BUILDING AND RUNNING A RESEARCH CENTER: FIRST THINGS FIRST

A research center is not another name for an ad-hoc committee, a study group, or even a regional research unit. It is a far more serious undertaking, a sort of a think tank specialized in one area or other of strategic research. Both the mission statement and the vision of such a center will depend not only on who provides the funds, but also on who is going to be in charge of the manning and running center operations. How much power each of these parties has in setting policy is not necessarily a comfortable or self-evident equation to solve. In this short post, I wish to think aloud about the prototypical relationship between the two.
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There is an old saying that ‘he who pays the fiddler calls the tune’, and generally speaking, those who dispense the cash will have right of way to draw the general policy guidelines to be followed by the center. The sponsor may well be a governmental or intergovernmental agency or a large business operation. Assuming that it is the sponsor who has the final say on the overall direction of the center can be a bit of simplification. More and more, there is recognition that any agency, think tank, research center, profession, union, guild or trade must have an agreed-upon code of conduct which is akin to a constitution. Underlying many formalized scientific and social research bodies is a principle called social responsibility. This is true of physicians, nuclear scientists, physicists, businesses, as much as it is true of teachers, nurses, linguists, standardization watchdogs, consumer-protection agencies, and so on.
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What social responsibility entails is a declared commitment to the social good or the common good. How we define the common good itself is very controversial, but at the very least, it has to be seen that the outcome of the work being conducted is not meant to hurt or endanger the values believed to be essential for the survival of humanity at large, without distinction between people on the basis of all those socioeconomic variables that set humans apart.
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With specific reference to the social responsibility of a research center, it has to be clear that neither the sponsor nor the experts and administration of the center are in the business of doing work that does not lead to human benefit across the board. In other words, both the sponsor, the managers and subject-specific human resources have to agree from the very beginning that universally-agreed upon values will have to be adhered to as a matter of course.
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In the case of education, those will values will include but should not be limited to the right to learn, the right to communicate, the right to use and speak one’s native language, the right to think, the right to express and criticize alternative viewpoints, the right to create, the right to innovate, the right to be treated fairly and -- principally-- the duty to treat others fairly.
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A final note
It may be that there are those who judge the integration of the common good as being a bit of a simplistic and idealized view of life, business, and the world. Here though, we are talking about a minimum of two drivers: the business driver, i.e., the sponsors, those who will pay for center infrastructure and human resources, and the knowledge workers and managers who run the big, strategic operations of the center. Unless a clear, documented, and satisfactory agreement is reached between the two from the very beginning, there is a possibility that the center might not be capable of delivering the goods it was set to deliver.

BUILDING AND MANAGING A RESEARCH CENTER: A BLUEPRINT

Developing and heading up a research center is a most challenging charge. Anyone entrusted with such a task should, as Dr. Coombe of HCT has rightfully suggested, seek out best practice in this area because very few of us, if any, receive specific training to take up such a job. After all, most of us hail from teaching, and later develop skills and competencies in administration, spilling sometimes into management protocols and practices. It is not immediately clear which is the best model to follow, a business model or an academic model. For all I know, it may be that the distinction between the two is outdated; there has been much talk, for quite a while about the so-called BET model: Business and Education Together Model, signaling a shift in academic thinking that institutions of higher education are no longer ivory towers, islands of sorts that neither affect nor get affected by a sea of change around them. There is more to say about this model, for now, it may be safe to assume that the right combination of business interest and academic pursuit will produce a new breed of researchers and research centers that will have a real, useful and measurable impact on the socioeconomic environment.
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Despite the temptation to make this relationship between academics and the business world the centerpiece of this post, I will maneuver myself in the direction of pragmatism and try to answer instead the question at hand, about how to build and govern a research center. I should like to allocate another post to bad/worst practice in research center building, but for now, I wish to produce off hand, in list form, the elements necessary for a research center planner to factor into the process.
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In the circumstances, a research center planner has to think through the following points, not necessarily in this order:

1. The BET Model and the question about the balance of power
2. Mission statement
3. Vision
4. Logo
5. Program of action
6. Sponsor’s goals and agenda
7. Budget
8. Recruiting human resources including researchers and staff
9. Socio-economic environment outreach: associates and partners
10. Publicity campaign
11. Products and services
12. Returns for sponsor and participants
13. Physical headquarters
14. Web site
15. System of communication among members (possibly in the form of a wiki or FTP)
16. Management best practice.
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It will be interesting to look into each one of these factors to determine more specifically what is at stake in each and how to go about implementing them in such a manner that they create a cohesive whole.

More on each soon.

THE ANATOMY OF FRAUD

Our inboxes are replete with spam. Here, I speak specifically about emails purporting to be from people willing to share fabulous sums of money inherited from someone who was diseased or diagnosed with a terminal illness. These people speak of fortunes in the order of millions stashed in forgotten accounts. Out of automated reflex, having been stung once, I have learned to check such messages and to click on SPAM. There seems, however, no end to the tricks up the sleeves of these modern-day thieves.
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In this post, I explore this practice with reference to a message I received February 1, 2009. Please find the message in red below. Initially, I didn’t go the extent of suspecting the genuine nature of this invitation to partake in the activities of the World Youth Festival with themes worthy of the attention of the noblest among us. Quite the opposite, in fact, I felt flattered that the organizers of the World Youth Festival had thought about me to represent my country and to attend either as a person or a member of an NGO. I particularly felt in agreement with the goals of this cross-continental youth organization that is intent upon upon building a space based on ‘democracy, secularism, pluralism, equality and respect’ (translation mine). One part of me continued to think about making arrangements for the trip, and the other part of me started to reread this invitation in the direction of doubting its authenticity.
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So now that you know about my misgivings, here is the message in its entirety.
******************************************************
Conférence/Session2009-2010
Festival Mondial de la Jeunesse -
ENGLAND USA 2009
World Youth Festival
Londres- Maryland 2009
USA ENGLAND AIDS SOCIETY.
Maryland K0B5/ Londres GP-67
USA-ENGLAND

Objet : Invitation à Participer au Festival Mondial de la Jeunesse.
(Version française)
LONDRES & USA
Thème: *** La valorisation des cultures
*** Lutte contre les Fléaux Sociaux ( Prostitution - VIH/SIDA Drogue )

L'Organisme Internationale USA ENGLAND AIDS SOCIETY dont le siège est au USA, pour sa cinquième Edition de rencontre entre organismes recherche des ONG, associations ou groupes de personnes ayant une fois assister, participer, animer, et oeuvrant dans la même direction que l'organisme pour participer à son Festival International qui se tiendra dans plusieurs options courant le Mois de Mars 2009. C'est dans le souci que ceux-ci valorisent ou mettent en application leur savoir faire que le festival aura lieu au USA et en ENGLAND .

Un Festival unique où toutes les associations et ONG sont les bienvenues, une formation est prévue sur les stratégies de la mise en place d'une STRUCTURE, assistance et suivie rapproché.

Londres et Maryland accueilleront le 5ème Festival Mondial de la
Culture auquel participeront plus de 1000 jeunes et organismes du monde entier avec la présence des grandes personnalités Politiques du monde. Le Festival est le seul espace de rencontre complètement conçu et animé par des organisations de jeunesse de tous les continents. Un espace fondé sur la démocratie, la laïcité, la pluralité, l'égalité et le respect. Un espace engagé, revendicatif, novateur, et constructif. Le Festival est une occasion unique pour les plates-formes régionales de jeunes et pour les organisations de tous les continents de partager leurs idées et projets. Les personnes désireuses d'assister ou participer avec leur groupe au Festival doivent contacter préalablement le DCC (Département de Communication du Comité) dont l'adresse est ci-dessous afin d'être inscrits sur la liste des membres de la délégation, veuillez aussi adresser une demande d'informations pour avoir tous les détails sur l'organisation du forum ainsi que les conditions à remplir pour y prendre part. Le festival est ouvert à toutes les associations et ONG et à toutes personnes etc.?de tous les pays. Pour avoir plus de renseignements sur ce festival, adreser nous votre demande d'information et de formulaire à l'adresse du Bureau d'Etudes suivante ci
dessous.

Nous sommes à Londres pour le Recrutement des jeunes ou ONG desirant participer à ce festival.

Email: bureaufestival.canben@yahoo.com
Tel: (00) 44 703 596 8137
Londres....
(Comité National Préparatoire)
Département Communication et Informations
Mr PAUL HORST
Mme MARIE LIZ
Service Informations
CNP Festival Mondial de la jeunesse Franche collaboration.
L'ensemble du comité préparatoire.

******************************************************
Let me now proceed to a brief analysis of the message text and
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1. This message was sent on February 1, 2009, a Sunday. Now it may be that an international, non-profit organization like the World Youth Festival is busy on a Sunday, all the more so as the date for this international organization is drawing near; after all, the Conference convenes in the month of March 2009; one and a half months or a maximum of two months leaves too little time to organize an international function of a magnitude of thousand invitees, hence the need for the organizing committee to work on Sunday. Well, maybe that’s no problem.
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2. We have all heard of the Olympic games being organized in two countries by way of being more inclusive. The message above states that the Conference takes place concurrently in London, England and in Maryland, USA. I find this somewhat suspect, though I don’t necessarily dismiss it as a ploy.
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3. Look now, if you will, at the sender’s email address: bureaufestival.canben@yahoo.com. I find it strange that an international NGO, like World Youth Forum, and the USA-England AIDS society do not have a .org or .net email extension. If anything, I would have thought they should not depend on Yahoo! for an email address. I am a regular citizen and a physical person, and Yahoo! is almost a default email address for me. For an international organization, people expect a more clearly-recognized affiliation.
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4. I googled ‘World Youth Festival’. The now defunct ‘World Youth Festival’ was active during the Soviet era, and understandably doesn’t have any event scheduled for 2009-2010. There is however another one: the UNESCO Word Youth Festival, to take place in July, 2009, neither in London, UK nor Maryland, USA, but in Stuttgart, Germany.
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5. What I did next was to google the address itself: bureaufestival.canben@yahoo.com. I found the same message with the same information about the same conference from the same sender with the same theme, and it purportedly took place concurrently in Canada and Benin in the 2008-2009 session. The only difference this time is that instead of a yahoo.fr extension, the Canada Benin event had a yahoo.com extension. Please see this URL: http://lists.debian.ch/community@lists.debian.ch/2008/msg01340.html
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6. In the midst of this investigation, I definitely realize this is a hoax. I will add the following indication though: please look at the physical address postcode: Maryland K0B5, for the USA address and Londres GP-67. Of course, no such zip are used either in the USA or in England. The English address should not refer to ‘London’ as 'Londres' either. The British postmaster may send such a message back to sender (LOL).
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7. Look further into one of the organizers of the Conference: USA ENGLAND AIDS SOCIETY. A Google search reveals no such society, though there is one by the name of the AIDS society USA, and AIDS society, Canada.
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8. Over and beyond these indications, there are of course errors of grammar and spelling in the French text. I can tolerate these errors on the part of a regular citizen, but not on the part of an international organization, unless this organization is using a free software programme to do the translation, and even then… Look at these errors:

• a. '…associations ou groupes de personnes ayant une fois assister, participer, animer'. The three underlined verbs here have to be in the past participle form, and not in the infinitive form.
  
• b. … Les personnes désireuses d'assister ou participer …doivent contacter préalablement le DCC …afin d'être inscrits. It seems to me ‘inscrits’ refers back to ‘personnes’ and so has to take on the feminine marker ‘inscrites’.
• c. Pour avoir plus de renseignements sur ce festival, adreser nous votre demande…. ‘adresser’ of course takes double s in French : ‘adresser’.

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It seems to me, having conducted this quick search and analysis that the email I sent them by way of further enquiry is unnecessary. I am glad I have engaged in this bit of outloud thinking and live writing as it were, but I promise to follow up on this if and when I receive an answer from them.

REFERENCES

Conférence/Session2008/2009. A email thread. Retrieved from: http://lists.debian.ch/community@lists.debian.ch/2008/msg01340.html

Das UNESCO-Welt-Jugend-Festival 2009. Retrieved on February 2, 2009: http://www.unescofestival.com/

Wikipedia. World Festival of Youth and Students. Retrieved February 2, 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Festival_of_Youth_and_Students