May 2004

This Months Highlight: City Networking from the GDRC Programme on UEMRI "How can cities overcome barriers at the national level and network among themselves for UEM?" Much of GDRC's urban focus is on the lowest level of government - the local governments. These units have been receiving considerable interest as they are closest to the communities and residents that they serve. Not only do local governments implement their own programmes and projects, they can also influence other stakeholders - business and industry, NGOs, community groups etc. in moving towards sustainable development through policies, rules, regulations and finance support. How can cities learn from each other? What kinds of city networks exist? What are the benefits of networking? These and other questions are covered in GDRC's special feature on "A Guide to City Networks" in the the Urban Environmental Management programme: http://www.gdrc.org/uem/networks/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: Info in three clicks This section focuses on information management lessons learnt in coordinating GDRC's activities. With a lot of information being made available on the internet, it is increasingly becoming a critical source of information for a range of issues, themes and ideas. The pressure to 'push' information online, and the 'pull' of information by users, has lead to an unpresidented volume of information being made available online. But making information available online alone is not sufficient. Proper content management, including a logical sequence of knowledge discovery and understanding, is critical in making sure that users get the information they are seeking, and the way they want it. This is the thnking that went into the setting up of GDRC's programme on Information Design. One key lesson learnt in the process of developing and maintaining GDRC has been "Info in three clicks" - the information that the user is seeking should be available within three clicks of the mouse. If not, then it is burried too deep within the website, and the user may leave the site out of frustration! WHAT'S NEW AT GDRC'S WEBSITE? - a selection All GDRC: The 'UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development' was given a prominant profile in GDRC. Urban Environmental Management: Sustainable Tourism - World Tourism Forum Urban Environmental Management: Transportation - The New Mobility Agenda Urban Environmental Management: Energy - Asia Pacific Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development Agenda Urban Environmental Management: Water - GDRCbecomes a member of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). Urban Heritage and Conservation: Institutions and Organizations - Asian Academy for Heritage Mgmt Urban Governance: Programmes and Institutions - UNESCO's Ethics and Corruption in Education Microfinance: Documents - Proceedings of the Virtual Conference on Electronic Banking for the Poor NGO Cafe: Bungee Jumps - Special section on Human Rights was edited and updated with many new links. Sustainable Business: Organizations and Institutions - Business for Social Responsibility MONTHLY STATISTICS FOR GDRC'S WEBSITE Total hits encountered - 701,077 Total files downloaded - 557,737 Total pages viewed - 217.715 Total web visitors - 74,212 Total KBytes - 45,142,141 Pages per day - Avg. 7,023; Max.11,710 Visits per day - Avg. 2,493; Max. 3,184 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: mosaic@gdrc.org CONTACT ADDRESS: Global Development Research Center 5-13-3-1601, Nakano-cho, Miyakojima-ku, Osaka 534-0027, Japan Tel / Fax: +(81-6) 6925-8005 mosaic@gdrc.org http://www.gdrc.org/ © 2003-2005, GDRC. All rights reserved.