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Topics come to us in one of two ways:
Legislator/Staff Request: Our main priority is providing information requested by the legislature. Notes may be requested here, through discussions with our staff, or in committee meetings. We do not disclose who requested a given Note and will only provide aggregated data on total requests externally.
Issue Tracking: Our staff regularly monitor local and national media, follow policy conversations in West Virginia, and track bills introduced in other Appalachian states. In doing so, we identify potential upcoming policy proposals and can prepare information ahead of time.
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While each Fellow has their own process for preparing S&T Notes, the general workflow includes:
Background Data Collection: what do we know about this topic that is relevant to the policy discussion?
Status Quo Research: what does current West Virginia policy say about this issue? Is there a federal policy related to this topic? What praise or critiques have been offered about the current policy?
Policy Option Identification: What are similar/nearby states doing related to this issue? How is that different than West Virginia’s approach?
Policy Option Analysis: If there are many options, which are the most politically feasible in West Virginia? For each option, how efficient, effective, and equitable is it? What are the benefits and challenges of implementing each option?
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All of our Notes are internally reviewed by at least one additional staff member prior to publication to ensure the Note is easily understandable, organized, grammatically correct, and non-biased.
In addition, if time permits, we will seek 2-3 expert reviewers to give the perspective of a subject-matter expert or “person on the ground” within the issue. In the past, our reviewers have come from US and international academia, private industry, government contractors, state councils, and county health departments. These reviews typically add 7-10 days to the Note preparation process, but can be very valuable when the topic is fairly complex, new, or often misrepresented.
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Once the content is finalized, our staff find or create any accompanying graphics, generate the one-page PDF, and send the document to the requesting legislator (if applicable) to ensure we addressed their questions. The document is then uploaded to our website here for public access.
Use of Generative AI
As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) grows in popularity, we understand that some may have concerns about its use. While GenAI is a powerful tool capable of providing quick and efficient summaries, systems may be prone to “hallucinations”, false data or representations, and intellectual property infringement. With these considerations in mind, the West Virginia Science and Technology Policy Initiative does not use GenAI in the writing of any of our S&T Notes. Various non-generative AI tools may be used to correct grammar or spelling or to initially find data sources, but we always verify our sources, provide our own citations, and have multiple rounds of human proofreading prior to publication.