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

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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!

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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!

11. Contact
Our address: