229
№ 1(134)/2021
ВЕСТНИК Евразийского национального университета имени Л.Н. Гумилева.
Серия Педагогика. Психология. Социология
BULLETIN of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University.
P
edagogy.
P
sychology.
S
ociology
S
eries
K. Yernazar, B. Bauyrzhan
is that it creates clear lines of authority and
addresses existing problems through decision-
makers as key stakeholders with limited extent of
changes during the implementation process [11].
This way it can filter down the larger strategic
goals from the top to lower-level administrative
staff. Nevertheless, there is always a transfer
risk of implementation issues. Sometimes, the
big picture
that authorities envision is not always
understood by line managers when implementing
a policy design [12]. Another argument for a top-
down approach is oriented towards increasing
the social capital via a collectivist society. In other
words, a consolidated and unified society with
shared values, identity and common societal
problems will constitute eventually common
goals. For instance, in the Kazakhstani case
between CCS and MISD, the social capital that
is nurtured is the formation of a single national
interaction mechanism for the public, media and
governmental bodies. This is especially significant
and relevant in a post-soviet context, where the
political processes mirror inherited fragments of
the past. Hence, a central state institution would
favor an effective, operative, and systematic
communication with all stakeholders to deliver
trustworthy information exchange and combat
disinformation contents.
Contrary to a top-down approach, the example
of MyWmeste initiative in Russia exemplified
that through a bottom-up approach the society
can consolidate both human and financial
resources without initial government initiative.
Crescenzi and Rodríguez-Pose (2011) argues that
a bottom-up approach provides place awareness
to local needs [13]. This way complex societal
problems are solved more efficiently because
local actors involved in the implementation and
policy design processes know the nuances of the
problem. Hence, they can adapt and improve
the whole project to the real circumstances and
not from a perspective of a policy maker [14,15].
Interestingly, another bottom-up initiated
Experts Hub Kazakhstan program has been
launched in Kazakhstan as of mid-November
this year by the non- governmental organization
communicative agency Red Point Kazakhstan.
The program was created as a result of the
emergence of massive disinformation flow during
the COVID-19 pandemic period [16]. It aims to
train fifty national experts from scientific fields
of medicine, healthcare, and biological studies
on how to effectively interact within the social
network realm and how to communicate clearly
scientific ideas to the public. The program should
positively impact the mutual trust-based bridge
between experts, government, and the general
public in the fight against disinformation.
The significance of information communication
aspects can be highlighted by explaining the
role of the society and state within the so-called
well-known knowledge deficit model [17, 18].
According to the model, an information vacuum
in the society generates public skepticism towards
the expert community. This is exacerbated when
alternative information sources with destructive
tendencies dominate information outlets and
people in a society base their trust on hoaxes
due to the fear of the unknown [19]. However,
the model explains that the issue is not that the
public does not understand the expert, but rather
due to lack or insufficient reliable expert-based
information [20]. Thus, the more knowledge or
information a public community obtains and
digests, the more objectively a person can assess
the factualness of an information. However, the
assumption that simply providing open and
reliable information does not guarantee that
people will trust, accept and learn, since many
factors such as personal beliefs or functionally
constructed fears come into play. [21, 22]. Instead,
the government should pro-actively try to build
a public basis to teach and not blame the public.
This is especially relevant during constant and
regular informational wars in the cyber realm.
Hence, being able to check factual from non-
factual sources via official factchecking portals
such as
stopfake.kz
or
coronafake.ru
are of immense
importance for both public and government
bodies to tackle problems of disinformation and
lack of mutual trust.
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