About Aquapedia

Welcome to AquaPedia. A virtual world of reliable, relevant, and readily available water information and wisdom collected and synthesized by users and producers of explicit (water information) and tacit (water wisdom) knowledge. The transformative and collaborative power of AquaPedia will make water a flexible and expandable resource.

AquaPedia developed at Tufts, presents an example of the emerging trend to integrate collaborative technologies & transdisciplinary scholarship to create actionable knowledge. The initial content of the AquaPedia consists of case studies drawn from the Tufts Fall 2008 University Seminar on Water and Diplomacy: Integration of Science, Engineering, and Negotiations.

Aquapedia is...

• Free
• Interactive
• Web-based
• Easily searchable

AquaPedia is synthesized by ...

• Water scholars
• Policy makers
• Professionals
• Practitioners
• Educators
• Users

Who will use AquaPedia?

• Water professionals like you!
• Water managers, government officials, NGOs, and community activists.
• Water users and policy makers.
• Disenfranchised groups with limited or no access to water information and wisdom.

Why will you use AquaPedia?

• Derive actionable knowledge for contextual applications.
• Learn from others' experiences to resolve your local water issues.
• Help disadvantaged groups to access water knowledge.

How to get involved with AquaPedia?

• Become an active member of our fast growing editor network.
• Become an author of a case study.
• Participate in conversations on various water topics in the AquaPedia Forum.

The AquaPedia Framework

Water is becoming an expandable resource because of an ongoing fundamental change in the conceptualization and sharing of a basic resource of human society - knowledge. When viewed as a fixed pie, water lends itself to destructive conflict over its division; knowledge of water, however, is an expandable pie. Knowledge transforms this fixed resource into a flexible one. For example, a distinction between blue and green water fundamentally changes the amount of available water for competing uses.

We can enhance the uses of water by sharing the knowledge of water across the globe. This gives rise to an objective need for linking mechanism between the emergent global and local networks. The AquaPedia network will allow the sharing of the available knowledge and local understanding of water problems and solutions.

We posit that the origin of many water issues and conflicts can be understood as a dynamic consequence of competition, feedback and interconnections among variables in the Natural and Societal Systems (NSSs). Within the natural system, we recognize that triple constraints on water — quantity (Q), quality (P), and ecosystem (E) — and their interdependencies and feedback may lead to constraints and conflicts. Inherent and multifaceted constraints of the natural water system are often exacerbated at the societal boundaries. Within the societal system, interdependencies and feedback among societal values and norms (V), economic factors (C), and governance factors (G) interact in a variety of ways to create intractable contextual differences.

Currently, a commonly accepted vocabulary and framework that can translate information between natural and societal domains to derive synthesized water knowledge do not exist. Our goal is to create a framework and a self-generative network to facilitate the production of actionable knowledge from across scales and places around the globe.

AquaPedia will provide this framework to synthesize explicit and tacit knowledge and will serve as a forum to bring together a network of stakeholders to produce actionable knowledge that are reliable, relevant and readily available. AquaPedia will make the knowledge and experience gained by people in managing water resources available and useful to others who have similar issues in their own contextual setting. AquaPedia will serve as a forum for water users and professionals including managers, government officials, conflict resolution experts, environmental NGOs and other decision makers to discuss and share ideas on water issues. This shared network will foster intelligent decision making through reliable, relevant, and standardized public information.

What is our Commitment to Objectivity for AquaPedia?

AquaPedia will approach a water issue or a case study from the fairest and the most neutral position possible. AquaPedia provides a strongly collaborative environment to synthesize water knowledge through interactive feedback and continuous refinement. Each author will be the primary contributor and should take pride in his/her own work. Editors will work collaboratively with the authors to ensure the objectivity of the content, the future development of the topic, and manage the comments, feedback and contributions from the AquaPedia community of users after a case study is posted. This will provide a way to create an organically growing repository of reliable and relevant case studies with content spanning a wide spectrum of information, wisdom, viewpoints, and skills.

What is the Editorial and Publication Process for AquaPedia?

The AquaPedia editorial and publication process involves three key contributors: the author, the editor and the network of AquaPedia users. The author and editor will work collaboratively to develop water case studies for AquaPedia. The author will create the primary content for the AquaPedia and after going through the editorial process, the AquaPedia community will maintain and govern published content. The AquaPedia has been structured around a "wiki" framework - an online interactive and collaborative tool that allows experts and users to collectively add and edit web content. Unlike other well-known wikis, case study contents will be reviewed and approved by the editors prior to being published. Continuous refinement and revisions to posted case studies will also be done through the wiki, with ongoing collaboration between the contributing authors, editor, and network of users. This collaborative process of continuous interactive feedback and refinement will ensure that contents of AquaPedia remain reliable and relevant.

Contact Information

Dr. Shafiqul Islam
Professor, School of Engineering and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Tufts University, Medford, MA 02215, USA
aquapedia@tufts.edu