February 2012

Welcome to another edition of GDRC Mosaic! This month, GDRC Mosaic is being sent to more than 3,000 subscribers in 130 countries worldwide. ANNOUNCEMENT: Contributions are welcome to any of GDRC's 15 Research Programmes. This can be in the form of documents, reports, website suggestions, or blog posts. Please contact us with more information at mosaic@gdrc.org! THIS MONTH'S SPOTLIGHT: Heritage Conservation from GDRC's Programme on Urban Heritage and Conservation. Conserving urban heritage - historical buildings, festivals, art forms, dance, music, sculpture etc. - may seem less of a priority compared to more pressing issues such as infrastrcture development, poverty alleviation or job creation. But effective conservation of heritage resources not only help in revitalizing the local economy of cities, but also brings about a sense of identity and belonging to its residents, improving the quality of life as a whole in he city. These and other dimensions of heritage conservation are explored in more detail from an urban perspective in GDRC's programme on "Urban Heirtage and Conservation" URL: http://www.gdrc.org/heritage/ FOCUS ON GDRC: LESSONS IN LEARNING Localization, contextualization and customization How can we provide information that is useful to our end-users - those that have to grapple with everyday decisions on the environment and sustainability? A set of three keywords guide GDRC's programme development: Localization, Contextualization, and Customization. Information (and the context within which that information is being provided) should enable the user to - (a) localize it - i.e. scale it down to the level that it will be used. (b) contextualize it - i.e. link it to the situation that in which it will be used (c) customize it - i.e. manage it to satisfy the need for such information. By doing so, the ownership of information is ensured, and will better cater to the needs of the end-user at the level that he/she functions, and the decisions taken at that level. MONTHLY STATISTICS FOR GDRC'S WEBSITE: January 2012 Total files downloaded - 755,745 Total pages viewed - 242,440 Total web visitors - 119,259 Total KBytes - 21,945,411 Pages per day - Avg: 8,658 Max: 13,185 Visits per day - Avg: 4,259 Max: 5,760 See what has been happening in GDRC at: http://www.gdrc.org/about/whats-new.html 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 or unsubscribe: http://www.gdrc.org/about/newsletter.html Comments, suggestions and contributions: 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: mosaic@gdrc.org URL: http://www.gdrc.org/ © 2011-2015, GDRC. All rights reserved.