Speaker: Geoff Barnard Presentation at the Eldis 20th Anniversary event "Learning from 20 years of digital knowledge sharing for global development" held at IDS on Thursday 15 September 2016 and Friday 16 September 2016. A video of this presentation is available at: https://youtu.be/BNNuZv-fmr4

1. What’s changed since Eldis was set up,
and what does it mean for the future?
Eldis 20th
Anniversary Workshop: Learning from 20
years of digital knowledge sharing for global
development
15 September 2016
Geoff Barnard
www.ids.ac.uk
Knowledge sharing for
development
1
geoff@barnards.plus.com

2. Where’s
the bar?
The ascent of intermediary man

3. Thinking
Technology
User expectations
Donor appetites and priorities
Global development landscape
What’s changed since 1996?
1996 2016A Lot !

4. Phases
1996 201620102000 2005 2015
0 1 2 3 4 5

5. 0. Pre-Eldis Phase (before 1996)

6. 1. The Early Days (1996-2000)
First there was empty
(cyber) space
Research comms in infancy
The Policy Briefing was quite a
revolutionary concept
Nobody knew if the internet
would catch on
An era of experimentation
(launch of Eldis, id21, Euforic,
Bellanet)
Conventional library role under
scrutiny

7. 2. Catching the wave (2001-2005)
First there was empty
(cyber) space
Web clearly taking off
Research comms gathering
steam (RAPID)
KM hits the development sector
(World Bank  Knowledge Bank)
A burst of new initiatives (GDNet,
Development Gateway, SciDev,
DFID Resource Centres,
DGroups)
DFID budget expanding, other
donors getting on board

8. 3. Riding the wave (2006-2010)
First there was empty
(cyber) space
Research comms more
sophisticated & mainstream
Knowledge intermediary role
being recognised and studied
Rise of mobile phones
Web 2.0 opening new avenues
(wikis, online communities,
crowd sourcing)
Lot’s of hype but no one very
sure which way it’s all going
Funding easy to find (in UK)

9. 4. High tide (2010-2015)
First there was empty
(cyber) space
Social media taking off
Open knowledge gaining
foothold (GOKH, MOOCs)
Knowledge hubs for big
programmes
Demand side focus (BCURE)
Proving impact still elusive
Getting harder to fund
collection and curation work
KM going out of vogue

10. 5. Today (2016)
First there was empty
(cyber) space
ICTs more powerful than ever
Big data
Mobile devices ubiquitous
We want it now, we want it free
Research comms embedded
Hard to fund free-standing
intermediary work
Some big initiatives winding down
Renewed focus on learning

11. A detour into the climate world
Big new priority area
Massive need for reliable
information at all levels
Portal proliferation
syndrome
Silo tendency
If in doubt – hold a
workshop!

12. Encouraging signs of progress
Growing community of practice
Strong collaborative ethos
Some clever data sharing
tools  the ‘knowledge grid’
An emerging vision
New focus on capacity
building

13. The Achilles heel
Ouch, we’ve
run out of
funding
Ouch, we’ve
run out of
funding

14. It all hinges on people
Effective knowledge sharing does not happen by magic
It requires skills, dedication, ingenuity, support systems,
a conducive setting, funding…
What’s not changed since 1996?

15. So where is this all going?
Technology drivers:
Atomisation, AI, Big data
Dominance of big
players (Google, Facebook,
etc.)
 Connectivity
Research drivers:
Ever more crowded
marketplace
Northern dominance 
Pressure to show impact
Development drivers:
World more complex &
interconnected than ever
Knowledge at a premium
Funding drivers:
Aid under scrutiny
New donors emerging
Politics

16. Where does this leave the user?

17. Where to from here?
… let’s discuss!
Pack up our portals and
head for the bar?
Regroup, reinvent, and
radically improve our
funding pitch?