Sometimes you stumble about something in the web and think: “This is very cool”. That was my reaction towards the animations of RSA, an abbreviation for Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce based in London.
“In the light of new challenges and opportunities for the human race, the RSA seeks to develop and promote new ways of thinking about human fulfilment and social progress. We do this by providing a platform for ideas and debate, a programme of innovative research and development, and through the activities of our 27,000 strong Fellowship. By combining thought leadership, social engagement and powerful forms of collaboration, the RSA can make a vital and unique contribution to civic capacity.” (Taken from thersa.org)
My favorites are
a) the professor Philip Zimbardo talk & animation on how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being. Those who prefer prof. Zimbardo’s mustaches to the animation, see the video of his talk.
My second stumble for this week is a somewhat unusual but useful repository of material and data on the Balkans and South Caucasus.
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso (OBC) is a research and electronic media centre devoted to social and political change in South-East Europe, Turkey and Caucasus. The OBC team, based in Rovereto (Trento – Italy), cooperates with a network of over 40 correspondents and local contributors to deliver daily online articles and in-depth analysis on these areas.
In the world dominated by English language and sources from the Anglo-Saxon world this is some refreshment. And it is in English, too for those of us that do not speak Italian. . Check out their latest addition: Postcards from Albania. Look at vibrant Tirana between the two wars and would not find its current strive for modernity surprising. (Thanks to The Economist Blog Eastern Approaches for this gem).
Finally, I share one source that I did not stumble upon. J. Aaron Presnall from The Jefferson Institute has sent the info some months ago. I have finally found some time to play VIDI-Dataviz only now.
I have been following (and trying to learn ) about communication of policy products. In learning about it, I have taken two main avenues: a) learn from think tanks which do it well, but also b) look in other ‘industries’ where similar challenges exist.
Now I have stumbled upon a creative designer of newspapers in Central and Eastern Europe. Jacek Utko, a Polish designer has managed to make miracles with some of Eastern European newspapers. I really recommend you to spend 6 minutes and watch his talk on TED.
‘Processes of innovation and research are fundamental to improvements in quality of life and to creating a better society. But to realise these benefits, the quality of research alone is not enough. Organisations engaged in policy-relevant research and innovation must continually take into account and balance the needs of a diverse set of stakeholders: from the intended research users, to their clients and donors, to the research community and the research participants. Responsiveness to all of these is crucial if they are to be legitimate and effective. In this, accountable processes are as important as high quality research products.’ – OWT Announcement of September 9th.
These are the premises on which One World Trust has built their work on research accountability tools. The work has resulted in an excellent database.
The database is available here.. The database is an output of a three-year project, entitled “Accountability Principles for Research Organisations.” Working with partners across the globe, the project has generated an accountability framework which is sufficiently flexible to apply to many contexts and different organisations.
Too often think tanks go headlong into various research projects without paying enough attention to the ethical aspect of their work and accountability of their policy products and work in general. One World Trust (Brendan Whitty is the key engine behind this project) has produced a commendable and useful depository online for all those who want to ensure that their research work is accountable.
To fulfill all the requirement (according to the OWT model) would certainly require an overall organizational effort to embed the suggested principles in every research design. However, this online depository should be consulted also by those researchers / think tanks who are interested to improve their accountability in a piecemeal fashion. I really recommend you to browse through it. The tools go beyond accountability of research; some of the posted documents could help think tanks and research organizations to re-think and improve their research design, implementation plans and advocacy efforts.
In the past, independent think tanks have tended to perceive communications as an optional, marginal activity. However, the creation of a comprehensive annual communications strategy is becoming integral to the activity of any think tank including those in Central and Eastern Europe. Every organization requires a communications strategy to maximize its work’s impact, but technological advancement and the perception that there is abundant information and analyses at policy makers’ disposal complicate the task of choosing appropriate channels of communication.
At the end of May 2010, Policy Association for Open Society (PASOS) and the Think Tank Fund gathered 20 executive directors and/or directors of communication of CEE think tanks at a workshop in London (insert the agenda). The 2-day workshop hosted by the European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR) benefited from the experiences of the London- based think tanks (IPPR, DEMOS, CER, Chatham House and several other organizations such as Global Witness, Open Society Institute). While participants have positively evaluated the events, PASOS has recorded some of the presentations and put them available here:
1. Developing and implementing a communications strategy – overview
Peter Harrington, former Communications Director, DEMOS, UK
4. Communication strategy of a particular project – Case study of Providus Center for public Policy – Latvia. Presenter: Krista Baumane, Development Director download Powerpoint of Krista Baumane’s presentation(173kb)
Common people rarely deem research, academic or applied, thrilling. Or in other words, research is not fun and sexy. Instead, it often is labeled as a painstakingly slow, boring process, interesting only for few wiz-kids turned grown-ups and people dreaming of influence politics and policy without ‘getting their hands dirty’.
This ‘negative image’ unfortunately haunts research among policy makers and alike. Notwithstanding the increasing number of thrilling reports, interactive web-sites, short speeches packed in catchy sound-bites that have sprung throughout the old and new media lately, I find captivating lectures to do the promoting job best. And in this category, TED’s lectures related to research are my favorite. Indeed unparalleled in the cyber space J.
I have written this text in November 2008. The summary is presented below, you can download the full version in pdf atthe bottom of this page.
SUMMARY: Coordination among the world’s democracies-between the US and Europe as well as between other developed and developing democratic countries-needs immediate attention. With US hegemonic power in decline and democracy losing appeal globally, democracy as an ideology necessitates a serious rethink. It now exists in a sort of global market where it competes against other effective ideologies such as authoritarian capitalism. The recent rejection of the League of Democracies is a sign that creation of new international institutions is not necessarily the way to get things done. Instead, existing institutions are going to have to work as they were intended to. While cooperation between democracies alone will not solve our most pressing issues such as global warming, security, nuclear proliferation, terrorism and global health, there are a number of areas where the world’s democracies can make a difference. With US-led alliances no longer adequate for addressing different worldviews, European countries are in a position to act as global leaders. GB Cooperation of democracies Continue reading →
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