June 18, 2007

Participants

• Julie
• Urs
• Simone
• Riff
•  ?
• Kouassi
• Marc
• Lucie
• Galina
• Ewen
• Dale
• Nancy
• Camillo
• Peter B via skype

Update on the Journal

• Finalising the next issue in which Nancy was one of the co-guest editors; technology stewardship and knowledge for development
• next issue on KS in LAC
• congratulations to Urs and Marc on the last issue
• future of KM4D Journal
• statistics are very positive; 100 visitors/day from across the world
• would like to maintain but it is difficult to sustain due to time constraints
• approached by two publishers - Emerald and Routledge who are eager to take on the journal
• Advantage: the publishing and editing would be taken on
• Disadvantage: Academic journals are closed and expensive so need to think hard on how it would be sustained
• Would like to keep at a minimum a free online version
• Undertaking a peer review of the journal to get outside reviews and based on the results, will proceed on negotiations
• Decision-making process is up to the editors in chief but will consult with the editing board for advice and options
• it is an important part of the community so it matters a lot from a members perspective
• it is unique in the world in that it gives people the opportunity to publish who wouldn't normally be able to publish; capacity development related to publishing
• it does need an official home or park
• there is a difference between the Journal and the KM4dev community but there is an intersection
• other options including hosting by a university (idea proposed by Camilo), funding to the KM4dev community AND the journal
• needs to be balanced by a manageable process so can't follow all leads
• worth exploring a couple of models (commercial), hosted by an open publisher such as MIT, funding by issue (lots of work); or funding as part of a KM4Dev package
• will keep the community informed

Research

• Both Sarah and Julie have been conducting research related to KM4Dev
• Sarah, Julie and Paul Hendriks are beginning this Friday to teach a post-graduate module on KM4Dev at Nijmegen University
• Four days consisting of introduction & concepts (why, what and how), looking inwards (what does KM4Dev concretely mean and what does it mean to the org), broadening the picture (KM policy, place of the policy), KM in practice (thematic day on gender)

Statistics & Google Analytics

Julie has written a case study to be published later in the year and the research for the study found the following bits of data:

• 520 members
• 276 development organisations
• 50 research organisations (universities, institute, private sector)
• 120 non-identified (i.e. private addresses like Hotmail, Gmail, etc.)

Google Analytics

• 50 people checking out the wiki and km4dev site; 50% traffic relates to the wiki
• home page (20% of page views)
• announcement of workshop (10%)
• direct traffic which implies that it isn't well indexed through google or referring sites
• Stickiness is 4.5 (which is a good rating)
• Map Overlay shows that Europe dominates the views
• Question to be asked next is "who should have access to the statistics is a question to be asked?"; the core group at first
• knowing that the wiki is relevant and sited makes more sense

Follow-up

• link to KM4dev in organisational website
• Ewen and Dale to continue working on; could also look into tracking who is actually opening the emails (though it sounds a bit intrusive); share some of the stats with the community through reports
• Nancy to continue being a wiki pest
• # of postings to complement the analytics from google
• If we add ads, we could ask for funding from the Google Foundation

Update from Bellanet/IDRC

• Bellanet has supported and continues to support KM4Dev since its inception by providing resources for coordination and the platform
• Bellanet program will continue at IDRC but as a project led by its southern partners
• Allison and colleagues continue to champion KM4Dev within IDRC
• One thing clear, Bellanet is moving away from hosting (website)/service provider. IDRC future funding for KM4Dev not completely unlikely but would not be at the same level as before

Offer from Skat and Helvetas

• Skat and Helvetas both have an interest in KM4Dev
• Riff has always wanted to be a KM4Dev year but hasn't been able, until now, to get involved
• Institutionally, Skat and Helvetas are thinking about what they could do to support the community
• Part of the package is the outputs from the community
• From the point of view of KM4Dev, if we are going to put in effort to get resources going, we should go for more than 100K
• Riff and Urs are willing to initiate the development of a proposal which will take the community to the next level i.e. generate outputs, technical support, facilitating events, making it accessible
• Peter B. is available as a sounding board and points out that the process alone would an interesting experience
• Riff and Urs to develop a concept note for feedback from the core group
• Depending on the conversations that emerge, we could move forward or not on the proposal
• Role of core team would have to be defined in the proposal but may be difficult to be resolved
• Concern about a move towards a KM4Dev secretariat and give some thought to what could happen
• Thinking about something less formal than a secretariat; the informality has to be protected
• The vision is to capitalise on what's been working; would like KM4Dev to continue being a neutral platform
• Won't likely be able to do anything in the next month due to travel/holidays

Follow-up

• Riff and Urs to draft concept note; will be contacting core team on an individual basis to get input (but are requested to share it out at a later stage to all)

KM4Dev 2008

• In principle, Marc is ready to think and talk about hosting KM4Dev in South Africa; would like to have a conversation about it but also look for a partner to support it
• Chennai and Maputo workshops were interesting but seemed to be detached
• Simone and Camilo had discussions in Brighton to run a LAC KM4Dev; still a possibility for 2008
• No law that there can't be more than one meeting - this has been the case this year with two events in Manila and Zeist
• What about running it in Second Life? :-)
• moving participation out of Europe has the advantage to increase participation of the South; for some the more events in the south, the better
• could also consider piggy-backing to another event or running a thematic event
• need to figure out what we can do more to bring in our colleagues from the south; should be a consideration in the concept note
• should consider Seattle and Washington; the WB, through trust funds, could bring southern participation and has the expertise in convening
• what has been learned in the organisation of this event is that there needs to have an organisation to back the event and take on most of the responsibility for logistics and coordination
• Peter suggests having a virtual event
• Could have a KM4dev event at GK3; Possibilities include:
  • a KS high-level panel
  • an online event
  • supporting panels
• Might want to consider to smaller and online events

Follow-Up

• Peter would be interested in leading an online event with one or two others
• Marc to continue his thinking and conversations with potential KM4Dev 2008 partners

Core Group

• Current Official members: Simone, Urs, Marc, Lucie, Ewen, Guilio, Carl, Julie, Sebastiao, Ajit, Camllo, Peter, Nancy and Allison
• Membership is very fluid; Ben and Erik just left, Peter and Riff are coming into the group
• Anyone who wants to be more involved can join, we ask for the equivalent of at least 2 days/year

Follow-Up

• Lucie to put Riff on the list now; to let Lucie know when it is official (in September, after the holidays)