International Network for the
Availability of Scientific Publications
58 St Aldates, Oxford OX1 1ST,
UK
Tel: +44 1865 249909 Fax: +44 1865 251060
E-mail: [email protected]
International Network for the
Availability of Scientific Publications |
||
Newsletter
No. 13, November 1999
In this
issue:
Newsletter Editors: |
Information and Communication
Technologies for Development
|
Timely access to relevant information is central to all
information users. Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs), especially the Internet, are changing the way people
exchange information and, to institutions of higher learning,
have to a large extent increased the standard of education. In
Africa, developing an appropriate infrastructure for ICT is
becoming a necessity and a challenge. It is a necessity because
of the role that ICT plays in the daily lives of people. It is
also a challenge because of inadequate resources available for
developing such services. Despite such challenges and thanks to
donor support, the majority of African countries have already
established the basic infrastructure that can support some form
of ICT use.
(Continued)
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| About INASP INASP is a co-operative network of partners
whose aim is to enhance world-wide access to information.
The Network has three immediate objectives: |
Supporting
the Activities of LIS Professional Associations in Africa Supporting strategies leading to the continued revitalisation and renewal of African university libraries is a key part of INASP’s programme. One element is a three-year project aimed at strengthening the role of regional professional associations in assisting and promoting the development of African university libraries and encouraging networking and information exchange between all university libraries in Africa. The following activities are amongst those envisaged: • conferences The biennial conferences of SCANUL-ECS (Standing Conference of African National and University Libraries in East, Central and Southern Africa) and SCAULWA (Standing Conference of African University Libraries in West Africa) are being supported. The SCAULWA conference takes place between 24 and 26 November 1999 in Accra, Ghana. Organisation is by the Committee of University Librarians and their Deputies (Ghana) and the Planning Committee is chaired by I. K. Antwi, Librarian of the University of Development Studies in Tamale. The theme is ‘African University Libraries in the 21st Century’. A key objective of the meeting is to resuscitate SCAULWA, which has not met for many years. Invitations have been extended to university librarians throughout West Africa. • research studies, pilot projects, etc. Members of SCANUL-ECS AND SCAULWA are being assisted to undertake research studies or pilot projects. The first to get underway is ‘A Survey of University Library Incomes’, a co-operative venture by member librarians of SCANUL-ECS. Its aim is to share experiences and explore possible areas that can be developed for income generation. The results will be reported to the next meeting of SCANUL-ECS. • newsletters Support is being offered towards the printing and distribution costs of the biannual newsletters of SCANUL-ECS and SCAULWA; • Association of African Universities (AAU) Ad Hoc Standing Committee on Libraries The five librarian members of the Committee were financed to attend a meeting in May 1999. Kay Raseroka presented a paper on ‘The Role of the University Library’. Also discussed was the constitution of the Committee and the implementation of university library statistics collection. A report was made to the AAU Executive Committee; • co-operation Co-operation between SCANUL-ECS and SCAULWA is encouraged through representation at each other’s meetings and by exchange of newsletters. John Tsebe, Librarian of the University of the North in South Africa and Chair of SCANUL-ECS is attending SCAULWA in November. Funding is provided by Danida and INASP. |
| New
INASP Guidebooks Journal Publishing for Agricultural and Rural Development Experience in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) has consistently revealed low levels of performance in journal publishing in agriculture and rural development. Apart from the absence of a wide range of comparatively well-published and managed journals in these countries, the mortality rate for new journals is high. Older journals tend to be characterised by poor management and very serious financial problems that lead to irregular and unsustainable journal publication. Reasons for poor performance in journal publishing include lack of sufficient professionalism in publishing procedures and the absence of simple, practical guidebooks for editors and potential publishers of journals in agriculture and rural development. Against this background, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) in Wageningen, The Netherlands, earlier this year asked INASP to prepare a practical training manual specifically for publishing pro-fessionals in agriculture and rural development. The new publication will be complimentary to Hans Zell’s reference handbook published jointly by the African Books Collective and the International African Institute in 1997. The target audience for this Guidebook comprises mainly young and upcoming editors and publishers of journals in agricultural and rural development in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. The material will be presented in a simple, easy-to-follow style, focusing particularly on those aspects of journal publishing that are commonly overlooked by journal editors. Examples will be provided to guide editors on how to handle problem areas in editing and communicating with journal contributors. As with earlier handbooks, models of a variety of forms, guidelines, formats for journal management and promotional materials taken from successful journals, will be included to guide editors in designing similar materials for their journals. The Guidebook will consist of 10 chapters covering the most essential aspects of the journal publishing process, recommended reading, a Glossary of Terms, checklists and resources. Essential aspects of journal publishing will include planning for a new journal, through editorial responsibilities and practices, desktop publishing and production, distribution and marketing. Financial management, abstracting and indexing matters as well as legal and copyright issues will be treated. Preparation of the manuscript should be completed by the end of April 2000 for publication of the first edition in early summer. Anthony Youdeowei, Consultant in Agricultural Education, Training and Scientific Communication, will prepare the manuscript for this project. He will be assisted by Maritza Hee Houng (Caribbean) and Peter Walton (Pacific). More information can be obtained from the INASP secretariat. |
Practical Guide to Marketing and
Promotion for Agricultural and Rural Development
Materials in ACP countries Another publication which is in the making is the Practical Guide to Marketing and Promotion for Agricultural and Rural Development Materials in ACP countries. A practical guide more than a reference book, the publication aims at helping publishers in developing countries market their products. The theoretical chapters are followed by a workbook with practical exercises. Outline of Contents 1. What is marketing ? Is it sales ? 2. Can you afford to publish ? Understanding cost ratios, break-even points, pricing and working with subsidies 3. Defining the Market, who do you sell to, and who is the end user ? 4. The Marketing Mix 5. The Marketing Plan 6. Costing a Marketing Campaign 7. Ingredients of the plan; leaflets, visiting institutions, advertising, review copies, direct mail, book launch, media publicity. 8. Building a list and the need for a catalogue 9. Developing a targeted mailing list 10. Market research, analysing the competition 11. Strategic planning and company strategy 12. Distribution and sales, local and international 13. Selling rights A workbook and exercises are included in this very practically oriented guide. It will be printed in full-colour and fully illustrated. The guide is due for publication in early summer 2000. |
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Do it with the Internet
This article briefly discusses one of
the capacity building efforts in the use of ICT: a workshop
organised by the University of Dar es Salaam Library in July 1999
with support and assistance from Danida and INASP. The course
materials were prepared and presented by Martin Belcher, Project
Manager for Internet Development at the Institute for Learning
and Research Technology (ILRT) of Bristol University, UK. The
article will discuss ways in which such a workshop can enhance
Internet training and use at institutions of higher learning.
By Henry Mambo and Julita Nawe
It is now a fact that academics, students and administrative
staff at many tertiary institutions have access to some form of
ICT. A good number of African countries have full connection to
the Internet, full Internet connection meaning that users can
take advantage of networking services such as e-mail,
conferences, newsgroups, distribution lists, remote login, file
transfer protocol, gopher, Wide-Area Information Server and the
Web. Further countries are connected to other networks such as
Bitnet, Fidonet, and UUCP, with which an Internet connection is
possible. Internet use in Africa is largely confined to academic,
research and some government institutions. However, statistics
also show that private Internet usage is increasing.
About the workshop
The workshop was
designed to introduce the Internet and its possible uses in the
fields of teaching, learning and research to academic librarians
in Africa. It imparted knowledge to participants on basic
Internet concepts, efficient Internet search techniques, basic
Web page creations and basic skills in training people in
Internet related topics. It drew a total of 21 participants,
mainly from the University of Dar es Salaam Library, with
representatives from the libraries of Muhimbili University
College of Health Sciences, Sokoine University of Agriculture,
the Institute for Finance Management, and from the Tanzania
Library Services. During the workshop the participants were given
the opportunity to practice what they learned, at every stage.
Participants were divided into groups for discussion and ideas
from each group were put together for future training in Tanzania
and other countries where similar workshops will be held. Most
participants in the workshop already had some knowledge of
Internet searching gained in their places of work and from
professional training in and outside the country. However, at the
end of the workshop, all agreed that it had been important in
that it gave them a systematic and effective way of using the
Internet and its related aspects.
Future developments
Given the level of resources owed by most African countries,
gradual capacity building in ICT is of utmost importance. This is
so despite the fact that the African continent has the least
developed information technology infrastructure of all developing
regions. Some of the institutions represented in the workshop,
like the University of Dar es Salaam, Sokoine University of
Agriculture, and the Institute of Finance Management, have
already developed ICT at different levels. Considering the amount
of resources required for such activity, a workshop like this one
can assist in capacity building, especially the training of
trainers. At the University of Dar es Salaam, for example, such
training will have a wider impact since the use of the Internet
is gaining momentum not only in the library but also in all major
departments. The University Library is now well placed to conduct
training on the use of Internet in the library and to other
faculties and departments, to assist teaching as well as
research. The same thing can be done by other institutions which
participated in the workshop. Already, in-house training
sessions, based on the workshop, are being arranged in December
1999 and January 2000 for members of the university library staff
who were unable to attend.
What next?
Given the nature of information acquisition and use and
sustainability of the information technology infrastructure in
Africa in general and Tanzania in particular, it is important
that capacity building at all levels is strengthened. The
workshop on ‘Using the Internet’ has acted as one of
such efforts in the training of trainers. However several aspects
need to be further addressed:
- There is an urgent need to train the end-users (academics,
administrative staff and students in the case of academic
institutions).
- Such training must also include other library staff, such as
library assistants, who interact with users in their day-to-day
activities.
- The demand for using the Internet and other ICT by users will
increase as a result of its introduction. This demand must be
addressed by increasing IT services.
Conclusion
As observed in the previous sections, the majority of academic
institutions in Tanzania are already using some form of ICT.
Some, like the University of Dar es Salaam, have already built a
reasonable capacity to exploit information through the Internet.
It is, however, of utmost importance to continue with systematic
capacity building at all levels. This includes acquisition of
equipment, maintenance, upgrading and continuous staff
development. Libraries, as one of the most used sources of
information, must fully utilise their institutions’ efforts
to build ICT capacity by increasing their own ability to use
modern information sources such as the Internet.
Travelling Workshop Update
By Diana Rosenberg
The first workshop on ‘Using the Internet’ took place
in July 1999 at University of Dar es Salaam. A report from two of
the participants at this workshop can be found on these pages.
But would the workshop travel? Would the hand-over of the course
to local facilitators be successful?
The second workshop in the series was held at the University of
Botswana Library from 11 to 15 October 1999. It was attended by
20 participants, from the University of Botswana Library and
affiliated institutions. The attendance was very impressive and
all took the workshop very seriously. The Workshop Director was
Mary Materu-Behitsa of University of Dar es Salaam Library,
assisted by Babakisi Fidzani from University of Botswana Library.
The organisation was undertaken by University of Botswana
Library.
All participants completed an evaluation form. The results show
that:
• 95% said the core objectives were met;
• 80% rated the overall contents of the course as excellent
and 20% as very good;
• 90% rated the format of the course as very appropriate and
10% as appropriate;
• 95% rated the performance of the Workshop Director as
excellent and 5% as very good;
• 100% said that they had learnt a lot during the workshop.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor, when opening the Workshop, commended
INASP on the idea of ‘travelling workshops’ as they
build local capacity. The University Librarian commented that the
workshop benefited from having a ‘local’ director in
that she thoroughly understood the African issues that affect
information transfer.
The next workshop will take place at the University of Zambia
Library. A representative from Zambia monitored the University of
Botswana Workshop and is eagerly looking forward to being the
host.
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Networking for
Effective Libraries and Information Services
Report from a five-day
workshop in Sri Lanka
By N.T.S.A. Senadeera
Networking for effective libraries and information services (NET
ELIS), was the main theme of an international workshop held at
the Galadari Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 17 to 21 October
1999. The workshop was organised by the Sri Lanka Library
Association, sponsored by IFLA-RSCAO and financed by IFLA-ALP.
Special emphasis was on South and Southeast Asia and Oceania.
In addition to a number of overseas participants, 41
professionals from Sri Lanka, representing libraries and
information-related institutions, attended the workshop.
The workshop was ceremonially opened under the distinguished
patronage of the Chief Guest, Hon. Minister of Justice and
Constitutional Affairs in Sri Lanka, Prof. G. L. Peiris.
In the first plenary, which was devoted to Issues in Networking,
the following presentations were made:
1. Networking consequences for information dissemination:
international and regional, by Dr. Gihan Dias. Technical Manager,
LEARN, Sri Lanka.
2. IT and information convergence or divergence, by Dr. Ruwan
Weerasinghe, Dept. of Computer Studies, University of Colombo.
3. The libraries’ perspective by Upali Amarasiri, Director
General, National Library and Document Services Centre, Sri
Lanka.
4. Human Networking: the days before IT by Prof. Derek Law,
Director, Information Strategies, University of Strathclyde.
The second plenary session was devoted to the presentation of
country reports describing the current situation in South Asia
situation. Country reports were made for six countries: Sri Lanka
(Ms. Sumana Jayasuriya, President Sri Lanka Library Association),
Bangladesh (Dr. S.M. Mannan, Associate Prof., University of
Dhaka), India (Dr. H. K. Kaul, Director, Delnet), Maldives (D..
A. Asif, Assistant Director, Ministry of Planning), Nepal (K.
Bandary, Librarian, Tribhuwan University) and Pakistan (Z.J.
Naqvi, Deputy Chief Librarian, Inst. of Development Economics).
In the next plenary session lessons and relevant issues outside
South Asia were presented. John Shipp, Librarian, University of
Sydney, Australia, gave an overview of the state of affairs of
library networking in Australia while Terry Kuney, Consultant to
the IFLA-UDT Core Program made a presentation entitled Developing
digital libraries: directions for the coming millennium.
Presentations from the international community on the
contribution of IT to our field were presented in Plenary 4. In
this session Terry Kuny elaborated on IFLA-UDT while Prof.
Russell Bowden explained the role of IFLA-ALP. IT lessons and
relevant innovations in developing countries were presented in
Plenary 5 through contributions from N.U. Yapa, Head Librarian,
International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Sri Lanka
(Co-operative software for library networking: The Sri Lanka
Experience) and Ms. Kalpana Dasgupta (New initiatives for
co-operation, resource sharing and networking of libraries within
the cultural sector of India). The representatives from Singapore
(Y.K.Hee) and Pakistan (A.S.Syed) also presented developments
relating to their countries in this session. Mr. Yapa
demonstrated the software he has developed and named Purna based
on the WINISIS database management system developed by UNESCO.
In between the plenaries, group discussions took place on topics
such as policy planning and management, technology, funding and
marketing and human resource development.
The workshop organisers are in the process of developing a paper
containing the resolutions approved by the workshop.
More information from:
Harrison Perera
Assistant Director (Information)
PO Box 753
Colombo 3
Sri Lanka
Telephone: + 94 1 581171
Fax: + 94 1 587079
Email: [email protected]
| INASP-HEALTH UPDATE | Go to top |
International
support for national HLM programmes |
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INASP South-South
Rural Development Project update
During the first five years of its existence, INASP worked at
building up a database which held a considerable amount of
information of relevance to the transfer of scientific
information, and, in particular (though not by intention) its
flow from the North to the developing world. There was, however,
a firm belief that a significant volume of information produced
by developing countries themselves should be made more widely
available on a South-South basis. INASP renewed its commitment to
include in its database a wider range of those institutions in
developing or emerging regions
which publish the results of their research/experience and
indicate a willingness to share them with both similar
institutions in the South and also interested organisations in
the North.
Since funds kindly provided by UNESCO for this new initiative
were limited, its scope had to be restricted. ‘Rural
development’ in the broadest sense was the area considered
most appropriate. Its geographical coverage was confined to
Africa. In July 1997, the INASP Directory of Organisations and
Networks in Rural Development: Africa (Pilot edition) was
published (see also the INASP Newsletter of Nov 97).
Whilst (or because) response to this publication has been
positive and demand high, it is now sadly out-of-print and
funding for a (hopefully extended) reprint is still being sought.
However, a small amount of funding has been received from Danida
which enables us to continue to extend the database and make
copies available on diskette. We would welcome hearing from any
organisation, active in rural development information provision,
which might wish to have its own entry included.
The disk can be ordered from the INASP secretariat. When making a
request please state the preferred format: Word 6, Word97, etc.
For further details, please contact:
Pru Watts-Russell
Programme Officer, INASP
Email : [email protected]
| Announcements from
INASP Rural Development Network members 1. ECOFLASH, a bi-monthly newsletter of the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (NESDA), a forum of African experts and institutions engaged in the management of the environment and natural resources, is now available on the internet and can be accessed via its web-site www.nesda.org/nesda1/eco.html Comments and contributions to future issues are welcome. Contact address: NESDA, 24 BP 95 Abidjan 24, Guichet Annexe BAD, Côte d'Ivoire. Email: [email protected] 2. The Rural Development Forestry Network (RDFN) has recently launched a new online notice board that will bring its readers regularly updated information including announcements from forestry-related organisations, book reviews, and details of forestry courses and conferences. Its web-site address is: www.oneworld.org/odi/fpeg . For those wishing to have information posted on the notice board please email RDFN at: [email protected] Contact address: Rural Development Forestry Network, Overseas Development Institute, Portland House, Stag Place, London SW1E 5DP, UK |
The
INASP Directory of Organisations and Networks in Rural
Development: Africa. The Directory is arranged in three parts: Section 1: South-South Organisations and Networks in Africa (103). Each entry is grouped under the broad subject heading to which it most closely relates, although many organisations are active in a number of subject areas. This section reflects the main emphasis of the Network which is to encourage increased dialogue and information exchange between like-minded organisations based in the developing world, particularly in Africa. Section 2: A Select List of Relevant International and Regional Organisations (61). This includes some of the organisations based elsewhere (Asia, Europe, North and South America) which share an interest in rural development and information dissemination activities and are relevant to their African counterparts. Section 3: Newsletters and Journals An alphabetical listing by title of those Newsletters and Journals published by organisations which appear in the Directory. |
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The Means and the Ends
North-South collaboration in higher
education: the potential role of ICT
Many higher education institutes in the South are
currently engaged in a steady process of automation and are
rapidly achieving ‘on-line’ status, through email and
Internet technologies, in today’s global society and
economy.
But what impact does this actually have on their academic
programmes and what are the institutional implications? What type
of interventions are required, within the framework of
collaboration between tertiary institutes in the North and the
South, to enhance institutional development, and to improve their
knowledge management and the teaching and learning processes by
using ICT as a tool for these purposes?
These questions were addressed during an international expert
meeting on the use of ICT in higher education organised by
Nuffic, the Netherlands Organization for International
Cooperation in Higher Education, based in The Hague. The meeting,
which was in June 1998, was entitled ‘North-South
Collaboration in Higher Education: the Potential Role of
ICT’. Some 50 professionals from Europe, Canada, Latin
America, Africa and Asia participated in the meeting.
The results of the meeting have now been published by Nuffic in a
(tropics-resistant hard-cover) Nuffic Paperback called The Means
and the Ends.
After describing the background to the meeting and the key issues
addressed, the publication starts off with a chapter on the
potential of ICT in higher education in the next century. It not
only peeks at the future use of ICT but also at the role of
education in the decades ahead.
Next is a chapter on the requirements for a national information
and communication infrastructure in Africa, followed by two
strong, down-to-earth chapters on the use of ICT in ‘the
primary process’: education itself. Both are written from
the perspective of North-South collaboration.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the fact that
it is produced by an organisation which is primarily concerned
with higher education, rather than ICT. The trap of transposing
ICT standards to the existing forms of education (or vice-versa)
is successfully avoided. The authors are acutely aware of the
fact that (higher) education itself is changing dramatically in
our time, that not all of these changes are attributable solely
to developments in ICT and that what we see of these changes now
is only the beginning of a process which will continue well into
the next century.
The epilogue by Nuffic’s literary grandmaster Hans van der
Horst tells us why it took the Dutch so long to introduce
steam-power on a large scale: the machines were initially
introduced in a field (drainage) which was already satisfactorily
mechanised through wind energy. His tale is an invitation to look
at the opportunities, rather than just the applications of ICT.
The book’s weak point is the prominent position of its
second chapter. In it, Mike Jensen (an IT-consultant) in essence
argues that Africa needs to (and can) be kick-started into the
information society - with the aim of nobody having to go for
more than 30 minutes to reach a low-cost communications point.
Although the author is clearly aware of the African reality (the
list of ‘bottle-necks’ is tale-telling) his
recommendations (comp. ‘universal smart-card based
systems’) betray little sense of it. The chapter may annoy,
if not offend some readers.
The section ‘For further reading’ is expanded with
three excellent pages ‘For further surfing’.
Overall, the book is definitely recommended reading for anyone
involved in the application (opportunities ?) of ICT in higher
education in the South.
More information from:
Nuffic
PO Box 29777
2502 LT Den Haag
The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 70 4 260 260
Fax: + 31 70 4 260 399
E-mail: [email protected]
The publication can be ordered from the publisher:
Thela Thesis
Fax: + 31 20 620 33 95
[email protected]
ISBN: 90 5538 038 5
The price is HFl 25 (approx. US$12)
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Brazilian journals online
SciELO's collection now holds 34 titles
SciELO Brazil - Scientific Electronic Library Online
(www.scielo.br) publishes a selected collection of Brazilian
scientific journals. SciELO is a result of a partnership project
conducted since 1997 by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do
Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), the Latin American and Caribbean
Centre on Health Sciences Information (BIREME), and a group of
scientific editors.
The project developed a model for electronic publishing to meet
the scientific communication needs in Latin America and the
Caribbean. It is committed to contribute to the advancement of
the science by increasing and improving publication and
dissemination processes, as well as evaluation procedures for
scientific literature. SciELO Brazil is one of the project's most
visible results.
Initially as an experimental initiative, new journal titles have
been added to the SciELO collection as the project advances. It
now comprises a respectable 34 Brazilian titles in different
areas of knowledge, with over 4,000 full text articles which can
be browsed through a Web-based interface. They form an
indispensable source of information for scientists all over the
world, while abstracts in English help generate awareness on
Brazilian academic results. A number of titles include full
articles in English.
The serials currently published in SciELO are:
Acta Cirurgica Brasileira
Bragantia
Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering
Brazilian Journal of Genetics
Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research
Brazilian Journal of Physics
Cadernos CEDES
Cadernos de Saúde Pública
Ciência da Informação
Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos
Dados - Revista de Ciências Sociais
DELTA: Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e
Aplicada
Educação & Sociedade
Genetics and Molecular Biology
Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society
Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins
Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira
Psicologia USP
Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica
Revista Brasileira de Botânica
Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo
Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais
Revista Brasileira de Cirurgia Cardiovascular
Revista Brasileira de Geociências
Revista Brasileira de História
Revista da Faculdade de Educação
Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
Revista de Microbiologia
Revista de Odontologia da Universidade de São Paulo
Revista de Saúde Pública
Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
São Paulo Medical Journal
Scientia Agricola
Knowledge, information and new
technologies: the impact of information on the development
process
The 1999 meeting of EADI’s Information Management
Working Group
By Sarah Cummings
This year’s meeting of EADI’s Information Management
Working Group numbered a respectable 30-40 participants with some
new faces among the audience and the speakers. In addition to its
regular sessions, the working group organised a semi-plenary on
information which was designed to emphasise the value of
information to researchers. It attracted a large audience,
comprising approximately 60 researchers and 40 information
managers.
The session’s point of departure was the 1998/99 World
Development Report entitled Knowledge for Development. In this
report, the World Bank examines the role of knowledge in
advancing economic and social wellbeing. Although bringing
knowledge to the forefront of the international agenda must be
applauded, a number of questions remain outstanding for the
development community.
The Chair of the Session, Peter Ballantyne, began by arguing that
the World Bank report represented a global perspective on the
role of information for development. Although this is not the
only global approach, it is an appropriate starting point at this
time because there is no European perspective on this issue
although one is in the process of being developed.
Knowledge is like light: information is like water
The first speaker was Stephen Parker of FID. He compared
information to water: ‘It has to be collected, processed,
stored, and distributed and it can be polluted and lost.’ He
underlined the fact that the link between information, knowledge
and decision making is not straightforward.
To address the relationship between information and decision
making, a major research programme on the impact of information
on decision making, funded by the International Development
Research Council (IDRC) is now being carried forward by FID. This
research project on ‘The impact of information on decision
making’ was initiated in 1992 and is now in its third phase.
The aim of the present phase is to test a methodology for
assessing the impact of information on a number of IDRC-funded
information products.
In his closing comments, Stephen Parker argued that the World
Bank report stresses the impact of information at the level of
the community and the society, rather than at the level of the
individual. The role of information in personal development
should not be overlooked.
The second speaker was James Deane of the Panos Institute, one of
the authors of the influential Media Briefing (see: www.oneworld.org/panos/briefing/interpov.htm
) which criticised the World Bank’s report. In his
presentation, James Deane compared the Knowledge for Development
report with the World Bank’s current ’99 report which
deals with globalisation and what it calls localisation, namely
the decentralisation of power to sub-national authorities. If you
look at these two reports together, there are number of
inconsistencies. This muddle arises partly because the World Bank
does not make a distinction between knowledge and information.
Indeed, what constitutes knowledge needs to be defined largely by
those who need and use it, not by external agencies. Discussions
of knowledge mask fundamental problems which have nothing to do
with knowledge gaps: the capacity gap; the information gap; and
power gaps. In such a context, developing countries need to make
maximum use of what is in people’s heads, they need to
recognise that knowledge is distributed throughout their
societies, and they need to have mechanisms where that knowledge
can be communicated into the decision process.
The discussion focused on a number of issues. One member of the
audience used the difference between information (short-term) and
knowledge (long-term) to highlight how information affects human
behaviour in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Another
participant started a discussion on the unsustainable nature of
information-related development aid, particularly in Africa. One
participant from Africa considered that information was more like
‘life’ than light. Warnings, for example about
hurricanes, were able to save lives.
The debates also considered the ownership and control of the
media, rights and access to information, the threat posed by new
technologies to government’s control of their citizens; the
contribution of these technologies to transparency and good
governance; the private appropriation of public-domain
information and intellectual property rights.
EADI’s Information Management
Working Group
The Information Management Working Group is one of the most
active working groups of the European Association of Development
Research and Training Institutes (EADI). It serves as an open
platform for reflection, discussion and action on development
information across Europe. It is the only European meeting place
for information professionals with a strong interest in
international co-operation and development research. For over 20
years, the working group has organised an annual meeting in close
collaboration with its members.
At EADI’s 9th General Conference held in Paris earlier this
autumn, the Information Management Working Group held a number of
separate sessions and a semi-plenary on the last day of the
conference.
Library Statistics for
African Universities
INASP has just published the 1997/98 library statistics for three
African universities:
- The University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia
- The University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania
- The University of Zimbabwe.
This publication marks the finish of a project that began in 1997
with a Workshop, held in Harare, on the Collection and Use of
Library Statistics. The outcome of the Workshop was an Annual
Statistical Return, a copy of which is also included in the
publication.
The three libraries undertook to take part in a pilot collection
exercise using this return and INASP undertook to organise the
cumulation and publication of the data.
The challenge for the future lies in encouraging more libraries
to take part and in identifying an organization which will
undertake the processing and publication of data on an annual
basis. Only then can trends be established and benchmarking take
place.
For more information, contact:
Diana Rosenberg
at the INASP Secretariat
or at:
Tel/Fax: + 44 117 973 7915
E-mail: [email protected]
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Notice Board |
The INASP Newsletter Notice Board is a public
forum for organisations and institutions wishing to
advertise their projects, activities, offers or requests.
Short contributions can be sent to the editor at INASP. |
|---|
New Online Rural Development Forestry
Network Notice board
The Overseas Development Institute’s Forest Policy and
Environment Group has launched a new online notice board, based
on the Rural Development Forestry Network Newsletter format, that
will bring regularly updated information including announcements
from forestry-related organisations, book reviews, and details of
forestry courses and conferences.
The Forest Policy and Environment Group’s strategy is to
strive for a broader, more livelihood-oriented approach to the
importance of trees and forests, focusing especially on
institutional, policy and socio-economic aspects of sustainable
forest management and conservation as well as on the interface
between forests and other land-uses. The Group believes that,
while livelihoods must often compete with national and
international interests for resources, environmental
sustainability and social equity are profoundly related.
The web-site address is: www.oneworld.org/odi/fpeg
If you would like to send information to be included on the
notice board please e-mail the Group at [email protected]
Second Global Knowledge Conference
The second Global Knowledge Conference (GKII), to be hosted by
the Malaysian Government and the Global Knowledge Partnership
(GKP) will bring together more than 1,000 people to Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, to hammer out strategies that will help put the tools
of the information age in the hands of developing countries and
the world's poor. GKII, with participants representing the public
and private sectors, key NGOs and international agencies, will be
held from 7 to 10 March 2000.
GKII will focus on what GKP calls: Building Knowledge Societies.
Three broad themes will provide participants with a framework
within which to examine opportunities to harness knowledge and
information as tools for development.
These themes are:
- Access: to ensure universal access to ICTs and to the knowledge
that can be tapped using them;
- Empowerment: to identify strategies and tools that can help
empower individuals and communities to improve their economic,
social, cultural and political lives;
- Governance: to explore ways in which ICTs can enable more
efficient, transparent and participatory forms of governance.
More information from:
Vimala Sundram or Ayesha Harben
Tel:+ 603 7541735
Fax: + 603 7546849
WWW: www.globalknowledge.org.my
Anthony Thompson Award
This award, administered by the International Group of the
Library Association, aims to enable a librarian not resident in
the UK to visit it to study some aspects of British
Librarianship.
In the year 2000, IGLA hopes to make an award to a candidate from
Central Asia, who has a particular interest in school libraries
and services to children.
The deadline for applications is 31 December 1999.
More details are available from IGLA’s website on:
www.la-hq.org.uk/igla.htm
or from:
Mrs Doreen Walker
Stoke Library
Walsgrave Road
Coventry CV2 4EA
UK
Global Knowledge Partnership
The Global Knowledge Partnership, is an informal partnership of
public, private, and not-for-profit organisations, which are
working together to help people everywhere gain access to the
knowledge and technology they need to live meaningful and
fruitful lives. GKP currently has 55 member organisations
including national governments, international organisations,
corporations and non-governmental organisations. The partnership
evolved out of the first global knowledge conference, GK'97, held
in Toronto, Canada. GK'97 explored ways in which to increase
access to new information and communications technologies.
| The next INASP Newsletter will be published in May 2000. If you would like to contribute to its contents, please write to the editorial address above. Contributions must be received by 1 April 2000. |
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Medical education has traditionally been
teacher-based with formal instruction. Often this
instruction was centred on the diagnosis (e.g. pneumonia,
malaria) rather than on the problem with which a patient
presents (e.g. fever and rigors). The problem is the real
situation and the diagnosis the possible one. It is clear
that problem-solving is essential for near-patient
learning. Time spent on such study is immediately
applicable to health workers’ practices and
encourages team learning.