Hilde Reinertsen

Academic interests

I am interested in the relationship between knowledge, government, and texts, and has long been fascinated by documents and their manifold roles in society. I have previously studied Norwegian foreign aid (during my PhD) and ocean policy (during my postdoc), and is currently leading a research project on evaluation reports and documentation practices in the Norwegian public sector. As part of this research, I have co-written two textbooks on practice-oriented document analysis (see more below).

Coming to the study of texts in society from a background in History and STS (science and technology studies), I have in my current position a special responsibility for developing new research and teaching within the fields of governmental plain language (klarspråk) and genres of factual prose (sakprosa).

I am currently engaged in expanding the method of practice-oriented document analysis in two directions: Firstly, in the digital direction, towards digital texts and digital methods. I am curious about everything from how grand infrastructures for documentation and archiving are built and used, to the impact of technologies like ChatGPT upon how we read, write, think and interpret information. Secondly, in the practical direction, so that our academic groundwork may have more direct practical value for those working with documents on a daily basis. I will be exploring this through the UiO:Spark Innovation project DOCUPRAX.

Courses taught

I am teaching and supervising students in the BA program Klart språk and MA students following the specialisation Retorikk og språklig kommunikasjon under the Nordic studies program.

KLAR2100 – Klart språk, demokrati og rettssikkerhet
KLAR2102 – Klarspråklig metode - tekstforbedring og resultatmåling
KLAR3050 – Praksisopphold med klarspråkrapport
RETKOM4110 – Metoder i tekst- og kommunikasjonsforskning
RETKOM4160 – Nordisk sakprosa

With Kristin Asdal I am teaching an international and interdisciplinary PhD course:
TIK9015: Practice-Oriented Document Analysis

Background

During 2021-2025, I am the principal investigator of the research project «Evaluation Optics of the Nation State: The Past, Present and Future of Public Documentation» (EVALUNATION). The project builds off from my PhD on the history of foreign aid evaluation. Financing comes from the Research Council of Norway under the funding scheme FRIPRO (Young Research Talents). A key part of the EVALUNATION project and my previous work is developing an interdisciplinary method for document analysis that combines historical, rhetorical, and digital methods with practice-oriented approaches from the field of STS.  

During 2016-2020, I was a postdoctoral fellow and project coordinator at the Little Tools Project, which studied the science, politics, and markets of fisheries and aquaculture in Norway and the EU, historically and today. The project was led by Kristin Asdal, hosted by the TIK Centre at UiO and financed by the European Research Council (an ERC Starting Grant). My contribution to this study was analyses of Norwegian and EU policy schemes - more specifically, policy documents - that sought to realize large-scale visions of the 'blue economy' and the 'bioeconomy'. A core part of the postdoc project was to co-write the methodology textbook Hvordan gjøre dokumentanalyse: En praksis-orientert metode (with Kristin Asdal, Cappelen Damm 2020), which we also expanded into the English version Doing document analysis: A practice oriented method (SAGE Publishing, 2022) .

My doctoral research at TIK during 2010-2015 concerned the evaluation of foreign aid, specifically how this emerged as a distinct field of expertise through a combination of social science, public accountability, development policy, and aid administration. In my thesis, I analyzed how evaluation was institutionalized within Norwegian foreign aid during 1980-1992, with special attention to how the specific methods, routines, and systems contributed to transform the field of aid at large. A key question in the dissertation was how these different methods made it possible to see the results of aid. The analysis focused upon Norwegian petroleum-related aid projects and the challenges of evaluating the effect of transferring expertise from Norway to developing countries.  My Ph.D. supervisors were Kristin Asdal (TIK) and Gabrielle Hecht (then University of Michigan, now Stanford University, USA).

Publications

Asdal, Kristin & Hilde Reinertsen 2022. Doing document analysis: A practice-oriented method. Sage Publications. 256 s.

Reinertsen, Hilde, Kristian Bjørkdahl & Desmond McNeill 2022. 'Accountability versus learning in aid evaluation: A practice-oriented exploration of persistent dilemmas.' Evaluation: International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. 28(3): 356–378.

Asdal, Kristin & Hilde Reinertsen 2020. Hvordan gjøre dokumentanalyse. En praksisorientert metode. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. 326 s.

Reinertsen, Hilde & Kristin Asdal 2019. "Calculating the blue economy: producing trust in numbers with business tools and reflexive objectivity". Journal of Cultural Economy, 12(6): 552-570.

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  • Asdal, Kristin & Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Doing document analysis: A practice-oriented method. Sage Publications. ISBN 9781529759792. 256 p.
  • Asdal, Kristin & Reinertsen, Hilde (2020). Hvordan gjøre dokumentanalyse: En praksisorientert metode. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISBN 9788202543631. 276 p.

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  • Tønnesson, Johan Laurits; Grape, Signy & Reinertsen, Hilde (2023). Om byråkratiets mektige tekster. [Radio]. Podkasten SAKLIG! fra Forskningsmljøet Norsk sakprosa, UiO.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2023). Politi, politikk og praksis. Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift. ISSN 0800-336X. doi: 10.18261/nnt.40.4.1.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2023). Forstå, forvalte, forandre. Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift. ISSN 0800-336X. doi: 10.18261/nnt.40.2-3.1.
  • Gjengedal, Kristin & Reinertsen, Hilde (2023). Kjelde: ChatGPT. Prosa - tidsskrift for skribenter. ISSN 0805-276X.
  • Brøyn, Tore; Reinertsen, Hilde & Tønnesson, Johan Laurits (2023). Tekster uten avsender − hva skal vi bruke dem til? Bedre Skole. ISSN 0802-183X.
  • Riegler, Michael Alexander; Reinertsen, Hilde & Sareen, Siddharth (2023). Hvordan vil kunstig intelligens forme verden de neste ti årene? Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2023). Evaluation in Norway: Historical developments and persistent tensions.
  • Korsvoll, Nils Hallvard; Lison, Pierre; Reinertsen, Hilde; Elken, Mari; De Korne, Haley & Hansen, Kai Arne [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Fire tiltak for en bedre språkpolitikk i akademia. Khrono.no. ISSN 1894-8995.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Workshop om dokumentanalyse.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Praksis-orientert dokumentanalyse.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Sakprosaforskning.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Endringsteori i et norsk historisk perspektiv.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Invitert kommentar: Boklansering av "Fremtiden er nå: Klimaendringenes tider" .
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). The Evalunation project: Norwegian society seen through evaluation processes.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Hva vet vi om omfanget i evalueringer, og hva lærer vi av dem?
  • Reinertsen, Hilde; Bjørkdahl, Kristian & McNeill, Desmond (2022). Accountability versus learning in aid evaluation: A practice-oriented exploration of persistent dilemmas. Evaluation: International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. ISSN 1356-3890. 28(3), p. 356–378. doi: 10.1177/13563890221100848.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde & Skorpen, Gro Stueland (2022). Hva om vi ikke hadde evaluering? Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Det er et flerspråklig akademia, men det er ulike behov i ulike deler av sektoren. [Business/trade/industry journal]. Khrono.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Den gordiske modellen. [Business/trade/industry journal]. Khrono.
  • Lohne, Kjersti; Mathé, Nora Elise Hesby; Myksvoll, Mari Skuggedal & Reinertsen, Hilde (2021). Akademisk ytringsfrihet: Tre løsningsforslag. Khrono.no. ISSN 1894-8995.
  • Asdal, Kristin & Reinertsen, Hilde (2021). Hvordan gjøre dokumentanalyse? En praksis-orientert metode.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2021). Document analysis: Opportunities for researchers.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2021). Project presentation (ISS): Evaluation optics of the nation state: The past, present and future of public documentation (EVALUNATION).
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2021). Prosjektpresentasjon (TF): Evaluation optics of the nation state: The past, present and future of public documentation (EVALUNATION).
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2021). Project presentation (SES): Evaluation optics of the nation state: The past, present and future of public documentation (EVALUNATION).
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2021). Project presentation (Osiris): Evaluation optics of the nation state: The past, present and future of public documentation (EVALUNATION).
  • Asdal, Kristin & Reinertsen, Hilde (2021). Including documents in the repertoire of practices: A method.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2021). Hva ser vi når vi evaluerer? Forskningspolitikk. ISSN 0333-0273. 44(1), p. 16–17.
  • Asdal, Kristin; Reinertsen, Hilde & Brenna, Anders (2020). Podcast: Den blå økonomien. [Radio]. Norgeshistorie.no.
  • Nickelsen, Trine; Asdal, Kristin & Reinertsen, Hilde (2020). Dokumentene former livene våre - og hele samfunnet. [Business/trade/industry journal]. Forskningsmagasinet Apollon.
  • Asdal, Kristin & Reinertsen, Hilde (2020). Following viruses - following documents. Teknovatøren. 19, p. 26–29.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2019). Frokostmøte: Verdien av havet.
  • Klasbu, Stian & Reinertsen, Hilde (2019). Looking back, moving forward: Retracing one of TIK's intellectual roots. Teknovatøren. p. 8–9.
  • Druglitrø, Tone; Hanson, Jens; Mäkitie, Tuukka & Reinertsen, Hilde (2019). Tverrfaglighet under press. Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde & Asdal, Kristin (2018). Humaniora til havs. Politiske dokumenter som kunnskapshistoriske tilnærminger til humanistisk miljøforskning.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2018). Evaluering av politikk som ekspertise.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2018). Dokumentanalyse.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2018). "Norsk bistand - kan alt måles?" Deltaker i panelsamtale.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2018). "Documents: Treasure hunting in the aid archives.".
  • Reinertsen, Hilde & Sætre, Simen (2017). Den fantastiske visjonen i norsk oppdrett. Historien om et dokument. [Newspaper]. Morgenbladet.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde; Asdal, Kristin & Hobæk, Bård (2017). The little tools of large-scale visions: Seeing like a firm. Conference presentation.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2017). Kampen om havrommet. Panelsamtale.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde; Bjørkdahl, Kristian & McNeill, Desmond (2017). Confronting the contradiction. An exploration into the dual purpose of accountability and learning in aid evaluation. Conference poster.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde; Bjørkdahl, Kristian & Hermansen, Erlend Andre T. (2017). Hvorfor skal vi tro på klimaforskningen? Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.). ISSN 0804-3116.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde; Bjørkdahl, Kristian & McNeill, Desmond (2017). Bistandens læringsproblem. Vårt land. ISSN 0805-5424.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde; Bjørkdahl, Kristian & McNeill, Desmond (2017). Vi måste prata om utvärderingarnas syfte. Biståndsdebatten.se.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2017). Hvordan dokumentere resultater av rettighetsbasert bistand?
  • Bjørkdahl, Kristian; Reinertsen, Hilde & McNeill, Desmond (2016). Confronting the contradiction: An exploration of the tensions between accountability and learning in aid evaluation. Conference presentation.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Optics of evaluation. Making Norwegian foreign aid an evaluable Object, 1977-1992. Conference presentation.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Measuring aid effectiveness.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde; Bjørkdahl, Kristian & McNeill, Desmond (2016). Confronting the contradiction: An exploration of the tensions between accountability and learning in aid evaluation. Seminar presentation.
  • Asdal, Kristin; Hobæk, Bård & Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Hvem former havsatsingen? Dagens næringsliv. ISSN 0803-9372.
  • Asdal, Kristin; Hobæk, Bård & Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Ble Helgesen akterutseilt? Dagens næringsliv. ISSN 0803-9372.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Intet rom for tvil. [Newspaper]. Morgenbladet.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde & Falkenborn, Jarl (2016). Evaluation of foreign aid - interview with Hilde Reinertsen. Teknovatøren. 11, p. 12–15.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Confessions of a lecturer. Teknovatøren. p. 32–33.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde; Asdal, Kristin & Hobæk, Bård (2016). The Little Tools of Large Scale Visions: Seeing Like a Firm.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Krav om resultater endret bistanden. [Business/trade/industry journal]. Bistandsaktuelt.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Optics of Evaluation: Making Norwegian Foreign Aid an Evaluable Object, 1980-1992. Seminar presentation.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Bistandsreform i det blåblå. Dagens næringsliv. ISSN 0803-9372.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Strenge rapporteringskrav kan tåkeleggje bistandsresultat. [Internet]. forskning.no.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Strenge rapporteringskrav kan tåkeleggje bistandsresultat. [Internet]. UiOs nettsider.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). On contexting: Can the analyst "follow the actors" and still bring in her own choice of contexts?
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2015). Optics of Evaluation: Making Norwegian Foreign Aid an Evaluable Object, 1980-1992.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2014). Norsk oljebistand og resultatarbeid i historisk perspektiv.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2014). Norsk bistandsevaluering i historisk perspektiv.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2014). Hva er god bistand?
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2013). Norsk utviklingssamarbeid: Hvor går veien videre?
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2013). Claudia Lenz og Trond Risto Nilssen (red.) Fortiden i nåtiden. Nye veier i formidlingen av andre verdenskrigs historie Universitetsforlaget, Oslo 2011, 343 s. Historisk Tidsskrift (Norge). ISSN 0018-263X. 92(3), p. 486–491.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2013). Meeting Moving Targets: The Ambiguous Authority of Environmental Accounting in Development Aid.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2013). Assessing future impact.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde & Kall, Ann-Sofie (2013). Opening remarks: Engaging Environments. Analyzing lay knowledge and popular action on nature, the environment and climate change.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2013). Sharing Knowledge and Ideas - the University as Innovative Partner and/or Critical Watchdog.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2013). Tusenårsmålene etter 2015 - fra et OECD-DAC-perspektiv. Kommentar.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2013). Rom for kritikk: En NGOs rolle i norsk offentlig debatt om vannkraftprosjekter i utlandet.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2013). Panel moderator.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2013). Technologies of timing: Planning, monitoring, and evaluation of Norwegian development aid projects.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2012). Hvorfor følges ikke "arbeidslinja" i utviklingspolitikken? Debattleder, politikerpanel.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2012). De borgerlige og utviklingspolitikken. Debattleder.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2012). "Familieliv i skvis". [Newspaper]. Klassekampen.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2012). Confessions of a lecturer. Teknovatøren. 2(3), p. 50–51.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2012). Inn til kjernen. Bokanmeldelse av Dag Hessen, Inger Nordal og Thore Lie: "Kristine Bonnevie. Et forskerliv" (2012). Klassekampen. ISSN 0805-3839.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2012). Ingen er herfra. Bokanmeldelse av Thomas Hylland Eriksen: "Veien til Baranquilla" (2012). Klassekampen. ISSN 0805-3839.
  • Hjort, Maria Astrup; Solbakken, Synne; Reinertsen, Hilde; Jendal, Håkon; Rana, Shahzad & Andresen, Herbjørn [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2023). Rapport. Utvalget for bevaring av digitalt skapt dokumentasjon. 15. mai 2023. Arkivverket.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Endringsteori som styringsverktøy: En historisk utforskning av innebygde spenninger. Underlagsrapport, oktober 2022. Expertgruppen för biståndsanalys (EBA). Full text in Research Archive
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2022). Är en semantisk magnet ett bra styrningsverktyg? En historisk utforskning av förändringsteorins inneboende spänningar. Kapittel i Kim Forss & Númi Östlund: Hur förändra världen? En antologi om förändringsteorier i biståndet, EBA Rapport 2022:03. Expertgruppen för biståndsanalys (EBA). ISSN 978-91-88143-85-3. Full text in Research Archive
  • Reinertsen, Hilde; Bjørkdahl, Kristian & McNeill, Desmond (2017). Confronting the contradiction: An exploration into the dual purpose of accountability and learning in aid evaluation. Expertgruppen för Biståndsanalys (EBA). ISSN 978-91-88143-28-0.
  • Reinertsen, Hilde (2016). Optics of Evaluation: Making Norwegian Foreign Aid an Evaluable Object, 1980-1992. PhD dissertation. Universitetet i Oslo.

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Published Nov. 2, 2023 3:30 PM - Last modified Nov. 2, 2023 3:30 PM

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