Coursework Title: Improving Information Governance: Case Study Report (2000
words)

2. Case Scenario: Information Commissioner
You are an Information Commissioner commissioned with the task of writing a report
assessing the capacity of either the Health or the Data Brokering Sector to govern its
handling of personal data. In preparing the report you have been informed that you
must draw on the concepts of the INF6025 2019-20 module, the Framework for
Assessing Governability, and apply the Framework and its assessment steps to either
one of the two cases taught on the INF6025 2019-20 module, i.e. Care.data or
Cambridge Analytica. Via an explanation of the concepts, step-by-step methodology,
and drawing directly on evidence from the case you will be expected to demonstrate a
systematic approach to understanding the factors that influenced the governance of
personal data within the case. You will also be expected to give suggestions for how
the governance and governability of personal data can be improved. It has already
been decided that the report will contain these sections (See Section 3) and will
presented in a certain format (see Section 4).
3. Content of the Case Study Report
a) Background and introduction (250 words)
What is governance? What information problems does governance seek to address?
Provide practical examples of what these information problems are.
b) Either Case Study A: Care.data or Case Study B: Cambridge Analytica
Step 1: Identifying Problem Wickedness (750 words)
What are the information problems? Where are the information problem(s) located?
In which part of the information chain are the information problems located? Who are
the stakeholders? What images (e.g. values, norms, principles) guide stakeholders
views of the information problems? How ‘wicked’ are the information problems (e.g.
are there any stopping rules? How embedded is the information problem? What are
the costs and reversibility of any prescribed solution?).
Step 2: Examining System Properties (750 words)
Identify and describe each of the systems relevant to resolving the wicked information
problem, i.e. the System-to-be-Governed (SG), the Governing System (GS), and
Governing Interactions (GI).
2a: Examining System Properties associated with the System-to-be-Governed (250
words). How prevalent are the properties of diversity (i.e. how many components are
there? E.g. What types of patient data? Who are the stakeholders? How similar or
different are they from each other? How many of them are there?); complexity (i.e,
how many relationships between the components are there?); dynamics (i.e. what are
the interactions between components? How do components influence each other?);
and scale (i.e. how do boundaries define and limit the number of components, along
with the relations and interactions between them) in the system-to-be-governed? How
do these properties affect governability of personal data? N.B. Generally speaking,
the greater the number of entities, relationships, interactions within the system-to-be governed, and the larger its scale, the lower the governability.
2b: Examining System Properties associated with the Governing System (250 words).
How prevalent are the properties of diversity (i.e. how many components are there?
E.g. What types of governing entity (e.g. state, market, civil society)? What rules,
norms, and principles are they guided by? What responsibilities do they have? How
similar or different are they from each other? How many of them are there?);
complexity (i.e. how many relationships between the governing entities are there?);
dynamics (i.e. what are the interactions between governing entities? How do
governing entities influence each other?); and scale (i.e. how do boundaries define
and limit the number of governing entities, along with the relations and interactions
between them) in the governing system? How do these properties affect governability
of personal data? N.B. Generally speaking, the greater the number of governing
entities, relationships, interactions within the governing system, and the larger the
scale at which it operates, the lower the governability.
2b: Examining System Properties associated with Governing Interactions (250
words). How prevalent are the properties of diversity e.g. What forms of governing
interaction are there (e.g. formal, informal)? What are their purposes (e.g. compliance,
information sharing), how many interactions are there?); complexity (i.e. between
which governing entities do interactions exist? What is the quality of these
interactions?); dynamics (i.e. what are the power relations between governing
entities?); and scale (i.e. at what scale do governing interactions take place) of the
governing interactions? How do these properties affect governability of personal
data? N.B. Generally speaking, the greater the number and quality of governing
interactions, the higher the governability.
c) Conclusion (250 words)
Provide a concluding assessment of the governability of the information problems
identified within the case. Give suggestions for how governance of personal data
and its governability can be improved.
4. Format of the Case Study Report
You must present the report in the format indicated.
Examples of the format for the report are available at:
https://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/browsetypes/briefing.aspx