Actor Networks

 With the use of five influential actors on the controversy of Golden Rice, an actor-network was created to cluster the homepages of these critical actors together through Issue Crawler. By doing so, the links and pathways between the individual actors can be shown, by the means of the web. The actors that were used and their homepages were the following:

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The result of the initial crawl was based on a small co-linkage between the websites; as a result we obtained a minimum numbers of linkages. The results that showed up had little to no direct relationship to Golden Rice. This can be easily seen, with the fact that no links, forming between the key actors (researchers and activists). Instead, the results showed a universal theme of agencies and groups that are dedicated in combating health issues in third-world countries, coming from inter-connecting links out of WHO. What this means is that, the debate over if Golden Rice should be used is only a small glimpse of the larger problem. While Golden Rice is a debate between several actors, it is not an overarching theme in the larger picture. Human health, or the lack of it, in these third-world countries is the what is shaping the debate. It is the need to try and reduce malnutrition that Golden Rice was conceived. Ironically, it are agencies and associations that promote the peace and well being of nature and the Earth that are derailing the whole project; is there merit in their distrust in Golden Rice itself, or of the entity that Golden Rice has (GMO). 

Deeper Look Into the Network

Unable to obtain a geographical map of the placements for the co-linkages from Issue Crawler, a larger search was used, mapping out broader co-links between and within websites. This was done by using the same websites, but increasing the amount of times an analysis is performed. The results from this crawl showed a much larger web of links, ranging from few co-linkages to many co-linkages (small circles to larger circles). As with the previous crawl, the results stem mainly to and from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR); also, as in the previous crawl, the links are mostly themed on world health issues. The exception to the previous crawl, this more in-depth look at co-linkages saw the edges to show the websites of different actors that are playing vital roles in the debate of Golden Rice. This can be shown through examples like:

  • www.Croptrust.org
  • www.Syngentafoundation.org
  • http://research4development.info
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