MERL Tech recently published a series of papers on the state of the field of technology in evaluation and other related disciplines. This is an excellent resource for those interested in technologies like big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and biometrics – and their role in evaluation. MERL Tech’s State of the Field series can be accessed on their website: http://merltech.org/new-research-the-state-of-the-field-of-merl-tech-2014-2019. MERL Tech is a platform and space for discussion, learning, and sharing experiences and challenges with the use of technologies for Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) in the social impact, humanitarian, and international development fields. (from MERL Tech’s website)

The Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation (JMDE) recently released a new issue, covering topics such as evaluation theory, interdisciplinarity, complexity, and evaluating surveillance activities for neurological conditions. It can be accessed here. JMDE is a completely open-access journal and all content is freely available to read. New Directions for Evaluation also released a special issue recently, Examining Issues Facing Communities of Color Today: The Role of Evaluation to Incite Change. This is certainly a timely issue and it’s also relevant to the Canadian Evaluation Society’s guiding principle of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness. This journal is not open-access, but if you’re also a member of the American Evaluation Association (AEA), you have access through AEA’s…

Last month, we posted about a free webinar from EPAC on ethics challenges during COVID-19. Now, EPAC will be hosting a follow-up webinar! See below for details. EPAC’s highly popular April 9 brainstorming webinar focussed on current ethics challenges in the COVID-19 period. Participants wanted more; so our next webinar will look to the post-COVID future: What ethical challenges will arise when some organizations ramp up to resume their suspended operations, while others pivot in new directions? And how should ethics in organizations ‘ramp up’, or will it need to ‘pivot’ too? Will there be novel ethical issues in how to treat employees? The facilitators will again be Chris MacDonald,…