eSocial Science and Evidence-Based Policy Assessment: Challenges and Solutions

The PolicyGrid project is exploring the role of Semantic Grid technologies to support eSocial Science, with particular emphasis on tools to facilitate evidence-based policy making. In this paper we discuss the challenges associated with construction of a provenance framework to support evidence-based policy assessment. We then discuss ourSpaces, a virtual research environment for eSocial Science that uses the Web2.0 paradigm as well as Semantic Grid technologies, and which provides researchers with facilities for management of digital resources. We describe a novel approach for the creation and presentation of metadata, before exploring how policy-oriented use of social simulation can be integrated with our approach