Better than your average magazine article
December 19, 2008 1:25 AM   Subscribe

The British government's Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology retains PhD and EngD students to produce POSTnotes, information-dense 4 page summaries of science and technology issues, aimed at informing members of parliament. Topics covered include HIV/AIDS in developing countries, large scale electricity storage, future nuclear technologies and next generation broadband access.
posted by Mike1024 (18 comments total) 47 users marked this as a favorite
 
Excellent, now I can drag my ill-informed online rants up to the standard of a MP.

This is an excellent resource, thanks.
posted by vbfg at 1:39 AM on December 19, 2008


Nice. These rock.
posted by saysthis at 2:03 AM on December 19, 2008


Fabulous! Obama administration, please copy!
posted by woodblock100 at 2:35 AM on December 19, 2008 [1 favorite]


The US Congress probably has something similar but nobody uses it cuz ya don't need no book larnin' to know socialism is wrong.
posted by DU at 4:19 AM on December 19, 2008 [2 favorites]


Wow! Fantastic post. Now I'm not going to get any work done until about, oh, 2010!
posted by dowcrag at 6:12 AM on December 19, 2008


Wow. That's pretty much my dream job.
posted by sadiehawkinstein at 7:13 AM on December 19, 2008 [1 favorite]


Really interesting. I guess I found the focus on the UK alone and on the UK specific political motions behind the topics made some of the articles seem a bit parochial (compared to the way that something like The Economist or New Scientist would tackle the same topics) - but I guess that is the idea.
posted by rongorongo at 7:53 AM on December 19, 2008


This is a good thing.
posted by Artful Codger at 9:01 AM on December 19, 2008


thanks for the info!
posted by msconduct at 11:18 AM on December 19, 2008


the US Congress does have something like this in the Congressional Research Service, but they tend to be a little coy about distributing their reports. There are some organizations that work to get these out though.
posted by nangua at 11:49 AM on December 19, 2008


You forgot "Iraqi attempts to purchase yellowcake uranium in Niger"
posted by srboisvert at 11:53 AM on December 19, 2008


Does the US do this, and how do I get this job? Seriously.
posted by chrisamiller at 3:53 PM on December 19, 2008


... how do I get this job? Seriously.

Maybe you need a job on Wall Street. (Seriously)

One of my customers works in 'analysis' for a major brokerage, and producing these kinds of papers is exactly his function.

The research arm of Nomura Securities here in Tokyo has a bunch of their papers on the net for anybody to read. Although many of them are (obviously) focussed on financial and investment matters, there are plenty with wider scope.
posted by woodblock100 at 4:23 PM on December 19, 2008


Does the US do this, and how do I get this job? Seriously.

To be eligible for a 3-month fellowship at POST you need to be doing a PhD or EngD funded by a science research council. There are then annual fellowship competitions - see here.
posted by Mike1024 at 3:19 AM on December 20, 2008


Maybe you need a job on Wall Street.

Thanks, sounds interesting, but at this point, I'm much more interested in the intersection of science and public policy than I am in Wall Street.
posted by chrisamiller at 8:06 AM on December 20, 2008


"but they tend to be a little coy about distributing their reports."

The Congressional Research Service is not required to release their reports (opencrs collects reports when they have been released by the congressmen who requested them); you also have reports made by the Congressional Budget Office,the GAO, on rural issues: the Economic Research Service, and the slew of stuff made by Census, the BLS, and somewhat more neutered EPA and such...

Are there any more services like this in other countries? link me!
posted by stratastar at 5:38 PM on December 21, 2008


Are there any more services like this in other countries? link me!

European Parliamentary Technology Assessment
posted by woodblock100 at 8:40 PM on December 21, 2008


... and a Google search for 'Parliamentary Research Papers' turns up a lot more ... Canada, Australia, New Zealand ... etc. etc.
posted by woodblock100 at 8:50 PM on December 21, 2008


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