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[RRE]Community Research Network Conference
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Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 11:22:23 -0500 (EST)
From: LOKA INSTITUTE
Please Repost Widely Loka Alert 6:1 (19 Feb 1999) Where Appropriate
COMMUNITY RESEARCH NETWORK CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT and LOKA INSTITUTE NEWS
Friends & Colleagues:
This Loka Alert contains important announcements about Loka's Community Research Network project, updates on other Loka activities, as well as news about related developments abroad.
This is one in an occasional series on the democratic politics
of research, science, and technology issued free of charge by the
nonprofit Loka Institute. To be added to the Loka Alert E-mail list,
or to reply to this post, please send a message to
SPECIAL NOTE -- LOKA ALERT SERVER CHANGES: We have just
switched the Loka Alert listserv to a new computer system.
Hopefully, this will eliminate various glitches that have plagued
the distribution of Loka Alerts. However, this is the first trial
of our new distribution system, so please be patient with us if
unexpected problems emerge. We will address any problems promptly.
Thank you!
Cheers to all,
Dick Sclove, Founder & Research Director, The Loka Institute
E-mail
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CONTENTS 1. Community Research Network (CRN) Annual Conference, 11-13 June 1999...................................(1/2 page)
2. Democratizing Science & Technology: Updates From Abroad (Canadian Community Research Initiative; and Citizen Panel Updates from the U.K., Canada, South Korea, Japan, and Australia)..................(1 page)
3. Loka Institute updates (including Loka staff meetings with U.S. government officials, recent talks, & publications)......................................(2 pages)
4. Internships at the Loka Institute.....................(1/3 page)
5. About the Loka Institute..............................(1/2 page)
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(1) CRN CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT:
What Works, What Doesn't? Community-Based Research and Strategies for Change
What: Community Research Network Annual Conference When: June 11-13, 1999 Where: Amherst, Massachusetts (USA) Who: Community activists and organizers, scholars, funders, students, experienced practitioners of community-based research, and anyone interested in community-based research
**Talk through community-based research processes and strategize about ways to overcome obstacles **Get ideas to walk away with and implement at home **Strengthen the Community Research Network **Build relationships
Community-based research is research conducted in response to grassroots, community, worker or local government concerns -- generally using participatory research processes.
This will be an inspiring, interactive, restorative conference, bringing people together from across the U.S. and worldwide to share their experiences with community-based research and to inform a growing movement.
The conference includes an optional, half-day workshop for those who want to learn about community-based research for the first time with the help of experienced practitioners.
Sponsors include: The Loka Institute, C.S. Mott Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Managing Information with Rural America (MIRA) Initiative, Bonner Foundation, Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education, Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide, Childhood Cancer Research Institute, Science & Environmental Health Network, Youth Policy Institute.
Contact the Loka Institute (E-mail:
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(2) DEMOCRATIZING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: DEVELOPMENTS ABROAD
(A) CANADIAN COMMUNITY RESEARCH INITIATIVE
The Social Science & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of the Canadian government has just launched an ambitious initiative to fund a national network of 16 new community-based research centers across Canada. This pilot program is dubbed Community- University Research Alliances (CURA).
The new program's guidelines are on the Web at
This new SSHRC initiative was originally suggested by the
Humanities & Social Sciences Federation of Canada (HSSFC), based
partly on the model of the Dutch science shop network. HSSFC, in
turn, originally learned of the Dutch shops via the Loka Institute's
Community Research Network initiative. (You can learn something about
HSSFC's role in promoting CURA via their Web page at
(B) CITIZEN PANEL UPDATES:
As long-time Loka Alert subscribers know, in April 1997 the
Loka Institute and several institutional partners organized the first
U.S. participatory Citizen's Panel for deliberating on complex,
controversial issues in science and technology policy. Modeled on a
Danish-style "consensus conference," the topic of our Citizen's Panel
was "Telecommunications and the Future of Democracy"
(see:
Citizen Panels have now been organized more than 30 times in 12 different nations, and the process continues to make headway. For example:
** CANADA: A Citizens' Consensus Conference on food biotechnology
will take place 5-7 March 1999 in western Canada. Information is on the
Web at
** U.K.: The 2nd U.K. Consensus Conference will take place
21 - 24 May 1999 in London on the topic of radioactive waste disposal.
Information is on the Web at
** JAPAN: The first Japanese consensus conference took place in March 1998 on the topic of human gene therapy. A second conference, on the topic "High Information Society" is currently being planned. Information is available from Prof. Wakamatsu Yukio, Tokyo Denki University, E-mail: wakamats@i.dendai.ac.jp
** AUSTRALIA: The first Australian consensus conference, on the topic of gene technology in the food chain, is coming up shortly. Information is available from Carole Renouf, Australian Consumers' Assn., E-mail: carolr@peg.apc.org
** SOUTH KOREA: The first Korean consensus conference, organised by
the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, was held in Seoul, November
14-16, 1998, on the topic "the safety and ethics of genetically modified
foods." Information is on the Web at
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(3) LOKA INSTITUTE UPDATES
(A) LOKA MEETINGS OF NOTE: Interest in Loka Institute initiatives to promote a democratic politics of research, science and technology is gradually stretching from the grassroots into the U.S. research establishment. For instance, during the week of Feb. 1-5, 1999, Loka Founder & Research Director Richard Sclove had successive personal meetings -- discussing community-based research, deliberative citizens panels on science & technology policy, and/or participatory scenario workshops on environmental sustainability & democracy -- with:
** The Director and Acting Deputy Director of the U.S. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) ** The Director of the U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES (NIEHS) ** The Director & senior staff of the U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY & REHABILITATION RESEARCH (in the Dept. of Education)
(B) LOKA PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA COVERAGE:
** COVER STORY: Loka's report on "Community-Based Research in the
U.S." inspired a cover story in the Nov. 7, 1998 issue of Science
News. You can read the article, entitled "Democratizing Science",
on the Web at
Recent publications by Loka staff members include:
** GREAT PLACEMENT: Loka Founder & Research Director Richard Sclove's
Oct. 1998Chronicle of Higher Education essay, "For U.S. Science
Policy, It's Time for a Reality Check" (on the Web at:
Placement of the Loka article is impressive; it is the 5th chapter in the AAAS volume, immediately following an opening essay by U.S. President Bill Clinton, a reprinted speech by late U.S. President Harry Truman, and current essays by, respectively, the ranking Democrat and the Republican Vice-Chairman of the House Science Committee of the U.S. Congress.
** Richard Sclove & Madeleine Scammell, "Research By the People,"
Utne Reader, Jan./Feb. 1999, pp. 86-87.
** Madeleine Scammell & Richard Sclove, "Science by Everyone: Building
a Worldwide Community Research Network." Invited opinion essay
on the Nature magazine Web site for the upcoming World
Conference on Science:
(c) LOKA SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
RECENT TALKS by Richard Sclove on various aspects of democratizing science & technology:
** FORTHCOMING: Plenary address, scheduled to immediately follow opening keynote address by Dr. Rita Colwell, Director, U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), at the Annual Meeting of the Council on Undergraduate Research, NSF, Arlington, VA, 16 April 1999.
** FORTHCOMING: Plenary address, Community-Based Environmental Justice Research, Conference Sponsored by the Community University Consortium for Regional Environmental Justice, Newark, NJ, 27 Feb. 1999. ** National Institute on Disability & Rehabilitation Research, Washington, DC, 4 Feb. 1999. ** Plenary talk to the Leadership Retreat of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, North Carolina, 2 Feb. 1999. ** McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 21 Jan. 1999. ** Plenary talk, Policy Forum on the House Science Committee's Science Policy Study, American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC, 16 Dec. 1998. ** PDC 98: The 5th Biennial Participatory Design Conference, Seattle, Washington, 12 Nov. 1998. ** PLATO Royalty Lecture, Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, 11 Nov. 1998. ** Conference on New Information Technologies in the City of Buenos Aires, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, 28 Oct. 1998. ** Federal Office of Science, Technology & Cultural Affairs, Brussels, Belgium, 15 Oct. 1998.
RECENT TALKS by Loka Project Director Madeleine Scammell on community-based research:
** Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass., Feb. 1999. ** 1st Constitutional Convention of the Labor Party Science & Technology Advisory Committee caucus, Nov. 1998. ** Focus Group Meeting on Action Research as a Means to Support University & Community Partnerships, including participants from SUNY-Albany, Cornell University, and University of Missouri-Columbia, Oct. 1998. ** Research Needs Evaluation Workshop, Environmental Protection Agency/NIEHS Superfund Basic Research Program, Oct. 1998. ** Working Group on Organizing, Social Movements & the Academy, Sponsored by the Community Organizers' Network and the American Sociological Association, Aug. 1998.
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(4) LOKA INSTITUTE INTERNSHIPS: The Loka Institute has openings for volunteers, graduate and undergraduate student interns, and work-study students for the late spring of 1999 and beyond. The activities in which interns are involved vary from research assistance and writing to assisting in project development and management, fundraising, managing our Internet lists, Web page updates, helping with clerical and other office work, etc. A summer intern at the Loka Institute will be quite involved with organizing the CRN conference (June 11-13, 1999) and with conference follow-up activities. If you are interested in working with us to promote a democratic politics of science and technology, please send a hard copy resume along with a succinct letter explaining your interest, and stating the dates you would like to be at Loka, to: The Loka Institute, P.O. Box 355, Amherst, MA 01004, USA. You may also fax these materials to us at +1-(413)-559-5811.
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(5) ABOUT THE LOKA INSTITUTE
(A) The Loka Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated
to making research, science and technology responsive to
democratically decided social and environmental concerns. TO
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE LOKA INSTITUTE, to participate in our
on-line discussion groups, to download or order publications, or
to help please visit our Web page:
(B) TO PARTICIPATE MORE ACTIVELY in promoting a democratic
politics of science and technology, please join the Federation of
Activists on Science & Technology Network (FASTnet). Just send
an e-mail message to
(C) FUNDRAISING UPDATE: The Loka Institute is currently supported by grant awards from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Managing Information with Rural America (MIRA) Initiative, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the C.S. Mott Foundation, the Albert A. List Foundation, the Foundation for Deep Ecology, the National Science Foundation, and the Menemsha Fund. WE ARE ALSO TREMENDOUSLY GRATEFUL TO THE LOKA INSTITUTE'S GROWING FAMILY OF INDIVIDUAL DONORS -- PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU, who have decided that supporting cutting-edge activism and scholarship to democratize science and technology is a wonderful gift to oneself, family, friends, and future generations. TO DONATE, just send a check drawn in U.S. or Canadian dollars to: The Loka Institute, PO Box 355, Amherst, MA 01004 USA. (Donations to the nonprofit Loka Institute are deductible on U.S. tax returns to the full extent allowable by law.) Thank you!!
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