|
Abstract:
|
The disciplines of informatics and information visualization have developed in response to societal needs to find new insight in complex datasets and have been enabled by technological advancements . Joint application of these fields can demonstrate themes and connections that are otherwise not apparent . Methodological approaches , such as direct network analysis , can be applied to policy documents to determine if action or policy recommendations match the goals or objectives stated in the within the same documents . Informatics and information visualization can also be used to analyze changes of themes found within the documents over time . This paper seeks to leverage informatics and information visualization methodologies as a novel approach to policy analysis . In particular , directed network and time burst techniques are used to analyze water management policy documents for the State of Texas . The congruency between the stated goals or objectives and recommendations sections is evaluated at a topical level within each planning document and possible changes in important water policy concepts over time are highlighted by comparing among multiple planning documents . Although there limitations to the process at the time of publication due to the newness of the software utilized , this paper demonstrates that the products still lead to unique and insightful conclusions . |