The online Readers’ Club PBF CoP workshop Saly, Senegal – March 18-19, 2011 Jean Benoit Falisse and Maria Paola Bertone

What is a readers’ club? Group of people interested in reading/reviewing on the same topic and keeping updated with the latest literature  A way to be aware of what is written on a topic without reading the papers oneself.

Objectives Facilitate access to the latest literature and publications Produce “digested” information Share ideas and knowledge Stimulate discussion Increase the community spirit and ties within the CoP Increase visibility for the CoP

Our proposition Monthly, a one-page ‘summary’ of a paper/book will be prepared and posted online in English and French (to start with…) The ‘summary’ includes the main points of the paper/book and its relevance with reference to PBF Discussion among members may follow Key principle: ‘wiki’ model (web 2.0) = open sharing and contributing Our assessment: big potential at global level!

How will it work? Strategic orientation of the Club Defining topics to focus on Editing of the ‘summaries’ Logistics and administration Editorial Committee Choose relevant papers/books Read and review those documents Contributing regularly to the Club This group is composed by qualified members with previous experience in scientific writing (in English or French) Readers’ Committee Users / readers Read the ‘summaries’ Feedback and discussion Propose papers/books to the attention of the Editorial Committee These groups overlaps

Structure of the ‘summaries’ Title and references (how to find the paper/book) Presentation (2-3 lines) basic information : is it a book/article/paper?, who wrote it? On what issue? The context of the book/paper (2-3 lines)  details on the topic at large Summary and key ideas (max 15 lines)  refer to the abstract/executive summary, if present Opinion (max 15 lines)  why is it relevant/interesting? what can we learn? Relevance for the CoP members / link with PBF (2-3 lines) Name of the reader and date

Where? The ‘summaries’ will be online in English and French They will be initially posted on the CoP PBF Google Group (other opportunities not excluded) Our ambition is beyond South Saharan Africa.

Role for the CoP members Participate actively to this project Different participation modes: Editorial work Reading and reviewing papers Suggesting papers Reading and debate around summaries that are online. Dissemination of the summaries among your friends and colleagues.

Next steps We are preparing to launch it in the next few months… We will communicate on this on the Google Group. At this stage, we are looking for members interested to join the readers’ committee and prepare the summaries of books and papers.

Joining the readers’ committee We will be selective (capacity building is not the prime objective, at least in the short run). Key criteria: good command of written French or English; proved capacity in terms of critical reading, scientific writing; PBF experience. Our proposition: send us a mail with a motivation letter + a short cv. You may also submit a sample ‘summary’  You can start today!

Contact Our email address: rbf.readersclub@gmail.com