Jump to end for links to related documents.


IMPROVING EFFICIENCY

THROUGH BETTER UTILIZATION OF THE INTERNET

Suggestions by Fred W. Riggs and others, prepared for the International Sociological Association.
Some of these suggestons have been implemented already.

PRELIMINARY DRAFT


All professional societies have communication problems that can more easily be solved if the new technology offered by the INTERNET and the World Wide Web could be used more efficiently. It would both reduce costs for the headquarters secretariat and serve members more effectively. The suggested measures are only summarized here, but discussed below in the main text to which readers may jump promptly by clicking on the headwords. In the text itself, bracketed numbers offer links to Web Sites that provide illustrative texts.

1. Web Sites: Every organized group in a well managed association should have its own Web Site or use a subsite belonging to the Association's master site.

2. Site Links: The Association's Master Site should support links to relevant external Web Sites and to relateded files within the home page.

3.Program Links: Every segment of a conference program should provide links to the other segments and Web Sites, perhaps through the intermediary of a bookmark page listing all of them in a tabular format.

4.Internal Links. Every group's Web Site should contain information about its conferences, workshops, roundtables, etc. with appropriate links to anchors on its Association's master schedule where reciprocal tags would enable readers to jump to the relevant data on a groups's site.

5. Inter-Congress and External Activities: Between major conferences or congresses, group members should be encouraged to maintain continuous interactive discussions on an E-mail List that is linked to their Web Site, newsletter, and the Association's headquarters.

6. Conclusion.


#1. WEB SITES

Most professional associations have Home Pages providing data about their organization and activities, especially conferences and information sources. Unfortunately, it is not easy to determine how many of them have Sites or what their URLs may be. For the Social Sciences, the logical source of information would be the International Social Science Council [13] but a look at this page suggests that only 6 out of 40 members have their own sites. By contrast, most members of the International Council of Scientific Unions appear to have Home Sites as indicated on the following list:

[ICSU] http://www.lmcp.jussieu.fr/icsu/Membership/SUM.html

The bracketed number or abbreviaton provides a link to the URL which is also written out for the information of our readers. Unfortunately, these lists are not totally reliable. The International Geographical Union, which happens to belong to both ICSU and the ISSC, has the following Web Page listed on the former but not the latter:

[IGU] http://www.helsinki.fi/science/igu/

However, although the Anthropologists also belong to both ICSU and the ISSC, their link on the IPSU list only retrieves a subsite with basic information about the Union, and no home page -- see:

[IUAES] http://www.lmcp.jussieu.fr/icsu/Membership/SUM/iuaes.html

There are, of course, substantial differences between the home pages of these associations -- one of the most interesting I found was for pure and applied chemistry, at:

[IUPAC] http://www.iupac.org/organ/index.html

If a professional society has it own Home Page, it may or may not have organized groups (committees, commissions, sections, etc.) with their own Web Sites (or subsites of the Association's master site). For an example of such a Web Site managed for ISA/RC33 (the Logic and Methodology of Sociology) by Nancy Andes at the University of Alaska, see:

[1] http://local.uaa.alaska.edu/~aaso353/isa/index.htm

To facilitate jumps to such pages, it would be helpful if their URLs were posted near the heading for their entries on the Association's Home Page file that lists its organized groups. A good example can be found at the Web Site of the International Studies Association [ISA(IR)]:

[1a] http://csf.colorado.edu/isa/sections.html

By contrast, it is difficulty to determine how many ISA[Soc] groups also have autonomous or sub-sites. For example, the ISA list of research committees offers a link [4] to the entry for RC33, where one can find the Home Page link rather far down in the document instead of at the top where it would more easily be seen. Actually, it would be even better to add the URL to the list of research committees, [3], perhaps by means of a small symbol that could serve as the link.

Admittedly many organized groups within this and, indeed, most associations, still lack Web Sites, yet they are rapidly proliferating and, within a short time, we may expect most groups to have such facilities of their own. They will soon recognize many important functions that a group's Web Site can perform. For example, they enable members living anywhere in the world to gain prompt access to all the kinds of information normally sent to them infrequently and at great expense on newsletters -- neither the secretariat nor the group needs to pay for the INTERNET services now available gratis to virtually all scholars around the world. Since many universities offer free WWW sites to their faculty, it should not be difficult for every committee to maintain at least one site. As soon as members start finding that other groups have Home Pages that offer great advantages for their members, we may expect that they will demand that their own committees also establish Web Pages.

Since most groups have members with enthusiastic interest in the effective utilization of new INTERNET technologies, it should not be difficult to find someone in each group who is willing and able to provide this service for h/er colleagues on a complimentary basis. Members employed at universities and research institutes are normally able to create and manage such sites without cost. They should be honored for their service by recognition as important officers of the group, to be included, with e-mail address and the URL, wherever the group's elected officers are listed.

To illustrate the extent to which committee members already have their own Home Pages, take a look at:

[IPE] http://csf.Colorado.EDU/ipe/ipenet.html

Admittedly this list belongs to a committee of a different ISA -- the International Studies Association -- but it illustrates how many individual scholars now manage a Web Site for themselves. It also shows a procedure for individuals to register this information about themselves, thereby saving the time of a secretary or Web manager.

Not only will group members be better served if they have a Web Site, but the tasks confronting the Association's Secretariat can be simplified in other ways: for example, by posting information normally provided in a newsletter. Such information can also be downloaded at any time for mailing to members who lack access on the INTERNET. Other members will be able to access the same information on the Web, sooner and without cost. Provision could also be made to provide mailed copies of the newsletter to members who certify that for some good reason they are not able to gain access to the Web Site. If members are charged for this service, they will increasingly realize the importance of acquiring access to e-mail and Web Sites. Complimentary copies mailed to some members for particular reasons would still cost less than the general mailing to all members. Useful comments by Leon James on the psychology of hypertext and Web Sites can be found at: Cyberspace Architecture

Since Web Sites can support and strengthen Association programs in many ways, every Association should encourage its groups, committees, councils, etc. to establish their own Sites well linked to the master site operated by the Association. It is advantageous for any Association to establish guidelines and practices that will not only facilitate the establishment of Web Sites, but assist newcomers seeking to create and manage new Sites and make sure that they are well integrated by logically placed links in the master Site. The remaining sections of this memo will discuss some of these linking problems and provide examples, drawing mainly on the experience of the International Sociological Association whose master site can be found at:

[2] http://www.ucm.es/info/isa/

To facilitate identification of links in this memo and to avoid repetitious citations, bracketed numbers will be used to identify them. Thus [2] will be used to represent the ISA Master Site or Home Page.


#2. SITE LINKS

Members of any organized group within an Association like the ISA will no doubt be the first to learn how to access their own Web Site, but most members of the Association will not know this particular URL and will expect their Association's master site to offer quick links to the available Sites in an easy-to-use format. Using the ISA master site [2] , let us see how anyone not already a member of an organized group would proceed to find information about it.

Access to such sites should surely be facilitated, but consider how it is linked to the ISA Web Site. First one might go to [2] where one will find a link to Research Committees at:

[3] http://www.ucm.es/info/isa/rc.htm

Clicking on this site will bring up a numerical list of these committees. Since many members will not remember the code number of the committee they are looking for, they may have to hunt through the whole list before they find the entry for RC33, the committee mentioned above. Since that Committee has a name, Logic and Methodology of Sociology, it would have been easier to provide a three-column index or table-of-contents at the start of the file in which key words, in alphabetical order, would provide both a link to its RC# entry in the master site, plus a link to its Web Site. Such a second link need take almost no space -- it could be an asterisk or pound sign, for example, which users would be told, at the top of the file, provide links to sites. This technique will also remind groups without a Web Site that they are missing an important resource.

Continuing our search, imagine that we have clicked on [2] for ISA, and it takes us to the entry for its list of research committees at [3]. On this list we find RC33 and jump to its entry at:

[4] http://www.ucm.es/info/isa/rc33.htm

This file contains a text explaining the goals of RC33, plus several links through which one may scroll until finding the link to its Web Page, as cited in [1] Since updated information and many more links can be found on the Web Page than in the entry provided in the ISA Site, would it not be more convenient for users to find the RC33 Site link at the top of this entry? Those who already know the basic information about RC33 provided in [2] would be enabled to jump promptly to the Site where its current activities and updated plans could be found.

Since the ISA has organized groups that lack the status of a "Research Committee," the group one might be looking for could be listed in some other file, e.g., as a Working Group, a Thematic Group, or even, at conferences, under an Ad Hoc label. Anyone hunting for information about a specific group might have no idea what category it falls under, but would remember its name, such as "Local-Global," "Cybernetic" or "Famine." If the alphabetical table of contents on the Home Page [2] were to include all organized groups, regardless of their formal status, members could more easily find information about the group whose activities interest them. Since this listing would include not only the data reported on the master file, but also links to the group's Web Site (if it has one), several unnecessary steps and much wasted time could be avoided. For organizational purposes, it might be important to retain files that identify groups by their status and serial numbers, but this information will surely not interest most members.

Users of the present ISA master site [2] would, certainly, also appreciate a simplified lay-out for other kinds of information which may also contain links to other Web Sites. A single line across the top of the master site could provide immediate access to major categories of information, including, for example:

Organizational (about the ISA, for example, including its structure, charter, officers, staff),

Groups (including various categories in addition to recognized Research Committees),

Conferences (especially, of course, the quadrennial Congress),

Related Resources (including sociological and social science organizations, journals, bibliographic and data sources). For an example see Sources collected for the ISA Globalization Roundtable at Montreal, sponsored by COCTA (RC35).

Texts (including important documents, presidential messages, committee reports, etc.)

Under each of these headings, one would find links to relevant materials, followed by introductory or explanatory notes. Frequent users familiar with the notes could avoid having to read them before finding the links to the specific information, like research committees, that they are looking for. These need not be separate files, but could all be entered in a single master file, giving readers the opportunity to scroll through them at leisure, or jump immediately to the desired category desired. An example of such a layout can be found on my own web page at:

[5] www2.hawaii.edu/~fredr

Within each category links to relevant information on sites outside the ISA Site, as well as on supplementary files within that Site, could be succinctly presented in a short table of contents containing links to the various entries on that file. The goal should always be to reduce unnecessary steps while providing enhanced access to all relevant sources of information. Moreover, information cues should be substantive (like the names of committees) rather than formal rubrics like serial numbers and opaque categories that do not inform users about their contents. Particularly important links and sites for any association arise during the rush to create a complex congress program. In the section that follows some of these problems will be examined.




#3. PROGRAM LINKS

One of the most complex and sensitive processes conducted by every association involves making coordinated plans for a host of individuals in widely scattered locations with may different yet overlapping interests. For a central secretariat to micromanage this process from headquarters on a single Web Site is, indeed, a difficult, time consuming, and risky operation almost certain to generate conflicts when small errors are made. Shrewd use of group Web Sites linked to the master site managed by the Secretariat should reduce the costs and prevent many conflicts of interest that are inherent in this process.

When a complex preliminary schedule is posted on an association's Web Site, it cannot easily be up-dated by the secretariat, and if the printed programme is not distributed until the Congress opens six months later, there is a long interval when those making late plans and revisions are seriously handicapped and members may not know how to manage their personal schedules, especially if no provisional dates for each event have been announced. Making a schedule that will prevent anyone from being slotted in two simultaneous events and permit members to attend all sessions germane to their special interests is an almost superhuman task that needs to be widely decentralized. The INTERNET offers a technology that makes this possible.

The first step is to encourage every group to develop its preliminary plans on its own Web Site. That site can be continuously revised and, whenever information is needed by the Program Committee and Secretariat, they do not need to rely on slow mail to get the necessary data -- instead, they can just download it from the group's Web Site. The program committee can establish a general plan that ear-marks time slots for symposia, group sessions, and plenary meetings -- the ISA does that regularly and makes this schedule known to all members. It enables every group to select the times it prefers for each of its panels and post them promptly on its own Web Site. When members discover possible conflicts with sessions they may want to attend that are sponsored by other groups, they can promptly report the problem and adjustments can be made. For example, suppose that Jane has been invited to give a paper in group X, and another paper in group Y, she will be able to compare the draft schedules on the Web Sites for both groups and, if she discovered that her two panels will occur at the same time, she can let each group know and their planners will have enough time to revise their schedules to overcome the conflict. Instead of relying on a central apparatus to find such conflicts, every individual will be able to overcome problems that involve their personal schedules.

A more complex scheduling problem arises when we want to enable members to attend different sessions on related themes that may occur at the same time. Again, the Web Site can provide at least a partial solution. As members view the preliminary plans, they may see that a session planned by group X deals with a theme that is also covered by another session in group Y. They could register this fact on both Web Sites by providing a link -- thus the Site for X would include a link to Y attached to the relevant panel, and Y could do the same thing. This would promptly call the attention of viewers to the related sessions. If they were scheduled for the same time, perhaps changes could be made. If they were at different time, members would be able to plan ahead to attend both sessions. To see what this might look like on a Web Page, view

[6] http://www2.hawai2.edu/~fredr/#cocta

Here one will find a chronology of sessions planned by RC35 (COCTA), followed by notes on individual panels. Some of them contain links to panels organized outside of RC35. Viewing these links in advance will enable members to decide if they want to attend not only their own group's sessions but also those planned by other groups. It may sometimes also happen that joint sponsorship, coordinated sessions, or some other planned cooperation can results. No doubt changes will occur during the planning processand anyone offering a schedule with links like this should monitor it frequently to make revisions based on the changed circumstances.

Of course, there may well be different categories of sessions depending on the status of the sponsoring group. The ISA recognizes: Working Groups, Thematic Groups, AD HOC Sessions, Special Sessions, and Programme Committee sessions. Its preliminary program announces them in separate segments without links between them. One has to go back to the Congress Page to find the links to each category. It would be quite easy to post a list of all such categories with a link to each one so that someone reading a notice about a session in category A could jump with a click to category C or E to find related sessions without having to go back to the Congress Page first. Such a set of links can be copied and pasted into each segment with a single click so it does not involve much extra effort. Having such links would help members look for related sessions and take steps, if needed, to facilitate their coordination and cross-listing, as shown in [6].

Incidentally, another kind of link that needs to be added in each file for a group's Congress programme would enable readers to jump to the file that contains information about the group. To illustrate what I mean, first jump to [4] , the sub-text for RC33 posted under the list of research committees. Now jump to

[4a] http://www.ucm.es/info/isa/rc33c.htm

This text has to [4] which is admirable, and it also has a link to the group's home page [1]. This is exemplary and should be replicated on all of the group program pages. However, should the link not be posted at the top of the page rather than the end so that users would be able to find it right away.

Reciprocally, the text in [4] should, I think, have a link to [4a], the sub-site where that group's conference plans would be posted. No doubt after the Congress the link from [4]-[4a] would be useless, but a standard phrase could be inserted indicating that this link is only functional during the planning period before a Congress. Of course, the link to the group's Web Page should also be included on both of these pages next to the link to its other sub-site, as it is for RC33.

A more advanced technical procedure would simplify the task of program making even more, but it could perhaps be adopted after developing the basic tools described here. This technique involves the self-posting of program items on the ISA Master Site. The technique involved is the same as the one readers may find now on the ISA Home Page for members to register electronically. See:

[7] http://www.bcoc.umontreal.ca/socio98/formulaire/form_eng.html

Such a form could also be used for program development. Whenever an authorized group belonging to the ISA is ready to register its program proposals, its program coordinator could call up this Program Preferences form -- it would include the general schedule for sessions, symposia, etc. as approved by the Program Committee -- and then type in information about panels and preferred time slots. The results would automatically be posted without any need for action by the Secretariat, and it would enable members to set their tentative personal schedules well in advance, not only for the sessions of their own group, but for all sessions at the Congress. The information could be revised, of course, and would clearly be marked as tentative. Only after a given deadline had been reached, would all the program plans become "frozen" and at that stage they could be downloaded by the Congress Committee for use in a printed programme.

Such a tool is already in use by some research committees to enable members to register their interest in giving a paper or preparing a panel. See, for example, the IPE/ISA(IR) panel/paper registration form (http://csf.colorado.edu/ipe/ipe97_panel.html) Although this committee belongs to a different "ISA," the same HTML coding could be used to create a similar form to enable ISA research committees to register and revise the program announcements they would like to create. The form would ask respondents to mention their own URL so that it could be posted with their request for follow-up purposes.

Meanwhile, this tool would greatly facilitate self-planning by all members and groups, permitting individuals to avoid conflicts in their personal schedules, and identifying related sessions they would want to attend by the procedures mentioned above.

Another more advanced tool might be added in the future, but only after the more basic steps described above have been implemented. This would involve constructing an index of descriptors for all the panels with links to the anchors where each panel is listed. The organizers of a panel (even paper givers?) could be asked to supply key terms to characterize their project, linked to tags supporting jumps to the "name" of their panel on their Group's Page. The terms could be sorted automatically and posted on a separate file where members would quickly find, during the planning process, information about colleagues working on related themes, regardless of which group they were involved in. No doubt the lack of systematic terminology is a huge obstacle to be overcome, but the starting point is key words in context, as used by authors. The methodology of finding more consistent terms is just the sort of project the COCTA group (RC35) is interested in, as one may see by jumping to >[9].


#4. INTERNAL LINKS

Just as every Web Site for an organized group should be well linked to the master site of the Association,, it should also support a variety of links to individual members and their own Home Pages. Increasingly, individual scholars will create Sites for their personal use, on which they can post papers and plans involving their activities in professional societies. A good example of such a site is that of Tom Hall, an active ISA member. One may find it at:

[8] www.depauw.edu/~thall/hp1.htm

While plans for a set of group-sponsored panels at the next Congress are being posted on the groups's Web Site, each participant can start by posting an abstract, summary, outline, draft and eventually the final text of a paper being prepared for presentation in one of these panels. Of course, there should be two-way links so that readers of the group's Site can jump to texts by each panelist, and readers of any individual paper can also jump to panel plans to see how the paper fits into a larger plan.

By this means the author maintains complete control over h/er product, but partners in the panel are able to have a look at the preparatory work of colleagues, perhaps offer comments, and certainly integrate their own efforts with the rest of the panel. Discussants will also be able, early in a panel's developmental stage, to start interacting with the other participants, to become familiar with their ideas and offer comments that may be helpful to the authors. When the panel is finally presented at the Congress, it will be well integrated and have maximal impact. Finally, after a panel has been presented, participants can revise their work on the basis of their discourse and prepare their texts for final publication.

Meanwhile, the organizer of a panel can pull all the abstracts and drafts together, posting as much of the data and links to relevant information as seems useful on the group Site. To see what is easily possible, one may view the page for two panels at:

[9] http://www2.hawaii.edu/~fredr/projects.htm

[10] http://www2.hawaii.edu/~fredr/glotab.htm

At [9] one will find plans for a panel in which several Web-based conceptual information services will be discussed and their relationships examined. Here one will find links to each of these services and a commentary offering a preliminary discussion of how they can reinforce and supplement each other. Links are also provided for some ISA Congress sessions that will offer complementary information -- because these activities are scattered in different categories for Special Sessions, Program Committee sessions, and Ad Hoc sessions, and no indexing clues are provided on the ISA master Site, it is difficult for members to find them and having links to them on the Group Sites should greatly facilitate planning in advance by individual members.

As for [10], it will be a roundtable on globalization based on a questionnaire sent to all ISA members asking them what they have in mind when they use this word. The results are being compiled in an interactive process involving quite a few respondents, making use of both the Web Page and an e-mail list. Participants in the roundtable will discuss a concept paper based on the analysis of questionnaire returns, and a useful glossary for Globalization studies will result and be made freely available on the Web to anyone interested in using it. This page has, therefore, been an indispensable tool for the development of a collective project based on the work of many ISA members. Again, the Web page also provides a variety of links to related documents and projects, an extensive bibliography, and other useful tools. Because it is interactive, it will evolve continuously both before and after the roundtable in Montreal.

Each group's home page, therefore, is not only useful as a building block for constructing the Association's Congress program, but each constituent group can use it as a tool for its own work, linking members in a continuously creative process of interaction.


#5. INTER-CONGRESS AND EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES

Between major conferences or congresses, group members are expected to maintain continuous interactive relationships by ordinary mail and occasional roundtables or seminars where they can engage in face-to-face interaction. These activities can be strengthened by a group Web Site and an e-mail list. All the techniques mentioned above are also relevant at this level. Moreover, the group can supplement its publications and ordinary correspondence by engaging much more easily and with less cost in continuous electronic communications in which plane fare, hotel and restaurant charges, and even registration fees can be eliminated.

One of the benefits of inter-congress seminars is that members of other associations can participate in order to enhance cross-disciplinary communication. This is especially valuable for hybrid fields in which participants from various disciplines work together. A review of the list of ISA Research Committees shows that at least 15 are hybrids involving such external disciplines as Economics,2; Education,4; History,8; Law,12; Health,15; Political Science,18; Religion,22; Science,23; Ecology,24; Linguistics,25; Agriculture,40; Psychology,42; and Mental Health,49. Each of these fields has professional societies, Web Sites, and lists of their own. It is prohibitively expensive in both time and money for professionals to attend Congresses sponsored by severeal different disciplines. They are more easily attracted to group seminars or roundtables because financial support is often available and their time is used more economically than it can be at a huge congress.

Many of these advantages can also be achieved at even less expense by means of the INTERNET. If electronic communications among members of a cross-disciplinary group are augmented by face-to-face meetings outside the Congresses, the benefits of such discourse are heightened.

Web Sites sponsored by cross-disciplinary groups should also be encouraged, and again links with them should be posted on each cooperating discipline's Home Page. A good example is the CROP (Committee for Research on Poverty) which is sponsored by the International Social Science Council, of which the ISA is a member. Information about CROP is continuously available on its Web Site at:

[11] http://www.crop.org/cropweb.htm

Because CROP's terminology project is included among those to be discussed at the COCTA panel identified in [9]. Similarly, links should be included for the organizations that sponsor multi-disciplinary discourse in the social sciences, including UNESCO and the International Social Science Council. UNESCO sponsor a project on the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) which can be viewed at:

[12] http://www.unesco.org/most

Through the ISSC, one may contact directly the Web Sites for other social science associations. Strangely enough, many of them seem not yet to have created them, but about a dozen probably have their own Sites now. A list can be found at

[13] http://www.uta.fi/laitokset/hallinto/issc.htm/

Strangely, although the ISSC serves as the global center for all social science associations, it lacks its own home page and depends on an individual, Matti Malkia, to provide some information about their work as a personal favor. No doubt they selected him because he chairs the Council's Committee on Conceptual and Terminological Analysis (COCTA), which also works very closely with the ISA's COCTA group (RC35). Information about how the work and perspectives of this group have been transformed by the INTERNET, and especially the WWW, can be found at:

[14] http://www2.hawaii.edui/~fredr/#cocta

Among the items discussed in this report is a suggestion that could utilize the WWW and INTERNET to strengthen the work of all research committees and other groups in associations like the ISA. The benefits of the new technology, and its uses in research methodology, the development of new concepts and terms, and many other facets of social science research, could all be enhanced if, in addition to its research groups that focus on substantive problems, there were to be a different kind of resource or service group capable of helping all the research committees. At least two such groups exist in the ISA: RC33 on Logic and Methodology and RC35, on Concepts and Terms. In both cases, the expert knowledge possessed by leaders of these groups should be made available to all members. This means that it is important to supplement the normal structure of research committees and working groups by establishing something like a "staff" function that can be represented on all groups and provide services to them. A more extended discussion of this subject can be found in the report linked at [14] and I will not take more space here to discuss it -- but I consider it a very important question for high level consideration by the ISA.


#6. CONCLUSION

Although extensive use of the INTERNET can simplify procedures and enhance contacts among members of any Association, it cannot replace its Congresses. They will remain a focal point for personal interactions and negotiations that will empower the utilization of the INTERNET between congresses in new and exciting ways. The real key is utilizing the hypertext (linking) capabilities of the WWW to enable members not only to pursue their special interests but also to take advantage of all the new methods that will support their work.

It would really be simple, I think, for the ISA Web Manager to make sure that URLs for each committee are included at two sites on the ISA Web Page: first, as a permanent record, on the file where committees and other organized groups are identified; and second, at the conference site where plans for the next Congress are posted. If that information were available, then members could get up-dated plans for their panels after the ISA has posted its preliminary conference plans, and before they pick up the printed program at the congress site. That's at least 6 months and a lot of anxiety could be overcome.

The Secretariat might also find that it could save a lot of time by shortening the information about each panel -- for example by omitting coordinates for each author. This would enable readers to see very quickly what members and topics are being presented -- they could jump to the group's Web Page if they wanted more information, such as abstracts for papers, coordinates and "mailto" forms for each author, enabling them to quickly get more details, etc. Ultimately, much of the effort involved can be transferred to the members simply by using response forms that permit every group to register its own preferences, subject to later revision as problems arise. Some of that saved time could be better used to monitor the information on the Association's Master Site from the point of view of members, not that of organizers and managers. This would entail adding many links between pages on the Site as well as links to Sites managed by organized groups. It would also involve entering tables of contents and indexes with links by subject matter rather than code numbers. Finally, all this effort also requires much more attention to terminology because inconsistencies in vocabulary and the lack of suitable terms seriously hampers effective coordination, but how to do that is another subject. Rather than comment on it here, please take a look at:

[10] http://www2.hawaii.edu/~fredr/glotab.htm

[9] http://www2.hawaii.edu/~fredr/projects.htm

The first site provides an example of how to manage a terminology project, and the second discusses relationships between different projects and resources available on the Web. The author remains available to discuss details and provide additional information -- he may be reached prompty by writing to: Fred Riggs


Links to sites offered in this report:

ISA Sites: Home Page: [2] || RCs [3] || RC33 [4] || RC33-panels [4a] || RC35 [14] || Regis. [7]

External ISA sites: RC33: [1] || RC35 [6] || RC35 "Projects": [9] || RC35 "Globalization": [10] []

External non-ISA Sites: ISSC Page [13] || ICSU Page [ICSU] || [IGU] || [IUAES] || [IUPAC] []
CROP page [11] || UNESCO/MOST page: [12] || ISA Sections [1a]
International Political Economy subscribers: [IPE] || The IPE panel/papers registration form ||
Leon James'Cyberspace Architecture || Tom Hall's Home Page [8] ||
Fred Riggs' Home Page [5] || Sources for Globalization Roundtdable []


For links to the Riggs Home Page, go to:
HP Personal Globalization Ethnicity GRD COCTA COVICO Search Engines

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Updated: 25 November 1998