|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
| The New CEPNews Centre
Volume 1 of CEPNews dates back to 1987 (then
CAPNEWS in its first year) and many read it since then. Many others have read through all
the electronic versions available on the CEP website (from Volume 10, Spring 1996). At the
beginning of the year 2000 the readers were notified that to take advantage of the
electronic media, CEPNews would no longer be distributed in paper form, but as an
attachment to electronic messages and in HTML and Word formats on the CEP website. In
addition, in a view towards economic efficiency we would no longer continue production in
three languages. These constraints have certainly reduced the distribution of CEPNews and,
in an important way, reduced the visibility of the CEP.
With the new CEPNews Centre on http://www.cep.unep.org, we are aiming at correcting this situation. We are introducing the CEPNews "Nouveau" that will take advantage of the Internet capacities for the distribution of up-to-date information to a larger public.
|
The CEPNews Centre has various goals. First, it should be more open to
interaction with the users. Second, the CEPNews Centre should provide useful information
with a very short turnaround period. Third, the Centre should provide more information in
the three languages of the CEP. Finally, we selfishly aim at reducing the workload of its
preparation. The word "user" of our first goal in fact summarises the change
that we propose. The CEPNews Centre will not have readers, but users, which implies rights
(access to information for example) and responsibilities (sharing of information among
others).
Our desire is to create an information medium that is competitive in offering pertinent messages. Competitive means fast, direct, cost-effective and, why not, attractive. As CEPNET Programme Officer, I feel sorry that one of my first "visible" actions brings such a big change to one institution of CEP, but I really think that this new approach can be more useful. The CEPNews Bulletin was our way of communicating; it was a very good window for the CEP and the CAR/RCU. I wish the CEPNews Centre to become the "door" of the CEP and the CAR/RCU, an open door at that. |
I thus invite you to have a look at the CEPNews Centre on http://www.cep.unep.org to find the usual
columns and useful information. Some items were (and will) be moved from the regular web
pages (upcoming events, new links, vacancies, etc.). The home page had to be modified to
accommodate the Centre and we know that more adjustments will be necessary. We do not want
to label the Centre as being under construction, but rather as being under development. So
bare with us while we fine-tune the new interface. You will not find a document containing
the entire texts, but rather pages of information. This way, CEPNews is not a quarterly
product anymore; it is a living medium. We aim at having a monthly editorial (from
internal or external sources), monthly programme updates and add news and information on a
daily basis. News can be posted as soon as received and removed as soon as they are
obsolete.
"And what if I do not have access to Internet or no valuable connection time to spend browsing?" A summary page will periodically be sent through cepnews_rcu e-group to your e-mail to link you to the news that most interest you. If access to the website is still a problem, we can forward specific news to you by e-mail on request. The King is dead, long live the King. Luc St-PierreCEPNET Programme Officer 14 March 2001 |
||||||||
