<div dir="ltr"><br><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>FYI<br></div><div><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Duncan Edwards</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:D.Edwards@ids.ac.uk">D.Edwards@ids.ac.uk</a>></span><br>
Date: Tue, May 13, 2014 at 5:17 PM<br>Subject: The solutions to all our problems may be buried in PDFs that nobody reads<br><br><br><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Hi all,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">I thought the IKMediaries group might be interested in this recent study by the World Bank. Lots of interesting stuff that I’m sure many in the group could contribute to thinking about why so many reports remain
unread.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#1f497d;background:white"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#1f497d;background:white">“</span></i><i><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#2c2c2c;background:white">The World Bank recently decided to ask an important question:<span> </span></span></i><i><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#2c2c2c;background:white;font-style:normal">Is
anyone actually reading these things?</span></i><span><i><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#2c2c2c;background:white"> </span></i></span><i><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#2c2c2c;background:white">They
dug into their Web site traffic data and came to the following conclusions: Nearly one-third of their PDF reports had never been downloaded, not even once. Another 40 percent of their reports had been downloaded fewer than 100 times. Only 13 percent had seen
more than 250 downloads in their lifetimes. Since most World Bank reports have a stated objective of informing public debate or government policy, this seems like a pretty lousy track record.</span></i><i><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#1f497d;background:white">”</span><u></u><u></u></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/05/08/the-solutions-to-all-our-problems-may-be-buried-in-pdfs-that-nobody-reads/" target="_blank">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/05/08/the-solutions-to-all-our-problems-may-be-buried-in-pdfs-that-nobody-reads/</a><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f4e79">If you read the full report there’s some interesting and potentially contentious statements “</span><i><span style="color:#1f4e79">The
production of knowledge goods is often not cost-efficient at the country level and many developing countries do not have the capacity to develop these types of goods</span></i><span style="color:#1f4e79">”</span><span style="color:#1f4e79"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f4e79">Interesting.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">D<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d">----------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><span style="color:#1f497d">
<br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d">Duncan Edwards</span><span style="color:#1f497d">
<br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d">ICT Innovations Manager</span><span style="color:#1f497d">
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d">– Knowledge Services<br>
Programme Manager - Research & Evidence Component, Making All Voices Count</span><span style="color:#1f497d"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d">Institute of Development Studies, Brighton BN1 9RE, UK</span><span style="color:#1f497d">
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">Charitable Company No. 877338</span><span style="color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">
<br>
</span><span style="color:#1f497d">Global Knowledge </span>
<b><span style="color:#404040">for Global Change<br>
</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d">email:
<a href="mailto:d.edwards@ids.ac.uk" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">d.edwards@ids.ac.uk</span></a> tel:
<a href="tel:%2B44%20%280%291273%20915797" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">+44 (0)1273 915797</span></a>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d">Skype: duncan_ed1</span><span><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d">Twitter:
<a href="http://twitter.com/duncan_ids" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">@duncan_ids</span></a>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d">Bio:
<a href="http://www.ids.ac.uk/person/duncan-edwards" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">http://www.ids.ac.uk/person/duncan-edwards</span></a>
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Knowledge Services at IDS:</span><u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:blue"><a href="http://www.ids.ac.uk/go/knowledge-services" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">http://www.ids.ac.uk/go/knowledge-services</span></a></span></u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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