December 2005

Welcome to another edition of GDRC's Mosaic! This month, GDRC Mosaic is being set to more than 950 subscribers in 110 countries worldwide. THIS MONTH'S SPOTLIGHT: Appropriate Technology from GDRC's Programme on Technology Transfer. "E.F. Schumacher once said that appropriate technology is technology with a human face ... " Appropriate Technology is a flexible and participatory approach to developing economically viable, regionally applicable and sustainable technology Appropriate Technology reflects an approach to technological development, characterized by creative and sound engineering, that recognizes the social, environmental, political, economic, as well as, technical aspects of a proposed technological solution to a problem facing a society. Generally appropriate technologies are smaller scale technologies, that are ecologically and socially benign, affordable, and often powered by renewable energy. GDRC has been working on these and related issues . Resources on this topic are available at: http://www.gdrc.org/techtran/a-tech/index.html As with all sections of GDRC, contributions, comments and suggestions are always welcome from users and subscribers! Please contact GDRC's Coordinator at - mosaic@gdrc.org FOCUS ON GDRC: LEARNING LESSONS Cooking in an Microwave Oven A microwave oven is a ubiquitous addition to the modern kitchen enabling us to cook meals healthily and quickly. A microwave oven uses radio waves of 2.5 gigahertz to cook the food all around and evenly - targeting foods such as water, fats and sugar, but leaving aside materials such as plastic, glass or ceramics. And that is the information management lesson provided by an oven - that when we look at an issue we need to look at it from different perspectives, and in a balanced, even manner. Like an oven zapping radio waves at the food from all angles, we need to penetrate the issue to assess and evaluate it from different points of view. Bon appetite !! MONTHLY STATISTICS FOR GDRC'S WEBSITE Total hits encountered - 942,909 Total files downloaded - 762,489 Total pages viewed - 310,790 Total web visitors - 114,731 Total KBytes - 8,317,869 Pages per day - Avg. 10,025; Max. - 16,913 Visits per day - Avg. 3,701; Max. - 5,591 WHAT'S NEW AT GDRC'S WEBSITE? A sample of new items added to GDRC's programmes: All GDRC: GDRC has interlinked the three programmes of Knowledge Management, Information Design, and ICTs to launch the "GDRC Learning Lab" Environmental Decision-Making: Documents and Reports - Criteria for EDM Sustainable Development: SD Stories - Principal Voices Urban Environmental Management: Sustainable Transportation - added link to Paul Barter's blog and enhanced pages with many other links/features. Gender and Development: Gender and Environment - Focus on transportation Microfinance: Microfinance and Disasters - Rural finance in conflict environments Microfinance: Case Studies - new documents added to Georgia country page. ABOUT GDRC MOSAIC The "GDRC Mosaic" is a monthly email newsletter that provides information bites, and summarizes programme activities of GDRC, including new items added to the website. To subscribe: http://www.gdrc.org/about/newsletter.html To unsubscribe: unsubscribe-mosaic@gdrc.org Comments, suggestions and contributions: info-mosaic@gdrc.org CONTACT ADDRESS: Global Development Research Centre 1-5-1-1013, Mori Minami Machi, Higashi Nada ku, Kobe - 658-0011, Japan Tel and Fax: +(81-78) 452-8414 Email: info-mosaic@gdrc.org URL: http://www.gdrc.org/ © 2005-2007, GDRC. All rights reserved.