Before one can criticise the Footprint Calculator, it is necessary to inspect the
National Footprint Accounts because they are weighted in the results at national
level. In this section, both the Footprint Calculator and the National Footprint
Accounts are necessarily approached from a critical perspective. First, the criticisms
are presented based on four main themes (aggregation, spatial scale, energy-centrism, and data quality). The section ends with recommendations that in part justify
the need for this study, but also reveal certain caveats and call for further research
and enquiry.
1.4.1 Criticisms
The Footprint Calculator is based on the National Footprint Accounts at the national
spatial scale. For this reason, it is necessary to consider issues with the National
Footprint Accounts as well as the Footprint Calculator. These are already being
considered by the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of the Footprint Data
Foundation, which is targeting the National Footprint Accounts. The author’s
original critical themes compiled from the literature appear in Table 1.2. These
themes includes counts of the literature sources identified for each major theme
based on the Zotero bibliographic database developed during the course of the
author’s role as Research Assistant to SAC during the term of this research at
York University. By the end of her term, the database included 80/139 (almost
60%) annotated items according to Weaknesses as well as Strengths and suggestions. In these references, there were 240 instances where the themes in Table 1.2
were mentioned (see Table 1.2).
Personnel working for the National Footprint Accounts use Jira software as an
issue tracker (or data cleaner – formerly Bugzilla). Items raised here are presented
alongside a classification of the thematic issue(s) involved. A selection of (44) issues
recorded in the Jira database was made on the basis that they were either representative of other issues addressed and/or raised substantial issues. Out of 305 issues
currently recorded in Jira, this sample denotes a range of issues that are mostly either
still ‘To do’ or ‘In progress’ (totalling 121 open issues), while some 184 issues are
‘Done’.
Many of the issues recorded in the Jira database relate to calculations and
updating sources, and these issues fall under Data quality (Table 1.3). Quality and
Land use also appeared at least five times and represent issues associated with
double-counting and potential causes for an inflated Ecological Footprint value.
Issues such as Aggregation, ‘False concreteness’, Utility, and Energy-centrism are
not specifically raised in the selection of 44 items from the Jira database. Nevertheless, these issues are recognised in the literature as problematic (see Table 1.2).
However, they tend to be more overarching or general issues that cannot easily be
easily remedied or resolved.
1.4 Quality Analysis
11
National Footprint Accounts because they are weighted in the results at national
level. In this section, both the Footprint Calculator and the National Footprint
Accounts are necessarily approached from a critical perspective. First, the criticisms
are presented based on four main themes (aggregation, spatial scale, energy-centrism, and data quality). The section ends with recommendations that in part justify
the need for this study, but also reveal certain caveats and call for further research
and enquiry.
1.4.1 Criticisms
The Footprint Calculator is based on the National Footprint Accounts at the national
spatial scale. For this reason, it is necessary to consider issues with the National
Footprint Accounts as well as the Footprint Calculator. These are already being
considered by the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of the Footprint Data
Foundation, which is targeting the National Footprint Accounts. The author’s
original critical themes compiled from the literature appear in Table 1.2. These
themes includes counts of the literature sources identified for each major theme
based on the Zotero bibliographic database developed during the course of the
author’s role as Research Assistant to SAC during the term of this research at
York University. By the end of her term, the database included 80/139 (almost
60%) annotated items according to Weaknesses as well as Strengths and suggestions. In these references, there were 240 instances where the themes in Table 1.2
were mentioned (see Table 1.2).
Personnel working for the National Footprint Accounts use Jira software as an
issue tracker (or data cleaner – formerly Bugzilla). Items raised here are presented
alongside a classification of the thematic issue(s) involved. A selection of (44) issues
recorded in the Jira database was made on the basis that they were either representative of other issues addressed and/or raised substantial issues. Out of 305 issues
currently recorded in Jira, this sample denotes a range of issues that are mostly either
still ‘To do’ or ‘In progress’ (totalling 121 open issues), while some 184 issues are
‘Done’.
Many of the issues recorded in the Jira database relate to calculations and
updating sources, and these issues fall under Data quality (Table 1.3). Quality and
Land use also appeared at least five times and represent issues associated with
double-counting and potential causes for an inflated Ecological Footprint value.
Issues such as Aggregation, ‘False concreteness’, Utility, and Energy-centrism are
not specifically raised in the selection of 44 items from the Jira database. Nevertheless, these issues are recognised in the literature as problematic (see Table 1.2).
However, they tend to be more overarching or general issues that cannot easily be
easily remedied or resolved.
1.4 Quality Analysis
11