EIS-AFRICA

Editorial

This is the first edition of the EIS Africa Newsletter to be published solely through the web. We hope that this more cost effective and rapid means of sharing information with the EIS Africa community will also enable more people to access articles and news items. The sharing of information is, of course, key to the functioning and nurturing of the network. Production of the hard copy EIS Africa news is proving very expensive, as is postage thereof, apart from the disappointing speed at which delivery of the Newsletter, via snail mail, takes place.

Electronic publishing also allows for more flexibility: the number of pages per issue does not have to be balanced, nor does the publication schedule need to be established in advance. In fact, as soon as articles of interest reach the secretariat, it will be possible to publish them through the EIS Africa web-site.  As this Newsletter needs to be useful to the community, your suggestions regarding the format and frequency of appearance (shorter newsletters, published more often?) would be much appreciated.

Naturally discussion on the content would also be appreciated, as the Newsletter is a means of sharing experience and knowledge which may prove useful to others involved in similar endeavours. In fact, the content of the Newsletter is entirely dependent upon contributions provided by the EIS community, so your contributions are not only welcome, but absolutely integral to the production of a useful Newsletter.