Knowledge Building - Preliminary commentary

Interim thoughts,
findings, eventual recommendations (For discussion)

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Work in progress - reflections

Paris, 18 August 2008

There is a fast growing amount of activity going on in our field in many place; however it is widely spread out, extremely varied in quality, quantity and focus, and at the present state of the art not really handy for the necessary much wider consultation.
To use a common metaphor: we need to find ways to connect the silos.
Important to bear in mind that the object is not just to connect passive print, etc. information, but also to open the door for collaboration and exchange at all levels. It is thus also a competence networking tool and a means for exchange and eventual collaboration.
In this first stage we have identified on the order some fifty groups and programs working on the leading edge in our field as defined here. (Click here for latest listing). But once you begin to dig into it, it begins to be clear that if this is going to work as it should it will need to find a way to cover and service many times that number of groups and nodes.
These "silos" not only act to sequester the "print products" of all these programs and groups, but also, or at least so it seems to me, limit their ability to collaborate in the kinds of dynamic, working level ways that are going to be needed if we collectively are to be up to the challenge.
But if one is to do anything at all in this area, we must have a firm understanding of how people go about accessing and putting all this to work in this fast-paced new century. How much detail do they need? At which point? How can we bring it to them in layers, tree like structures which give them a bit of information to get started but which then permit them to start to burrow into the topic without having to lose track of all that went before.
If we are looking for an analogy, what about the need for getting together to invent some kind of 21st century Dewey Decimal system to allow us to access the contents of our world wide library.?
There is very definitely a "new tools" vector that is worthy of closest attention. Most of us today are working with what in fact is a pretty old tool set (Moore's Law still holds) -- but the fact is that there are powerful new communications and linking tools available/needed that we should be putting to work.
Certainly we need to include full access not only to web sites, news groups, blogs, print in its variations, past and planned events in our areas of interest, but also to films, videos, sound, and images, as well as to games and other learning and playing devices that can be useful to sharpen the mind and bring up new perspectives. And 21st century communications options (full range thereof including voice and videoconferencing, desk top and group solutions, computer sharing, etc.). In all this, if we are looking for models we would be consummately dumb not at least to try to understand by analogy what a "Google", "Skype', "Wikipedia", "Facebook", "LinkedIn", "Digg", "Wikis", Blogs, approach to this might give.
It's true that "adding complexity to gain clarity" is one of the keys here, but it is countered by the need to ensure that the system and the feedback it generates is not so great that the whole thing collapses under its own weight.
One important component of the eventual solution set is peer to peer (or P2P) networking.
Given that we are firmly in the 21st century and given the very deep competence that exists at virtually all levels in the groups being looked at here, the is another level of "peer to peer" that is well worth keeping in mind. And that is not only the working linkages and relationships between the overall organizations themselves (top to top), but also the possibility for the people working well down within the organization to reach out and establish their own direct contacts and problem solving networks and relationships. Within any given organization there are inevitably many levels of competence and energy, and for true problem-solving capacity it is important to liberate them all. This then is one of the goals of this project.
As I see it, there is both an information and an education-communications function to be served in our field. We need better working links between the main players: public sector players, researchers, local government, public interest groups and industry. But we also need much tighter linkages and let's call it "cultural consonance" with the media, old and new.
One stark reality is that if you look down our first listing here, you will note that each of these groups is extremely busy and very focused. They have their mandates, schedules, and responsibilities to deliver - all putting tough claims on their time and resources to do anything else. So whatever we come up with is going to have to fit in this tight environment.
And unless someone can convince me to the contrary, I for one would be quite opposed to the idea of setting up some sort of one more staffed program for this. I see this as an open collaborative venture with everyone pitching in, and someone very smart and capable coming up with some new cross-cutting software link and search solutions.
Finally the sense of urgency. The transport sector accounts for on the order of 20% of all greenhouse gases. We have the means to reduce this contrition at least when it comes to transport in cities by several percent each year, but we are not doing it because we have not made the strong case that is needed to sway policy maker and public attention. This project could be a great help in this creating the necessary now concerns for change.

To conclude: This is an important topic and we have at least the intellectual means and the tools needed to start to deal with it. What is needed is the resources to get it started and then step by step advanced as shown to be necessary and useful.

Think about: You know what we really need? It's someone who is willing to step forward and take on the task of becoming the DARPA of New Mobility. To shepherd the amazing discovery of an information highway that this time will carry and connect both people and electrons.

Who is going to have the foresight to take the lead?

Some talking points to consider

Can we find one or two "networks of networks" that we can work with to get started - and possibly egg them on to do more and better?
A major challenge is how to keep track of the huge and fast accelerating number of bits and pieces that constitute out "product area". (Even in our own sites, which number thousands of pages, it is very easy to get lost, though there is some help provided by the fairly efficient Search engines.
Then there are the language issues. How to deal with? Role of machine translation, and ways of better using them.
Note: Most of the basic software and organizational structure used by most of us working in this sector is pretty "old fashioned", meaning that once you work your way beyond the Flash we still are faced with pretty lumpy, isolated sites. (Our included of course)
If one is to do anything at all in this area, we have to have a firm understand of how people go about accessing and putting all this to work in soon the second decade of this new century. How much detail do they need? How can we bring it to them in layers, tree like structures which give them a bit of information to get started but which then permit them to start to burrow into the topic without having to lose track of all that went before.
Let's also not fail to ask ourselves, once we get all our thoughts more or less in line on this, if indeed such an undertaking is necessary and useful. What I can say, not so cynically mind you. Is that a lot of work has gone in under various programs to create libraries of this or that but at the end of the day they do not in most cases have much staying power . So when the free money dries up, so too does the program.
Certainly we need to include full access to films, videos, sound, and images, as well as to games and other learning and playing devices that can be useful to sharpen the mind and bring up new perspectives.
And communications options (full range thereof).
In all this, if we are looking for models we would be consummately dumb not at least to try to understand by analogy what a "Google", "Skype', "Facebook", "Wikipedia" approach to this might give.
Likewise, matters of "free" and "paid" (and how in both cases ultimately financed) need careful attention.
Famously missing:: Working links, relationships with media (old and new). And related educational and research programs.

Language opportunities

A possible shortcoming of this outreach effort at this time, is that we are working in this first instance entirely with English language sites, albeit a number of them have provision for on-line translation as well as offering materials in a range of other languages. It is our view that we or others can get to the language challenges once some useful progress has been registered in the present push for better English language networking.