[Nettime-bold] Fw: The Global Development Gateway

For anyone who hasn't yet wandered through the World Bank's controversial Global Development Gateway http://developmentgateway.org it might be worthwhile to take the time...

The criticisms that have been raised of the GDG have mainly been of "crowding out" (of existing sites), skewed funding priorities (toward WB associated sites rather than indigenous or grass-roots developed sites), and supposed self-dealing (of WB officials).

I won't go into those--they have been well presented by others and particularly on the GKD list serve.

What interests me is how the strengths and weaknesses of the site(s) are so revealing of larger issues concerning Development and the very harsh realities that are being discovered about information and E-Commerce on the Net.

The GDG sites that I looked at were, I think, quite useful as compilations of materials--lots of useful (but selected) links and some access to information not readily accessible elsewhere (particularly WB and related information). So far, not very different from any of the zillions of sites which rose so quickly in everything from flower growing to auto-mechanics.

Clearly, the model employed was that of the late '90s E-commerce "portal" phenomenon. And the approach appears equally to suffer from the limitations of most of those portals--naive (and failed) attempts at creating communities of interest, self-interested (and failed) attempts to generate volunteer enthusiasm and thus voluntary labour and (information) contributions, and overall a rather partial window on the very complex reality(s) into which they were meant to provide a "doorway".

In the case of some portals, particularly those that didn't arise from or manage to create a linked self-organizing community of interest, the output has tended to be skewed to the interests/biases/limitations of its creators and raises the hackles and competitive juices of all those who don't share those assumptions.

In the Development sphere particularly, there are a range of competing interests and "communities" and what seems evident from the WB portal is that the primary community with which it is associated is the "official" ODA/government/agency/consulting world. Thus the documents/links/presentations--"reality" which is provided through the portal are the "official" documents/links/"reality" etc.

Nothing particularly wrong with that--it gives useful access to something that certainly occupies a lot of the available financial/psychological/political space; but there is, as many have observed, the very real danger (likelihood) of this having the result of crowding out/unfairly competing/defunding all the other "realities"--many of which may be closer to the interests and activities of folks on the ground or in the trenches--the NGO's, the implementers, the communities, the development activists.

And over all of course, is the central dilemma of the E-Commerce phenomon which, though unstated, is visible on every page--how is all this "sustainable"--financially (and socially). For many of the E-Commerce folks, the answer was "advertising" and "community building" and those sites have been disappearing at an incredible rate as funders/advertisers asked uncomfortable questions of who was looking, for how long and for what purpose and the toughest question of all--is this site (and the money I'm putting in), cost-effectively having the desired outcome for my "bottom-line" i.e. impacting the behaviour of those I'm trying to reach.

What most of them found was that maintaining an up-to-date useful, interesting, relevant portal was fantastically labour intensive (and thus expensive). And ultimately it is unsustainable unless there is a direct link to a supportive volunteer community where the updating/populating of the site is done as a matter of course by a community communicating within itself and as it goes about its normal community building = and community maintenance activities cf. slashdot.org.

The dilemma for the WB is that the only folks who, over the longer term are likely to provide on-going content development and in-put into the portal, are those who do it because they have a stake (financial) or are paid--take a look at the (lack of) participation in any of the "forums" associated with the various GDG topics or themes and compare this with any of the multitude of "community of interest" voluntary lists in those same topic areas.

The very very much larger number of others who are involved in Development and who ultimately the portal is designed to reach, will find other and more accommodating and responsive/effective ways of participating in a "Development community" and making use of the Net and certainly ones that are inclusive of both "official" and unofficial channels and information. And they are very unlikely to offer their labour or their information for free where others are being (well) paid for the same efforts.

So, the very hard truths of E-Commerce and Development are likely to come home to the WB GDG as they have to many others--content on the Net is an expensive business and communities (whether virtual or geo-local) are difficult to create and even more difficult to harness for any goals other than their own.

Of course, the WB has the resources to ignore this, but I would guess, not for very long.

Mike Gurstein

Michael Gurstein, Ph.D.

Michael Gurstein & Associates

Vancouver BC CANADA

(Visiting) Professor: School of Management

New Jersey Institute of Technology

Newark NJ USA

----- Original Message -----

From: Jean-Charles Le Vallee

Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2001 5:28 AM

Subject: Development Gateway Food Security Web Site

If you are wondering where you can find an overview of the many web sites that exist on a particular development topic, then you should visit the Development Gateway. This initiative has been under development for the past 10 months with funding from the World Bank, and support from many hundreds of governmental and non-governmental organizations and large numbers of individual professionals, and academics. It is now fully functional in every respect though the official launch is still some weeks away.

An important and growing area of the Gateway is the topic of Food Security. Over a hundred sources of information have been made available including articles, case studies, projects, programs, organizations, networks, data sets and statistics, events, news, official policies, and so on. Unlike a basic web site listing, directory or bibliography for every entry is supported by an abstract which summarizes the contents and significance of the document or web site presented. Many distinguished individuals have also joined the advisory panel as well. You may start a discussion, ask questions to the community, and sign up to receive alerts about new contributions, or broadcasts from the guide and advisory panel, news and updates from the food security team. We have started listing information sources in French and Spanish as well. On key issues, we are currently looking at the question of GMOs, defining food security and a conceptual framework, and the finding causes of food insecurity.

The Development Gateway is a knowledge sharing initiative about development that is taking shape in collaboration with the private sector, civil society, international agencies, and governments. It consists of a global portal where people and organizations can share knowledge, engage in dialogues, and work together to reduce poverty. The gateway platform is also being used to launch country gateways so that people and organizations in developing countries are connected. As well as Food Security, other topics covered include such areas as Education, Law, Culture and Development, E-government, Disaster management, Gender, and many more.

The Gateway also features unique databases such as the Accessible Information on Development Activity (AIDA) where you can find out what development projects
the World Bank and other aid agencies are planning in a particular country or region. The AIDA databases contains information on projects completed, being planned, and underway from over 200 funding agencies. Soon the Gateway will also offer E-procurement and an E-book store.

Anyone with web access can browse all parts of the Gateway free of charge. However, we are very keen to see this being developed and added to, by as many professionals, academics and other experts or specialists in any of the topics covered, and by communities and civil society. We are looking to the whole of the community to contribute both web links and original reports and publications, as well as information and discussion. To become an active supporter and start contributing, to ask or answer a question posted on a topic page, or add comments to a discussion, all that is needed is for you to register.

To register is quick and easy: simply go to the Food Security page and click on either "Join the Gateway" or "My Gateway" at the top, and follow the instructions.

I do hope that you will check out the Development Gateway, and especially the Food Security portal. Let us have your views and feedback by becoming active users and contributors. I look forward to your participation.

Please forward this message to colleagues who might also be interested in this initiative. Thank you.

Regards, Jean-Charles Le Vallee
Development Gateway Food Security Topic Guide
http://developmentgateway.org/topic/?page_id=3661