Public interest

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In social science and economics, public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. [1] While it has earlier philosophical roots and is considered to be at the core of democratic theories of government, often paired with two other concepts, convenience and necessity, it first became explicitly integrated into governance instruments in the early part of the 20th century. The public interest was rapidly adopted and popularised by human rights lawyers in the 1960s and has since been incorporated into other fields such as journalism and technology.

Contents

Overview

Economist Lok Sang Ho, in his Public Policy and the Public Interest, [2] argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore, defines the public interest as the " ex ante welfare of the representative individual". [3] Under a thought experiment, by assuming that there is an equal chance for one to be anyone in society and, thus, could benefit or suffer from a change, the public interest is by definition enhanced whenever that change is preferred to the status quo ex ante. This approach is "ex ante", in the sense that the change is not evaluated after the fact but assessed before the fact without knowing whether one would actually benefit or suffer from it.

This approach follows the "veil of ignorance" approach, which was first proposed by John Harsanyi but popularized by John Rawls in his 1971 Theory of Justice. [4] Historically, however, the approach can be traced to John Stuart Mill, who, in his letter to George Grote, explained that "human happiness, even one's own, is in general more successfully pursued by acting on general rules, than by measuring the consequences of each act; and this is still more the case with the general happiness, since any other plan would not only leave everybody uncertain what to expect, but would involve perpetual quarrelling..." [5]

This approach is attractive because only under impartiality can there be the possibility of consensus. This of course is still conditional: i.e., conditional on everybody doing the same thought experiment as Rawls suggested. Other than this, if everybody considers his own private interests from his point of view, then social welfare will have to be defined in an ex post fashion by summing up or otherwise defined over individually rated welfares or social states that would come about because of different social choices. This is the approach of social welfare functions. Whether these functions are based on individually ranked social states or individual cardinal uitilities, the absence of consensus over social welfare functions is unavoidable.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales argues that applying a detailed definition is likely to result in unintended consequences, in Acting in the Public Interest(2012). Instead, each circumstance needs to be assessed based on criteria such as the relevant public, wants, and constraints. The key to assessing any public interest decision is transparency of the decision-making process, including balancing competing interests.

The need to consider the circumstances carefully in all dimensions is well taken, as is the need for transparency of the standards and procedures for policy making. It needs to be noted that in practice adversarial politics means that "balancing competing interests" amounts to politicians navigating through the web of divergent interests to procure their best political interests. The outcome will be a contest of political clout among different competing interests. Whether this promotes the public interest remains controversial.

Governments

US

Public interest has been considered as the core of "democratic theories of government” and often paired with two other concepts, "convenience" and "necessity". [6] in the United States, public interest, convenience and necessity appeared for the first time in the Transportation Act of 1920 and also appeared in the Radio Act of 1927. After that, these three concepts became critical criteria for making communication policies and solving some related disputes.

India

Indian constitution invokes the term "public interest" at nine places in its Articles 22 (6), 31A (b) and 31A (c) of fundamental rights of people, 263, 302, Entries 52, 54 and 56 of union list and Entry 33 of the concurrent list. Article 282 says the revenues of the Union or a State may be spent for public purposes. When a scheme or project is taken up under public interest by the Union instead of a State, such scheme should be a popular demand of the nationwide public without any opposition from the directly affected stakeholders before the implementation of such scheme. Otherwise, it becomes a public purpose scheme that would serve greater part of society but some would suffer from the implementation of such scheme. In the absence of interpretation (Dos and don'ts) of the term "public interest" by the courts in India, these Articles are being misused by the union lawmakers to usurp the constitutional powers of the state governments and the rights of people in contrast to the meaning of "public interest". [7] To legally establish a scheme or project to be taken under public interest or national interest, the proposal can be passed by the Rajya Sabha with a two-thirds majority in its favor per Article 249.

A number of academic fields engage in activities that are connected to and support the goals of the public interest.

Engineering

Public interest engineering is centered around the development of human and environmentally sustainable structures and system. Public interest design focuses on collaborative efforts to incorporate the public good in designing products, structures, and systems. The Code of Ethics for Engineers from the National Society of Professional Engineers states "Engineers shall at all times strive to serve the public interest." [8]

Government

e-Government (also known as digital government or open government) is the use of digital technologies to provide important governmental services to people and communities. [9] The U.S. federal government has multiple initiatives involving using technology to support public interest and improved government. [10] The United States Digital Service offers technology support to agencies of the federal government. The U.S. Digital Corps offers internships designed to help build a federal government workforce skilled in using technology to address local, state, national, and global needs. [11] TechCongress places individuals with technology skills and backgrounds as technology policy advisers to Members of Congress. The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act, passed in 2018, aims to improve how the public interacts with information on federal government websites. [12] Open government resources [13] are available from the federal government's Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the Office of Inspector General.

History

Public history is an area in the field of history where professional and non-professional researchers seek to provide historical information to people and communities. Technology provides public historians with multiple ways to conduct and share their research. The New England Journal of History, [14] an online publication housed at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts, has an entire section designed to publish the work of community members who use video cameras to record history in their backyards. [14]

Journalism

Public interest journalism involves researching and reporting on issues of interest and relevance to people and communities. [15] According to the Charitable Journalism Project, it is "journalism that serves the interests of the public." [16] The Public Interest Journalism Initiative, established in Melbourne, Australia and in partnership with the University of Melbourne, is a news and public policy organization. [17]

In 2023, The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, in partnership with the Rita Allen Foundation announced plans to fund cross-field civic science journalism collaborations intended to build awareness of civic science issues and potential solutions. [18]

Public interest journalism is not present as a concept in all societies, but is growing in use - though between societies where the term is used, definitions vary. [19]

Law

Public interest law is rooted in the commitment that members of the legal profession have to being an advocate for all members of society, especially those who lack the financial resources to advocate for themselves in the legal and justice system. Free legal aid for those who cannot afford representation is a well-known form of public interest law in the United States. Prior to the existence of public interest law, the legal needs and advocacy for disadvantaged or vulnerable populations could only be served only through legal aid organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)'s Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). The efforts of philanthropic entities like the Ford Foundation facilitated the development of field-building publications, the establishment of public interest law organizations and support for educational and professional development opportunities. [20] The impact of these efforts led to the legal aid clinic programs at Harvard University led by law professor Jeanne Charn and at UC Berkeley School of Law legal clinics led by law professor Jeffrey Selbin as well as the founding of the Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility. [21] [22] [23]

Science

Citizen science involves efforts by everyday, non-professional community members to contribute to and support the development of scientific information in a variety of fields. Eclipse Soundscapes, a NASA-funded citizen science project, is designed to involve non-scientists in the study of how eclipses affect people and environments. [24] Another example of citizen science that involves using technology for the public interest: the Great Backyard Bird Count initiative, which was started in 1998, encourages volunteers to observe birds in their communities and log their findings into the eBird database, begins its 25th year today. Around 385,000 people from 192 countries participated in the four-day program in 2022, and the data is used by researchers to track bird species and direct conservation efforts. [25]

Technology

Public interest technology (PIT) shares origins with the field of science, technology, and society (STS), which according to Stanford University, started before World War II and was formalized in the 1980s [26] and combines history, anthropology, sociology, economics, ethics, and other approaches to the relations between social contexts and the practices of science and engineering. Much like STS, public interest technology uses an interdisciplinary frame to posit questions about tech designed in service of the public interest emphasizing the importance of co-design and community engagement. The evolution of STS into public interest technology was in part due to what was parceived as still insufficient public engagement during the STS era, as evidenced in, for example, codes of ethics. [27] PIT promotes "the development and realization of socially responsible solutions to the challenges in a technology-driven world." [28] It has been characterized as people-centered problem solving. PIT emerged as a field of academic research and action in higher education in 2019 with the establishment of the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) by New America.

See also

Further reading

Warnick, B. Critical Literacy in a Digital Era: Technology, Rhetoric and the Public Interest. 2008. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. ISBN 1-4106-0383-0.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public relations</span> Management of public communication of organizations

Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization to the public in order to influence their perception. Public relations and publicity differ in that PR is controlled internally, whereas publicity is not controlled and contributed by external parties. Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment. The exposure is mostly media-based, and this differentiates it from advertising as a form of marketing communications. Public relations aims to create or obtain coverage for clients for free, also known as earned media, rather than paying for marketing or advertising also known as paid media. But in the early 21st century, advertising is also a part of broader PR activities.

A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations in which the personal interest of an individual or organization might adversely affect a duty owed to make decisions for the benefit of a third party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of academic disciplines</span> Academic fields of study or professions

An academic discipline or field of study is a branch of knowledge, taught and researched as part of higher education. A scholar's discipline is commonly defined by the university faculties and learned societies to which they belong and the academic journals in which they publish research.

In philosophy, economics, and political science, the common good is either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by citizenship, collective action, and active participation in the realm of politics and public service. The concept of the common good differs significantly among philosophical doctrines. Early conceptions of the common good were set out by Ancient Greek philosophers, including Aristotle and Plato. One understanding of the common good rooted in Aristotle's philosophy remains in common usage today, referring to what one contemporary scholar calls the "good proper to, and attainable only by, the community, yet individually shared by its members."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science and technology studies</span> Academic field

Science and technology studies (STS) or science, technology, and society is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their historical, cultural, and social contexts.

Economic interventionism, sometimes also called state interventionism, is an economic policy position favouring government intervention in the market process with the intention of correcting market failures and promoting the general welfare of the people. An economic intervention is an action taken by a government or international institution in a market economy in an effort to impact the economy beyond the basic regulation of fraud, enforcement of contracts, and provision of public goods and services. Economic intervention can be aimed at a variety of political or economic objectives, such as promoting economic growth, increasing employment, raising wages, raising or reducing prices, promoting income equality, managing the money supply and interest rates, increasing profits, or addressing market failures.

The ethics of technology is a sub-field of ethics addressing the ethical questions specific to the Technology Age, the transitional shift in society wherein personal computers and subsequent devices provide for the quick and easy transfer of information. Technology ethics is the application of ethical thinking to the growing concerns of technology as new technologies continue to rise in prominence.

Journalistic ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and good practice applicable to journalists. This subset of media ethics is known as journalism's professional "code of ethics" and the "canons of journalism". The basic codes and canons commonly appear in statements by professional journalism associations and individual print, broadcast, and online news organizations.

Media ethics is the subdivision dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton ad campaigns.

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics is a department at Jesuit Santa Clara University. It was created by Manuel Velasquez, a faculty member in the School of Business, and funded by early Apple Inc. investor Mike Markkula and his wife, Linda Markkula.

Independent media refers to any media, such as television, newspapers, or Internet-based publications, that is free of influence by government or corporate interests. The term has varied applications.

Engineering ethics is the field of system of moral principles that apply to the practice of engineering. The field examines and sets the obligations by engineers to society, to their clients, and to the profession. As a scholarly discipline, it is closely related to subjects such as the philosophy of science, the philosophy of engineering, and the ethics of technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Information Society Project</span>

The Information Society Project (ISP) at Yale Law School is an intellectual center studying the implications of the Internet and new information technologies for law and society. The ISP was founded in 1997 by Jack Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School. Jack Balkin is the director of the ISP.

Content creation is the act of producing and sharing information or media content for specific audiences, particularly in digital contexts. According to Dictionary.com, content refers to "something that is to be expressed through some medium, as speech, writing or any of various arts" for self-expression, distribution, marketing and/or publication. Content creation encompasses various activities including maintaining and updating web sites, blogging, article writing, photography, videography, online commentary, social media accounts, and editing and distribution of digital media. In a survey conducted by Pew, content creation was defined as "the material people contribute to the online world."

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ethics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyberethics</span> Ethics of online activities

Cyberethics is "a branch of ethics concerned with behavior in an online environment". In another definition, it is the "exploration of the entire range of ethical and moral issues that arise in cyberspace" while cyberspace is understood to be "the electronic worlds made visible by the Internet." For years, various governments have enacted regulations while organizations have defined policies about cyberethics.

The Science Communication Observatory is a Special Research Centre attached to the Department of Communication of the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, set up in 1994. This centre is specialized in the study and analysis of the transmission of scientific, medical, environmental and technological knowledge to society. The journalist Vladimir de Semir, associated professor of Science Journalism at the Pompeu Fabra University, was the founder and is the current director of the centre. A multidisciplinary team of researchers coming from different backgrounds is working on various lines of research: science communication; popularization of sciences, risk and crisis communication; science communication and knowledge representation; journalism specialized in science and technology; scientific discourse analysis; health and medicine in the daily press; relationships between science journals and mass media; history of science communication; public understanding of science; gender and science in the mass media, promotion of scientific vocations, science museology, etc.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to politics and political science:

The regulation of artificial intelligence is the development of public sector policies and laws for promoting and regulating artificial intelligence (AI); it is therefore related to the broader regulation of algorithms. The regulatory and policy landscape for AI is an emerging issue in jurisdictions globally, including in the European Union and in supra-national bodies like the IEEE, OECD and others. Since 2016, a wave of AI ethics guidelines have been published in order to maintain social control over the technology. Regulation is considered necessary to both encourage AI and manage associated risks. In addition to regulation, AI-deploying organizations need to play a central role in creating and deploying trustworthy AI in line with the principles of trustworthy AI, and take accountability to mitigate the risks. Regulation of AI through mechanisms such as review boards can also be seen as social means to approach the AI control problem.

References

  1. ↑ "Definition of public interest | Dictionary.com". www.dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  2. ↑ Routledge, 2012 (first published in 2011).
  3. ↑ "Public Policy and the Public Interest: 1st Edition (Hardback) - Routledge". Routledge.com. Archived from the original on 2018-11-24. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  4. ↑ Rawls, John (1971) A Theory of Justice, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  5. ↑ Francis E. Mineka and Dwight N. Lindley (ed.), The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XIV - The Later Letters of John Stuart Mill 1849-1873 Part I, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972, Vol. XV, p. 762, 1862.
  6. ↑ Napoli, Philip M. (2001). Foundations of Communications Policy. Principles and Process in the Regulation of Electronic Media. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press
  7. ↑ "Who defines the public interest". 11 August 2017. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  8. ↑ "Code of Ethics | National Society of Professional Engineers". www.nspe.org. Archived from the original on 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  9. ↑ Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2023). "Open Government: Concept, Definitions and Implementation". OCED iLibrary. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Government IT Initiatives". www.gsa.gov. Archived from the original on 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  11. ↑ "U.S. Digital Corps". digitalcorps.gsa.gov. Archived from the original on 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  12. ↑ "Library of Congress". Archived from the original on 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  13. ↑ Office of Personnel Management. "Open Government". Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  14. 1 2 "THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF HISTORY". The New England Journal of History. Archived from the original on 2023-05-24. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  15. ↑ Carson, Andrea (14 June 2017). "Explainer: what is public interest journalism?". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  16. ↑ The Charitable Journalism Project (29 January 2020). "What is Public Interest Journalism?". Archived from the original on 20 February 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  17. ↑ "PIJI - Public Interest Journalism Initiative". piji.com.au/. Archived from the original on 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  18. ↑ "Center for Cooperative Media | Montclair State University". Center for Cooperative Media. Archived from the original on 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  19. ↑ https://publicinterest.media/
  20. ↑ Freedman Consulting (November 7, 2018). "Here to There: Lessons Learned from Public Interest Law" (PDF). tfreedmanconsulting.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 27, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  21. ↑ Simon, Clea. "Putting compassion into action". Harvard Law School. Archived from the original on 2023-02-25. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  22. ↑ "Social Justice and Public Interest". Berkeley Law. Archived from the original on 2023-02-25. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  23. ↑ Selbin, Jeffrey (November 15, 2021). "Jeffrey Selbin" (PDF). Berkeley Law Homepage. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  24. ↑ NASA (2023). "Eclipse Soundscapes". Archived from the original on February 21, 2023. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  25. ↑ "At 25, Backyard Bird Count shows power of citizen science". AP NEWS. 2023-02-15. Archived from the original on 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  26. ↑ "A Brief History of the Field | Program in Science, Technology & Society". sts.stanford.edu. Archived from the original on 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  27. ↑ Washington, Anne L.; Kuo, Rachel (2020). "Whose side are ethics codes on?: Power, responsibility and the social good". Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. pp. 230–240. doi:10.1145/3351095.3372844. ISBN   9781450369367. S2CID   210882664. Archived from the original on 2023-04-19. Retrieved 2023-04-19.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  28. ↑ "University of Massachusetts Amherst Announces New Certificate in Public Interest Technology – Public Interest Technology Initiative". Archived from the original on 2023-05-20. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
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