CALL FOR PARTICIPATION- Launching Central Asia Experts Directory

Fri Mar 10 02:31:26 UTC 2000

TO: Scholars and Other Experts on Central Asia/Inner Asia/Central Eurasia
RE: Inclusion of your information in the new Central Asia Experts Directory
     http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/CASWW_Expert.html

Dear Colleagues,

The Harvard Forum for Central Asian Studies is launching a new "Central
Asia Experts Directory," to be included in the <Central Asian Studies World
Wide> website.  It will provide a web-based, indexed listing of experts
worldwide in all fields pertaining to Central Asia.  We encourage all
relevant scholars and other experts to submit their information.

The Experts Directory is intended as a resource for:
  - Journalists needing background or comment from international experts.
  - Journalists seeking expert sources and current information "on the ground"
    from among local specialists or outside experts stationed in the region.
  - Policy-makers who wish to make policy more responsive to in-depth
knowledge
    of the region.
  - International Aid Organizations and others needing expert consultation.
  - Human Rights workers and immigration law advocates needing information
about
    the human rights situation for particular groups in particular countries.
  - Conference organizers seeking people who can speak on particular questions.
  - Editors seeking people who can write on Central Asian issues.

Those included in the Directory will benefit by:
  - Having an impact on the public knowledge of and policies toward the
region we
    study and care about.
  - Helping to correct the misinformation and fill the gaps in information
which
    cannot but harm the interests of the people of this region, as well as
of the
    international community.
  - Increasing your own profile and that of your institution as a valuable
    information resource.
  - Allowing editors and conference organizers to find you when they are
looking
    for contributors to fill certain needs.

The definition of "Central Asia" for the purposes of the Central Asia
Experts Directory is maximally broad, including the territory from the
Caucasus and Turkic regions of southern Russia in the west to Mongolia and
Tibet in the east, and from northern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India
in the south, to the Volga Basin and southern Siberia in the North.

The Experts to be included are those engaged both in scholarly and applied
approaches to fields related to Central Asia, ranging from Economic and
Social Development, Human Rights, and Law, to Humanities and Social
Sciences (especially as relevant to current issues in the region), and to
region-specific natural sciences such as ecology and geology.  The purpose
of this Directory is primarily to match those with skills to those who need
them, and to assist in putting scholarship and other expertise to use
toward practical ends and toward disseminating knowledge to a wider public.

To qualify as an Expert, in general, one should be one of the following:
  - Someone with extensive formal training (such as a Ph.D.) on the relevant
    topics.
  - Someone with substantial experience dealing with issues on the ground --
    perhaps with one or more years of living and working in the region or five
    or more years of repeated visits to it.
  - Someone with specialized skills and experience dealing with information
    about the region, typically having access to data resources which are
    inaccessible to others.

One should also be someone who can make oneself available to interested
parties, such as journalists and conference organizers.  Generally, this
means that a working knowledge of English is vital, as well as good
accessibility via telephone and/or e-mail.

To submit your information to the Central Asia Experts Directory, please
access the Directory web page and read the instructions carefully:
      http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/CASWW_Expert.html

If you are unable to access the web page, you may contact us via e-mail for
a version of the questionnaire that can be submitted via e-mail.

Please note that we are currently gathering information for the Directory,
so while one can visit the website mentioned above to submit information
and to see what the structure of the Directory and its indexes will be, the
database of experts will only be put on-line a bit later (anticipated to be
the latter part of April), once we have received information from a broader
body of experts.

We would ask those who are interested in using the Experts Directory to
return to website after a month to find ready access to wide range of
expertise.

AN ADDITIONAL NOTE: One week ago, the Harvard Forum for Central Asian
Studies launched the "Dissertations in Central Asian Studies" and we have
had a tremendous response ... soon the number of dissertations/young
scholars included there will reach 250, but of course there still are more
relevant dissertations missing than are included.  If you defended a
dissertation in the past 8 years on any topic related to Central Asian
studies (according to the broad definition of Central Asia outlined above),
please make sure that your information is included (if you don't have web
access, send us an e-mail and we'll send you the form.  The "Dissertations
in Central Asian Studies" site may be found at:
      http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/CASWW_Diss.html

Please address all correspondence regarding this to:
<centasia at fas.harvard.edu>.

Thank you very much,

John Schoeberlein
______________________________________________________________________________
Dr. John S. Schoeberlein \ Director
Forum for Central Asian Studies \ Harvard University
1737 Cambridge Street \ Cambridge, MA 02138 \ USA
tel.: (617) 495-4338  fax: (617) 495-8319
mailto:centasia at fas.harvard.edu
Central Asia Forum Website: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~centasia/
<Central Asian Studies World Wide>: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/
<CentralAsia-L> Editorial Address: mailto:CentralAsia at fas.harvard.edu
<CentralAsia-L> Archive: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/Subscribe_CA-L.html
______________________________________________________________________________

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