We are investigating the development of technologies and policies for generating, storing, and communicating environmental information. We want to critically assess and recommend new information infrastructure and institutional designs that can make more credible and relevant information available to the public, companies, governments, and consumers. Such approaches may include both market-based mechanisms and innovative public policies to encourage companies to generate and supply information.

For example, new technologies such as RFID chips (or chips that signal information wirelessly) may support much more efficient and comprehensive flows of information along supply chains. RFID chips can contain far more data than barcodes can, and can be embedded inside products as production costs shrink. We are interested in the infrastructure, disclosure policies, content protocols, database designs, and points of use and access that are needed to make such data flows feasible.
 

Companies need to provide environmental, health, and social data – and mandatory disclosure policies in return for the right to market products are one way to achieve this. In turn, the kinds and formats of data encoded in RFID chips need to be specified and standardized, so that data exchanges and tracking can operate efficiently. The data needs to be physically encoded. Sensor devices also need to be installed throughout a supply chain to follow products wirelessly. Point of use systems may be needed to make the data accessible, such as interactive product labels and certification schemes. Ways to benchmark performance in terms of RFID data are yet to be developed. Privacy policies are required to guarantee data confidentiality.

Another example of information infrastructures is the chemical toxicity data market that the new European Union REACH law will create for chemicals yet to be evaluated. Companies will be permitted to generate environmental and health data, and then sell them to other companies, thus potentially creating an economic incentive to produce the data. We want to investigate the ethical and societal issues associated with building information infrastructures.