IAALD papers in the Global Agricultural Research Archive

IAALD is one of the first institutional partners to contribute full text content to the 'Global Agricultural Research Archive' of CAB International. The pilot database currently contains over 2,700 full text records.

The archive contains the full text of papers presented at the IAALD 2008 World Congress in Japan. IN the near future, we plan to add papers from the 2010 congress and perhaps the digital archives of the IAALD Quarterly Bulletin.

Outgoing IAALD President Peter Ballantyne is "really pleased that IAALD is part of this new initiative. It is a concrete demonstration of our commitment to CIARD and the principle of making our information openly accessible."

View the archive / more on CIARD / posts on open access / open access RSS feed

CABI Summit discusses ICTs for agricultural development

In October this year, a session at the CABI Summit discussed Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agricultural development.

Speakers made clear that development of relevant and validated content is key. But local participation and partnerships are essential too – especially in translating important messages, which can be used directly by farmers, into local languages. This will ensure that the rural poor are not disadvantaged by language and communication difficulties.

Download speeches and presentations:

Dr Albino Maggio, Science Officer, Food & Agriculture, European Cooperation in Science & Technology (COST): COST Foresight 2030 – how the digital revolution will contribute to ensure food security – speech >

Dr Stephen Rudgard, Chief, WAICENT Capacity Building & Outreach, FAO: Bridging the rural digital divide: global partnerships to enhance e-Agriculture – speech >

Dr Harsha Liyanage, Managing Director, Sarvodaya ICT4D Movement: From Agri-clinics to FarmerNet: application of mobile phones and internet to support rural farmers – speech > presentation >

Mr Theophilus Mlaki, Director of Information, Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology: Using ICT in making peasant farmers more knowledgeable – speech >

Dr Elizabeth Dodsworth, Global Director, Knowledge Management, CABI: Mobile phones and the internet: communication tools for agricultural development – speech >

CABI launches improved version of 'CAB Direct'

CABI has launched a new and improved version of its database platform CAB Direct, incorporating the leading bibliographic databases in life science information - CAB Abstracts and Global Health.

The new CAB Direct offers a better experience for students and researchers as they search for important life science information. The content on CAB Direct has not changed, but the new design will improve its discoverability – saving researchers time and effort.

“Researcher behaviours and expectations are evolving, and the new CAB Direct has been created to ensure we are evolving with them,” said Cristina Ashby, Product Development Manager at CABI. “New technologies have offered an excellent opportunity to create a better, more intuitive and effective product."

CABI news item

CAB eBooks: Dynamic, Definitive, Direct

In February of this year the beta version of CABI’s latest product, CAB eBooks, became live online.

According to the CABI website: "The two best features of CAB eBooks, which set it apart from many other products out there, are its the granularity – each chapter is indexed separately with its own keywords and a detailed description, allowing searching at the chapter level – and its unlimited access – any number of users can access it at any time, and there is no restriction on downloading, saving or printing the pdf files."

CAB eBooks provides a unique opportunity to access CABI’s prestigious titles in an easy-to use format. Books are indexed and retrievable as chapters, ensuring that a search of available titles will render the most relevant results and save you valuable time.

The KID triangle - knowledge, information and data in the 'E' world

The focus of this chapter is on management of information coming into and out of the organization as well as that within the organization. Concepts of information ecology, information economy and information supply chain and their particular implications for electronically-enabled businesses are described. It further examines knowledge and knowledge management in the context of agribusiness. A model of knowledge creation is presented, and the idea of knowledge as "capital" in a business is discussed.

Source: The KID triangle - knowledge, information and data in the 'E' world: knowledge is power. / Bryceson, K. P. [University of Queensland, Australia.] / 'E' issues for agribusiness: the 'what', 'why', 'how'. Wallingford, UK; CABI: pp. 63-98. Read chapter 1 in full text (pdf format) / or buy the book.

This information is extracted from the CAB Abstracts database, available on many platforms including CAB Direct. It is provided by CABI to IAALD members and readers to enhance knowledge sharing and exchange on different aspects of information and communication in agriculture and related disciplines. Copyright CAB International, reproduced with permission.

Tags: agricultural information cabi ICT agribusiness

New CABI Website and Online E-Zine

CABI has launched an E-ZINE - CABI News - to keep its customers, stakeholders and member countries informed about its latest news and activities. Subscribe online.

It complements the information found on the recently transformed CABI website. This provides a single platform to all the work that CABI is involved in. Under the site's Projects & Consultancies are showcased many of the projects that CABI has either completed or is currently working on around the world. These cover: knowledge for development, commodities and invasive species.

The new site's Publishing Products area contains details of all its books, abstracts and full-text resources, as well as a wealth of information for librarians and authors.

Other highlights of the site include the Microbial Services area, providing easy access to information about CABI's unique skills in mycology (the study of fungi).

Tags: agricultural information cabi

CABI blog 'hand picks and carefully sorts' information

A newish blog "is the the place where the content specialists who put together CAB Abstracts highlight just some of the vast amount of research information that goes into the products that they make."

The blog from CABI - entitled 'hand picked... and carefully sorted' - is intended to be a signpost that, to quote Bruce Sterling: tells us what to access and what to pay attention to

Tags: agricultural information cabi blogs