Communicating Development, ELDIS

Eldis began as an initiative of the British Library of Development Studies (BLDS) back in 1995 and, whilst now independent, the project still operates from a small office in the library basement. It’s role is to filter and structure the very latest thinking on the development process and to use both Internet and Email to provide access to the best in new research for a global audience of practitioners, policy makers, researchers and communication professionals.

The sheer volume of information indexed by the site is impressive but what makes Eldis more than just a library catalogue is its innovative approaches to communicating that information. Eldis aims to provide a space for exchanging knowledge, without being overly prescriptive about access methods or audiences. As the programme manager Peter Ferguson explains, prescriptive approaches just don’t work in this context.

“Since the developmental process of moving from situation to event to evidence to reporting to research to policy to action is a non-linear process, it is not really possible to be prescriptive about the information-finding behaviour of target groups or, therefore, the appropriateness of methods of presenting that information. In practice, many of the methods for acquiring information are accidental in nature, involving exchanges facilitated by an unknown alignment of parties.”

This understanding of limitations combined with the recognition that Eldis users are often both producers and consumers of knowledge has led to an approach to communication which aims to facilitate access by re-packaging information into a range of different products tailored for broad target audiences. By presenting the same information in a variety of ways the hope is that users from any development background and with any agenda will find a way in, share information and build links across sectoral boundaries.

Researchers, then, might tend to use the search function and discussion areas to locate specific resources whilst policy makers may prefer to use the subject focused highlighting service (by web and email) and topical features on key issues to keep them up to date with latest developments. Large institutions might want to market their own products by adding details of their publications to the database or build partnerships with Eldis to create communities of knowledge and networks on a specific issue. Small institutions can place free subject-focused newsfeeds to add value to their own websites or take advantage of Eldis tools and expertise to build their own sites from scratch. What is a highlighting service for consumers is also a marketing service for producers. The important thing in all this is that all these diverse groups of users not only find a way to the information they need but also have the opportunity to interact, share knowledge and build networks.

So what does the future hold for Eldis? Increasingly they are looking to address some of the technological barriers to effective communication of development research. Evaluations are underway to assess changes in technology and their uptake among different user groups and tools such as web-to-email are being tested to determine how useful they are to users. Improving access to print materials is being explored and changes in research and policy environments closely watched. Ultimately however the direction of Eldis will be driven by the user.

“We’re Eldis users ourselves” says Peter Ferguson “development communication is a rapidly changing field but we hope that by sharing our experiences and listening to others we can continue to adapt and cope with new problems and new challenges. In the same way that we hope we facilitate that same process for others working in different development fields.”

contact: A.Stanley@ids.ac.uk
website: http://www.ids.org