Getting Read Matters: International Development Publications | 11 June 2016

 

As the Internet has grown, those working in development have responded in kind by broadening access to what they write: publishing online is now routine. There are many platforms out there encouraging transparent publishing - www.archive.org, www.scribd.com, www.slideshare.net, www.academia.edu, www.books.google.com, etc. - making it easy to share.

For decades, international development organizations have run vast publishing and research programmes. But prior to the Internet, it was just not possible to access this material and the knowledge and data within without a trip to the library or a UN HQ. The Internet has made it much easier to find out what is out there but there is still the thorny issue of "is anyone reading this stuff?". One survey unearthed a problem: many publications were being read by a very small audience, or nobody at all.

A survey in 2014 of the World Bank's publications, for example, produced a shocking result: it found a third of their publications are never downloaded, 40 per cent were downloaded just 100 times, and only 13 per cent were downloaded more than 250 times in their lifetime (The Washington Post). As The Washington Post pointed out, these are publicly funded publications with the intention of contributing to policy debates and providing solutions to the world's problems. So, if nobody is reading them, or just a handful are, that actually does matter if you care about positive change in the world.

We pride ourselves on creating publications that actually get read. It is risky: when you inspire people, they may just act on what you write. The gatekeepers of development knowledge have developed many ways to uninspire people: they bury documents in jargon and obfuscation, they don't bother telling anyone about a publication, they charge people who can least afford to pay for the publication first-world, dollar prices. Or, as has happened more and more these days, they contact Google to try and get publications obliterated from search engines, so nobody can find them in the first place.

We draw on experience gleaned from working with complex organizations staffed by highly educated people doing complicated things. This has included working on the UN's communications during a severe crisis in late 1990s Mongolia, transforming online access to child health resources for the UK's NHS, and championing innovation across the global South.

The Scribd platform is used by many public bodies to archive documents. It is as good a place as any to make a comparison. So, how do our various resources compare when it comes to communicating on the topics of innovation/innovators, human development and the global South?

How has Southern Innovator's first five issues faired on Scribd?:

And if we search using the words 'global South innovator', we can compare Southern Innovator with other publications and see how many views each has had:

In 1997 I worked as the Managing Editor for the first Mongolian Human Development Report while serving as Head of Communications for the UN in Mongolia. Read more about this project here: http://www.davidsouthconsulting.com/case-studies/human-development-report-mongolia-1997.html. It still attracts readers all these years later.

 

Southern Innovator has become one of the most viewed resources on Scribd for UNDP and innovators, human development and innovators, and global South and innovators.

Southern Innovator Impact Summary 1: http://www.slideshare.net/DavidSouth1/handout-flyer-finalaug14cropmarks

Southern Innovator Impact Summary 2: http://www.slideshare.net/DavidSouth1/si-impact-summaryjan2014final

Reflecting on What Has Been Accomplished: The David South Consulting Impact Summary | 27 March 2015

 

The title David South Consulting Summary of Impact is now available online. It covers work undertaken around the world from 1997 to 2014. This has included the rising use of the Internet to communicate, publishing during a major crisis, the campaign to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), modernizing online health resources and how hospital’s communicate in the 21st century, and chronicling some of the most powerful trends sweeping the planet as the global South increases its wealth. 

As powerful information technologies find their way to even the remotest and poorest places on earth, what is communicated on these platforms becomes more and more important. While governments may believe they can ring-fence and hold back the spreading of ideas – both good and bad, negative and positive – ideas will spread because human beings are ingenious communicators. Even if mobile phones and the Internet were to disappear tomorrow, people would find other ways to spread ideas. The future will be ever-more shaped by those who can spread useful ideas even faster. With the right idea, a problem can be tackled or solved. Most of the problems plaguing today’s world can be solved. The advances made in science and technology in the past half century are mind-boggling and many innovations are held back because of fear societies are just not ready to adapt, or because certain interest groups would rather not share what should be a common human inheritance. A simple newsletter, humble in its design, can have a profound impact if the content resonates with people’s dreams and aspirations; if the knowledge and ideas it contains makes them more powerful or able to act.

A magazine can be so much more than just pretty pictures and nice colours if its content captures a common and shared experience neglected by other media. Southern Innovator magazine is an example of this at work.

David South Consulting Summary of Impact

© David South Consulting 2017

Southern Innovator Issue 5 Being Printed and Readied for Launch | 15 February 2014

Southern Innovator‘s fifth issue is being printed and will soon launch. It is a significant milestone for the magazine since its first launch in 2011. The magazine has been able to gather stories on innovative solutions to the many challenges facing the global South in the 21st century. Distributed around the world and featured at the Global South-South Development Expo (GSSD Expo), it offers a unique opportunity to directly reach the current generation of global innovators.

It is a missed opportunity to not support Southern Innovator at this critical time while the magazine’s profile grows.

Issue 6 will cover the theme of Science, Technology and Innovation.

An infographic from Southern Innovator Issue 5. The cover of Issue 5.

Southern Innovator Issue 5 Awaits Sign-Off | 20 December 2013

Southern Innovator‘s fifth issue is ready and is currently being reviewed in New York at the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC). On the theme of waste and recycling, it asks some challenging questions about how the world uses its resources and what this means for the advancement of human development, in particular in the global South.

The sixth issue will get underway in 2014 and is on the theme of science, technology and innovation. Southern Innovator is looking for invitations to come and see what innovators are working on and what has been accomplished. Time is tight, so please contact us now to liaise on travel schedules for the first two months of 2014 (January and February). In the past, Southern Innovator has been invited to see first-hand innovators at work in Cuba, South Korea and China.

Issue 5 cover.

As 2014 approaches, SI will draft some thoughts on what has been accomplished and will peer into the future and offer some perspective and thoughts on innovation and resilience in the 21st century.

Southern Innovator Issue 1 at the Tianjin Eco-city in China.

Southern Innovator Issue 5 in Production | 10 December 2013

The fifth issue of Southern Innovator is on the way. It explores innovators in the global green economy and who are tackling the issues of waste and recycling and how to use resources efficiently while raising living standards and boosting human development. Southern Innovator is a great opportunity to reach cutting-edge innovators around the world. Don’t miss this opportunity to support the magazine in 2014 and 2015. The magazine is beginning a new phase in how it is distributed by partnering with innovators to help reach more readers.

First draft cover for Issue 5.