Nationality:
Australian. Resident: Belgium (since 1968). Born: 21 January 1940, Port Said
(Egypt). Married to German national. Languages: English, French; some working knowledge of
Italian, Spanish, German and Dutch
Positions (1968
to present): Union of International Associations
(Brussels, Belgium). Initially
as a consultant on a temporary contract, subsequently as Special Assistant to the
Secretary‑General, and from June 1969 as Assistant Secretary‑General. Functional role is
as
Director of Communications and Research.
Current functions
now include: Responsibility for the continuing development of the
20‑station local area network (started 1984) through which various editorial teams (mixing
skills and languages, on and off-site) maintain a variety of interlinked databases (currently
containing over 54,000 international nonprofit bodies, 25,000 future international meetings,
50,000 world problems, and other types of information: strategies (41,000), biographies,
concepts of human development, human values, etc). Data is used to generate major reference
publications (with CD- Rom and Web versions). These include: 5-volume Yearbook of
International Organizations
(38th ed. 1998-9);
Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human
Potential
(4th ed. 1994-5). Efforts currently focus on further adaptation of this data to interactive
web access, participative editing, and multimedia representation building on achievements under a
contract with the European Commission (DG XIII) from 1997-2000. The web databases are
available via
http://www.uia.org/services/databases.php
.
Systems design
and development: Responsibilities have included (since 1970) design and
implementation of several generations of computer systems to facilitate processing of
information received from international organizations into forms suitable for various media, and
general responsibility for the operation of the systems and the associated publication
programmes. This has involved early investigation of a variety of technologies: computer
typesetting (1972), email (1979), extension of email access to developing countries (1981),
LAN database operation (1985), collaborative editing (1989), automatic translation (1994),
CD- ROM technology (1995), web technology (1996), hyperlink editing (1997), VRML
(1998), inter-institutional data integration (1999), distant database editing (1999), online data
services (2000), sonification of data (2000), XML (2001), SVG (2002).
Research:
Responsibility for research on current and future uses of the information held in the
computer database and on the implications of the development of the network of international
organizations, especially in terms of the future challenges to knowledge dissemination,
visualization of knowledge structures, and the design of organizational forms more appropriate
to the complexity of the network of world problems. Some of this research has been conducted
under contract as part of various programmes of the United Nations University (Tokyo). Acted
as reporter for two major United Nations inter-agency symposia on the challenges facing
intergovernmental information systems.
Production of research
papers relevant to the strategic position of international organizations
and the organized response to world problems. This currently includes work on organization
and community design, transformative conferencing and dialogue, information system design,
relevance of metaphor for governance and communication, transdisciplinarity, and concepts of
human development. A special interest is in issues common to understanding of problem
networks, human development, and the design of appropriate organizations, information
systems, and conceptual frameworks.
Author of a series
of papers
on information and knowledge organization, including challenges to
comprehension, transdisciplinarity, and related software possibilities. Currently experimenting with
generating user-controlled visual representations of the above knowledge networks over the web,
with mnemonic use of sound. Other series of papers explore issues relating to governance
through metaphor, electronic implications for organization network operation, and the future of
dialogue and sustainable community.
A special concern
in relation to the Encyclopedia programme is the use of metaphor in
reframing policy-making dilemmas in response to world problems, notably the possibility of a
"marriage" between policy-making and the arts, notably poetry-making, through which more
organic, rhythm-based understanding could refresh the sterility of modern policies – especially
for musically oriented developing countries. This has involved exploration of many new
possibilities of visualization to catalyze new approaches to social organization. In the case of
meetings, this has taken the form of an interest in transformative conferencing and new
approaches to dialogue (notably as explored with colleagues in a School of Ignorance over a
period of 7 years).
Papers and reports:
An extensive bibliography, as well as copies of many of related papers, is
available via: http://www.laetusinpraesens.org/
Selected papers relevant primarily to information
activities are listed below.
Consulting and
related activities: These have included: UN Institute for Training and
Research (UNITAR); UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); UN
Environment Programme (UNEP); UN University (Tokyo); Commonwealth Science Council.
Memberships:
These have included relationships with: World Academy of Art and Science,
World Future Studies Federation, Foundation for the Future, International Studies Association,
International Society for Knowledge Organization, Findhorn Foundation, Committee on
Conceptual and Terminological Analysis (COCTA).
Meetings:
Involvement in a wide variety of international meetings, whether as organizer,
rapporteur, speaker, consultant, contributor or participant. This included early responsibilities in
connection with the International Congress on Congress Organization and subsequently with
the annual meeting of UIA Associate Members (from the meetings industry).
Educational
background: Schooling in England, Australia and Zimbabwe; Imperial College of
Science and Technology (University of London) 1958-1961: B.Sc Engineering (Chemical
Engineering) programme, not completed; Graduate School of Business (University of Cape
Town) 1967-1968: MBA programme.
1. Metaphor
