why such an a distinguished group like WWAS has not been able to make the impact that it can.
The World Academy of Art and Science was established in 1960 as a non-official network of individual Fellows from diverse cultures, nationalities, and intellectual disciplines, “chosen for eminence in art, the natural and social sciences, and the humanities. Its activities focus on “the social consequences and policy implications of knowledge.”
There are several reasons and i will only suggest a few and then request that we re-initiate the process of building bridges across and with future.
a) can we get a spread sheet with key areas of expertise of all fellows and then each one of us can suggest areas in which he /she can contribute to some body else’s research domain in which ever way she can?
b) so long as we focus on only what we can get pursue with in our existing domain through WAAS, it will remain a non-starter. Unless we strengthen each other’s goals’s, real fellowship can not emerge.
c) public goods: In this age of excessive stress on markets as mediator of human density, creation of public goods may not attract too many adherents. But then it is a good worth trying. For instance , if we create a pool of our respective publications and put them in creative commons or open access ( i have already done that, www.sristi.org/anilg all of few hundred papers are copyright free and downloadable without my permission), that itself will be a great contribution with clear spill over effect on research and education for those who lack access to literature databases. CD of such databases can be shared in Africa, Latin America and other disadvantaged regions without any restriction. It will have contributions from Africa as well. Similarly, research protocols in various research streams could be put on open access server of WAAS.
d) we have a huge open access Honey bee database of green grassroots innovations and traditional knowledge, indigenous common property institutions etc., all of which is dedicated to people to people learning ( see www.sristi.org , www.nifindia.org ), Link between formal and informal science can be forged in so many areas.
i hope that some collaborative research, aiming at impacting public policy will emerge in the process. See www.Techpedia.sristi.org a portal of more than 3600 projects of young technological students of India. It might grow to ten thousand projects soon and the goal is half a million projects done every year by the students. Why not we engage with youth and help them learn from each other across national boundaries and then improve the originality and innovation quotient. At the same time, social problems which have remained unaddressed worldwide ( see the site) despite MDGs and UN conferences and meetings, could also get into focus.
Enough for the day. I complement the adminsitration of WAAS ( http://www.worldacademy.org/ )in taking this initiative and hope that dialogue will lead to some concrete action agendas.
Anil K Gupta
