moments of “rivalry suppression”, when both images become consciously accessible at once, seem almost like a “creative” solution to the problem presented by the two incompatible stimuli.</p>
<p>Across three experiments, we found that open people saw the fused or scrambled images for longer periods than the average person. Furthermore, they reported seeing this for even longer when experiencing a positive mood state similar to those that are known to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18954157">boost creativity</a>. </p>
<p>Our findings suggest that the creative tendencies of open people extend all the way down to basic visual perception. Open people may have fundamentally different visual experiences to the average person.</p>
<h2>Seeing things that others miss</h2>
<p>Another well-known perceptual phenomenon is called <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Inattentional_blindness">inattentional blindness</a>. People experience this when they are so focused on one thing that they completely fail to see something else right before their eyes. </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1068/p281059">famous illustration</a> of this perceptual glitch, participants were asked to watch a short video of people tossing a basketball to one another, and to track the total number of passes between the players wearing white.</p>
<p>Try this out yourself, before reading further!</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vJG698U2Mvo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Count the basketball passes between players in white.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the video, a person in a gorilla costume wanders into centre stage, indulges in a little chest-beating, and then schleps off again. Did you see it? If not, you are not alone. Roughly half of the 192 participants in the original study completely failed to see the costumed figure.</p>
<p>But why did some people experience inattentional blindness in this study when others didn’t? The answer to this question came in a <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128158">recent follow-up study</a> showing that your susceptibility to inattentional blindness depends on your personality: open people are more likely to see the gorilla in the video clip. </p>
<p>Once again, it seems that more visual information breaks through into conscious perception for people high in openness — they see the things that others screen out.</p>
<h2>Opening our minds: is more better?</h2>
<p>It might seem as if open people have been dealt a better hand than the rest of us. But can people with uncreative personalities broaden their limited vistas, and would this be a good thing?</p>
<p>There is mounting evidence that <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=2017-00079-001">personality is malleable</a>, and increases in openness have been observed in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22251379">cognitive training interventions</a> and studies of the <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0269881111420188">effects of psilocybin</a> (the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms).</p>
<p>Openness also increases for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23773042">students who choose to study overseas</a>, confirming the idea that travel broadens the mind. </p>
<p>But there is also a dark side to the “<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118367377.ch12/summary">permeability of consciousness</a>” that characterises open people. Openness has been linked to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656611001644">aspects of mental illness</a>, such as proneness to hallucination.</p>
<p>So despite its appeal, there may be a slippery slope between seeing more and <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0150615">seeing things that are not there</a>.</p>
<p>So, from different personalities emerge different experiences, but we should always remember that one person’s view is not necessarily better than another’s.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77083/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Smillie receives funding from The Templeton Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Antinori does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How we see the world depends on certain aspects of our personality.Luke Smillie, Senior Lecturer in Personality Psychology, The University of MelbourneAnna Antinori, PhD candidate, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/512642015-11-30T04:35:22Z2015-11-30T04:35:22ZWhat the global open government partnership can do for Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103447/original/image-20151127-11628-1jaij9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Open Government Partnership can play an important part by increasing trust among citizens and public accountability in Africa. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa recently took over as <a href="http://www.dpsa.gov.za/article.php?id=304">chair</a> of the Open Government <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/">Partnership</a>. This represents an important opportunity for the country, and Africa.</p>
<p>The partnership is a voluntary initiative that aims to promote transparency, public accountability and civic participation in government. Ten of the 69 countries in the good governance partnership are in Africa. </p>
<p>It is hoped that, with South Africa leading, the partnership will continue to grow in Africa. The importance of promoting transparent governance that puts citizens at the centre cannot be overemphasised in Africa. </p>
<p>Most participating countries are in south, central and north America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. They include the US, Brazil, the UK, Turkey, South Korea and New Zealand. The significance of the partnership is that it has become a central policy-making platform in partner countries. </p>
<p>Member countries use the platform to formulate accountability standards and share knowledge about how to go about making good policies. This could include drawing up legal frameworks. The goal is to improve the transparency of government and eliminate corruption. </p>
<p>Each country has to produce <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/blog/category/country-action-plans-updates">action plans</a>, in collaboration with civil society. These plans contain commitments to advancing access to government information, civic participation and public accountability. This can also include a technology and innovation component (e-government). </p>
<p>Individual country commitments to the partnership are internationally <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/awards">bench-marked</a> and evaluated annually by independent <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/irm/about-irm">country researchers</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/south-africa">South Africa’s</a> case, a recent <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/south-africa/irm">assessment</a> showed that the partnership still plays only a peripheral role in national policy making.</p>
<h2>The fight against corruption</h2>
<p>Tackling corruption is especially pertinent in the developing world. Many of the countries are too poor to absorb the damaging effects of corruption. This is particularly true in South America and sub-Saharan Africa. </p>
<p>The two regions also have high levels of inequality. South Africa, in particular, is among the most <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI/countries?display=map">unequal</a> in the world.</p>
<p>Social and economic upward mobility in these countries is often significantly curtailed. This is primarily, but not exclusively, because of a host of historical, physical and institutional weaknesses. These impose significant transaction costs on already marginalised <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld">societies</a>.</p>
<p>One of these is high levels of corruption, which diverts scarce resources from areas of critical need, perpetuating the <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.178.8184&rep=rep1&type=pdf">inequality trap</a>. </p>
<p>The partnership can play an important part by increasing levels of trust among citizens and accountability in government. An important way this can happen is by opening up government to citizens. </p>
<p>Tunisia won a partnership award for its innovative <a href="https://www.opengovawards.org/2015results">e-procurement</a> system that tackles public sector corruption. The system provides real time public procurement information to the public. It lists the number of tenders, tender results and how the funds will be allocated.</p>
<p>An increasingly popular commitment involves countries signing up to the Extractive Industries Transparency <a href="https://eiti.org/document/standard">Initiative</a>. This is a voluntary multilateral initiative aimed at instilling transparency and accountability to avoid the risk of corruption and bad <a href="http://blog-imfdirect.imf.org/2012/05/16/escaping-the-resource-curse/">governance </a>. </p>
<p>It is especially relevant in Africa. Factional <a href="http://www.cfr.org/africa-sub-saharan/beating-resource-curse-africa-global-effort/p28780">interests</a> often hijack countries’ natural resource wealth, at the expense of national interest and development.</p>
<h2>(Un)accountability of office</h2>
<p>Another challenge is democratic consolidation following political transition. Many former liberation movements struggle with the <a href="http://www.african.cam.ac.uk/images/files/Brenthurstpaper201208FromLiberationMovementtoGovernment2.pdf">transition </a>into modern democratic governments. And they are often unwilling to cede power as political office and privilege are intertwined. </p>
<p>For example, political leaders such Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni have <a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-old-mens-club-out-of-touch-with-continents-suave-burgeoning-youth-48618">clung to power </a> for too long. In Burundi, President Pierre Nkurunziza has <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32490645">extended</a> his time in office despite widespread discontent. His actions have brought the country to the brink of civil war. </p>
<p>In South Africa, after 21 years of freedom, questions are being asked about the scope and quality of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14742837.2013.820904">democracy</a>. The recent overarching recommendation for the partnership’s <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/south-africa/irm">action plan </a> for the country highlighted the need for a greater commitment to public accountability. It also called for consequences for errant public officials and elected officials. </p>
<p>In particular, the assessment recommended that South Africa’s office of the Public Protector be <a href="http://www.nylslawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2014/11/Malunga.pdf">adequately funded</a>. The office should also not be <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Dont-muzzle-public-protector-watchdog-SCA-20151008">hindered </a> in any way in carrying out its mandate.</p>
<p>It is hoped that as head of the partnership, South Africa will play an increasingly important role in addressing common governance challenges on the continent. This is where the peer learning aspect presents a significant opportunity. Countries can share innovative ideas and good practice.</p>
<p>In a world that is becoming increasingly interconnected, the partnership can serve as an important and useful <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/blog/blog-editor/2015/10/21/ogp-webinars-enabling-ogp%E2%80%99s-race-top">shared source</a> and policy development platform. It could also play a <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/blog/open-government-partnership/2015/09/27/press-release-open-government-partnership-declaration">key role</a> in developing policies to address the new <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld">sustainable development goals</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51264/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Filitz consults for the Open Government Partnership's Independent Reporting Mechanism. </span></em></p>The Open Government Partnership promotes transparency, public accountability and civic participation in government to combat corruption. It is hoped South Africa will help it grow in Africa.John Filitz, Wits City Institute Research Fellow , University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/305502014-08-18T11:42:50Z2014-08-18T11:42:50ZGeotagging reveals Wikipedia is not quite so equal after all<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56621/original/gv5wznxk-1408115528.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some slices are bigger than others.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/j0nastwentyx/5449053803/in/photolist-5gu3CE-51Nj85-9WajR8-LLfCf-852tEa-6m8YWJ-31tsP1-4dLkvw-cuQaoG-beZ9g6-yi7Sw-3waVyU-mDoHt-3o1EHW-3bc3cS-cSRYX-anzh1U-5YydaL-9dyWm-2cfJj-4PRJaK-deyipd-9etvFo-beDJLa-emyRJ5-emyS2A-emySeE-emyRrw-9ivPRv-9ivPQV-4jT2Ky-7ygK22-Bei5-9Ue2Yv-5JT6fD-deyhVW-deyjCi-deyjze-9bF17i-8X7mU2-beKQ9R-556VjE-61g9rS-8GBnx4-9etyij-uPPKX-beQx6g-2D8px-5FiDht-bNwcF2">jzawdubya</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wikipedia is often seen as a great equaliser. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people collaborate on a seemingly endless range of topics by writing, editing and discussing articles, and uploading images and video content. But it’s starting to look like global coverage on Wikipedia is <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2382617">far from equal</a>. This now ubiquitous source of information offers everything you could want to know about the US and Europe but far less about any other parts of the world.</p>
<p>This structural openness of Wikipedia is one of its biggest strengths. Academic and activist <a href="http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs/pc2/visionaries/lessig.pdf">Lawrence Lessig</a> even describes the online encyclopedia as “a technology to equalise the opportunity that people have to access and participate in the construction of knowledge and culture, regardless of their geographic placing”. </p>
<p>But despite Wikipedia’s openness, there are fears that the platform is simply reproducing the most established worldviews. Knowledge created in the developed world appears to be <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2448222">growing at the expense of viewpoints coming from developing countries</a>. Indeed, there are indications that global coverage in the encyclopedia is far from “equal”, with some parts of the world heavily represented on the platform, and others largely left out.</p>
<p>For a start, if you look at articles published about specific places such as monuments, buildings, festivals, battlefields, countries, or mountains, the imbalance is striking. Europe and North America account for a staggering 84% of these “geotagged” articles. Almost all of Africa is poorly represented in the encyclopedia, too. In fact, there are more Wikipedia articles written about Antarctica (14,959) than any country in Africa. And while there are just over 94,000 geotagged articles related to Japan, there are only 88,342 on the entire Middle East and North Africa region.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56555/original/9hg6z3nn-1408040720.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56555/original/9hg6z3nn-1408040720.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56555/original/9hg6z3nn-1408040720.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56555/original/9hg6z3nn-1408040720.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56555/original/9hg6z3nn-1408040720.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56555/original/9hg6z3nn-1408040720.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56555/original/9hg6z3nn-1408040720.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56555/original/9hg6z3nn-1408040720.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Total number of geotagged Wikipedia articles across 44 surveyed languages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graham, M., Hogan, B., Straumann, R. K., and Medhat, A. 2014. Uneven Geographies of User-Generated Information: Patterns of Increasing Informational Poverty. Annals of the Association of American Geographers (forthcoming).</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When you think of the spread in terms of the way the world’s population is spread, the picture is equally startling. Even though 60% of the world’s population is concentrated in Asia, less than 10% of Wikipedia articles relate to the region. The same is true in reverse for Europe, which is home to around 10% of the world’s population but accounts for nearly 60% of geotagged Wikipedia articles.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56556/original/vfvc47ph-1408040896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56556/original/vfvc47ph-1408040896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56556/original/vfvc47ph-1408040896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56556/original/vfvc47ph-1408040896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56556/original/vfvc47ph-1408040896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56556/original/vfvc47ph-1408040896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56556/original/vfvc47ph-1408040896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56556/original/vfvc47ph-1408040896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Number of regional geotagged articles and population.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graham, M., S. Hale & M. Stephens. 2011. Geographies of the World's Knowledge. Convoco! Edition.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is an imbalance in the languages used on Wikipedia too. Most articles written about European and East Asian countries are written in their dominant languages. Articles about the Czech Republic, for example, are mostly written in Czech. But for much of the Global South we see a dominance of articles written in English. English dominates across much of Africa and the Middle East and even parts of South and Central America.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56622/original/84558g59-1408117223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56622/original/84558g59-1408117223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56622/original/84558g59-1408117223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56622/original/84558g59-1408117223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56622/original/84558g59-1408117223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56622/original/84558g59-1408117223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56622/original/84558g59-1408117223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56622/original/84558g59-1408117223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dominant language of Wikipedia articles (by country).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graham, M., Hogan, B., Straumann, R. K., and Medhat, A. 2014. Uneven Geographies of User-Generated Information: Patterns of Increasing Informational Poverty. Annals of the Association of American Geographers (forthcoming).</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There more Wikipedia articles in English than Arabic about almost every Arabic speaking country in the Middle East. And there are more English articles about North Korea than there are Arabic articles about either Saudi Arabia, Libya, or the United Arab Emirates. In total, there are more than 928,000 geotagged articles written in English, but only 3.23% of them are about Africa and 1.67% are about the Middle East and North Africa. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56619/original/kvd95xt2-1408114024.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56619/original/kvd95xt2-1408114024.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56619/original/kvd95xt2-1408114024.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56619/original/kvd95xt2-1408114024.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56619/original/kvd95xt2-1408114024.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56619/original/kvd95xt2-1408114024.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56619/original/kvd95xt2-1408114024.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56619/original/kvd95xt2-1408114024.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Number of geotagged articles in the English Wikipedia by country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graham, M., Hogan, B., Straumann, R. K., and Medhat, A. 2014. Uneven Geographies of User-Generated Information: Patterns of Increasing Informational Poverty. Annals of the Association of American Geographers (forthcoming).</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All this matters because fundamentally different narratives can be, and are, created about places and topics in different languages.</p>
<h2>Beyond English</h2>
<p>Even on the Arabic Wikipedia, there are geographical imbalances. There are a relatively high number of articles about Algeria and Syria, as well as about the US, Italy, Spain, Russia and Greece but substantially fewer about a number of Arabic speaking countries, including Egypt, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. Indeed, there are only 433 geotagged articles about Egypt on the Arabic Wikipedia, but 2,428 about Italy and 1,988 about Spain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56558/original/wbs4zpfr-1408043390.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56558/original/wbs4zpfr-1408043390.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56558/original/wbs4zpfr-1408043390.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56558/original/wbs4zpfr-1408043390.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56558/original/wbs4zpfr-1408043390.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56558/original/wbs4zpfr-1408043390.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56558/original/wbs4zpfr-1408043390.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56558/original/wbs4zpfr-1408043390.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Total number of geotagged articles in the Arabic Wikipedia by country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graham, M., Hogan, B., Straumann, R. K., and Medhat, A. 2014. Uneven Geographies of User-Generated Information: Patterns of Increasing Informational Poverty. Annals of the Association of American Geographers (forthcoming).</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By mapping the geography of Wikipedia articles in both global and regional languages, we can begin to examine <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2427629">the layers of representation that “augment” the world we live in</a>. Some parts of the world, including the Middle East, are massively underrepresented – not just in major world languages, but their own. We like to think of Wikipedia as an opportunity for anyone, anywhere to contribute information about our world but that doesn’t seem to be happening in practice. Wikipedia might not just be reflecting the world, but also reproducing new, uneven, geographies of information.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Graham has received research funding from the ESRC, IDRC, ERC, and the British Academy. </span></em></p>Wikipedia is often seen as a great equaliser. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people collaborate on a seemingly endless range of topics by writing, editing and discussing articles, and uploading images…Mark Graham, Associate Professor, Oxford Internet Institute, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215912014-01-02T14:28:55Z2014-01-02T14:28:55ZOpen science to fight big threats like the nuclear bomb<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38029/original/s3zcn7qf-1387287381.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C58%2C1800%2C1156&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If only people had heeded his words then.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Niels Bohr Archive</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1943, when Niels Bohr, one of 20th century’s greatest scientists, was briefed on the Anglo-American nuclear weapons project, he was worried about the political consequences more than the scientific challenges. While he contributed to developing the bomb, Bohr made diplomatic approaches to the US and the UK to try to persuade Western statesmen to inform their Russian allies about the new weapon. After the war, his continued efforts culminated in an <a href="http://www.nba.nbi.dk/files/gym/leth.htm">open letter</a> to the United Nations in 1950. </p>
<p>Bohr realised immediately how a nuclear arms race with competing, secret research environments and fear of new technological breakthroughs would come to shape relations between the great powers. He believed that openness could eliminate the fear that would fuel an arms race and simultaneously through international cooperation provide technologies that solve world’s problems. </p>
<p>Social science research into nuclear strategy proves Bohr was right. He argued that the atomic bomb would make a dramatic difference, and he warned that nuclear weapons would fundamentally transform the nature of warfare and relations between superpowers. That this was not obvious at the time is illustrated by the response of a politician with an unusual interest in the history of warfare, Winston Churchill, who rejected Bohr, stating that the atomic bomb was “just a bigger bomb” and made “no difference to the principles of war”.</p>
<p>We must adopt Bohr’s approach today. Breakthroughs in science and technology are sometimes so radical in nature that our habitual ways of organising important social issues are inadequate, and entirely new principles and procedures must be devised.</p>
<p>To follow this approach, basic science researchers need to work on predicting where fundamental changes can occur. With social scientists, they must be involved in thinking through how these changes are likely to affect society. Today, just like in Bohr’s time, there are relevant military examples such as space weapons, autonomous drones and cyber war. But now we need to look also at non-military developments, such as energy and climate technologies, medicines for global health and bioethics.</p>
<p>As part of the 2013 centennnial of Bohr’s theory of the atom a recent <a href="http://bohr-conference2013.ku.dk/">conference</a> in Copenhagen took a major stab at updating this – a principled and open-minded look at emerging science and technology across a wide range of fields. </p>
<h2>Not utopian any more</h2>
<p>Openness is more important than ever, but it is a principle with both opportunities and limitations. Because ideas and knowledge are at the core of many of the greatest challenges we face today, it is crucial to be aware of how the free movement of ideas is restricted, promoted and shaped. Who gets access to what information? Who regulates this access? Can a principle be formulated that can serve as a guide?</p>
<p>Bohr proposed openness as an almost utopian idea – today it can be a reality. With the internet and smartphones, data and ideas flow across borders, and cooperation in research, innovation and activism happens on a scale that confirms Bohr’s idea that technological possibilities are expolited best with openness. The international research centre CERN in Switzerland, where the world wide web was born, is a good example, where fundamental research is shared by thousands of scientists in many countries, all at the same time. </p>
<p>This technologically aided scale of openness can not be taken for granted. The future of the internet is being shaped by decisions in many areas – legal rulings on intellectual property rights, economic strategies decided by giant internet corporations, attempts by some governments to control communication, technical design of protocols, and international struggles over regulation of domains and addresses.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/nsa-leaks">extent of the reach</a> that British and American intelligence services have on cyberspace has intensified struggles that threaten to roll back global openness. That is why, at the recent <a href="http://bohr-conference2013.ku.dk/">conference</a> in Copenhagen, we had a comprehensive session with the participation of, among others, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Caspar Bowden, former chief privacy advisor for Microsoft, about how the openness of the internet can be defended and expanded.</p>
<p>While eight US computer and internet giants have signed a joint <a href="http://reformgovernmentsurveillance.com/">statement</a> calling for restrictions on mass surveillance, their initiative does not address the trump card called “state security”, which currently threatens to dominate the internet. To just say “hands-off” and hope to get back to status-quo ante-NSA is slightly naive. Cyber security has risen on the security agenda of all states, and without a strategy for moving forward to a system where security is ensured in an open format that defuses competitive cyberarms races, the internet may not be able to breakout of increasing control by state security. The situation has striking parallels to the nuclear revolution, and Niels Bohr’s analysis and recommendations offers a missing element in relation to the current debate on the internet and surveillance. </p>
<h2>You can help</h2>
<p>We need to do get three things right. First, the challenge of identifying qualitatively new science and technology which call for political adjustments. Second, the principle of openness and its utility for defusing dangers and maximising positive use of the new possibilities. Third, finding the best means of communicating this to wider world.</p>
<p>Bohr chose the approach of direct and personal contact with the world’s most powerful leaders. Later he made a personal appeal to the United Nations in his own name. This is not an option for individual researchers today. Most obviously in the area of climate change, an organised system for condensing scientific results for the political system has been devised in the form of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/ipcc">IPCC</a>. The panel has played a crucial but also controversial role. Multiplying this model to all other relevant fields would both create a confusing cacophony, and would still be limited to fields that are already recognised as relevant, not suitable for spotting new problems. It is a major challenge to design institutions and procedures for interaction between science and policy.</p>
<p>We don’t have a <a href="http://news.ku.dk/all_news/2013/2013.12/conference_speakers_international_think_tank_needed_to_identify_techno_social_turning_points/">perfect answer</a>, but in an open letter like Bohr’s we identified turning points and presented principles for the extension of openness. We <a href="http://theopenopenletter.org/">launched an open letter</a>, to which everyone can contribute. When the message is consolidated, we hope that leaders of the world will this time be open to trying Bohr’s ideas set in the modern context. The success of the open movement, be it Wikipedia, open source software or open access to scholarly knowledge, has shown that it is time that threats to world security are discussed openly too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/21591/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ole Wæver does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In 1943, when Niels Bohr, one of 20th century’s greatest scientists, was briefed on the Anglo-American nuclear weapons project, he was worried about the political consequences more than the scientific…Ole Wæver, Professor of International Relations, University of CopenhagenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.