Report of the e-Project Coordinating Committee Sept 2009 – Apr 2010

I. Committee Terms of Reference

1. Introduction

In its interim Report to the Board of Trustees on 1-2 August 2009, the Strategic Planning Committee identified five (5) program areas for exploration during an initial period of one year in order to assess the interest of Fellows and the potential of these subjects to be developed into on-going programs of the Academy. All five programs utilize e-conferencing and related technologies as a means to engage a cross-section of Fellows and non-Fellows over a wide geographic area at low cost. These program areas, which incorporate 16 out of 40 ideas suggested by Fellows during the strategic planning process, are:

• From crisis to economic development and social cohesion
• Revolution in Human Affairs
• Global Employment Challenge
• Evolution of Individuality
• Limits to Rationality

The Board (1) recommended that Fellows be invited to develop these program areas in Phase I with the view to designing fundable projects addressing the overall goal of the Academy and for implementation in Phase II; (2) noted the primary use of IT facilities in project design and development during Phase I, (3) recommended that each project be facilitated by a Project Coordinator, five of whom were members of the Strategic Planning Committee and had agreed to serve in this role; (4) noted that this Phase I would last 6-12 months; and (5) recommended the allocation of funds for the transaction costs of Phase I. In order to optimize harmonization between overlapping social science issues / areas in these five program / project areas in Phase I, besides efficiency in and structuring e-Conferencing during the design and development of these projects, the Board recommended the establishment of a Project Coordinating Committee.

The SPC recommends renaming the PCC as ECC or e-Projects Coordinating Committee to avoid likely confusion with the Program Committee (PC).

2. Objective

The PCC will promote coordination and harmonization of discussion between overlapping social science issues / areas in the five (5) approved program areas listed above, specifically through e-Conferencing procedures and operations, shared staff resources, communication with Fellows and keeping within the budget, so as to design and develop fundable projects for submission to the Executive Committee and for implementation in Phase II.

3. Mechanisms

The PCC will ensure efficient operations, coordination and harmonization between substantive subject matter in related program areas using approved web-based, e-Conferencing programs, through the following mechanisms:

1. Develop guidelines and procedures for coordination and harmonization between program areas having substantive overlapping subject areas / issues, specifically through internet-based text, audio and video conferencing.
2. Supervise and coordinate the launch and conduct of web-based discussions including video-conferencing, the hosting and presentation of substantive content on the Academy’s website, and notifying participants using e-mails.
3. Allocate and supervise the use of staff resources and the expenditure of budgets allocated for project design and development.
4. Inform and encourage Fellows to participate actively in the e-Conferences and web-based discussions.

4. Membership

1. The PCC will consist of the Project Coordinators of each of the overlapping program / project areas, one of whom shall be selected as the Chair, the Administrator of the Academy’s website, and the Chair of the Program Committee ex-officio.
2. The current PCC includes:
   • Garry Jacobs – Chair and Project Coordinator for the Individuality program area
   • Jacky Foo – Project Coordinator for the Employment program area
   • Ivo Slaus – Project Coordinator for the Global Crisis and the Rationality program area
   • Jasjit Singh – Project Coordinator for the Revolution in Human Affairs program area
   • Lakshmipriya - WAAS Web Administrator
3. Members of the PCC will serve for 6-12 months for the duration of project design and development phase.

5. Operation

1. Project coordination and harmonization will focus only on the substantive overlap between social science issues / areas between program / project areas, and for the purpose and duration of designing and developing fundable projects.
2. The PCC will meet formally as and when required, at least quarterly, to develop and approve formal guidelines for web-based and e-Conference discussion on program / project areas with major overlapping issues and requiring coordination and harmonization, such as
   • Approval or modification of procedures
   • Scheduling and announcement of events
   • Checking and editing of content for Web display
   • Display of content on the website
   • Enrolment, Notifications and Subscriptions for Web-based discussions
   • Allocation of funds for common tasks and individual project-related tasks
   • Review of Web-based and e-Conferencing activities
3. Notes / Minutes will be maintained for all formal meetings, circulated to all PCC members and hosted on the website.
4. The PCC will conduct its operations by e-mail, telephone, VOIP and video conferencing.
5. All documents on the PCC guidelines, procedures, minutes of meetings, recommendations and reports will be hosted in a separate PCC forum on the Academy’s website, and available to all Fellows for review and participation.
6. The PCC will coordinate with the Program Committee to avoid unnecessary overlap or duplication of functions.
7. The PCC will facilitate Fellows submitting and discussing related program / project ideas, hosting their proposals and providing them feedback on current program / project activities.
8. The PCC will survey Fellows periodically to assess their interest and level of satisfaction with the Web-based and e-Conferencing programming.

6. Tasks

1. The PCC will undertake the following tasks in promoting coordination and harmonization of substantive overlapping areas / issues between related program / project areas, so as to arrive at the design of fundable projects:
2. Develop guidelines for Web-based and e-Conferencing program / project discussion:
   • Preparation and launch of new events
   • Enrolment of participants
   • Submission and publication of articles, posts and comments
   • Monitoring of forum contributions
   • Email notifications
   • Hosting of documents, including IP and copyright issues
   • Summarizing issues
   • Preparing fundable projects for grant applications
   • Reporting to the Executive Committee
3. Develop standardized operating procedures for Web-based discussions:
   • Conference enrolment
   • Email notifications and subscriptions
   • Video-conferencing webcasts – for admin, organizers, speakers & participants
   • Structuring of e-conferences as seminars, workshops, webcasts & topics
   • Launching of new e-conferences
   • Forum management, monitoring and administration
   • Page layout and design
   • Hosting of documents
4. Work with individual Project Coordinators and the Web Administrator to launch and manage discussion on each program / project area according to common standards.
5. Oversee the allocation of the budget for common and individual project tasks.
6. Schedule and manage the use of video-conferencing facilities to avoid time conflicts.
7. Periodically monitor, review and assess the effectiveness of program / project coordination and harmonization, and report back to the Executive Committee.
8. Encourage communications with Fellows on program / project ideas, development, and design.
9. Report to the Executive Committee summarizing the successes and pitfalls of program / project coordination and harmonization oversee by the PCC.

7. Budget

1. Common Administrative Tasks: Out of the total approved budget of $10,000 for exploring the development and design of fundable projects in the five program / project areas over a 6-12 month period, about $2000 will be used for common administrative tasks in setting-up and testing of all aspects of the web-based / e-conferencing platform, including forums, subscription management, enrolment, permissions, webcasts, recording, etc.
2. Individual Project Tasks: $8000 will be available for individual Project Coordinators to cover the administrative costs in promoting discussion on their respective program / project area, including the cost of designing and hosting pages, designing and sending out notifications, managing enrolment, subscriptions and permissions, hosting documents, training webcast participants, conducting and recording webcasts, providing technical assistance to participants, and for meetings of the project team and any other tasks required by the project team to interact for the purpose of exploring and developing a fundable proposal.

8. Time-frame

1. The Board set a time frame of 6-12 months for promoting Web-based discussions, collectively and individually, on the five program / project areas with the view to developing and designing fundable projects.
2. It took approximately six weeks to design the website and forums, and work out the subscriptions and notification procedures for the first conference.
3. Although the intention was to launch Web-based discussion of all the five program / project areas as soon as possible, this was not possible due to the greater than anticipated effort required to develop and test methods for the first e-conference, and the limited staff support available for operations.

9. Output

The PCC is expected to generate the following outcomes:

1. Recommendations to the Executive Committee regarding the feasibility of developing on-going fundable projects in each of the five program / project areas, based on the level of interest and involvement of Fellows and success in defining a fundable project.
2. Development and design in collaboration with the Finance Committee of fundable proposals for projects recommended to the Executive Committee for further development.
3. Formulation of guidelines and operating procedures for e-Conference program coordination by August 31, 2010.
4. Although Phase 1 was expected to last 6-12 months, a longer period may be required to launch and conduct web-based discussions in all the five program / project areas, that is from October 2009 to March 2011.

II. E-conferencing Project Methodology

The committee recommends that the following methodology be adopted for the e-forum projects

1. E-Conference Project Coordination:

1. While each project focuses on a different field of inquiry, all the projects share a methodology.
2. Therefore, it may be that greater efficiency can be achieved by combining and centralizing some administrative functions.
3. The decision as to which functions can and should be combined may differ from project to project and should be left to the discretion of the project coordinators.
4. The E-Conference Project Coordination Committee should be responsible for optimizing the areas for cooperation and centralization.
5. It was proposed that the Project Coordination Committee consist of the five Project Coordinators who are presently members of the SPC. All five members expressed their willingness to serve in this capacity.
6. This structure would apply only to the six E-Conferencing projects listed in Section IV-A and would not be applicable to other projects approved by the Board.

2. E-conference Participation

1. Participation is open to all Fellows as well as non-Fellows
2. Objective is to register a minimum of 20 participants, including at least 10 Fellows, within 30 days of project launch
3. Special invitation to select contributors within or outside Academy
4. Members of the General Public will have access to visit and passively view the conferences. Those that wish to actively participate in making forum posts and comments must first register and be approved by the respective project coordinator. Guidelines stating who is eligible to participate in each forum will be decided by each respective coordinator.
5. E-mail marketing to reputed individuals, institutions, universities outside the academy to participate in the forum
6. Special Forum section for student participation

3. Registration of participants

1. Registration ensures subscription to forum posts/digests, i.e. active involvement
2. General announcement of all WAAS E-conferences in email announcements will be repeated weekly for four weeks
3. Project Team will send out personalized invitations to members of the Academy qualified by their field of expertise or prior interest in this subject.

4. Structure of Forum Content

1. Division into sub-forums similar to seminar topics
   • A forum moderator will be appointed to moderate discussion in each sub-forum
   • Participants can request creation of new sub-forums which will be approved at the discretion of the respective project coordinator.
2. Short presentations by invited speakers may be used to define the issues and invite responses from participants
3. Questions may be used as an effective way to stimulate forum discussion.

5. Output from Forums

1. Weekly digest to participants subscribed to project mailing list
2. Monthly digest to all Fellows subscribed to WAAS projects mailing list (default is subscribed with option to unsubscribe)
3. Quarterly e-newsletter activity report on all the forums in html/pdf format highlighting controversial issues and interesting ideas designed to inform Fellows and broaden participation in the forums
4. Periodic conference report to participants and Fellows summarizing the conclusions
5. Annual report to the Board by each project
6. Summary of findings can be circulated to other institutions highlighting the conclusions
7. WAAS e-monograph
8. Print publication of findings where appropriate

III. Progress Report on e-Conferences

1. Overview

1. Although the original intention was to launch all of the e-conferences before the end of 2009, it soon became apparent that this would not be practicable for the following reasons:
   • Inexperience with web conferencing involved a much longer learning curve for the ECC Coordinator and the Web Admin.
   • Concern regarding burdening or confusing members with too many simultaneous surveys, announcements and conference proceedings.
   • Limitation of staff time to manage multiple conferences.
   • Some Project Coordinators requested postponement of launch dates to allow for complementary research activities.
2. Based on experience to date, the ECC concludes that it may be advisable to launch no more than one new conference every 2-3 months. Once they are launched, conferences can run concurrently.
3. A survey of fellows was conducted for the Global Employment Challenge in September 2009 and the conference was launched in October 2009.
4. A survey of fellows was conducted for the Conference on Emerging Individuality in January 2010 and the conference was launched in February 2010.
5. The current proposal is to conduct the other three e-projects during the period June 2010 through March 2011.
6. Other program / project areas will be launched in subsequent months.
7. The development of guidelines and operating procedures for project execution and coordination commenced in January 2010 and is likely to require 6 to 8 months for completion. The cost of developing standard operating procedures is being met out of the general funds sanctioned for the first five e-projects.

2. Global Employment Challenge (GEC)

1. Project Coordination Team
   • Jacky Foo
   • Garry Jacobs
   • Bernard Lietaer
   • Ashok Natarajan
   • Ivo Slaus
2. Registered Participants
   • 20 Fellows
   • 17 Non Fellows
3. Webcasts
   Thus far, four webcasts have been conducted by the GEC and a fifth is scheduled for late April. Each webcast involves a one hour presentation by an expert speaker followed a one hour panel discussion and Q&A.
   • Full Employment & Employment Guarantees by Randall Wray, Senior Scholar, The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.
   • Innovative Strategies for Financing Full Employment by Bernard Lietaer, Fellow of the Academy.
   • The Blue Economy - 100 innovations – 100 Million Jobs – 10 Years by Gunter Pauli, Entrepreneur, Fellow of the Academy and Member of the Club of Rome.
   • Employment Guarantee Policies by Rania Antonopolous, Research Scholar and Program Director, The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
   • Inclusive Growth through Full Employment by Jesus Felipe, Principal Economist, Head of the Strategic Research Unit, and Director of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Institute

An average of eight fellows and five non-fellows participated in each webcast discussion. Following the meeting, the video recordings were hosted on the web. Recording of each of the first three webcasts, which were conducted in late 2009, has been viewed 100-140 times, indicating that a much larger number of people are actually participating in the programs.

1. Topics/conference papers posted - 30
   • GEC-1: Right to Employment - 6 
   • GEC-2: Is Full Employment Possible? - 13 
   • GEC-3: Youth and Employment in Africa - 6 
   • GEC-4: Technology and Employment - 2 
   • GEC 5: Youth employment & Entrepreneurship – 2
   • Proposals – 1
2. Comments by participants - 110
   • GEC-1: Right to Employment - 18
   • GEC-2: Is Full Employment Possible? - 29
   • GEC-3: Youth and Employment in Africa - 32
   • GEC-4: Technology and Employment - 2
   • GEC-5: Youth employment and entrepreneurship - 2
   • Survey of Fellows - 27
3. News articles posted - 19 news items + 4 digests
4. Background papers posted – 16
5. Conference Information & Announcement s - 10
6. Project Proposals
   Two project ideas have been submitted to the GEC for on-going programs by the Academy on the issues raised during the conference.
   • Theory & Strategies for Full Employment proposed by Ivo Slaus and Bernard Lietaer
   • Formulation of a New Indicator of Human Welfare based on Employment – proposed by Orio Giarini and Ivo Slaus

3. Evolution of Individuality (CEI)

1. Project Coordination Team
   • John Cox
   • Jose Furtado
   • Garry Jacobs
   • Eleanora Masini
   • Winston Nagan
2. Registered Participants
   • Fellows -- 22
   • Non Fellows – 20
   • Students – 15 honors students from University of Buffalo
3. Webcasts -- A series of webcasts are being planned for June through August 2010.
4. Topics/conference papers posted - 33
   • CEI-1. Conceptions and Characteristics of Individuality - 6
   • CEI-2. Role of Society and Social Capital Formation in Individuation - 7
   • CEI-3. Role of Individuality in Social Development - 4
   • CEI-4. Individuality and Personal Achievement - 4
   • CEI-5. The Emerging Individual - 8
   • CEI-6. Varieties of Individuality - 2
   • CEI-7. Individuation, Consciousness & Spirituality - 2
5. Comments by participants – 49
6. Survey of Fellows -- 4 Topics and 40 comments posted

IV. Website Traffic

The e-conferencing has had a modest but significant impact on traffic to the Academy web site. Figure 1 below shows the steady growth in traffic to the website over the past 12 months. Traffic rose from an average of 709 visitors in March 2009, prior to the launching of the strategic planning process to a peak of 2662 in March 2010.

Figure 1: Average Monthly Traffic to WAAS Website March 2009 to March 2010

Figure 2 below shows the average number of page views per month on the WAAS website over the same period. It rose from 1600 in March 2009 to a peak of 13,300 in October 2009 and has been averaging about 7000 pages per month during the first three months of this 2010.

Figure 2: Average Monthly Page Views March 2009 to March 2010

V. Proposed Project Schedule

1. Global Employment Challenge
   • End conference in May 2010
2. Evolution of Individuality
   • Start webcasts in June 2010
   • Continue conference through August 2010
3. Limits to Rationality
   • Surveys of fellows in August 2010
   • Launch e-conference in September
4. From Global Crisis to Sustainable Development
   • Survey of fellows in October 2010
   • Launch e-conference in November 2010
5. Revolution in Human Affairs
   1. The research paper by Jasjit Singh, which will form the basis for the e-conference, should be ready for publication by the end of 2010
   2. Survey of fellows in December 2010
   3. Launch e-conference in January 2011

VI. E-project Budget and Expenditure

1. Total budget allocated for the five project

1. General web and admin expenditure -- $2000
2. Project-specific expenditure for 5 projects -- $8000

2. Actual Expenditure (August 2009 to April 15, 2010)

Garry Jacobs, Jasjit Singh, Ivo Slaus

For the e-Project Coordinating Committee