PERN Communities of Interest

PERN Communities of Interest (COI) is a project of collaborative learning and information sharing. Each subject area will have its own COI consisting of academics and professionals. Each COI is managed by a board of directors, which establishes the rules governing the COI. Membership to a COI is open to all individuals who have a background and interest in a subject area. Members are allowed to publish articles, casual information, software codes, and any multimedia objects. Original articles published on the site are reviewed through a peer review process established by the COI Editor who is also a member of the COI Board. The reviewed articles are rated from one star to five stars based upon their technical content and utility. COI members are also provided a discussion forum to discuss ideas and solicit technical help from other members. Each COI maintains a list of members with their contact details (if they are willing to share), skill set and areas of interest. Visitors to a COI web page are allowed to search and access information on COI members and their publications.

The aim of COI project is to bring together researchers, students and industry professionals in each subject area so as to encourage collaborative work and information sharing. The vision is that COIs will evolve into mature professional societies in each subject area.

As we launch the COI Project the information content will be small. It will grow as the COIs are formed and they start creating and sharing content.

In order to start a COI in a new subject area fill up the attached form and send it to Dr. Tanveer ul Haq, Director PERN at haq@hec.gov.pk . He will setup the COI on PERN web page and provide you with administrative details for managing the COI. Before filling up the form you must have four individuals identified as COI Board Members. At least two of the Board Members must be faculty members at HEC recognized universities. The others can be from the industry. The Board Members must be senior researchers/professionals with at least 10 years of recognized contributions in the subject area.

To become a member of a COI click its related link on the LHS and follow the instructions. Once you send in your application for membership it will be reviewed by the related COI board who will accept or reject it. If accepted for membership an email will be sent to you confirming your membership and allocating a membership number and password. You will then be able to publish information and articles on the COI web page and participate in the COI Discussion Forum.

COI Project allows for publication of both formal and informal content Formal content may include original technical articles, research papers, software code and multimedia objects. Informal content could be ideas, comments, suggestions, and technical tips. It would also include previously published information that one may like to share with the broader community. For example one may like to share the link to an interesting informational website that the other community members may benefit from. It will be the responsibility of individual members to get any copyright permissions for reproduction of previously published information.