This month our guest blogger Robert Bartlett introduces the ‘Global Transport’ series, publications that are written in partnership with local engineers and organisations to explore specific transport modes in their national context. Keep reading to find out more about the existing titles and how you can collaborate to develop future editions:
The Global Transport series are documents which look at the types of transport people actually use. Each document covers one main type of transport in one country. The lead author in each document is a local engineer or local organisation and he/it provide the ideas and photographs.
What is the purpose?
There are several ideas behind the development of the "Global Transport" series. The first is to show that not all societies depend on cars. Many other types of vehicle are important - for example, mototaxis of Peru, Okaba motorcycle operations in southern Nigeria, the wide range of rickshaws in Bangladesh and human powered river transport in the Amazon.
Second, if other types of transport are important in a country then engineers should design the transport networks and the roads to suit them as well, rather than just cars. European countries are beginning to struggle with this idea - for example, German guidelines argue that there should be proper transport networks for each type of transport, whether car, bicycle, pedestrian or canal barge. But an engineer cannot design these transport networks if he doesn't know the types of vehicle (and their sizes) which he should design for. Certainly, "fly in today, fly out tomorrow" international experts often don't know the answers to these questions.
Third, as the series continues to develop, readers will be able to see that the problems they face often occur in other countries as well. They can use the documents to contact the authors and to start directly exchanging ideas with them. After all, a solution to a problem in one country can solve problems in other countries too.
What do they look like?
Each document has a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning introduces the author and editor and presents the type of vehicle which the document discusses. The middle is a series of pages with examples, photos and text. The end gives information on useful local organisations and individuals. As far as possible the examples pages keep to a standard layout (as does the overall document). One advantage of this is that it makes it possible to provide text in a second language and to easily add more examples in a later update.
What are the benefits for the authors?
The documents are serious publications intended for serious readers. They can be a useful addition to any CV. The documents also give the authors an international audience and to that extent, international recognition. The editors help correct and improve the author's text and can even translate it (at least, from French and Spanish) - and if they like the contributors also get an acknowledgement on our website (see http://www.schorrell-analysis.de/Contributors/contributors.html )
Where can I see some examples?
Most of these documents are free of charge. For examples, go to Schorrell Analysis's LULU download page at:
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=612289
How do I start a document?
If you are interested in being the author of one of these documents write to:
Robert Bartlett
Email: roadnotes@freenet.de
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