International data bases and knowledge resources

There is no shortage of information on the Internet about water and sanitation. Hundreds of websites, dozens of “portals” and countless cross linkages can keep dedicated surfers busy for hours to compile dossiers of facts, opinions and experiences on any water-related topic. What concerned WIS6 participants though is first how users can assess the accuracy and the relative value of different information sources, and second how the many portals can be used to streamline knowledge flow rather than diffuse it. The IRC/WSSCC InterWATER guide to more than 650 organisations is a good starting point.

Twin challenges

The plethora of websites is a valuable resource. The twin challenges are to provide quality assurance and to direct users to timely and relevant information. Both depend on filtering of available information, and on subjective judgements by one or more intermediaries between the provider and the user. Peer review of stored data is a quality-control technique used by some website managers, including CEPIS – manager of the well respected REPIDISCA Virtual Library on Environmental Health (VLEH). It can prevent inaccurate or contradictory data from entering the system, but there is also a downside. Peer review takes time, so the information flow slows down. It also may filter out an important part of knowledge transfer – controversy.

Exploring innovative ideas is a vital part of sector progress. Filtering must not discard new thinking because a reviewer disagrees with the conclusions. So, while there is a place for peer review where facts and figures (population, GNP, service coverage,) are concerned, opinions and anecdotes need to be encouraged not stifled. The WIS6 consensus was that citing the background and credentials of contributors should be enough to enable users to judge for themselves what weight to put on provocative opinions.

Tell it like it is

An unintentional demonstration of the potential of modern communications technology came from a WIS6 participant stranded in the UK. Dave Snowden from IBM’s Cybefin Centre for Organisational Complexity treated the Delft audience to a provocative PowerPoint presentation delivered from a mobile phone and laptop in his car. He urged them to recognise the power of storytelling in building knowledge. “Narrative management”, he explained, is an inventive way of combining people’s personal views and experiences into a knowledge base to benefit everyone. The presentation was timely for IRC, as it coincided with the launch of Water Stories, a compelling collection of personal anecdotes from all over the world.

Collaboration

How can portal managers help to steer their visitors to the most relevant information? Collaboration is one important element. The unbranded Sanicon website combines information resources from 18 partner agencies. WIS6 participants saw it as a helpful model for overcoming inter-agency rivalry (no lead agency), though it suffers from lack of incentives to update data regularly. Sanicon also demonstrates another useful feature of information management – segmentation and signposting. Within the already restricted subject of environmental sanitation, the site is subdivided into ten “themes” or 21 “topics”, directing users to expert-selected publications, websites and mailing lists.

Across language barriers

Pursuing the theme of collaboration, WIS6 urged portal managers to co-operate without seeking prominence and to work on ways of sharing knowledge from all potential sources through a single unbranded point of access. To help share knowledge across language boundaries, the Summit asked IRC to bring together a working group to develop a common multilingual Thesaurus for the water resources sector which could be used by all the search engines. There was also a feeling that a portal should be more than a gateway. To attract regular users, it needs to be part of a broad portfolio of information and communication channels. It might for instance include news items, thematic discussions through bulletin boards, periodic E-conferences and permanent thematic E-mail networks, and should establish regular electronic or hardcopy communication with registered users.

A critical need is seen as the capacity to share knowledge with grassroots networks through two-way communication channels that both build the knowledge base from practical field experience and enable practitioners to access timely and relevant information for problem-solving and capacity building. The concept of “Communities of Practice” which stimulate regular knowledge sharing arose regularly in the WIS6 discussions and is being seen as an important way of bridging the digital divide. That is a dominant theme in the remainder of this booklet and one that has a high priority in IRC’s projects with partners in the North and the South.