Research and Media Network.

The Research and Media Network is an online social network intended to be of value to journalists, scientists, press officers and others who communicate about research - whether on health, environment, water, energy, agriculture, sustainable development or communications.

Hello

Delegates at last month's World Conference of Science Journalists in Melbourne heard repeatedly that networks are needed and that journalists, press officers and scientists all need more information, better skills and more contacts.

The Research and Media Network is an online social network intended to be of value to journalists, scientists, press officers and others who communicate about research - whether on health, environment, water, energy, agriculture, sustainable development or communications.

See: http://researchandmedia.ning.com

The only way to see whether this is feasible is to populate the network with some friendly volunteers who are willing to test it out. I envisage that this site could be most useful for journalists in developing nations who struggle to find interviewees, sources of support and ideas for news stories.

At the moment everything is in English but it should be easy to have Forums in French and Spanish and I will see whether the site can include Arabic or Chinese script.

Best wishes
Mike

Mike Shanahan
Press officer
International Institute for Environment and Development
[email protected]
http://www.iied.org