At 10:55 AM 6/1/96 -0700, watson@tds.com wrote:
Anybody know who the NRC is and whether they have any influence with anyone?
They have influence in that their reports have a fair amount of credibility with the extra boost of NAS's "scientific authority." If one wanted to distinguish what they do with what the OTA did for instance, one could say that while the OTA generally had a very smart/competent staff (and had a turbulent, poorly managed history and political troubles) the NRC has the strength in that it is non-governmental and has the shroud of "scientific neutrality" about it it could hope to pull from its parent organization, the NAS. The NAS and NRC have interesting histories, the NAS was an honorary society that had some fundings for it snuck into an appropriations bill back in 1863, but generally it was not supported by the government aside from specific "contract" studies which the Congress might ask for. The NRC (known as the NDRC) was created as an advisory council under NAS to help the government with munitions research and development during WWI. Since, they conduct hoc scientific/policy studies to investigate a topic on Congress's behalf. Their "Realizing the Information Future" that came out a couple of years ago was highly regarded. For history on these topics I recommend: Hunter Dupree, Sciene in the Federal Government: A History to 1940, Harper & Row, 1974. Bruce L. R. Smith, American Science Policy Since World War II, Brookings Institution, 1990.
From their WEB page:
National Research Council NRC Logo The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of further knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the National Research Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The National Research Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is the chairman of the National Research Council. _______________________ Regards, Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present. - Albert Camus Joseph Reagle http://farnsworth.mit.edu/~reagle/home.html reagle@mit.edu E0 D5 B2 05 B6 12 DA 65 BE 4D E3 C1 6A 66 25 4E