Open Norms Research Articles

Discourse ethics and the media

ABSTRACTThe theoretical framework of discourse ethics, as developed chiefly by Jürgen Habermas, has significant capacity to contribute to debates around media ethics. By rooting themselves in what are seen as fundamentals of human communication, discourse ethics establish a procedural, social account of ethics which can account for both universal proto-norms and historic and culturally contingent variations. This article explores the approach's fundamental ideas and applies them to the media, seen as an important arena for discourse in modern democracies. Fruitful applications include the development of a refined normative notion of the role of journalism as enabling discourse, which provides a basis for critique. It creates an explicit yardstick against which particular media institutions, practices, sectors and landscapes can be judged for the extent to which they support and enable ideal communication, understood to satisfy norms of inclusivity, openness and justice. In addition, the discourse ethical framework allows the derivation of particular norms for media behaviour, and more descriptively, creates an opportunity to understand debates around media ethics, viewed during the time of the political transition in South Africa as highly charged and politicised discourses seeking to redefine media norms.

MINERAL WATERS ACROSS THE CHANNEL: MATTER THEORY AND NATURAL HISTORY FROM SAMUEL DUCLOS'S MINERALLOGENESIS TO MARTIN LISTER'S CHYMICAL MAGNETISM, CA. 1666-86.

Our essay analyses a little-known book, Observations sur les eaux minerales des plusieurs provinces de France (1675), which is a study of French mineral waters, commissioned by and conducted at the French Royal Academy of Science (est. 1666). Its author, Samuel Cottereau Duclos (1598-1685), was a senior founding figure of the Academy, its chief chymist and one of its most influential members. We examine Observations with a focus on the changing attitudes towards chymical knowledge and practice in the French Academy and the Royal Society of London in the period 1666-84. Chymistry was a fundamental analytical tool for seventeenth-century natural historians, and, as the work of Lawrence Principe and William Newman has shown, it is central to understanding the 'long' Scientific Revolution. Much study has also been done on the developing norms of openness in the dissemination and presentation of scientific, and particularly chymical knowledge in the late seventeenth century, norms that were at odds with traditions of secrecy among individual chymists. Between these two standards a tension arose, evidenced by early modern 'vociferous criticisms' of chymical obscurity, with different strategies developed by individual philosophers for negotiating the emergent boundaries between secrecy and openness. Less well studied, however, are the strategies by which not just individuals but also scientific institutions negotiated these boundaries, particularly in the formative years of their public and political reputation in the late seventeenth century. Michael Hunter's recent and welcome study of the 'decline of magic' at the Royal Society has to some extent remedied these omissions. Hunter argues that the Society--as a corporate body--disregarded and avoided studies of magical and alchemical subjects in the late seventeenth century. Our examination problematizes these distinctions and presents a more complex picture.

Patient safety climate (PSC) perceptions of frontline staff in acute care hospitals

Increased awareness regarding the importance of patient safety issues has led to the proliferation of theoretical conceptualizations, frameworks, and articles that apply safety experiences from high-reliability industries to medical settings. However, empirical research on patient safety and patient safety climate in medical settings still lags far behind the theoretical literature on these topics. The broader organizational literature suggests that ease of reporting, unit norms of openness, and participative leadership might be important variables for improving patient safety. The aim of this empirical study is to examine in detail how these three variables influence frontline staff perceptions of patient safety climate within health care organizations. A cross-sectional study design was used. Data were collected using a questionnaire composed of previously validated scales. The results of the study show that ease of reporting, unit norms of openness, and participative leadership are positively related to staff perceptions of patient safety climate. Health care management needs to involve frontline staff during the development and implementation stages of an error reporting system to ensure staff perceive error reporting to be easy and efficient. Senior and supervisory leaders at health care organizations must be provided with learning opportunities to improve their participative leadership skills so they can better integrate frontline staff ideas and concerns while making safety-related decisions. Finally, health care management must ensure that frontline staff are able to freely communicate safety concerns without fear of being punished or ridiculed by others.

Frontiers of change and governance in contractual agreements: The possible role of exploitation - Uniting Reformed Church De Doorns v President of the Republic of South Africa 2013 5 SA 205 (WCC)

In the South African common law of contract there appears to be support for the open norm of public policy as a general clause to ameliorate the effects of unfair contracts and terms which are contrary to public policy. The courts have on several occasions held that contracts or terms would be regarded as contrary to public policy had they come about where the parties were in an unequal bargaining relationship and this inequality was linked with another factor(s). In this case note it is argued that the element of unequal bargaining position may be contrary to public policy if it is linked with exploitation as the other factor. The element of exploitation was highlighted in the recent court decision of Uniting Reformed Church, De Doorns v President of the Republic of South Africa 2013 5 SA 205 (WCC). In this case the applicant church owned three properties on which were three schools under the control of the State. The church and the State had concluded 20-year notarial leases in respect of each of the properties. A term in the contract provided that after the expiration of the lease period the church would transfer the properties to the State free of charge. After the expiration of the leases the State demanded the transfer of the properties. The church disputed the claim, averring that the term was unenforceable because the parties had been in an unequal bargaining position and that the enforcement of the term constituted expropriation in contravention of the property clause of the Constitution. It is submitted that expropriation without compensation is not only contrary to section 25 of the Constitution but constitutes exploitation. It is suggested that where exploitation results from an unequal bargaining relationship it provides the "further factor" that, together with the inequality in bargaining power, is sufficient to establish that the term or contract is in conflict with public policy. This contributes to giving meaning to the term "public policy". To support this argument, reference is made to the German Civil Code, the Swiss Civil Code, consumer protection legislation and the philosophy of Wertheimer.

The Chymistry of "The Learned Dr Plot" (1640-96).

In the seventeenth century, there were developing norms of openness in the presentation of scientific knowledge that were at odds with traditions of secrecy among chymists, particularly practitioners of chrysopoeia, or the transmutation of metals. This chapter analyzes how Dr. Robert Plot, the first professor of chymistry at Oxford, negotiated these boundaries within an institutional context. I first delineate his chymical and experimental practice, which incorporated procedures from medieval alchemical sources, particularly the Lullian corpus, as well as more novel practices from seventeenth-century chymistry. Then, I analyze how personal and institutional ambitions and economic considerations shaped to what extent Plot negotiated the boundaries between secrecy and the public dissemination of chymical knowledge.

Assessing Nature? The Genesis of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

On the basis of an analysis of the creation of an Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), our contribution addresses the progressive stabilisation of an institutional design for assessing Nature. Social science literature has widely promoted norms of transparency, openness and participation regarding the implementation of new forms of environmental governance. But so far, few researchers have focused on the way this disclosure model now concretely weighs down on real institutions and institutionalisation processes. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the way this requirement can combine with other requirements or older models of action. In the case of IPBES, our goal is to question how the requirements of participation and transparency are put into practice. We will highlight the role of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) in the institutionalisation process of IPBES and see how the disclosure model is combined with other requirements that simultaneously involve the re-creation of ‘enclosure’ (that is, the need for academic sound–science, or the usual way in which things are done at UNEP—that is, bureaucratic practices). Our work is based on an empirical study including documentation analysis (official reports available on websites) and interviews.

Open Norms and the Foundations of Employment Law: A Legal Examination of Hidden Patterns in Employment Relationships

Open Norms and the Foundations of Employment Law: A Legal Examination of Hidden Patterns in Employment Relationships

The BioBrick™ road

Matters of intellectual property (IP) have been a characteristic concern of synthetic biology since its very birth as ‘open-source biology’. Although questions of IP in synthetic biology have intensified in recent years, little scholarly attention has yet been paid to the details of how such novel IP issues were actually first discussed and developed. In this article, I argue that a renewed orientation to specific empirical detail, to the bumpy road of untidy micropolitical stories and their piecemeal contributions – to the messy details of history – is essential in properly understanding the present IP landscape of this most contemporary of efforts to engineer life. Rather than coming out of any direct desire to gain legal clarity, concern for IP initially emerged organically out of larger discussions about the intended nature of the synthetic biology research community and its norms of openness and sharing. The goal of making biology ‘easier to engineer’ through the production of standard biological parts (BioBricks) has raised a number of these concerns in sharpest form. The emergence and development of IP issues in synthetic biology is thus best understood in the context of the ecology of practices and debates that have characterized the field in recent years.

Activism relocated. The self-restraint of the European Court of Justice in its national context

Most cases involving EU law are decided in national courtrooms without a preliminary reference. The influence of the Court on these cases is often overstated by focusing on headline principles, such as mutual recognition and state liability. However, application of these principles in specific cases is often mediated by open norms such as proportionality, which allow much national court discretion. Whether national judges apply these open norms in a pro-integration way determines how far the broader principles directly impact on the national legal system, and on national regulators: these latter will condition their behaviour according to their expectations of the national judiciary, since these are the judges to which they are directly subject. The Court's role here is important, but limited. It enables and encourages pro-integration national judicial choices, but its case law does not compel them. Claims of activism need to be partly relocated from Luxembourg to national courts.

The Involvement of Ethnic Minority Communities in Education through the Arts: Intercultural Arts Education in Action

This study is based on my previous research which established that primary school children in the Kweneng West Sub District of Botswana, who are predominantly of BaSarwa and BaKgalagari ethnicity, show significantly poorer academic performance and display higher school dropout rates than the average learners in the country. The study is a pilot project conducted at a primary school in the village of Serinane in the Kweneng West Sub-district in Botswana. It aims at investigating the feasibility and efficacy of implementing 'Intercultural Arts Education' (ICAE) through a two-year project financed by the University of Botswana's Office of Research and Development. ICAE is an educational intervention designed by the researcher; it is based on the intercultural teaching of Creative and Performing Arts in collaboration with adult members of the community who represent the local 'ethnic minority' cultures. The study seeks to evaluate the impact of the introduction of ICAE on learners' attitudes towards school, cultural consciousness and academic performance and on teachers' attitudes towards their duties and the village community. The findings confirm that peoples of ethnic minority background are disadvantaged in the education system of Botswana due to cultural non-recognition. The study also reveals cultural misunderstandings between the stakeholders, namely teachers, pupils and community members with ethnic minority background. These misunderstandings have an additional negative impact on the education of children in Serinane. Nevertheless, the findings show that the stakeholders actually share a number of interests relating to the provision of education and that they believe they could benefit from collaborating in facilitating the process of teaching and learning. By observing increased learner participation during the research, and receiving positive evaluation from all stakeholders, the researcher concludes that ICAE has the potential to improve the quality of education in schools where pupils of ethnic minority background are enrolled. Introducing ICAE has proved to lead to more open and inclusive norms of discourse, lifting all involved to more powerful positions with an improved sense of self-worthiness. From the results of the study, the researcher gained the view that through striving for equality and mutual respect, ICAE provides a way to bridge the cultural gap between learners and the school, contributing towards the promotion of social justice and ontological security.

Towards an HIV-free generation: getting to zero or getting to rights?

We the authors of the following commentary, as women with HIV from around the world, have personal experience with the issues contained in this special edition of Reproductive Health Matters. We welcome the special edition, especially the language of its title, which explicitly establishes a norm of openness, possibility and positivity. We contend that the work of policy makers, practitioners, donors and academics needs to incorporate a human rights-based, holistic view of what pregnancy, motherhood and HIV mean for women and children alike, and our hope is that the articles in this publication will inform this work accordingly. We are extremely concerned about the overall policy direction the global response to HIV and

The (In)Flexibility of Techno-Regulation and the Case of Purpose-Binding

AbstractCurrent literature on techno-regulation the conscious deployment of technology to regulate people s behaviour briefly touches upon the issue of flexibility. On the one hand, it is suggested that technology-embedded rules tend to be rigid, whereas legal norms are flexible and open to interpretation. On the other hand, technology in principle allows for flexibility through open configurations and the plasticity of software, while law is relatively static. This article analyses the role of open norms and software plasticity in techno-regulation in order to shed more light on the (in)flexibility of techno-regulation. This is done through a case study of the legal norm of purpose-binding in data-protection legislation. The issue of flexibility and interpretation plays at the level of both the legal norm (purpose-binding in the Data Protection Directive) and its application in practice (defining purposes for concrete data processing). Regulating data protection with purpose-binding is...

Open Norms and the Psychological Dimension of Employment Relationships

Taking into account the incomplete and relational nature of employment contracts, this article examines to what extent so-called “open norms”, such as good faith or abuse of power, bear the potential to legally validate the legitimate expectations and psychological perceptions of the employee or the employer respectively in comparison to the formal a priori drafted rules that traditionally regulate the employment relationship. It assumes that, despite the possible criticism against the use of open-texture norms, these norms are better able to give effect to the dynamic reality of the employment relationship and its concealed interests in comparison to labour law's current concepts. A consideration of the grounds and extent of the employer's power to modify the terms of the contract of employment supports this assumption.

Islamic Home Finance in the Social Mirror

Shelter is one of the basic needs for human beings. Its availability for the people is an Islamic imperative. In view of the appalling living conditions of a substantial proportion of the population in most countries around the world, especially Muslim, Islamic banks have entered the field with various schemes for home financing. In this infant industry, this effort is understandably guided by the profit motive, but a social dimension has to surface in the course of time. Unfortunately, the models banks currently use for home financing remain under the juridical gaze, more so as the practice is not always found to be transparent. This paper looks at Islamic home financing models in a broader societal context. It evaluates the efficacy of the current financing structures practised and suggests a new approach. The proposed model is shown as superior to the existing ones. It meets the norms of equity, fair play and openness and does not, presumably, violate any other Islamic norm. Finally, the paper makes some policy suggestions to integrate Islamic home financing into the broader social goals of an Islamic economy.

Design of fast output sampling feedback controller for hyperthermia system via reduced order model

This paper describes the design, control and modelling of a fast output sampling feedback control technique for the hyperthermia system via reduced order model. A tumour layer surrounded by muscle layer is modelled in higher-order state space by solving bio heat transfer equation using finite difference method. The reduced model of the higher-order system is obtained using dominant eigenvalue retention and the Davison technique. A stabilising state feedback gain is obtained using aggregation technique from the reduced model. An output feedback gain which realises this state feedback gain is obtained using linear matrix inequality approach. The performance of the controller is evaluated by framing a desired trajectory which meets the goals of the control system. The closed loop and the open loop error norm are validated to prove the efficiency of the controller. This method does not need the states for feedback, and the designed controller placed in closed loop with the original system guarantees the closed loop stability. The closed-loop response of the system with tissue property variation is simulated. The simulated response shows good closed-loop stability.

Going Public: Good Scientific Conduct

The paper addresses issues of scientific conduct regarding relations between science and the media, relations between scientists and journalists, and attitudes towards the public at large. In the large and increasing body of literature on scientific conduct and misconduct, these issues seem underexposed as ethical challenges. Consequently, individual scientists here tend to be left alone with problems and dilemmas, with no guidance for good conduct. Ideas are presented about how to make up for this omission. Using a practical, ethical approach, the paper attempts to identify ways scientists might deal with ethical public relations issues, guided by a norm or maxim of openness. Drawing on and rethinking the CUDOS codification of the scientific ethos, as it was worked out by Robert K. Merton in 1942, we propose that this, which is echoed in current codifications of norms for good scientific conduct, contains a tacit maxim of openness which may naturally be extended to cover the public relations of science. Discussing openness as access, accountability, transparency and receptiveness, the argumentation concentrates on the possible prevention of misconduct with respect to, on the one hand, sins of omission-withholding important information from the public-and, on the other hand, abuses of the authority of science in order to gain publicity. Statements from interviews with scientists are used to illustrate how scientists might view the relevance of the issues raised.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Hidden Costs of Corporate Governance in Europe

This paper discusses new corporate governance trends in the aftermath of the financial crisis. We consider the rationale used by policymakers for introducing stricter rules and codes of best practice, such as the Stewardship Code (which targets institutional investors in the United Kingdom), as well as recent initiatives to encourage board diversity. There is a division of opinion regarding whether listed firms should be subject to new, more stringent, regulations. The competing views are assessed critically. In this regard, we find hidden costs of corporate governance in Europe which can be classified into three groups: (1) increasing entry level expenses for firms with high growth potential, (2) the deception of investors and (3) short-termism by managers. This paper concludes that more economic evidence is required before new corporate governance reforms are introduced and suggests that policymakers should preferably focus on the existing minimum standards of corporate behaviour supported by open norms.

Reputations for toughness in patent enforcement: implications for knowledge spillovers via inventor mobility

Abstract‘Job hopping’ by engineers and scientists is widely heralded as an important channel for knowledge spillovers within industries. Far less is known, however, about the actions firms take to reduce the outward flow of knowledge through markets for skilled labor. This study investigates the efficacy of a lever that has received little research attention: corporate reputations for toughness in patent enforcement. Drawing on unique data on enforcement activity, intra‐industry inventor mobility, and patent citations in the U.S. semiconductor industry, we find that a firm's litigiousness significantly reduces spillovers otherwise anticipated from departures of employee inventors, particularly when the hiring organizations are entrepreneurial ventures. Surprisingly, the deterrent effects of patent enforcement are similar in magnitude for firms located in California, a state characterized by open norms for knowledge trading, and firms headquartered in other U.S. states. The study sheds new light on the strategic actions firms use to prevent rivals from capturing value from their investments in human capital and research and development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Teacher Learning: the Key to Educational Reform

This letter to the next president of the United States recommends the transformation of teacher in-service learning as a powerful means of education reform. Too often, professional development is perceived by teachers as being idiosyncratic and irrelevant. The authors recommend a reconceptualization of professional learning for practicing teachers, in which educators are involved in learning communities, these communities evolve over time, and they revolve around norms of openness, scholarly rigor, and collaborative construction of professional knowledge. The authors describe three such environments of professional learning—the National Writing Project, the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and the Quest Project for Signature Pedagogies in Teacher Education—and recommend that the incoming chief executive should capitalize on the strengths of such programs and extend them to many more teachers nationwide.

Good Faith in Sovereign Debt Restructuring: Mapping a Shift from Enforcement to Voluntary Compliance

Abstract Our examination of changes in the period leading up to the Argentine debt exchange and after, reveals that with Collective Action Clauses (CACs), the sovereign debt market is increasingly reliant on good faith as a standard of fair dealing to ensure fair and orderly debt restructurings in the future. Unlike the entrenched, enforceable, doctrinal good faith in domestic jurisdictions such as the U.S., the norm relied on in the sovereign debt market is a contextual open norm similar to the notion of Treu und Glauben, section 242 BGB of the German civil code. It is not a legal rule with specific requirements that need to be fulfilled. This paper reveals that reliance on a contextual, open norm is evidence of a shift in the framework that regulates sovereign debt restructurings: a shift from enforcement to voluntary compliance. Further, we argue that in the absence of a multilateral, regulatory, framework that embeds good faith as a specific standard of fair dealing, this reliance will exacerbate not solve the problem of sovereign debt restructurings.