AgriDrupal: FAO convenes e-consultation

A growing number of institutions in the agricultural domain are building web-based applications with Drupal.

Earlier this year, some people at the IAALD congress in Montpellier exchanged experiences and views around the term ‘Agridrupal.’

In September, FAO are hosting an e-consultation to clarify how the “Agridrupal” initiative should go forward.

Participants are requested to register themselves at http://aims.fao.org/community/group/agridrupal

‘AgKnowledge Africa’ Share Fair

Join us in Addis Ababa from October 18-21, 2010 to showcase the ways agricultural and rural knowledge in and of Africa is created, shared, communicated, and put to use.

Like the 2009 edition in Rome, this event will be a ‘fair’ that brings together the diverse knowledge of the continent and the multiple innovative ways it is created, shared, communicated, and applied. We will be sharing the experiences of a wide range of people and organizations: Farmer organizations, extensionists, researchers, students, academia, policy shapers, information and communication specialists, private sector actors, international and regional organizations, and governments.

We will cover a wide range of knowledge types and modes of sharing – oral, visual, drama, music, video, radio, documentary, publishing, storytelling, web-based, geospatial, networked, mobile, computer-based, SMS, or journalistic.

The heart of the fair is a series of thematic ‘learning pathways’ in a process of mapping, sharing and connecting people and activities. These pathways will showcase how African ‘talents’ are creating, sharing and using rural knowledge - at the grassroots, in research and policy, and through intermediaries. The pathways will focus on agriculture and climate change, land, livestock, and water.

The Share Fair also comprises:

● SKILLS & TOOLS: A learning day at the start where participants can share practical tools and approaches that enhance their own knowledge sharing and use in agriculture.

● FOCUS GROUPS: Self-organized spaces where participants get together to explore experiences in specific issues and topics. Examples are:
○ Africa’s knowledge sharing traditions – storytelling, traditional wisdom, etc
○ Making knowledge mobile
○ Relief, research, development – connecting along the continuum
○ Indigenous knowledge – listening to the roots
○ Telecenters – emerging roles in knowledge creation and sharing
○ Radio
○ Extension and advisory services across phones
○ Participatory GIS and spatial data
○ Lost in Translation - Traducture
○ Knowledge and communication along and in support of value chains

● FOCUS ON ETHIOPIA: A forum for knowledge-sharing initiatives and actors in Ethiopia to showcase their activities and results.

● MARKETPLACE: An alternative to the usual exhibition, we aim to create (traditional) interactive spaces where goods and knowledge are transacted.

● FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Much traditional knowledge is ‘captured’ and passed on through food – the recipes and the ways it is prepared and presented. We aim to highlight and showcase the links between food and knowledge sharing.

● BUNNA: A traditional Ethiopian meeting space with coffee, wireless and conversation zone.

Why Attend?

● You will take back insights and lessons learned on how knowledge is being created, exchanged and put to use within and across organizations and with rural communities.

● You will be able to attend training sessions and get to know possibilities to implement various knowledge sharing tools and methods in your own daily work.

● You will get an opportunity to share what you do and make connections with others working on similar projects!


Find out more about the event, how to participate, how to register!

IFPRI adopts '3-D' approach to web management

Chris Addison writes:

To accommodate a complete change in the way we use the Internet to find information and stay in touch, a new and different strategy for online publishing is essential. At IFPRI, we have been experimenting with the concept of a “3-D” approach using (1) decentralized content, (2) a descriptive system to put information in context, and (3) ways to ensure we are part of the discussion.

So, we have been looking at our work through 3-D glasses, and it has brought the system vividly to life.

1. Decentralize

First, we have begun to decentralize what we do by moving from a “one-platform-fits-all” approach to one that encourages the most appropriate platforms for particular types of content. Individuals, projects, divisions, and departments in the organization need to be able to update information online, so the ability to input data and documents cannot rest solely with one group. We make extensive use of Slideshare and YouTube whenever content is photo- or video-based. To post short communications, we use Wordpress, which we also use to create “websites on the fly.” Our publications follow an open-access workflow that ensures they are published on the IFPRI website and stored on the server repository to be accessible to all.

The decentralization also applies to how our content reaches our audience. We have turned the core IFPRI website into a web engine able to produce content feeds, which can be used by others. These feeds are now one of the top sources of traffic to our website. We are also rapidly moving toward providing content that can be embedded elsewhere, as is the case with the Global Hunger Index map.

2. Describe

Since our content is now so well dispersed in different platforms, it is essential to link related items through a descriptive system so that information is displayed in context. Therefore, indexing materials online becomes ever more important to ensure that all related material can be readily linked, embedded, remixed, and reused. It isn’t always possible, however, to manually index all materials, so we use a Google custom search to cover our presentations, photos, and videos on Slideshare, Flickr, and YouTube, respectively. The tagging of items on social media sites also allows us to more easily connect different platforms—for example, integrating satellite sites and portals with the main website—and ensure that others can embed or display our content on their own sites.

3. Discuss

One of the biggest changes with online information continues to be the ability to listen to our audience and discuss issues with them instead of just pushing information at them from our own website. This means engaging in ongoing dialogues through Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. It means contributing content to Wikipedia, which continues to be a reference source for our targeted audience. We see that other industries are developing “web-care teams” to better listen to their customers, drive development, and gain knowledge, in the same way we monitor what the community is saying about our issues and our work. Open discussion allows civil society to participate in the shaping of international development; it democratizes the system and the sector. We are already seeing discussion-based results with Twitter, for example, which allows people to provide both anecdotal and substantial feedback on the issues we are researching.

These ideas on a “3-D” system of online publishing, were presented at the United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) meeting earlier in the year and we would be interested in hearing from colleagues in IAALD as to whether they have had similar experiences.

AIMS adds service on aginfo events

The Agricultural Information Management Standards (AIMS) website is an initiative aiming to improve the coherence among agricultural information systems in order to create a clearing house for information management standards, and to share and promote the use of common methodologies and tools. To reach the above mentioned goals, AIMS provides semantic-based services in the agricultural domain by providing resources such as metadata standards, methodologies, knowledge organization systems, online – and web services.

As a new feature among its online services the AIMS Events Service is now available. It is a regularly updated list of meetings, workshops and conferences as well as other activities associated with agricultural information management standards.

You can also follow upcoming events on the AIMS-Events Twitter account.

We are encouraging everyone to give Feedback regarding the service on the Meetings, Conferences and Workshops on AIMS Forum

If you are not member of AIMS yet, please register here.

The State of Biodiversity Information in Canada

NatureServe Canada recently released a report on the state of biodiversity information in Canada. By looking at sources of accessible data, including those of NatureServe Canada, this report reveals gaps in Canada?s information holdings.

Some highlights:

1. Canada does not have ready access to the biodiversity information needed to understand its natural heritage or assess the shared outcomes set out in Canada ’s Biodiversity Outcomes Framework.
2. Canada has significant data holdings for some taxonomic groups (e.g., birds, mammals), largely developed in response to legislative priorities or opportunistic data gathering efforts, yet, in most cases, that information is inaccessible or inconsistent.
3. Canada lacks both an understanding of its species diversity and a national inventory program designed to develop primary information for known species.
4. Canada does not have a national biomonitoring system that works across scales and builds on existing initiatives, nor the depth of interpretive expertise required to monitor ecological change. Canada needs to invest in biomonitoring and mapping (including remote-sensing and other related technologies).
5. Canada lacks investments in taxonomic expertise (capacity) and digitized data (presently held as “hard-copy” in Canadian collections). It is ill-prepared to respond to issues like species extinction potentials, invasive species, and climate change.
6. Canada needs to promote biodiversity information sharing and access, including one or more common repositories, and remove cultural and institutional barriers that keep information fragmented.
7. Canada needs to complete efforts to classify and map ecological communities (wetlands, grasslands, arctic tundra, etc.) as a complement to species data, and as a means of exploring and enhancing its understanding of Canadian ecosystems.
8. Canada ’s approach to biodiversity information management must be based on a strategy that recognizes the shared, multi-jurisdictional mandate and responsibility for biodiversity conservation.
9. Canada needs an effective national biodiversity information partnership among federal, provincial, and territorial agencies that includes non-government, academic, aboriginal groups, and the business community.
10. Institutions in other countries, in particular the United States , publish more primary information about Canadian biodiversity than Canada does.

Download the report (PDF)

The Role of Libraries in Supporting Agricultural Policy Research in Nigeria

This short brief summarizes results from an IFPRI assessment of the capacity of Nigerian libraries within the National Agriculture Research System (NARS) to support agricultural policy research.

The main conclusions:

To support a transition to 'virtual libraries', the university libraries in Nigeria "need to develop appropriate infrastructure, strengthen their staff capacity, build consortia, and strengthen communications."

Infrastructure: The main impediments to Nigeria’s university library system are inadequate power and Internet bandwidth.

Capacity: It is evident that the staffing needs for supporting library users have not been met

Consortia: Efforts are needed to strengthen the few existing library consortia — or to develop a new consortium supporting agriculture research

Communication: The communication gap between library staff and faculty and students results in the underuse of library resources.

AgInfo developments in Mauritius

Mauritius recently hosted a 'National Workshop on Agricultural Information Communication Knowledge Management (AICKM) Strategy development.' See reports in the News of Agriculture from Mauritius blog.

This was preceded by several days 'Web 2.0 Collaborative Tools Training' (check stories from early July 2010) in which "participants were exposed to tools covering: social media, RSS, blogs, wikis, Dgroups, GoogleDocs, social bookmarking, learning management and online surveys."

Look out for lots more aginfo 2.0 from Mauritius!

IFLA 2010: Current trends in agricultural information services for farmers

The agricultual libraries session of IFLA 2010 comprises the following contributions:

• Current trends in agricultural information services for farmers in Trinidad and Tobago/Caribbean - SHAMIN RENWICK (University of the West Indies, Agriculture and Life Sciences Division, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago)
• Information worlds of Chinese farmers and their implications for agricultural information services: a fresh look at ways to deliver effective services - LIANGZHI YU (Nankai University, Department of Information Resource Management Tianjin, China)
• An investigation into the use of ICT in the provision of agricultural information to small scale farmers in Harare - COLLENCE T. CHISITA (Information Science Faculty, Harare Polytechnic, Harare, Zimbabwe)
• Helping citizen farmers turn cities into gardens that serve multiple purposes - BARBIE E. KEISER (Barbie E. Keiser, Inc., Alexandria, VA, USA)
• Open access repository for the Brazilian literature on agroecology - MARIA DE CLÉOFAS FAGGION ALENCAR (Embrapa Environment, Jaguarína, SP, Brazil)
• Information to farmers: the role of CTA in facilitating agricultural information transfer to farmers and the work done by the Lengau Centre at the University of the Free State - ERNÉNE VERSTER (Programme for Agricultural Information Services (PRAIS), Library and Information Services, University of the Free State, South Africa)
• Farmer- oriented information services: an overview - DEVA ESWARA REDDY (Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA)

News of Agriculture from Mauritius - a unique national agricultural blog?

News of Agriculture from Mauritius - is this the first national agricultural blog?

Web 2.0 and social media in the agricultural environment

The IAALD Africa Chapter will hold a training workshop (in Botswana) on social media in agriculture in December 2010 - download the announcement.