The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is one of a relatively small number of organizations making its communications strategy available online.Particularly interesting is the 'strategic approach'that combines internal and external communications, library services, web services, public awareness, and knowledge management. The strategy also sets out 4 higher level outcomes and the various products and services used to achieve them.The four outcomes are:Greater utility - Staff and partners are provided with state-of-the-art communication products, vehicles and services; classical library services are transformed ...; information is packaged in multiple formats ...Greater influence - ILRI’s sphere of influence is enlarged beyond the CGIAR; journalists and their editors are...
Globalization, poverty and mobility: an introduction to the developmental dimensions of international migration, New Issues in Refugee Research Working Paper, no. 164 (UNHCR, Sept. 2008) [text]
National Legal Framework for IDPs in Sri Lanka: A Critical Analysis, IPCS Research Papers (Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, Sept. 2008) [text via Human Security Gateway]
Negotiating Rights: The...
Speaking at the 2007 Farmer First conference, Paul Van Mele of the Africa Rice Center comments on ways to "help bridge the farmer knowledge and the scientific knowledge and to bring this synthesis in such a way that it becomes accessible to a wide range of users and intermediary users" so we can 'democratize knowledge." He illustrates this with the work of WARDA where they use video to "stimulate experimentation" [by...
Africa Science News reports on a welcome example of spinoff research:
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) together with a Nanyuki-based Self Help Centre, will soon make farmers breath a sigh of relief while buying cheap, economical and good quality fuel.This is thanks to a biodiesel project run by the University which might soon go commercial. The technology...
Sage Journals Online is offering free access to 500+ journals through the end of October 2008. Interested researchers are asked to register and create a login/password. Sage publishes a number of journal titles in the social sciences. A quick search just on "refugees" in article titles produces 389 results.
Posted in Web Sites/Tools.
Cross-posted on Researching...
The Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) has just released the following trio of resources that discuss the nexus between climate change and displacement.
Forced Migration Review no. 31 (Sept. 2008) [access]
- Articles provide definitions, case studies, possible solutions, and research agendas.
FMO Research Guide (Sept. 2008) [access]
- Provides an introduction to the issues.
FMO Resource Summary...
Deepti shushed me; gave me the look – let’s get started, she was trying to say. I kept talking anyway. Then Abigail shushed me; same look. I still kept talking. Finally, Hali gave me a nod – the presentation was starting. I finally shut up, and politely asked Jason Rzepka from Pop!Tech to come in and have a seat. Through the shushings, Jason and I were using the last few minutes of pre-event networking to catch up on his work – a yearly conference held in Maine. But neither he nor I had come to Gibson Dunn’s 48th floor offices (sidenote: thanks to Gibson Dunn for letting us use their amazing space) to talk about Maine. We were there for a presentation by the returning class of Acumen Fund Fellows.
Why would someone from Pop!Tech – and about 50 others – be interested...
The September 18 issue of 'The Economist' has a short article on user-generated science. It looks at emerging web 2.0 tools in science, particularly blogging, that may lead to news ways to publish and communicate science and research. It concludes that there's much action and progress in the science blogosphere, but: "in order that blogging can become a respected academic medium it needs to be recognised by the upper echelons of the scientific establishment."It links to Nature Network - a 'professional networking website for scientists around the world', where you can find a information about the recent Science Blogging 2008 conference in London. The conference ended with a call to get senior scientists blogging. This may be a good step towards recognition that publishing is about more...
In a post 'Science blogging is the new email', one participant in the Science Blogging 2008 conference in London gives a really interesting categorisation of blogging:conference blogging (also includes event blogging)edubloggingmetablogging (blogging about blogging, by far the largest discipline)research blogging (blogging about scientific experiments, the smallest discipline)investigational bloggingevolution blogging (a large subdiscipline)news blogging (blogging about science news)watercooler blogging (small pieces of interesting or funny thoughts/pictures)summary blogging (summarizing other blog posts and linking to them)diary blogging (blogging as a personal diary of self-expression)hoax bloggingIt would be interesting to see if we have other types of blogging in...
In a 2006 article, Ezra Ondari-Okemwa examines knowledge management initiatives at the International Livestock Research Institute.The study looks at how knowledge is generated in ILRI, how it is shared, how it is transferred and how it is integrated into the day-to-day operations of the Institute. Some of the challenges that the ILRI faces in managing knowledge are identified, and solutions which cannot always rely on information technology are discussed.She concludes: "The International Livestock Research Institute knowledge management programme stands outas a good example of the best practices that may be emulated in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions where it has operations.""The environment that ILRI has created encourages creation and sharing and transfer of knowledge....
For any new researchers out there, I have compiled a guide to information resources relating to refugees and forced migration. It is available as a wiki at http://forcedmigrationguide.pbwiki.com.
You can use the guide in two ways. First, read through the chapters just like you would a regular text. Part one begins with an introduction to the concept of “forced migration” that includes a...
Several publications have appeared recently that focus on the impact of armed conflict on children, particularly in the area of mental health.
Annual report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, A/HRC/9/3 (Human Rights Council, June 2008) [text via Refworld]
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General...
There is something Orwellian about last week’s World Bank announcement of a new poverty line, and the Bank’s entire effort to categorize the poor, that I found moderately disturbing. This top-down attempt to box the problem and then convince ourselves that, because of some statistical shenanigans, there are now more (or fewer) people living in poverty is the kind of pointless navel gazing that I want us to avoid getting trapped into at Acumen Fund.
We have had internal discussions about this, which inevitably end with the realization that we will know poverty when we see it. What’s more, we need an honest check against moving too far up market - thereby neglecting our charitable intent and our aim of trying to serve the poor, who we define in terms of lack of income, lack of...
On 25 August, many participants at the World Conference on Agricultural Information and IT joined the IAALD-organised session on information and agricultural research.Web 2.0 was a thread in several of the presentations:Chris Addison introduced R4D (www.research4development.info) – the development research dissemination service of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and how it is evolving “from a portal to a service.” In the new service, various web 2.0 tools are used to optimized research content so it can travel and be subscribed to. His 5 take away messages:1. turn websites into services;2. use web2 as a ‘high street’ where the various shops help promote content;3. ensure that content is featured on other sites and services;4. check how the content is used,...
At Core77 Niti Bahn and Dave Tait write:
Recent observations in the field on the BoP consumer's lifestyle and buyer behavior in Africa led us to conclude that their product choices and decision-making criteria are based on an entirely different set of values than those that influence the design of most consumer products today. A combination of factors such as local culture and history, as well...
From Perspective 2.0:
Mobile phone maker Nokia is set to open a regional research center to study consumer behavior in low income communities. The study is aimed at understanding the need of mobile users in Africa in order to create concepts that address the needs of consumers.The research Lab dubbed Nokia Research Africa is partnering with a local Non Governmental Organization and local...
The Science Dissemination Unit of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics just published a 'compendium of selected literature on Open Access in scientific communication.The report, as can be seen in the embedded image below, is as interesting for its online format as it is for its content.open the publicationThe publishing platform is called Issuu. According to its blurb, it is "the place for online publications: Magazines, catalogs, documents, and stuff you'd normally find on print. It's the place where YOU become the publisher: Upload a document, it's fast, easy, and totally FREE. Join a living library, where anyone finds publications about anything and share them with...
The Global Forum on Agricultural Research just published a short document on Advocacy to improve information sharing and exchange in agricultural research for development. The advocacy agenda comprises:Increased and improved investment in ICM at the research Institute, research organization and research system level.Capacity development, especially skills in generating digital content, managing and disseminating it at the Institute and Research System level.Greater coherence and integration of agricultural information systems.Improved governance of information flows to ensure equitable access to agricultural related information...
From GWINN covered earlier:
Tomilola Awoniyi from Nigeria was recognised and applauded for her infant and child 'LIZVIC formula food' which includes ingredients and spices of high nutritional value.Tomilola developed this formula after the birth of her first child when she discovered that most of the available infant formula could not produce the desired effect on the growth and wellbeing of her...
A recent paper by staff of the Embrapa (Brazil) Technological Information Division presents a methodological model for the establishment of Open Access to scientific information at Embrapa.According to the authors, the model proposed, supported on Open Access rules, will contribute to effective acceleration and improvement of internal and external scientific communication. It will do this by:Promoting scientific production, researchers and institution’s visibilities, with great potential to enhance impact of results from research at Embrapa;Providing the scientific information management methodology, directed to the internal and external knowledge management (identification, capture, storing, organization, retrieval and largely dissemination);Associates and preserves the scientific...
From the TED Blog:
The Next Einstein Initiative (NEI) is building a network of postgraduate centres of excellence for teaching and research in the mathematical sciences, throughout Africa.
NEI is now recruiting a Chief Executive Officer, to manage all aspects of the development and implementation of the NEI programme. The successful applicant will be strongly committed to African development and...
Mintek a mineral research organisation "...supports the small-scale mining (SSM) sector through research and development of appropriate technologies, and by providing training and support so that development can be as sustainable as possible even though based on limited...
From their website:
The Real IPM company (a development marketplace finalist) mass produces beneficial insects and biopesticides for use in Integrated Pest Management programmes in Kenya and beyond, providing growers with good quality, affordable biological controls...If pesticides are not used to protect crops, the grower needs to use other methods, which could be naturally occurring biological...
New Issues:
Development in Practice, vol. 18, nos. 4&5 (August 2008) [contents]
- Focus is on participatory research and gender analysis; includes a literature review.
Humanitarian Exchange Magazine, no. 39 [full-text]
- Features articles on the humanitarian response in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Migrations & Identities, vol. 1, no. 1 (2008) [contents]
- Mix of articles.
Calls...
Nineteen University of Botswana undergraduate students completed their work for HOORC's Winter Course this week, wrapping up their fieldwork assignments with presentations of the results of their research. This year's work included economics studies from Mbakile P. Seabe - Household attitudes and willingness to pay for the conservation of Lake Ngami, Botswana -- Kaelo Galeage - The impact of...
In
Economics,
public health,
Livelihoods,
fisheries,
Water Resources,
Vegetation,
Cultural Resources,
Community Based Natural Resource Management,
Pollution,
Education,
Research
The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) just published a new Bulletin on Outsourcing agricultural advisory services: Enhancing rural innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa. It starts from the perspective of "Ms Kanaga, a dynamic east-African farmer in her late thirties. She started cultivating rice during the last growing season. But before becoming involved in this new agricultural enterprise, she spoke with her neighbours, who had recently introduced rice into their farming system; she also spoke with the Village Women’s Farmer Group, the local extension worker, the local credit and savings bank, the local materials supplier, and an NGO focused on enterprise development. And she listened to a local radio programme on agriculture. At that point she became slightly confused because the...
From the Science Blog
Scientists (from the Biocassava Plus project) have determined how to fortify the cassava plant, a staple root crop in many developing countries, with enough vitamins, minerals and protein to provide the poor and malnourished with a day's worth of nutrition in a single meal...[continue...
In April 2008, organizations participating in the Asia-Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS) met in Bangkok. The meeting report is now available.In his introductory remarks, GFAR's Ajit Maru explained that the "main objective of the current workshop was to apply a de-centralized networking approach at regional level through APARIS and its linkages with the National Agricultural Information Systems (NAIS) of the Asia-Pacific using newly available tools/applications/frameworks such as RSS feeds, AgriFeeds, and CIARD."The report has information on each of the main sessions of the workshop; the major recommendations of the plenary session include:Agreed upon standards are a pre-requisite for efficient sharing of research information among all stakeholders.New...
ReliefWeb has compiled a resource page entitled "Humanitarian Implications of Climate Change." It includes links to key documents, research institutions, international humanitarian organizations, hazard specific analysis, thematic impact studies, and geographic impact studies.
Two recent discussions on the displacement implications of climate change held within a day of each other are...
ELDIS has alerted us to Navigating Amidst Complexity: a guide to implementing effective research and development to improve livelihoods and the environment, a guide from the Center for International Forestry Research. The guide was intended for researchers already involved in natural resource management but it is likely to also be of interest to implementers of natural resource management...