User:Information Ecologist
Information ecologist[edit | edit source]I evolved into the role of Information Ecologist - now Professor of Information Ecology - at Information Habitat: Where Information Lives [1] in the spring of 1996, in response to a conception of information ecology as an embryonic holistic life science and operating system for sustainability and peace. This evolution took place in the context of the final stages of preparation for the 1996 Habitat II Conference in Istanbul, for which Information Habitat - an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council had built and managed the web site and the principal electronic mailing lists. The seeds of information ecology had been planted with the conceoption of Information Habitat: Where Information Lives in May 1990 at an interfaith Caring for Creation conference in preparation for the 1992 Earth Summit. in appreciation of the remarkable transformations taking place in the nature, magnitude and accessibility of information habitats in an era of microcomputers and information and communications technology and the recognition of information and information systems as rapidly evolving new life forms. Information Habitat has pioneered the systematic use of information and communications technology in support of broad-based access to and exchange of information, plans and ideas throughout the preparation for the major series of UN Conferences from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro to the 1996 Habitat II Conference, and in the follow-up to the resulting global agreement - especially through the UN Commission for Sustainable Development. Currrent focus is on the development of an open source, common content interactive platform for the NGO Committee on Education of the CONGO - Conference Of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations - incorporating a supportive environment for Wiki spaces, blogs, podcasting, vblogs, etc. , with a focus on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and the International Decade for a Culture of Peace. An initial component of the site incorporates an extensive hyperlinked collection - the first of its kind - of several hundred United Nations documents relating to sustainability, a culture of peace, water, human rights, etc. at http://www.un-documents.net My life's work up to that time had prepared me for the profession of information ecologist. I had been headed for a promising academic career as a mathematical sociologist with degrees in mathematics and economics at Cambridge and social science research & methodology at Johns Hopkins. However I withdrew from academia in 1972 in the context of participation in the Vietnam Peace movement and concern as to the dominance of academia by a military-industrial complex. I learned much about information ecology in more than thirteen years at the Baltimore City Jail - as librarian for eight and a half years, and the remaining five years an an administrative analyst - and in the course of thirty years of experience with advocacy & activist organizations that focused on peace, health, community development and interfaith dialogue at local, national and international levels. The ecological dimensions of my training in information ecology have grown out of a love for the natural environment and my experiences as an organic gardener - with a passion for composting that I had learned as a child - combined with an appreciation of holistic processes. Through the recent discovery of and involvement in La Perla Gardens- beginning with an Independence Day Worm Feast, I have been able to reconnect to the earth in ways that have brought me great joy. Since May, 1989, my attention had been focused on the preparations for the 1992 Earth Summit / UNCED, and on the vital role that information technology could play in support of broad-based participation of NGOs in the conference, and I had developed an outline proposal for an information, public participation and communications system [2] that had led to the 1990 Earth Day launch of a "Global Environmental Network" by the UNCED Secretariat, whle as a Co-Chair of the Religious Outreach Committee for the 1990 Earth Day in Baltimore, organized a sunrise interfaith dedication of a fifth verse of the U.S. National Anthem at Fort McHenry, Birthplace of the Star-Spangled Banner - [3] Increasingly a focus has been towards gathering, compiling and organizing geographical information, including maps and satellite images. This has included a 1996 focus on the Mesopotamian Marshlands: Between the Rivers - A Cradle of Civilization in support of the New Eden Project [4] - and the observation of Mesopotamian Summer, with the purpose of engaging in dialogue and appreciative inquiry - inter alia making use of a Wiki platform - into the feasiblity of a holistic approach to restoring and regenerating the decimated Marshes, and of the development of an open source wireless Internet Protocol platform for a new knowledge-based civilization. I had begun working on several wikibooks related to the restoration of the Marshes and information ecology. however, much of what I had published has been deleted - although it could be easily regenerated. In the wake of the massve October 2005 Kashmir Earthquake the gathering and organizing of information, maps and satellite images expanded to addressing the needs and opportunities for open source platforms combined with handheld wireless devices in facilitating coordination of logistics and relief efforts. An immediate down-to-earth focus is on preparation for an interactive online learning environment, featuring a biodiversity resources map of La Perla Gardens intended to sere as a prototype for use by community gardens, parks, etc anywhere. Although I have no recognized academic affiliation, I have begun to use the title of Professor of Information Ecology - using the dictionary definition of "professor" as one who professes [5] - marking a new phase that will focus on teaching information ecology. Since 1996, I had been using the title Information Ecologist; during these eight years, my focus had been on development of the theory and practice of Information Ecology and believe it is now time for me to begin the task of teaching about information ecology. Education[edit | edit source]
Research[edit | edit source]
Publishing[edit | edit source]While I have published many brief articles on the web [6] as well as via many electronic mailing lists, most of my work in the area of print publication has been in nn editorial capacity, with a focus on the document's organizational coherence and from a concern with developing inclusive consensus-based documents.
Wikibooks in Development[edit | edit source]
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