Unit 1: Select Impacts
Contents
Unit 1: Select Impacts#
We will use the CSIRO’s impacts categories [CSIRO, 2020] of social, personal, economic and environmental to consider how needs are met through by your solution. Impacts also involves consideration of the relationship between information systems and society and in particular the ethical and legal obligations of individuals and organisations regarding ownership, privacy of data and information
Impacts are defined through the creation of goals and context-dependent needs at the start of the project. At the end of a project, an evaluation of the degree to which these planned impacts were implemented is conducted.
Types of Impacts#
Personal Impacts#
Personal impacts change the way that a person does something or alters their opinions, knowledge or wellbeing.
Personal impacts can fall into many categories:
Health and wellbeing - an individual’s physical, mental, emotional and social health.
Access to resources, services and opportunities - an individual’s access to knowledge and participation in social and economic life.
Quality of life - an individual’s material and livelihood security.
Personal safety - an individual’s protection from dangerous materials, product, processes and people.
Resilience - an individual’s capacity to withstand or recover from loss or adversity.
Culture and heritage - an individual’s capacity to participate in their cultural and preserve its heritage.
Economic Impacts#
Impacts on an economic system at a local, national or global level such as changes in revenue, operating costs, profitability, gross domestic product, employment or investment returns.
Economic impacts can fall into many different categories:
National economic performance - the capability to influence or change at the macroeconomic level, i.e. economy-wide impacts, such as changes in unemployment, national income, rate of growth, gross domestic product, inflation and price levels.
Trade and competitiveness - the capability of trade-exposed firms to succeed in international competition against leading international competitors.
Productivity and efficiency - the capability to influence or change the production of products and services such as risk, profitability and productivity aspects, and sustainability of the production and consumption system. This also includes the capability to influence or change the performance measures related to the supply chain members.
Management of risk and uncertainty - the capacity for rapid innovation at scale to reduce risk of damage or lost opportunity (in the form of early warnings or early identification of opportunities).
Policies and programs - the capability to influence or change the coordination and governance of social, economic and environmental policies and programs.
New services, products, experiences and market niches - The capability to develop new products and services, through technological and organisational innovations, including in the following areas: food, soil and water, transport, cybersecurity, energy and resources, manufacturing, environmental change and health.
Animal health and prosperity - The capacity to reduce the likelihood of invasive animal diseases that have the potential to cause significant harm to the economy from entering, emerging, establishing or spreading within Australia.
Securing and protecting existing markets - The capacity to maintain and/or increase returns from existing market access.
Environmental Impacts#
Impacts on living and nonliving natural systems, including ecosystems, land, air and water.
Environmental impacts can fall into many different categories:
Air quality - The degree to which the air in a particular place has changed.
Ecosystem health and integrity (natural capital) - The variety and connections between plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat. Focus on plants and animals within an area and how they interact with each other as well as with other elements such as climate, water and soil. Also the ecosystem services provided to protect ecosystems and biodiversity. Look to add the concepts around natural capital.
Climate - Focus on atmospheric, land and ocean patterns and the changes in these over time.
Natural hazards mitigation - Steps taken to contain or reduce the effects of an anticipated or already occurred disastrous events (such as drought, flood, fire, lightning, various levels and types of storms, tornado, storm surge, tsunami, volcanic eruption, earthquake, landslides)
Energy generation and consumption - The creation of energy using various technologies and processes and its effect on the environment. The effect of the use of created energy and the benefits of efficiency measures.
Land quality - Land use and management with effects on soil and the surrounding environment. Actions taken to rehabilitate the land after production processes.
Aquatic environments - Changes in quality and abundance of marine and freshwater resources. Water systems, availability, quality, access and management.
Built environments - The human-made surroundings in which people live, work, and recreate on a day-to-day basis ranging from buildings and parks to supporting infrastructure, such as water supply or energy networks.
Selecting Impact#
Choose three or four impacts that you think would naturally align with your project. In your mind map create a node for each impact and then identify the impact’s:
Title: what will you name this impact (replaces Impact 1, Impact 2 etc.)
Category: personal, social, economic or environmental
Description: brief description of your impact
Indicator of success: describe succinctly how you will know if you are achieving the impact.
Social Impacts#
Social impacts alter the well-being of the surrounding and wider community.
Social impacts can fall into many different categories:
Health and wellbeing - the physical, mental, emotional and social health of a population.
Access to resources, services and opportunities - the access to knowledge and participation in social and economic life of members of a population.
Quality of life - the material and livelihood security within a population.
Safety - the protection of a population from dangerous materials, product, processes and people.
Security - physical and psychological protection against an actual or perceived external threat.
Resilience - a population’s capacity to withstand or recover from loss or adversity.
Culture and heritage - the capacity of a population to participate in their cultural and preserve its heritage.
Innovation and human capital - the productive wealth of a population embodied in labour, skills and knowledge.
Social cohesion - includes the level of social inclusion, social capital and social mobility found in a population.