e B R I E F I N G S .

C A
s u p p or t at t he k no w le dge / de cis io n inte r fa ce

WHITE PAPER

The Evolution
of the Policy Approach
eBriefings.ca White Paper #07-07-001

author: Justin Longo

July 2007

p o b 4 2 0 4 6 - 2 2 0 0 O a k B a y Av e n u e • t e l e p h o n e : 2 5 0 6 8 6 7 2 8 8 • f a x : 8 6 6 3 7 8 2 4 5 0 • i n f o @ e b r i e f i n g s . c a
 From Briefings to eBriefings in the Pursuit of
Effective Support of Public Policy Decisions
The study of public policy is broadly concerned with the processes of identifying and analyzing public issues, the
means by which a course of action (or inaction) is taken in response to perceived public problems, how effect is given
to that course of action, and what affect the entire process has on the issue or problem being addressed. This set of
three white papers is narrowly focussed on the “early” aspects of the public policy cycle centering on the questions of
whether and how to address (or not address) the issue at hand, specifically those aspects dealing with policy analysis
(white paper #07-07-001), its communication from analyst to decision maker (white paper #07-08-002), and the ways
that analysis interacts with political decision making (white paper #07-09-003). While these aspects are dynamic and
interactive, figure 1 simplistically illustrates the heuristic sequence of the three papers.

White Paper White Paper White Paper

#07-07-001
Analysis: theory and prac-
tice; classic literature and
recent reappraisals; pur-
pose of / intention of policy
analysis; post-positivism
and its implications;
#07-08-002 #07-09-003
Written communications Reception: information
theory; effective graphical processing / cognition;
communication; HCI / decision making under
usability theory; policy conditions of uncertainty;
analysis communications; political judgement (vis-à-
vis policy analysis perspec-
tive)

The eBriefings.ca White Paper Series

eBriefings.ca, a division of Whitehall Policy Consulting Inc., is a Victoria, British Columbia based con-
sulting, education, content and technology firm specializing in the “knowledge/decision interface” eBriefings.ca

in large organizational settings. Built on years of innovative research and product development,
eBriefings.ca takes a unique approach to problems confronting organizations needing to synthesize
and communicate complex information between analysts and decision makers.

This White Paper Series is made available as a resource to clients and subscribers. eBriefings.ca is committed to pro-
viding solutions that support improved decision making and better policy outcomes. For more information and to
access this and other White Papers in this series, please visit the eBriefings.ca web site at www.ebriefings.ca

eBriefings.ca, “support at the knowledge / decision interface”, eBNMS, and “the persuasion perspective” are trade-
marks of Whitehall Policy Consulting Inc.

© 2007 Whitehall Policy Consulting Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada.

eBriefings.ca
◘ Electronic Briefing Note Management Systems ◘
◘ “Better Briefings” Workshops and eLearning Solutions ◘
◘ Briefing Process Analysis and Redesign ◘
◘ “The Policy Analyst’s Guide to Better Briefings” ◘
e B r i e f i n g s . c a White Paper #07-07-001