Coming soon: new IAALD web site

Video Interview: Valeria Pesce together with Maria Folch and Giampaolo Rugo from GFAR are the people behind the scenes in getting the new IAALD web site ready, using Drupal as its content management system.

Muy pronto: nueva página web IAALD

Video: Maria Folch del GFAR es la persona quien desarrolla la nueva página web de la IAALD usando la plataforma Drupal. Muy pronto estará disponible!

Agricultural Knowledge for All

In this video, Senior Knowledge Officer Ajit Maru from the Global Forum of Agricultural Research (GFAR) emphasizes the need for new capacities among information professionals to deal with shifts occurring in agricultural research.

Integrating agricultural information : Issues and challenges

At the IAALD 2010 Congress, Ajit Maru from GFAR chaired the discussions around the theme of Integrated Information Systems. On the iNARS discussion list and IAALD blog, he shares some thoughts after the event:

'Integration' is a very loaded word. We have to consider what we mean by 'integration' and 'integrated information systems' around agriculture very carefully.

At the 'hard' ware level, we already have very integrated systems in computing and communicating devices but for the agricultural information specialist it could also mean integrating sensors, for example on moisture or solar radiation, with agricultural and farm databases for automated data collection and collation.

At the software level, it could mean integrating tools and applications, as was amply demonstrated by examples presented at the Congress. At the Congress we did hear about many ICTs, especially mobile, wireless and cellular, that hold new promises. However, we did not hear too much about how we integrate across media or offer useable information through mixed media, for example through internet radio using 2/3G devices which will allow us on demand audio that could provide guides to step wise process for extension workers or farmers. Or even how, we can connect postcards with farming queries to radio stations that are connected to the Internet to find answers and can broadcast them over radio.

We all know that the web helps integrate 'information' or more specifically 'data' sets of different formats. However, to me, integration of agricultural information goes beyond bringing information from different sources together. To me this integration should also contribute in some ways to make the information more available, accessible, applicable, especially to other applications, affordable, useable and relevant. Integration is about adding more value and 'integrated information systems' about making information more useable for a targeted group of users who may be diverse even across countries and cultures but have common needs.

There are many challenges when we use the above understanding of 'integration' as related to agricultural information. To me, a major issue is how we integrate work processes in agricultural research and innovation systems so that they are integrated with information and communication management in these systems at an organizational level.

A further challenge in the same lines is of integrating information and communication flows across organizations, many who may not belong to the same research and innovation system. We need to change many structures that define information flows in these organizations, so other collaborations and partnerships that are essential for integrating information systems emerge more rapidly and with vigour.

For example, we will need to change reward systems that equally recognize publishing papers in scientific journals with producing a radio, video, a blog or contributing to a database. We need to change how we institutionally recognize belonging to social networks and our contributions to them as they lead to 'learning'. We need to look at issues of accountability and hierarchy in how information is today generated and communicated in agricultural organizations. We need Institutional change where rules, regulations and norms enable rather than obstruct information flows, coherence and what follows both, integration.

Another major issue that we need to consider is that of ownership or in more straight to the point way, intellectual property rights (IPR) issues, when we consider integration of agricultural information. This becomes very complex when we consider our experiences around the IPR issues in agricultural technologies and products such as seeds.

To me the seed was something more tangible and thus more easily understood when IPR was considered but a genomics database with associated data of the environment in which the gene expresses itself can be very complex in this respect. We must remember that the environment data may be generated, collected or collated by someone who may not have the wherewithal to analyse and interpret genomics data and can easily loose out to those who have these capacities.

And maybe, this is the cause already now being echoed in reluctance to share information globally. But then how do we solve, without tackling this issue head on, global challenges such as of adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change, managing trans-boundary disease or even trade in agricultural commodities?

Similarly, we have the issue of sustainability and security of integrated information systems. If they are of use to agricultural communities across geographic, economic, political and social boundaries, the core issue emerges, who pays for them both for generating the systems and maintaining them. We need a more global understanding of this issue. And, as someone at the Congress pointed out, what happened if a constituent of an integrated system turns itself off or moves out of the collaboration. How secure will such an information system be? We have seen many such initiatives die and its contents, developed with huge costs, lost.

We also need to consider the issue of capacities, building and nurturing them. Even within the agricultural information specialists community, the capacities to develop and manage these systems are inadequate. We need to develop capacities in many more actors not only in those who specialize information management but all in agricultural communities.

I hope we solve these issues as we progress in future in information and communications management related to agriculture.

ICTs — Opportunities to mobilize agricultural science for development

Knowledge, information, and data—and the social and physical infrastructures that carrythem—are widely recognized as key building blocks for more sustainable agriculture, effective agricultural science, and productive partnerships among the global research community.

Through investments in e-Science infrastructure and collaboration on one hand, and
rapid developments in digital devices and connectivity in rural areas, the ways that scientists,academics, and development workers create, share, and apply agricultural knowledge is being transformed through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This paper examines some trends and opportunities associated with the use of these ICTs in agricultural science for development.

Read the recent 'Crop Science' article (open access) by Peter Ballantyne, Ajit Maru, and Enrica Porcari.

Call for ICT use in agricultural research

A recent news item reports from the Hyderabad workshop on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) organised by ICRISAT, GFAR and FAOGlobal Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) and FAO.

The article highlights that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has immense potential in empowering farming communications and it should be put to greater use by the agricultural research and extension institutions, as said by Dave Hoisington, Deputy Director-General (Research) of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

Hoisington pointed out that politicians were able to effectively use new technologies including ICT and the agricultural scientists must take a cue from them. “Unfortunately, till now ICT has not been given the due importance it deserves, and this has to be corrected to achieve more positive results,’’ he added.

ICRISAT Director-General William D Dar highlighted the importance of information in agriculture, and encouraged the workshop to come up with fresh and innovative ideas that could be the mainstream in the new paradigm of international agricultural research.

Ajit Maru, GFAR, defined the theme of the consultations and opined that ICT should be accorded prominence by treating it as frontier technology on a par with biotechnology and nanotechnology.“Once this is done, it should be able to attract more investments to take on new and challenging tasks of improving the livelihoods of resource-poor small holders and producers,’’ he said.

Read the article.

CIARD 'RING' maps AgInfo services and providers in research

Developed by GFAR as part of the CIARD initiative, the new CIARD RING - or Routemap to Information Nodes and Gateways - is "a registry of existing information services for agricultural research for development, indexed and described in a way that makes them more easily exploitable for building value-added integrated services."

The new RING is still in beta and it needs service providers to register their sites. Give it a try and help us build a foundation for more accessible aginfo exchange.

African and global forums for agricultural extension

For several years now, Africa has had its own Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa - FARA.

Documents on the Neuchâtel Initiativee web site report on discussions to set up the the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS).

In this FARA video interview, Nahdy Silim explains why it is imperative that advisory services get more support:



These regional discussions are mirrored at the global level where there is talk of a 'Global Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (GFAAS)'- something like the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR).

More: Report from Neuchâtel Initiative 2009 'conclave'.

The 19th European Seminar on Extension Education is held 15-19 September 2009.

More: Postings on Aginfo Africa; on extension

ICTs and agricultural science - notes from the Science Forum workshop

Last week's Science Forum in Wageningen included a workshop on information and communication technologies - ICTs. Organized by Ajit Maru from GFAR, Some 50 people joined intense discussions on a broad range of ICTs and their future potential application in agricultural sciences for development.

The overall conclusion of the workshop discussions was presented by workshop facilitator Peter Ballantyne to the Forum plenary on the Wednesday afternoon:

"Much more participatory, collaborative, creative and ‘impactful’ agricultural science and innovation is possible by investing in ‘ICTs.’ Not just for the scientists, but along the ‘chains’ of producers, traders, and consumers."
Some other 'bullet points' from the presentation:

The trends - or waves - of the ICT world likely to positively impact us in the future include:

• Pervasive low-cost and mobile connectivity, across many different devices and platforms, reaching far beyond traditional research communities;
  


• Exponentially growing processing power, allowing complex problems and large data sets to beunderstood and handled; 
  


• 'Clouds' of shareable tools, applications, and intelligently-linked content and data, putting massive storage and sophisticated tools within the reach of all; 
  


• Growing capabilities to collect, analyze and re-use massive distributed collections of data, opening up new possibilities to carry out science across borders;
  


• People and ‘crowds’ empowered to create and manage data and information, allowing the multiple knowledges of different people to be mobilized. 
  

Full details from the group discussions will be brought together with the background paper, thinkpieces and the summary presentations into a report.

See materials from the workshop on the GFAR web site.

by Peter Ballantyne

Knowledge sharing, education and learning in agriculture

In Maputo last week, the the CGIAR ICT-KM Program, GFAR, COL and YPARD got together to discuss "Knowledge Sharing, Agricultural Education and Learning through Collaboration and Partnerships."

The workshop aimed to cross and connect several different strands and discussions (research, knowledge, education, learning, ... ) and attracted an interesting mix of people. After stimulating scene-setting plenary discussions on the first morning, the participants joined groups to discuss 'formal education', 'rural learning communities' and 'KM strategies in the CGIAR.'

A particular effort was made to capture the discussions through 'social reporting': Check out the blog posts; see photos as well as videos. Some of us also tried out twitter

AgInfo Services in Central Asia and the Caucasus

A paper on the 'Development of Agriculture Information Services in Central Asia and the Caucasus' by Oleg Shatberashvili and Ajit Maru was planned for the recent IFLA congress in Quebec. Unfortunately, the authors could not be there to present it.

The paper looks at the status of agricultural information services in five countries of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) and in the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia).

The authors conclude that "there is the need to improve access of researchers to international and regional STI and participate in sharing and exchanging regional information internationally. It implies both traditional library networks and ICT-based services."

There is also a "need to enable access to agricultural information to not only researchers but to farmers, and agricultural intermediaries in the market chain. It is a new challenge created by political and economical transformations. In this regard, extension networks should be considered as an integral part of research and innovation systems, working coherently with information services."

Download the paper (PDF)

Advocating AgInfo communication and management

The Global Forum on Agricultural Research just published a short document on Advocacy to improve information sharing and exchange in agricultural research for development.

The advocacy agenda comprises:

• Increased and improved investment in ICM at the research Institute, research organization and research system level.
  
• Capacity development, especially skills in generating digital content, managing and disseminating it at the Institute and Research System level.
  
• Greater coherence and integration of agricultural information systems.
  
• Improved governance of information flows to ensure equitable access to agricultural related information globally

Aginfo directories and web rings: News from GFAR

The latest issue of the GFAR Newsletter includes updates on recent Global Forum activities on information and communication management.

With FAO, GFAR is working on a distributed approach based on metadata exchange to build different types of global Directories, or Registries describing organizations, projects, projects outputs (documents) and experts, as well as news and events.

As part of the CIARD Initiative, GFAR is also leading the establishment of a Global ARD Web Ring - a “voluntary coalition of web spaces that share information related to agricultural research and innovation for development.”

Managing AgResearch information in Asia-Pacific

In April 2008, organizations participating in the Asia-Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS) met in Bangkok. The meeting report is now available.

In his introductory remarks, GFAR's Ajit Maru explained that the "main objective of the current workshop was to apply a de-centralized networking approach at regional level through APARIS and its linkages with the National Agricultural Information Systems (NAIS) of the Asia-Pacific using newly available tools/applications/frameworks such as RSS feeds, AgriFeeds, and CIARD."

The report has information on each of the main sessions of the workshop; the major recommendations of the plenary session include:

• Agreed upon standards are a pre-requisite for efficient sharing of research information among all stakeholders.
  
• New tools/frameworks such as Global Web Ring, AgriOrg, SIST, RAEL, ARDGateway, RSS Feeds, and AgriFeeds should be integrated at national and regional levels. CIARD as a global advocacy agenda for stronger national public information systems in agriculture could be a source of support for these initiatives.
  
• APARIS should continue its advocacy efforts for greater sensitization of NARS leaders and senior managers.
  
• A Persistent theme is the issue of knowledge documentation and its dissemination to small-scale farmers through a variety of ARD Information Systems.
  
• APARIS and NAIS should promote the use of all ICTs, including Radio, TV, mobile phones, CD-ROMS, Internet, call-centers, and print-publications as diverse agricultural extension situations require matching technologies.

Information management focus for the Global Forum on AgResearch

For several years, the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) has supported various information and communications management (ICM) initiatives. In particular, it has helped to build a 'Global Alliance of Regional Agricultural Information Systems' involving partner networks around the world.

Ajit Maru introduces the main themes addressed through the alliance ...

Click To Play

... and reflects on some results achieved:

Click To Play

These past few days, GFAR has held its statutory meetings in Beijing where information and ICTs have been on the agenda. Documents for the Beijing meeting describe progress and plans for the overall ICM initiative - ICM4ARD report.

Additional regional reports show what is happening in different parts of the world: AARINENA (Middle East and North Africa); APAARI (Asia and Pacific); FARA (Africa); and FORAGRO (Latin America).

These show that each region is building up its own networks and capacities and is delivering a wide range of information and communication services to their constituencies.

AARINENA, for example has set up an ICT Steering Committee which helped launch a set of databases and addressed training needs in the region. APAARI organized targeted ICT and ICM advocacy workshops for senior research leaders and managers and provide a platform for the different countries to share their experiences. FARA is facilitating several 'Access to Knowledge and Technology' initiatives, including the Regional Agricultural Information and Learning System (RAILS). FORAGRO continues to grow its INFOTEC system for sharing scientific and technological information.

To read more of these impressive efforts, the GFAR web site has a comprehensive listing of reports and documents on ICM.

Tags: agricultural information ICT gfar

Join GFAR project to share information on agricultural organizations

The Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) seeks interested people to contribute to a joint project to easily share and update information on organizations in agriculture.

According to GFAR's Valeria Pesce, "All agricultural research and development organizations need updated and reliable information on other organizations and institutions, their expertise, projects and outputs." The problem is they each tackle the problem independently.

At the March 2007 meeting of the AgrisContent Taskforce, it was suggested that a 'distributed architecture' might work, in which organizations maintain basic standard information about themselves. GFAR, with FAO was tasked to further detail the proposed architecture [see the proposal].

To proceed with this project, Valeria and her colleagues need feedback on the proposal and the participation of as many organizations as possible. She will ensure that their collaboration only requires a very simple task: creating their own
description in the standard format, for which we will also provide a user-friendly web page that will automatically format the description.

Tags: agricultural information organizations gfar