IASPS Debuts New-Look Website

by Frederick Cedoz, Executive Director, IASPS-Washington

The Internet has revolutionized the way people get information, from news and weather to stock quotes and sports scores. The public policy community has been affected by this new technology as well, with the proliferation of a vast amount of information published and distributed on the Internet by think tanks, big and small.  

When I joined IASPS in February of this year, I immediately recognized that one of our biggest assets was the website: www.iasps.org. I created a task force to examine our website. During this period we even won a prestigious award for our website; we were named "Best of the Web" by the Wall Street Journal Online. I am pleased to report that on November 1, we debuted our fresh, improved and more user-friendly website.    

While maintaining the prominent display of the most popular features, we scaled back the amount of information on the homepage and created more specific categories for our content. We now balance the viewers' desire to find what they are looking for with the least amount of clicks, with their desire to have before them all of the IASPS economic and strategic commentary and analysis. Our revamped site includes new homepages for the Division for Economic Policy Research and the Division for Research in Strategy. Each is accessible via the main homepage, and each has a brief introduction describing the work of that particular division, with access to the division's publications.  

Publications are the lifeblood of any public policy institute and IASPS is no different. We have made it our mission to find individuals who are willing to challenge the status quo, look hard at new facts and examine all the evidence before drafting a public policy pronouncement. We have added a search engine for perusing our publications, indeed the entire site.    

Our two Fellowship Programs train top scholars from around the world to be independent policy analysts. Part of their participation in our Programs involves drafting op-eds and NBNs for the website. 

In fact, I am proud of the fact that I have a proposed NBN on my desk from one of our Strategic Fellows that is ready to be put on the site now. This marks the earliest date in the Strategic Program that an individual has offered something for distribution on the site.   

Under development for inclusion on the site are video footage and audio recordings of our seminars, where the Fellows learn the skills needed to be sharp policy scholars, and our conferences, where we invite members of the public policy community, the media, and elected officials to comment on a recent IASPS publication.  

We have a conference on the most recent paper in the IASPS Research Papers in Strategy series, "The Geopolitcs of Water," scheduled for Ankara, Turkey at the end of November, and one for Jerusalem at the end of January.   

While we pass ideas around what I have dubbed the IASPS Website Group, we certainly want to know what you think. Please drop me a line if you have any comments or suggestions regarding the site: fcedoz@iasps.org.      

We made sure to leave what you told us was important where it was. You'll find the NBN feature, our most popular, right where it was before: on the right side of the page in the upper half. 

Also, you'll find that the link to our secure donations page is right where we left it on the top of main toolbar.    

Please show us your approval of our redesign by helping defray some of its associated costs. Take a moment to fill out the information on our secure "Support IASPS" page. You may choose from varying levels of support and we receive only your name and the amount of your contribution, which we keep strictly confidential. Kindly remember us as you prepare your holiday and tax planning related giving in the coming weeks. All contributions to IASPS are tax deductible.