Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Monday, May 29, 2006

Living Knowledge - Building Partnerships for Public Access to Research

Newsletter – May 2006

Table of Contents
· Science Shop Summerschool
· 3rd International Living Knowledge Conference
· ISSNET Reports
· Science Shops in Belgium
· Sustainability of Cotton
· International Science Shop Cooperation – Science education and careers call
· International Science Shop Cooperation – Science Shop call
· Problems of Sustainable Water Management in Berlin ...
· Towards a Framework of ‘Cooperative Research’
· Science Shops: New Flyer, EU Website and Brochure
· Living Knowledge Database
· FAQs on Science Shops
· The DOTIK Training School
· Participatory Methods Toolkit
· Conferences
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Science Shop Summerschool

A four day introduction in Science Shops
22-25 August 2006, Utrecht (the Netherlands), Registration is open!!

The Science Shop summerschool is a four day course. It will focus on the concept of Science Shops and community-based research in general. Experienced science shop staff will discuss operational options and good practices, but also barriers in running a science shop. Local contexts are very important factors for the success of a science shop. Therefore an active contributions of participants is essential in the discussions. Clear links will be made to the EC Science and Society policy and other activities to improve citizens access to, and participation in research. Examples of different Science Shop models will be given and visits to different type of Science Shops will be organised.

The summer school addresses to scientists, science communicators, community leaders, NGO representatives, graduate students, PhD students, and others who are interested in setting up a science shop or starting Community-Based Research projects. The course aims at introducing the operational options of Science Shops in order to support the establishment of community-based research organisations.

Deadline for registration is 1 July 2006. The fee of € 300,- includes course materials, Science Shop site visits and housing. Applications for scholarships are extended to 1 June 2006.

More information about the programme, housing, scholarships are available at www.livingknowledge.org or at the International Science Shop Contact Point (isso@bio.uu.nl), Utrecht University, Caspar de Bok, e-mail: C.F.M.deBok@uu.nl
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3rd International Living Knowledge Conference

30 August to 1 September 2007, Paris, France

At the beginning of February 2005 around 250 people from 30 countries all over the world participated in the 2nd ‚Living Knowledge‘ Conference in Seville, Spain. We can tell that there is a progress since this conference. There is a growing social demand in society for validation of existing knowledge and access to knowledge production and new Science Shops have emerged in different countries with a lot of enthusiasm.

The preparations for the 3rd Living Knowledge Conference now have started. This 3rd LK conference will be held in Paris, France, from August 30, 2007 until September 1, 2007. More details and requests for support will be announced on the Living Knowledge discussion list soon and will then also be available at the Living Knowledge website.

Printed copies of the Seville conference proceedings are still available. Please ask for a free copy by sending an e-mail to norbert.steinhaus@wilabonn.de or download the pdf-file at www.livingknowledge.org (follow reports-documentation-ISSNET).
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ISSNET Reports

The final version of the ISSNET WP4 report „Opportunities and challenges for transnational research co-operation“, and all other reports of the EC funded project ISSNET (Improving Science Shop Networking) are available online now. The pdf documents can be downloaded for free from the Living Knowledge website www.livingknowledge.org (see section News).
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Science Shops in Belgium

Thanks to the support of the Flemish authorities a network of university based Science Shops in Flanders has been created. The Belgian network of Science Shops consists of a central contact point, Wetenschapswinkel.be, and regional university based Science Shops: one at the Universiteit Antwerpen, one at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, one at the Universiteit Gent, one at the Universiteit Hasselt, one at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and one at the Katholieke Universiteit Brussel.

The central contact point will be managed by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. One of the tasks of this central contact point is to create a database which consists all the Science Shop topics of Flanders. The main benefit of working with a central unit is that with a minimum of costs we try to give a maximum service to the non-profit organizations and to our new coming Science Shops.

The purpose of our Belgian university based Science Shops is to seek scientifically founded answers in response to a problem experienced by a civil society organization. These problems are presented by the regional Science Shops to senior students by way of dissertation research, assignments, training sessions and/or internships or to experts through workshops, research support and research supervision. The regional Science Shop employee acts as a mediator between the organization who ordered the research, the student researcher and/or the expert.

Central support unit Science Shops Belgium Sofie Van Den Bossche, T +32 (0)2 629 22 24

info@wetenschapswinkel.be , www.scienceshops.be.

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department R&D, Science Communication Office, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
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Sustainability of cotton

On April 10 the Science Shop of Wageningen UR published a report about the sustainability of cotton. It is a comprehensive overview of scientific information available about the environmental and social sustainability of 3 types of production systems of cotton: conventional, IPM and organic. The study was commissioned by consumers’ organisation Goede Waar & Co. The report is in English and can be downloaded from the following web site: www.wur.nl/NR/rdonlyres/24D8701B-F547-4E5B-986E-1BD07BD2D263/21267/Rapport223binnenWEB.pdf
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International Science Shop Cooperation – Science education and careers call

EC opened negotiations about a proposal submitted in Science education and careers 2005

The Bonn Science Shop and the University of applied Science Höxter from Germany, Intermediu Bucharest and Intermediu Bacau from Romania and the Institute of Environmental and Landscape Management (ESSRG) from Gödöllo, Hungary, have submitted a proposal on the development of further vocational training for child minder and teachers at primary schools in the Science education and careers 2005 call, which closed 31 January 2006 (FP6-2005-Science-and-society-16). The EC accepted this proposal and invited the consortium for contract negotiations, which are still ongoing. For more information, please contact norbert.steinhaus@wilabonn.de
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International Science Shop Cooperation – Science Shop call

Projects submitted in the Science Shop call (FP6-2005-Science-and-society-20) are in the phase of evaluation now. To evaluate the success of this call it is important we have an overview of proposals that have been submitted but also of proposals that have not been submitted in the end. When the evaluation phase is passed, Living Knowledge members will be asked to give some general information about their activities in this call. This is not an EC initiative but an initiative of the International Science Shop Contact Point (isso@bio.uu.nl)
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Problems of sustainable water management in Berlin and Brandenburg – waste, steppefication and contamination?

... was the title of a thematic conference held on May 16, 2006 in Berlin. It was organised as a public discussion by two departments of the Centre for Cooperation of the Technical University Berlin: `KOOP´ (Cooperation Between Science and the Working World) and the Science Shop `kubus´ (Cooperation and Consulting for Environmental Questions). The conference was sponsored by the foundation `Hans Böckler Stiftung´ and attracted about 120 participants from a number of institutions, research institutes, enterprises, trade unions, NGOs and other associations.

The president of the Brandenburg Environmental Agency, Prof. Matthias Freude, presented warning signs of climatic change in this German state (located around the conurbation Berlin). Decreasing annual precipitation and ground water levels and the salinisation of water and soil are growing problems and may lead to the transformation of large areas of land into steppe (steppefication). Prof. Martin Kaupenjohann (TU Berlin) focused on current studies of “preferential flow” of e.g. phosphate and lead and the so-called “first flush” of storm water. These scientific results are of practical relevance for agricultural soils in Brandenburg (and even for foreign countries with a different climate, like Thailand) as well as for urban soils of Berlin and similar conurbation areas. The presentation of Prof. Matthias Koziol (TU Cottbus) emphasised the importance of water and land management in areas of decreasing population, as found in most parts of Eastern Germany due to the demographic change. Proposals were made for an appropriate management including technical modifications and changing the dimension of water supply systems. Dr. Simone Klawitter (Water Sanitation Livelihoods and Institution Building), Mr. Norbert Schmidt (Board Member of the Berlin Water Supply Company) and Ms. Susanne Stumpenhusen (Chairwoman of the Public Service Trade Union ver.di /Berlin-Brandenburg branch and Vice-Chairwoman of the Berlin Water Holding) presented facts and opinions about economic challenges for sustainable water management for this area. The final discussion brought together diverse statements and proposals for better cooperation among the different actors.

For more information in German, please visit www.herd-und-hof.de/index/cmd/catalogue_details/modul/portal/kernwert/landwirtschaft/block/catalogue_1 . If you would like to use our discussion forum but your German is not adequate for written comments, please click www.tu-berlin.de/zek/forum . Your contribution in English is welcome and it will be translated as soon as possible.
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Towards a framework for ‘co-operative research’

Report of European Commission workshop

We live in a time of ever-increasing opportunities and challenges associated with new science and technology. As a result, there is growing interest and attention to the relationships between research, innovation and society. Real contrasts and tensions emerge between high level policy agendas concerned with the ‘knowledge based society’, with the stewardship of ‘democratic governance’ and with the pursuit of ‘sustainability’ and ‘precaution’ in science and technology. In short, we need to move away from the somewhat fragmented, introspective and reactive preoccupations of science and society, to a more integrated, open and proactive understanding of the inescapable place of science in society.

The findings from intensive discussions at an innovative two-day ‘Gover’Science’ Seminar organised by the Governance and Scientific Advice Unit of DG RTD in November 2005 are now published in a report. The complete report will be posted soon on the Science and Society web-site and its content reflected as much as possible in the preparation of the 7th Framework Programme. The pdf-file of the report can be already downloaded from the CIPAST website (www.cipast.org/download/GoverScienceFinalReport.pdf ). You can download the executive summary of the report here (http://www.cipast.org/download/FROMSCIENCEANDSOCIETYTOSCIENCEINSOCIETY.pdf ).
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Science Shops:
New Flyer, EU Website and Brochure

The EC printed a new flyer on Science Shops. This flyer focuses on different target groups, universities, students, citizens groups and local authorities. The flyer can be downloaded from the Living Knowledge website (www.livingknowledge.org , see section News).

Printed copies can be ordered for free at the European Commission from liz.versterlund@cec.eu.int .

The new Science and Society portal of the European Commission was launched on 14 November 2005. It replaces the previous Science and Society website. The portal is open to all news and organisations related to Science and Society (http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/home_en.cfm).
Still available at the old EU website are specific pages with general information about Science Shops as well as the minutes and single contributions of two Science Shop workshops organised by the European Commission (http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/scientific-awareness/shops_en.html).
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Living Knowledge Database

Over the last few years, there have been many requests for an overview of organizations and people active in community-based research. The Living Knowledge database will fulfil these needs.

The Living Knowledge Database is a free, public accessible resource for Science Shops and alike organizations, community-based (research) organizations, universities and policy makers worldwide. It is searchable on (type of) organization, people, country and (thematic) expertise in community based research, all over the world.

If you are an active organization dealing with community-based research, you are invited to add your information to the Living Knowledge Database at www.livingknowledge.org.

Please send your remarks on or questions about the database to the International Science Shop Contact Point (isso@bio.uu.nl). We need your feedback to optimise the use of the database.
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Frequently asked questions on Science Shops

The EC project TRAMS will deliver training and mentoring tools to support new and existing Science Shops and alike organisations. One of these tools is the section Frequently Asked Questions on the Living Knowledge website (www.livingknowledge.org). This FAQ section is a dynamic section. It is not a final version; questions and answers will be added. If you have any additional answers please feel free to contribute to the development of this section. A printable version of this section will be available soon.
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The DOTIK Training School

A Eureopean masterclass on Science and Society for museum explainers

SISSA, Trieste, 28 August – 2 September 2006

The DOTIK training school is the first European Masterclass specifically addressing explainers, animators, demonstrators and all the personnel directly interacting with the public in science centres, science museums, science festivals. It aims at enhancing the role of explainers in science centres and museums, to act as a proactive, two-way interface between science and society.

The DOTIK training school will be held in Trieste, Italy, from August 28 to September 2, 2006, in the premises of the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) and the Immaginario Scientifico Science Centre. The participation to the school is limited to 50 explainers from European science centres and museums. Participation is free of charge and travel grants will be awarded to small centres and new European countries. Detailed information and application forms can be found on the web site www.dotik.eu . Deadline for application is June 14, 2006.
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Participatory Methods Toolkit

A practitioner‘s methodological manual now also available in German

‚Participation‘ has become a buzzword in government statements and policy papers and the concept is being given concrete shape. But how can participation be organised? What methods are available and when and how are they applied? What are the implications for the budget and staff? To offer a few answers to these questions, the King Baudouin Foundation and viWTA (The Vlaams Instituut voor Wetenschappelijk en Technologisch Aspectenonderzoek, an independent and autonomous institute) publishe a toolkit on participatory methods which is now alos available in German. It contains a presentation of ten methods (e.g. World Café, Citizens‘ Jury, Consensus Conference, Expert Panel), a step-by-step, hands-on manual, with detailed checklists and realistic expectations of outcomes. You can download a free copy at http://www.viwta.be/files/30890_ToolkitENGdef.pdf (Englisch) or at http://epub.oeaw.ac.at/ita/ebooks/Leitfaden_pTA_DE_Feb06.pdf (German)
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Conferences

June 21-25, 2006, Glasgow,UK

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation,

6th CIVICUS World Assembly: Acting Together For a Just World

This Assembly will bring together over a thousand civil society representatives from around the world under the theme ‘Acting together for a just world’. Get involved by visiting our website for updates on: Conference Registration, Conference Programme, Exhibitor Opportunities, News, and Discussion Board at www.civicusassembly.org


July 15-19, 2006, Munich, Germany

European Science Open Forum

http://www.esof2006.org/



August 22-25 2006, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Science Shop summerschool
www.livingknowledge.org



August, 23-26 2006, Lausanne, Switzerland

EASST 2006; Reviewing humanness: bodies, technologies and spaces, http://www2.unil.ch/easst2006/



November, 3-4 2006, Heidelberg, Germany

Genes, Brain/Mind and Behaviour, EMBL/EMBO Science & Society conference at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, www.embl.org/conference2006/scope06

WiFi Infrastructure

My friend and colleaugue Tracey Lauriault, is one of the founders of a group looking to create WiFi infrastructure in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. Check out what she has going at:

http://serendipityoucity.blogsome.com/

Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education and Action

From the CCPH listserve:

You may recall the earlier posting when we announced a new journal that is being published by Johns Hopkins University Press called 'Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education and Action (PCHP). The mission of the Journal is to facilitate dissemination of programs that use community partnerships to improve public health, to promote progress in the methods of research and education involving community health partnerships, and to stimulate action that will improve the health of people in communities. For more information, including a listing of the journal's editorial board members, visit
http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/progress_in_community_health_partnerships/

The journal has begun receiving manuscripts and its online processing system, Manuscript Central, at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pchp is now operational.

They would like the earliest issues of PCHP to feature articles from leaders in the field of health partnership research such as you, CBPR listserv members! By featuring exemplars of health partnership research in the journal's earliest issues, they hope to provide models for subsequent manuscripts submitted by other authors as well as to enhance the visibility of PCHP.

The journal editors are happy to discuss with you any ideas you have for a potential submission to PCHP. Please direct any questions, comments, or suggestions to Managing Editor, Mark Newgent at 410-955-6669 or mnewgent@jhmi.edu

Sunday, May 21, 2006

How to Change a Mind

My friend and colleague Nick Barrowman sent this blog article a little while ago. I thought I would share it:

"This post, on "How to change a mind", might have some relevance to knowledge translation:"

http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2005/12/how-to-change-mind.html

Nick Barrowman, PhD
Chief Biostatistician, Chalmers Research Group
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute
401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1H 8L1, Canada
Tel (613) 737-7600 ext. 3971
Fax (613) 738-4800
Email nbarrowman@cheo.on.ca
URL http://www.chalmersresearch.com

Blogger Ethics Survey

Dear Blogger,

We have received more than 1,000 participants from across the world in our survey on ethics and blogging conducted between 6 Feb and 1 Mar 2005. We sincerely thank all of you who have done the survey, and apologise for the long delay in releasing the results.

The results are now available at http://www.weblogethics.blogspot.com/ . We choose to post the results on blogspot so as to share this information firsthand with the blogging community. At the same time, this is an effort to contribute to the
ongoing debate on weblog ethics and ethical codes. Please feel free to email us your feedback or post comments on our blog. We would be most glad if you can also provide a link to our blog to share the survey results with your friends.

Alternatively, the results are also available at The Singapore Internet Research Centre http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc/

Community Education Service

The Community Education Service has just finished the first phase of what we hope will be an on-going project to share and develop expertise in large-group education for parents and young people. Through funding from the Provincial Centre of Excellence for Children's Mental Health, we have presented information about the effectiveness of large-group parent education programs to five communities across Ontario, including Kingston, Brockville, Woodstock, Halton, and Windsor. We're presently scheduling additional presentations for April and May.

Several of the communities are now preparing to use our web-based data system to collect information about their workshops, courses, and groups. My colleagues in Hamilton have been our "beta-testers" as we rolled out the new system, and our new Spring 2006 flyer was developed on the new database. Additional features include the selection of your specific community, and selection of a "main focus" for your educational offering. These features will help us construct a better search function, so that parents can find the courses they are looking for more easily.

Other features that you won't see, are the administrative tools to help the person in your community who is pulling together your local flyer. They can now set the dates the database will accept registrations, determine the range of program dates to include in each flyer, and send out a reminder e-mail to everyone in your community.

If your community is looking for funding to offer large-group education, we will soon have a proposal template that you can use to seek funding from organizations or local foundations. It presents the case for why community education is important, and reviews the evidence that it is effective. For a copy of the funding case, e-mail me at the address below.

This list serv is designed to help foster a "community-of-practice". If you have questions about community education, are looking for effective, evidence-based large-group interventions, or want to get some great suggestions on how to increase enrolment in your course, this is the place to post those questions. We have more than 100 participants, whose collective knowledge will be equal to almost any challenge.

Finally, I'd like to thank all those of you who have helped us along this path by suggesting changes and improvements to our web site, by offering high-quality parent courses, and by showing leadership in your agency and community by adopting evidence-based programs that educate and inform our clients.

Don Buchanan
Coordinator, Child & Youth Health Partnership
McMaster Children's Hospital

Evel 1, Chedoke Site
Box 2000, Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z5

'(905) 521-2100, ext. 77061
7(905) 521-7925 fax
/ buchanan@hhsc.ca
http://www.mcmasterchildrenshospital.ca

3rd International Conference on KM - London

This conference at the University of Greenwich may be of interest.

http://www.ickm2006.org/

London UK Knowledge Network

Geoff Gurd from the PHAC sent along this link to a London-based network that operates in a similar manner to the Ottawa-based IKMF. He suggests that any visitors to London, interested in KE/KM contact them.

http://www.londonknowledgenetwork.org.uk/

KE as a Giant Hairball?

http://www.line56.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=7597

Creativity is crucial to business success. But too often, even the most innovative organization quickly becomes a "giant hairball" - a tangled, impenetrable mass of rules, traditions, and systems, all based on what worked in the past - that exercises an inexorable pull into mediocrity. Gordon McKenzie worked at Hallmark Cards for thirty years, many of which he spent inspiring his colleagues to slip the bonds of Corporate Normalcy and rise to orbit - to a mode of dreaming, daring and doing above and beyond the rubber-stamp confines of the administrative mind-set. In his deeply funny book, exuberantly illustrated in full color, he shares the story of his own professional evolution, together with lessons on awakening and fostering creative genius.

Learning from all sectors

Paul McDowall via the IKMF sent along this list of documents from the philanthropic sector. There is an interesting report on knowledge management that may have some utility for those working in other domains:

Leveraging What You Know: Knowledge Management Strategies for Funders
Published by GEO, 2004, 20 pages.
An overview of the knowledge management in philanthropy, with special attention to technology-supported taxonomies, organizational culture assessment and effective communication. Includes short case studies and lessons learned from grantmakers using knowledge management strategies in their own organizations.

http://www.geofunders.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=150

Friday, May 12, 2006

Knowledge translation in developing countries.

My friendly neighbourhood epidemiologist, Ray Deonandan, sent me this link to a new article by Santesso and Tugwell at the Institute for Population Health at the University of Ottawa.

J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2006 Winter;26(1):87-96.

Centre for Global Health, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

There is increasing evidence that the application of knowledge in developing countries is failing. One reason is the woeful shortage of health workers, but as this is redressed, it is also crucial that we have an evidence base of what works to minimize the "know-do gap." The World Health Organization and other international organizations are actively building momentum to promote research to determine effective strategies for knowledge translation (KT). At this time, the evidence base for the effectiveness of those strategies is not definitive in developed countries and is relatively sparse in developing countries. It appears, however, that the effectiveness of these strategies is highly variable and dependent on the setting, and success hinges on whether the strategies have been tailored. A useful framework to provide direction for tailoring interventions is the Ottawa Model of Research Use (OMRU). Underlying OMRU is the principle that success rests with tailoring KT strategies to the salient barriers and supports found within the setting. The model recommends that barriers and supports found in the practice environment or as characteristics of potential adopters and the evidence-based innovation or research evidence be assessed and then the KT strategy tailored and executed. The model also recommends that whether the research has been applied and has resulted in improved health outcomes should be measured. Studies in developing countries, although few, illustrate that the OMRU approach may be a valid method of tackling the challenges of KT strategies to improve health care in developing countries.

PMID: 16557514 [PubMed - in process]

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Internet Access

A good friend works at an agency that is about to release some surprising numbers on access to the Internet by Canadians.

We discussed these last night after watching the Ottawa Senators choke through another playoff game.

It is clear that Canada has backed off Internet access - it was only recently that we were the most connected country in the world - does this mean we are losing connections or just not working as hard at developing the "last mile". A typical Canadian problem.

Country Users per 100 iinhabitants

Sweden 75.46
Korea (Rep) 65.68
Australia 65.28
Finland 63.00
U.S. 63.00
U.K. 62.88
Canada 62.36
Denmark 60.41
Singapore 56.12
Japan 50.20
Germany 42.67
France 41.37

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