Re: [GKD] Value of World Bank Website
Dear GKD Participants, To follow on Peter Burgess's comments re the lack of value of the World Bank's website. It seems to me that many of the comments reflect an unhappiness with the World Bank itself rather than with the website. Stated issues included unhappiness with the perceived: a) dominance of the WB in development thinking, especially in the north, b) general institutional lack of accountability, and c) lack of independent analysis of results. Taking these perceptions at face value, I would argue that instead of the web exacerbating the above issues, the WB website is in fact one of the best tools to address them. By making WB data and research, etc available to everyone w/ an internet connection, more people have access to information that allows them to do their own research, publish their own papers, and come up with their own viewpoints. So, far from consolidating a dominant viewpoint, the web in fact facilitates diverse opinions. Additionally, by publishing project and country information (including the name of the task manager), the WB enables the public to hold it and its partners accountable. Implementation of the revised disclosure policy will make even more information available. Transparency aids not only accountability, but also participation, through mechanisms such as online consultations about policies or strategies (clearly a downside here is the lack of connectivity in many areas). Lastly, the WB has an entire site devoted to evaluation of its results run by the independent OED department, see http://www.worldbank.org/oed/. While this certainly doesn't replace independent analysis by other groups (which indeed would be very useful), it certainly provides a good base for those interested in the subject. So, while I agree that there are certainly many areas for improvement in the development process and institutions, I think the web, especially the WB website, is a phenomenal tool for making it more open, responsive, inclusive, and accountable. Best regards, Katie Katie Bannon [EMAIL PROTECTED] World Bank Web Team Note: The above does not represent the view of the World Bank but is my own personal opinion. ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** To post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
Re: [GKD] Value of World Bank Website
Peter, As one of the central coordinators of the World Bank website, I just wanted to say that it is extremely nice to get your positive feedback on the value of the site. There are many webmasters throughout the institution who have worked very hard to make the site more useful, interesting, and relevant. A few of the major improvements made over the last year or two, which may be of interest to some, include: * more than 14,000 documents are now downloadable in .pdf format in the documents, research, and other subsites; * a new search engine (released this spring); * revised design and reorganized sections for news and the about us section; * information on 100+ countries and topics; * online discussions consultations on a variety of topics, such as the rural development strategy; * publishing of contract awards for the last 2 years (in projects section); and * availability of basic lending project information from 1947 - present. Based on a user survey we did, we are now in the process of making documents easier to download and writing more basic overview information as well as continuing to translate materials and improve the overall design. We would love to get suggestions from people about areas that they would like to see improved or information they would like to see added (please email comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Best regards, Katie Katie Bannon [EMAIL PROTECTED] World Bank Web Team [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Several people have written to this list mentioning in passing that there is nothing of value on the World Bank website. I won't claim there is anything of value to them (not knowing what they want), but cannot let the statement pass as a generalisation. The World Bank website is an extraordinary source of information on everything from Bank performance to the enormous quantity of development research (eg the cutting edge of applied development economics) readily and freely available in searchable electronic format. For those working in the relevant field, it is sometimes hard to remember how much better off we are now than 10 years ago in this respect. ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** To post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
