There is an enormous amount of research and scientific data regarding sustainable development existing in the world. Much of it has not been published or is in very limited publication. Reasons for this include lack of funding, lack of human resources and unwillingness to share results of hard work. Many are reluctant to release all relevant information, afraid that they will not get the proper credit for the work or the information will be outright stolen.

We need to begin thinking of ourselves as stewards of knowledge and be willing to freely share such information. Information that is designed for sustainable development is in the interest of humankind. This information should and must be shared with anyone who needs it.

One of the best tools that exist for sharing knowledge is the Internet-and many sustainable development organizations (SDOs) have adopted this technology. Unfortunately, many have not used it to full potential or even envisioned it’s potential for sharing sustainable development knowledge.

The Internet was born on the theory "build it and they will come", with the belief millions of people would access the site for as long as there was a site. For some strange reason this thought was widely believed for a long time. It seems that only in the last couple of years have people realized that it takes a lot more than just creating a website to get the message out.

There is no use for a SDO to invest in Internet technology if they are not willing to invest the time and energy to create a well-thought out project. This does not mean that having a functional site will necessarily cost a lot of money, but it does mean that an entire organization should be aware of how the Internet is used and be willing to help out.

Part of communicating on the web requires bringing people to the site.

Marketing strategies need to be considered to direct traffic to the information. Marketing will increase the number of people to the site but with varying results. The most basic and possibly most effective marketing may have the maximum impact. Proper use of meta tags (descriptive code that helps browsers and search engines use a web site), listing the site on search engines and promoting the site in the right mailing lists all require little technical knowledge of the web. They are very cost-effective ways of marketing a site.

The one problem with all of this is that there is no guarantee that the right people will come to the site. The Internet is a vast universe of information and the average user of sustainable development information still may not be able to get directly to a specific site.

The networks individuals make through work is one way to promote the information. These networks will be a definite target audience for this type of information. Whenever someone from an SDO travels to a meeting, conference, etc., they should be promoting the Internet component of their organization.

Not only do the researchers and scientist have to be willing to share their information, but web masters have to be willing to create a website that is sharable by other sites.

People involved with Internet Communication Technologies (ICTs) are generally open to sharing any information that may be of help to others. There is a strong belief in the field in the freedom of information.

The webmasters and communication workers of SDOs have openly tried to help other SDOs by sharing their knowledge of the Internet for sustainable development. A good example of this is the SD Webworks (http://www.sdgateway.net/webworks/). SD Webworks is a site that helps share experiences of communication professionals working in SDOs by posting case studies online. Other groups like Bellanet (http://www.bellanet.org/) offer ICT resources directly aimed at SDOs, including a complete training guide in several languages.

In order to properly share the information that is placed on the web site, standards like XML need to be implemented. XML is a code very similar to HTML but it enables other web sites to use the information in a manner that is useful to them. For a brief and simple introduction to XML, see the following:

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/98/41/index1a.html.

If the website is rather large and requires a database then the database should be built on basic industry standards regarding the meta data. If this is taken into consideration, the information stored in a database can be easily exchanged with other web sites.

For those SDOs that do not have the budget to hire someone properly trained in advanced web site construction there is no need to get worried. This is where networking and partners come in. Make sure organizations that have gateways or portals to sustainable development information are aware of the information available. Then, make sure the site is maintained so the links are consistent.

These basic steps will make the information that has been produced easier for the general user to access and will help reduce duplication in communicating sustainable development knowledge.

In order for the system to work effectively everyone has to be willing to share. People should not be afraid of technology as it is only a tool. The driving force behind the use of ICTs within SDOs should be to communicate knowledge. This should never be forgotten when developing and maintaining a web site. q

Back to Contents