Loka Institute News about the Community-Based Research Movement
The newsletter from the Community Research Network 2003 conference in Sandstone, Minnesota - "Powerful Collaborations: Building a Movement for Social Change" - is now available on the Loka website, along with several conference papers that describe significant case studies or report basic research on the community-based research movement. They can be accessed at www.loka.org/conf2003/2003_conference.htm.
The conference newsletter is a 79-page document that covers topics including Loka's Vision, how CRN 2003 came to be, the conference program, an extensive and up-to-date resource section with basic references and links to CBR organizations, participant biographies and contact information, and detailed session notes. A table of contents and bookmarks support easy navigation of this document, which grew from the voices of those in attendance at CRN 2003, but hopefully will serve an even broader audience.
In other news, the provisions that Loka advocated before the U.S. Congress for Danish-style citizen panels to review and comment on the new field of nanotechnology were passed into law in December as part of a multibillion dollar U.S. government nanotech R&D bill. This is an historic accomplishment that creates the possibility that ordinary citizens will be able to have some early input into the major technological projects that they support through taxes, and that change their world for better and worse. Stay tuned for an upcoming Loka Alert on this important issue and exciting opportunity.
