Subject: Call for Participation--Central Asia Experts Directory
From: John Schoeberlein (schoeber@fas.harvard.edu)
Date: Thu Mar 09 2000 - 18:59:42 EST
TO: Scholars and Other Experts on Central Asia/Inner Asia/Central Eurasia
RE: Inclusion of your information in the new Central Asia Experts Directory
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/CASWW_Expert.html
Dear Colleagues,
The Harvard Forum for Central Asian Studies is launching a new
"Central Asia Experts Directory," to be included in the <Central
Asian Studies World Wide> website. It will provide a web-based,
indexed listing of experts worldwide in all fields pertaining to
Central Asia. We encourage all relevant scholars and other experts
to submit their information.
The Experts Directory is intended as a resource for:
- Journalists needing background or comment from international experts.
- Journalists seeking expert sources and current information "on the ground"
from among local specialists or outside experts stationed in the
region.
- Policy-makers who wish to make policy more responsive to in-depth
knowledge of the region.
- International Aid Organizations and others needing expert consultation.
- Human Rights workers and immigration law advocates needing
information about the human rights situation for particular groups in
particular countries.
- Conference organizers seeking people who can speak on particular questions.
- Editors seeking people who can write on Central Asian issues.
Those included in the Directory will benefit by:
- Having an impact on the public knowledge of and policies toward
the region we study and care about.
- Helping to correct the misinformation and fill the gaps in information
which cannot but harm the interests of the people of this region, as well as
of the international community.
- Increasing your own profile and that of your institution as a
valuable information resource.
- Allowing editors and conference organizers to find you when they are
looking for contributors to fill certain needs.
The definition of "Central Asia" for the purposes of the Central Asia
Experts Directory is maximally broad, including the territory from
the Caucasus and Turkic regions of southern Russia in the west to
Mongolia and Tibet in the east, and from northern Iran, Afghanistan,
Pakistan and India in the south, to the Volga Basin and southern
Siberia in the North.
The Experts to be included are those engaged both in scholarly and
applied approaches to fields related to Central Asia, ranging from
Economic and Social Development, Human Rights, and Law, to Humanities
and Social Sciences (especially as relevant to current issues in the
region), and to region-specific natural sciences such as ecology and
geology. The purpose of this Directory is primarily to match those
with skills to those who need them, and to assist in putting
scholarship and other expertise to use toward practical ends and
toward disseminating knowledge to a wider public.
To qualify as an Expert, in general, one should be one of the following:
- Someone with extensive formal training (such as a Ph.D.) on the relevant
topics.
- Someone with substantial experience dealing with issues on the ground --
perhaps with one or more years of living and working in the region or five
or more years of repeated visits to it.
- Someone with specialized skills and experience dealing with information
about the region, typically having access to data resources which are
inaccessible to others.
One should also be prepared to make oneself available to interested
parties, such as journalists and conference organizers. Generally,
this means that a working knowledge of English is vital, as well as
good accessibility via telephone and/or e-mail.
To submit your information to the Central Asia Experts Directory,
please access the Directory web page and read the instructions
carefully:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/CASWW_Expert.html
If you are unable to access the web page, you may contact us via
e-mail for a version of the questionnaire that can be submitted via
e-mail.
Please note that we are currently gathering information for the
Directory, so while one can visit the website mentioned above to
submit information and to see what the structure of the Directory and
its indexes will be, the database of experts will only be put on-line
a bit later (anticipated to be the latter part of April), once we
have received information from a broader body of experts.
We would ask those who are interested in using the Experts Directory
to return to website after a month to find ready access to wide range
of expertise.
AN ADDITIONAL NOTE: One week ago, the Harvard Forum for Central Asian
Studies launched the "Dissertations in Central Asian Studies" and we have
had a tremendous response ... soon the number of dissertations/young
scholars included there will reach 250, but of course there still are more
relevant dissertations missing than are included. If you defended a
dissertation in the past 8 years on any topic related to Central Asian
studies (according to the broad definition of Central Asia outlined above),
please make sure that your information is included (if you don't have web
access, send us an e-mail and we'll send you the form. The "Dissertations
in Central Asian Studies" site may be found at:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/CASWW_Diss.html
Please address all correspondence regarding this to:
Thank you very much,
John Schoeberlein
______________________________________________________________________________
Dr. John S. Schoeberlein \ Director
Forum for Central Asian Studies \ Harvard University
1737 Cambridge Street \ Cambridge, MA 02138 \ USA
tel.: (617) 495-4338 fax: (617) 495-8319
mailto:centasia@fas.harvard.edu
Central Asia Forum Website: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~centasia/
<Central Asian Studies World Wide>: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/
<CentralAsia-L> Editorial Address: mailto:CentralAsia@fas.harvard.edu
<CentralAsia-L> Archive: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/Subscribe_CA-L.html
______________________________________________________________________________
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