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Is Open Access good?
Published in John Measey, How to Publish in Biological Sciences, 2023
A wicked problem is one that is not only complex, but lacks clarity (with respect to solutions) or a way to scientifically test and study it. According to Rittel and Webber (1973), there are ten important characteristics, all of which are met by the ongoing situation in academic publishing. There are multiple stakeholders in our wicked problem, and they include our employers, our funders (political and societal), our peers as well as the gatekeepers and societies that police the system. It is up to you to be aware of the options and become part of a solution that benefits science.
Science Communication and Viruses
Published in Patricia G. Melloy, Viruses and Society, 2023
Skepticism is often fueled by mistrust in science within a community. Even major scientific discoveries might still be mistrusted by groups within a community. When interacting with the public, scientists may meet skepticism if they are seen as being susceptible to external influences such as political or economic factors. A scientist may think he or she is simply transmitting knowledge, but his or her motives may be questioned if scientists are perceived to be nonobjective by the audience (Koster and Kupper 2020). Not all scientific ideas or issues are equally embraced or rejected because of skepticism by the public. Certain ideas can become “wicked problems” if the idea taps into an area with many opposing viewpoints within the society, such as how to end a pandemic, at the same time being a high-stake evolving topic that urgently needs to be addressed by a society (Verhoeff and Kupper 2020). Wicked problems also may not have one straightforward solution and involve such new science that scientists cannot provide all the answers, and ethicists are pushed to limit of what can be debated and studied within existing societal frameworks (Akin and Landrum 2017).
Engaging dissensus
Published in Kathy Knox, Krzysztof Kubacki, Sharyn Rundle-Thiele, Stakeholder Involvement in Social Marketing, 2020
Marie-Louise Fry, Linda Brennan, Josephine Previte
Undertaking to solve wicked problems is to embrace social complexity which requires new understandings across all relevant stakeholders and influencers to be included in solution decision-making, whether they are key players or peripherally involved (Conklin, 2006). It is not whether the team comes up with the right answer, but whose buy-in they have, and which perspectives are at the table that really matters. Thus, without including all key stakeholders in the decision-making process, solution opportunities remain biased in favour of a specific solution agenda, and importantly unchallenged, by not engaging a dialogue inclusive of all potential parties associated with the wicked social issue. Worse, a lack of inclusion in decision-making ensures that parties can become antagonistic to each other, conducting the equivalent of social warfare where mutually exclusive solutions become more and more impossible to achieve.
Rethinking Suicide
Published in Psychiatry, 2023
Throughout his book, Dr. Bryan asks us to consider two specific perspectives on suicide that challenge two prior beliefs; two areas where we would benefit from becoming productively stupid. The first belief is the idea that all suicide is related to mental illness, with the corollary that mental health treatment is the solution to suicide. Dr. Bryan by no means denies that mental illness is one important pathway to death by suicide, and he clearly values mental health treatment as important for many individuals. However, he asks us to recognize suicide as a wicked problem. A wicked problem is a specific term referring to a highly complex problem with multiple factors that interact with and change each other. Because of this, there is not one clear cause that leads to a particular problematic outcome. Similarly, there is not one right solution that will prevent that outcome. Rather there are a multiplicity of factors that contribute to the problem, and a multiplicity of solutions that can mitigate the problem. At any given time, any one solution might be more helpful than another depending on the specific circumstances in which the solution is applied. Examples of wicked problems in our current society include climate change, poverty, the opioid epidemic, and many others; problems that we struggle with because of their complex and ever-changing nature. In defining suicide as wicked problem, Dr. Bryan opens the door to recognizing that multiple pathways in life and multiple combinations of factors might lead someone to die from suicide.
Applying activity theory to undergraduate medical curriculum reform: Lessons in contradictions from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives
Published in Medical Teacher, 2022
Marcus Law, Paula Veinot, Maria Mylopoulos, Pier Bryden, Ryan Brydges
The heterogeneity of how organizational change unfolds is matched by the heterogeneity in the research methods and conceptual frameworks used to study that change. Methodologically, researchers have studied organizational change from the administrative, top-down perspective of change leaders, often considering others in a learning system as resistant to change (Schirmer and Geithner 2018). Shifting participant sampling from this duality (i.e. leader or ‘other’) toward a plurality of voices may yield insights that clarify the mechanisms of curricular reform (Burgess 2004; Mennin 2010). Indeed, capturing multiple stakeholder voices may enhance understanding of the tensions that arise when groups negotiate such change (Hawick et al. 2017). Conceptually, one framework for analyzing such tensions refers to them as ‘wicked problems’ that arise when multiple stakeholders operate across diverse social situations and experience uncertainty when defining and managing processes and outcomes (Raisio 2009). Many analyses of wicked problems, including one in medical school curricular reform (Hawick et al. 2017), suggest that a systems lens be adopted to identify links between social and cultural factors and the unpredictable outcomes to which they link. To address these methodological and conceptual gaps in studies of curricular reform, we adopted an activity theory lens, as per studies of change management in business (Schirmer and Geithner 2018), cultural innovation (Bourke and McGee 2012), education development (Hirsh and Segolsson 2019), and undergraduate medical education (Reid et al. 2015).
A Systemic Approach to the Oversight of Machine Learning Clinical Translation
Published in The American Journal of Bioethics, 2022
Effy Vayena, Alessandro Blasimme
A wicked problem in the clinical translation of ML is that controlling for these AI-specific challenges does not typically fall within the remit of regulatory agencies, which are focused on ensuring the safety and effectiveness of medical devices, software, and drugs before they receive market authorization. The US Food and Drug Administration, for instance, is adapting its oversight practices to the validation of ML systems. In collaboration with the UK Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the agency has also developed Good Machine Learning Practices intended to address issues such as data representativeness, human-AI interaction, and evidence generation in clinically relevant conditions (US Food and Drug Administration 2021). Specific guidance in this area can foster responsible innovation for small players like startups, as well as big tech and pharma companies. Although these regulatory moves signal the increasing importance of the issue, the exact procedural implementation is still to be determined.