From the Back Cover
This is a fascinating set of accounts of social network analysis as a tool for exploring knowledge brokerage and policymaking. I shall be keeping a copy on my shelf and look forward to sharing it with my students and colleagues in years to come.
-Annette Boaz, Professor of Health and Social Care Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
The range of theoretical and analytic approaches examined in this book will help us better navigate evidence use in power structures, nested structures, and politically varied policy areas. A must read for those who have not yet discovered the critical role knowledge brokers and networks play in the many facets of policymaking.
-Kimberly DuMont, Vice President, AIR Equity Initiative, American Institutes for Research (AIR)
In this illuminating volume, these outstanding scholars provide us with methodological breakthroughs that shed light on types of knowledge brokering, transactions, preferences, and behaviors of network actors in think tanks, the media, research and policymaking.
-Christopher Lubienski, Professor of Education Policy, Indiana University
This book demystifies how research makes its way into public policy and shines a bright light on the knowledge brokers who make it happen. Providing keen insights into strategies for building more robust networks that connect research and policy, this is the authoritative text on how to apply network analysis to improving the use of research evidence in policy.
-Vivian Tseng, Senior Vice President, Program William T. Grant Foundation www.wtgrantfoundation.org
This book advances knowledge brokerage scholarship and methodology as applied to policymaking contexts, focusing on the ways in which knowledge and research are utilized, and go on to influence policy and practice decisions across domains, including communication, health and education.
The volume compares, assesses and delineates social network approaches to knowledge brokerage across domains and is useful for students and scholars of social network analysis and policymaking including in health, communication, public policy and education policy.
Matthew Weber is Associate Professor of Communication at Rutgers University's School of Communication & Information, USA.
Itzhak Yanovitzky is Professor of Communication at Rutgers University's School of Communication & Information, USA.
Matthew Weber (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is Associate Professor of Communication at Rutgers University's School of Communication & Information. Matthew is a computational social scientist and an expert on media ecosystems, organizational dynamics and the use of Big data in research. His research explores processes of organizational change and adaptation, with a focus on understanding how organizations navigate complex information ecosystems in order to develop evidence-informed policies and policymaking processes. Matthew's work has been widely published in leading academic journals, as well as in the popular press, and is funded by grants from a number of federal agencies including the National Science Foundation.
Itzhak Yanovitzky (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) is Professor of Communication at Rutgers University's School of Communication & Information. His program of research explores effective mechanisms for improving the dissemination and implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices and building the capacity of community organizations to communicate effectively about health and wellness issues. Dr. Yanovitzky is an expert in the area of behavior change, public policymaking and translational science, and is a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine's Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication.
