Re: [IUFRO IT group] IT group suggestions and activities

Thanks, Claudia, for this update. When I mentioned this issue at the last EB meeting, I was concerned that the IUFRO Board and Secretariat wasn't really catching on to some of the changes that occurring in the way that people communicate with each other. The divergence between the use of traditional communication methods and age is inverse: the younger a person is, the more likely they are to be using other forms of communication. It is possible to argue, especially by us older individuals, that there is nothing wrong with the traditional communication methods (newsletters, electronic lists such as this one, policy briefs, even websites). However, my concern is that there is a generation of individuals who are now beginning to penetrate the scientific community as junior professors and scientists who are using different communication means, and IUFRO simply isn't there. I am referring to the increasing use of open technology, such as blogs, Facebook, U-Tube, wiki-based technologies and so on. I am yet to see any strong indications that our Task Force on Communication has recognized this, although I do think that the 6.03 is group is beginning to get a grasp of some of the issues. I believe that there is something deeper and much more serious here than we in IUFRO have recognized. The whole nature of scientific communication is rapidly changing, as witnessed by the recent proliferation (in the last 12 months) of open science journals. The scientific review system is rapidly changing - double-blind reviews are increasingly the norm (for those who bother with review process at all), but the concept of open review by the whole community through wiki-technologies is not too far away (we are using this already for the review of criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management on one of our websites; it is only a matter of time before this process is used for scientific papers). Best wishes John Dr. John Innes Professor, FRBC Chair of Forest Management Department of Forest Resources Management University of British Columbia 2045-2424 Main Mall Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4 email: john.innes(a)ubc.ca tel: (+1) 604 822 6761 -----Original Message----- From: it-group-bounces(a)lists.iufro.org [mailto:it-group-bounces@lists.iufro.org] On Behalf Of Goestl Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 7:58 AM To: it-group(a)lists.iufro.org Subject: [IUFRO IT group] IT group suggestions and activities Dear IT group members, as you will remember, we agreed last year that the process group on the broader use of IT (chaired by VP Science) will discuss and suggest new approaches on the use of innovations in communication technology via the IT mailing list. I am writing you today using this mailing list tool to summarize last year's suggestions and the planned and ongoing activities: Summary: Generally the IT group activities date back to Motion 6 (Board to establish IT group, IT group to use 2008 Adaptation Conference in Sweden as test case) and Motion 11 (TF Communication and Publication Committee to develop recommendations) of the 2007 EB Meeting in China, Beijing. In September 2007 we agreed upon: a) starting the mailing list approach, and to use the Adaptation Conference in Sweden as a test case b) and c) to put all interested parties on the mailing list and enable online self-subscription of other interested persons d) to continue to exchange ideas "on how to best use innovations in knowledge management and communication technology in the work of IUFRO" by establishing the IT mailing list What has been done: 1) the mailing list for the Adaptation Conference and the IT group were set up in October 2007 2) additionally mailing lists for all IUFRO Divisions and interested Task Forces were set up in October 2007 3) additionally mailing lists for interested Research Groups and Working Parties (2 Test Cases) etc. were set up in December 2007 4) all lists (exception: IT group) support online self-subscription of interested parties and self-edit address updates; besides existing lists of addresses of officeholders were imported 5) the lists are fully moderated to guarantee the quality and relevance of postings and to ease the initial reservations and fear to make something wrong users often have when using new community tools 6) the lists and possible uses (conference announcements, search for publications, request for help in solving interdisciplinary question, position announcements, etc.) were advertised in IUFRO News Suggestions that were brought forward by members of the IT group: 1) Mike Wingfield suggested to establish and maintain List Servers for all the RG's in the Divisions were set up for all RGs and WPs that expressed interested in Dec 07 2) Mike Wingfield stated the FORENT and FORPATH mailing lists as an example and suggested that these lists could be test cases. He furthermore suggested together with Sandy Liebhold that these lists should move from the server in Vermont, US, to IUFRO given the retirement of the list administrator cases as the other lists were already in the implementation process; there has been close cooperation between Mike Wingfield, Sandy Liebhold, Dale Bergdahl and me to ensure a smooth transition of the two lists with each over 600 active subscribers; this transition from Vermont to IUFRO (Vienna) successfully took place in February 2008. 3) Mike Wingfield suggested to supplement the list server based mailing lists with a self-edit tool that allows mailing list members to enter their details (address, background information, etc.) with the vision to build an electronic, powerful directory and a target time frame of 2010. The systems suggested were those of the American Phytophath Soc. and the South African Society for Plant Pathology (Mike Wingfield) and a software called Drupal used at the British University of Columbia (Angeline Gough). get acquainted with the new tool and to wait until a true online community has formed, so that we will actually be able to use a tool that specifically fits the needs our still forming IUFRO online community. Mike Wingfield and I have agreed to continue collecting examples on an ongoing basis and I will look into the technical issues involved so that we have a series of pre-selected tools once we are ready for this next step. Note: The possibility of address updates (as suggested by Perry Brown in this context) is catered for by the current system we use, as each list member can self-edit his/her email address and mailing preferences. Outlook: So what we would need would be further suggestions (next to the self-edit information system already on the list) on further approaches on the use of innovations in communication technology. Furthermore, any feedback on how such long established list as the FORENT and FORPATH lists (existing for over 15 years now) could serve as example for the new communities; on how the mailing lists could ease the communication among officeholders and Unit members, etc. are most welcome. Furthermore any initiatives to involve the TF Communication and the Publications committee are most appreciated. Guidance on how to use the IT mailing list tool for your reply to the whole group: To reply kindly click on the reply button in your email client and proceed as with any other mail. The mail will be sent automatically to all group members (as the groups list server address it-group(a)lists.iufro.org stands in the "To" field) with a short time delay due to the moderation. Further guidance is available online, see: http://www.iufro.org/science/iufro-mailing-lists/faq-mailinglists/. Besides you are most welcome to contact me directly at goestl(a)iufro.org for assistance. I am looking forward to your suggestions. With best regards, Claudia -- Claudia Goestl - Web Management International Union of Forest Research Organizations IUFRO Headquarters - Secretariat Mariabrunn (BFW), Hauptstrasse 7 | A-1140 Vienna, Austria Tel.: +43-1-877 0151-14 | Fax: +43-1-877 0151-50 Website: <http://www.iufro.org/> http://www.iufro.org | Email: <mailto:goestl@iufro.org> goestl(a)iufro.org IUFRO Mailing Lists now online - <http://www.iufro.org/science/iufro-mailing-lists/overview/> http://www.iufro.org/science/iufro-mailing-lists/overview/ <mailto:it-group@lists.iufro.org>