Highlights of Innovative Practices / Eclairages sur des pratiques innovantes
| iaald2010 web site |
Posters | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Communication with library users: how a herbarium library learns from its users Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Leiden University branch, Netherlands, The;
The National Herbarium of the Netherlands is the research and expertise centre for plant biodiversity in the Netherlands. Our scientific institute’s library holds the Herbarium botanical reference collection. Books and journals can be consulted in our library, but not all categories of books may be borrowed. We use a service called BRAHMS, our Herbarium database, for collecting articles about plants. The Leiden University catalogue can be used for the search of books and journals that are in our library. The website contains links to botany related catalogues and databases like 19th century seed-lists. Our library is special, for it is the uninterrupted historical botanical library of the Leiden University since 1590. It consists of a unique historical book collection and a modern collection that is divided in different scientific ‘specialties’. But we also have a huge collection of journals on these subjects, and we have thousands of illustrations, with many items from the hand of famous illustrators. The catalogue and web site of an institute provide information about what the library has in store. What could be additional library services in the near future? Many libraries have their old books scanned for better preservation. Several botanical institutes have taken up successful digitising projects, especially in the US. But not every user is interested in scans. Some prefer the physical books. E-journals are more and more available. These electronic versions have some advantages: better ‘searchability’ and reference. Our institute’s library has got old and new books that need to be brought to the attention of the library users. Digitising our book collection would be too costly a project. RSS and SDI-services don’t have to be expensive. Communication in libraries remains dependent on online information systems. The changes that must be made should depend on the wishes of our customers.
Horti’doc : the French libraries network in ornamental horticulture and urban landscape Horti'doc, France;
The French libraries network Horti’doc was created in 2003 by the three main organizations involved in research, development and higher education in ornamental horticulture and landscape. Information specialists associated with engineers, researchers and professors, coordinate this network aimed at students and professionals from this sector. The objectives of Horti’doc are to enhance resource sharing and dissemination of information among libraries and information centers within the sector, create dynamic interaction between actors and promote scientific information literacy. The Hortidoc.net web portal lists information centers and libraries, and provides a directory of French organizations active in research (including universities), development and higher education. It also includes some factsheets (e.g. on searching Agricola, writing a bibliography, etc.), a selection of bibliographic databases and catalogues of resources in horticulture. Among future projects is one which aims to add European organizations to the directory and to complete factsheets on information retrieval and scientific and technical information management. Historical partners include Agrocampus Ouest Centre d’Angers – INHP (higher education and research), INRA (research) and Astredhor (development and innovation centre). Plante & Cité (development and innovation center) joined this partnership in 2009. The partnership agreement has just been renewed between the above organizations for another four years.
The establishment and maintenance of regional institutional directories using web 2.0 technologies in the SADC region Southern African Development Community (SADC), Botswana;
Directories of agricultural institutions in a region with their contact details and brief profile are useful to initiate collaborative linkages with partner organisations. Such directories have traditionally been established as a result of a survey questionnaires and compilation of a directory, mad available in print form or in electronic form. Unfortunately, the information is rapidly outdated and the Directory remains unchanged if funds are not available for the update. Meanwhile, another project starts the process all over again. There are different uses of the information of the Directory as well as different formats in which it is desired, ranging from the printed book, to the electronic database, to accessing indexed and searchable information produced by these institutions. Faced with these challenges, the SADC Network of Agricultural Information Managers, has devised and is currently experimenting with an approach that makes use of web 2.0 tools to foster the collaborative establishment and maintenance of a Directory of Agricultural Research and Development organisations in the region. The process, while still grounded in the network of individuals across the region, still requires human intervention and makes use of collaborative web tools such as Dgroups, Wikis, Customisable Search engines, Newsfeeds, Googledocs as well as conventional wordprocessing and spreadsheet documents and e-mail to facilitate the distribution and coordination of tasks. The product is available in print form on an annual basis, an electronic version released at regular intervals within the year, with the possibility of updates being made, online, at regular frequency by the stakeholders themselves. While the responsibility of updating institutional information is devolved to national and even institutional level, it innovates through public recognition of the individuals who contribute to updating the contents. This is considered a key element in achieving sustainability of the process.
Assessing the role of farm advisors in informing farmers about reducing wastes in wheat production (Case study,Qazvin Province,Iran) Islamic Azad University,Sciences and Researches Branch,Tehran,Iran (Islamic Republic of);
Every year more than 30 percent of agricultural production is being wasted and a major reason for that could be the methods of cultivation and harvest which are being used by farmers. In order to reduce the wastes and increase production of wheat, the Ministry of Agriculture started a programme to hire University graduated students who would work as farm advisors and train farmers to methods aiminf at increasing production and reducing wastes. The major purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of farm advisors in reducing wastes in wheat production in Qazvin Province. The population for the study consisted of 112 farm advisors and data was collected using a questionnaire. The data was analysed by using statistical methods in SPSS. The results of the study showed there is a meaningful relation between waste reduction as dependent variable and the number of contacts with experts in Ministry of Agriculture during cultivation and harvest periods, the number of contacts with extension experts as well as with researchers, the adaptability of training courses to improve skills of farm advisors, the adaptability of university education, the educational tools, the formal teaching methods, the awareness of farm advisors about factors causing wastes in cultivation period and methods of reducing wastes as independent variables. It was also found out that the methods used to supervise the activities of farmers had positive impacts on effectiveness of farm advisors.
Di@gnoplant: an INRA Website in Plant Protection INRA, France;
In France, growers must manage complex production systems with a small number of pesticides available, and crops in many areas are affected by indigenous or introduced pests. Furthermore, extension services in plant protection are presently insufficient. In this context, diagnostic and plant protection tools are valuable resource that can be provided by growers, engineers, teachers and students via the Internet. The main objectives of our project are twofold: 1. Create a software that collate, organize, and broadcast via Internet the knowledge and expertise in plant protection from different media sources such as text, images, and videos; 2. Open to users internet applications that are able to answer two key questions in plant protection: What disease causes these symptoms? And what control methods can we use? The Software @Greco (aggregating knowledge) has being developed. This software allowed us to build several applications, for example on tobacco, lettuce and cucumber diseases. At the end of 2010, we aim to provide an INRA website that is able to provide access to many applications in plant protection. Users will be able to identify diseases in two complementary procedures: a diagnostic key and image mosaics. More generic modules for education and training will be available, in particular to understand procedures related to diagnosis and aetiology of plant diseases or defining protection strategies. Note that these applications will be interconnected to other databases.
CIRAD support for scientific information: a participatory process for tailored action training CIRAD, France;
As part of its mandate to provide scientific information and to support agricultural research in developing countries, CIRAD has developed an innovative approach to enhance the capacity of its Southern partners to access, produce, and disseminate scientific information. To ensure its actions are suited to a wide range of different needs for information in a rapidly changing world, CIRAD takes advantage of partnerships and builds customized relationships with information specialists in both Southern and Northern countries. The result is action-training proposals tailored to the specific needs of and requests from Southern institutions. The first step for CIRAD is to analyze partnerships, institutional means and external resources available at a national, regional or international level. Then, in close collaboration with the institutions concerned, CIRAD designs a package comprising both specific and complementary products and services. CIRAD may mobilize resources from global initiatives such as the open access Internet platform SIST (which is funded by French Cooperation and is free of charge for users), and the following international programmes: Agora (FAO) OARE (PNUE), PERI (INASP), TeeaL (Cornell University), or the CTA information dissemination service (SDI) or the question and answer service (Q&A). In the international context of knowledge sharing and capacity building, CIRAD’s information management specialists have been involved in international cooperation projects such as the IMARK initiative by the FAO, which aims to design, produce and distribute free training modules concerning the management of agricultural information.
Providing free access to scientific and technical information on land and water management through CemOA Institutional Repository Cemagref, France;
Cemagref is a French public research institute whose results are directly usable in resource management and land use (water resources, land and aquatic ecosystems, rural areas, water technologies, agrosystems). The CemOA IR (http://cemoa.cemagref.fr) provides access to scientific and technical articles, reports, PhD thesis, proceedings of congresses, books and book chapters. Policy: The publication deposit is mandatory since 1992. Only revised publications are allowed for OA publication (author-made postprints or publishers’ pdf). Stakeholders. The workflow is organized as follows:
They can add any question before transfering data to their reference librarians.
Technical specifications:
Visibility: CemOA records are integrated to the Cemagref portal and referenced by the main harvesters. To date, nearly 16,000 records and 1000 OA full texts are available through OAIster and Scientific Commons, Driver, Avano and EauFrance, Google… Potentially 90 % of articles could be made freely accessible. In this, information specialists have a key role to play.
Entrepreneurship and increasing productivity of rural women by using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Islamic Azad University - Birjand Branch – Birjand. IRAN., Iran (Islamic Republic of);
In this article, we are stating a brief history about complementary of agricultural, industrial and information revolutions in history of humankind and importance of rural development and human development and situation of women specially rural women in these processes. We then introduce a brief history of telecommunications and Internet and compare face-to-face education with technology-based education, concepts of sustainable development and rural development, importance of ICTs in re-shaping human societies, concept of empowerment of rural women, situation of women and girls in Iran specially in rural regions, gender and agriculture in information society, loops of household production in rural regions with emphasis on women work, model of empowerment of rural women through employment, various approaches and rationale for supporting women's entrepreneurship in different schools of development and growth, importance of statistics on women's entrepreneurship and problems in data collection, a brief statement of some national and international projects that have focused on ICTs for rural women in different countries and continents, potential strategies and approaches for improving access of women to ICTs, five areas that need to be targeted in any ICTs project to create an environment where women stand to directly benefit from ICTs as much as men, state situation of rural women in Turkey in accessing to ICTs in their development affairs, livelihood information cycle in rural regions, important informational needs of rural people, system elements of implementing ICTs for diffusion of innovations in rural regions, challenges of agricultural sector in new millenium, and situation of ICTs in management of development process. We conclude highlighting recommendations from discussions in Iran context, specially in rural regions and women in those conditions.
Role of Extension System in Development Using Wastes of Rice in Animal Nourishing (Case –Study: North-of Iran) Islamic Azad University - Birjand Branch – Birjand. IRAN., Iran (Islamic Republic of);
Nowadays, animal husbandry is possible via nourishing science. Nourishing science for domesticated animals is recognition of articles food and nourishing physiology, prepare of foods stuffs elementary value and the keeping and the methods of feeding. On the basis of estimates percent 70-75 generation expenses of animal rearing concerned to animals feed. In climate conditions of Iran is not possible to development farms for cultivation of provender. Indeed most of Iranian domesticate animals are ruminant and enable enjoy something from, later of product and accomplish in the best of state elementary needs. Rice productions can be original source of elementary needs. The rice is cultivated in the surface about 534000 hectors in Iran. More than 90% secondary products containing bran, and straw are annihilated. Scientists research points out this value, elementary materials can diet for domesticated animals and also adds suitable technology is available could be by the name of technology but this technology is not authority for rearing of animal. Education measurement from rearing of animal and advancement experts and also special instruction for advancement experts and individual and global instruction inclined to instruction working places for rearing of animal, the budget guarantee and credits for securing needs of rearing of animal for above-named the recommendation fit for the occasion to technology transfer and extremity for decrease of production expenses and Economical for rearing of animal.
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) – Providing means for evaluating the impact of climate change on crop wild relatives 1CIAT, International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Bioversity International; 2Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Denmark; 3CIAT, International Center for Tropical Agriculture;
Crop wild relatives are a vital source of genetic diversity that can be used to adapt cultivated crops to climate change. However, the crop wild relatives themselves are also currently under threat from the impacts of climate change. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), a distributed global network of shared biodiversity data, currently gives access to over 190 million primary biodiversity records (Nov 09). These free and open-access data include herbarium collections and germplasm accessions, providing the opportunity to evaluate the possible threats of climate change on wild genepools of some of the major crops across the globe. This study investigates climate change impacts on 11 wild genepools, comprising 343 species, by analysing the potential distribution of each species using the Maximum Entropy approach in Maxent, based on compiled records accessible via the GBIF data portal. The future geographic distributions of these species for the year 2050 are then mapped based on 18 global climate models under emissions scenario A2a. Finally, the current and future species richness of these crop wild relatives is mapped to reveal the hotspots of predicted change where significant diversity loss is anticipated. By highlighting areas where climate change impacts on the diversity of wild crop relatives are likely to be greatest, this research indicates priority areas for collection of ex-situ genetic resources for their long-term conservation in genebanks and future use in climate adaptation.
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) – mobilising information for adapting agriculture to climate change 1CIAT, International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Bioversity International; 2Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Denmark; 3CIAT, International Center for Tropical Agriculture;
Global warming is projected to have significant impacts on conditions affecting agriculture. A recent study published in Science suggests that, due to climate change, "southern Africa could lose more than 30% of its main crop, maize, by 2030. In South Asia losses of many regional staples, such as rice, millet and maize could top 10%". Most agronomists believe that agricultural production will be mostly affected by the severity and pace of climate change, not so much by gradual trends in climate. If change is gradual, there may be enough time for biota adaptation. Rapid climate change, however, could harm agriculture in many countries, especially those that are already suffering from poor soil and climate conditions, because there is less time for optimum natural selection and adaption. Biodiversity-related information is rapidly becoming more accessible over the Internet. However, a major obstacle to advancing our knowledge of biodiversity, including the impacts on biodiversity of, and contribution of biodiversity to, global change is the lack of digital species-occurrence data available online in a common standard format to enable rigorous analysis. Through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), scientists can publish their specimen and observation databases online whilst retaining ownership and custodianship, and thus become part of a growing distributed global network of shared biodiversity data. For many research communities, GBIF has been instrumental in enabling link-up of their distributed information resources. Through the GBIF network, information on more than 190 million primary biodiversity data are currently (Nov 09) readily accessible. This poster will present a series of cases demonstrating the potential of adaptation in agricultural practices based on analyses of species distribution and ecological niche modelling. It will highlight the urgent need to contribute to global initiatives such as GBIF aimed at sharing information about biodiversity resources in order to facilitate such analyses.
OpenAmaptheque : A library management software for scientific and technical information specialists in research units. CIRAD, France;
The Botany and Computational Plant Architecture Joint Research Unit (UMR AMAP) has developed an integrated library management freeware (ILMS), which is distributed under GNU/GPL licence. The software, called OpenAmapthèque, was developed specially for research structures. It is intended for scientific and technical information specialists and non-professionals in charge of managing documentary resources and publications within research units or laboratories. In additional to the usual functions of an ILMS (cataloguing, document circulation management, budget management and OPACs), the OpenAmapthèque system has several advantages:
Environmental Awareness Marataízes 1Fundação Dom Cabral, Brazil; 2Prefeitura Municipal de Marataízes, Brazil;
The name "Marataízes" means "channels to the sea" in the language of the Indians who first inhabited the region. The city, located in Espirito Santo State, Brazil, has its geographic spread in more than 132 km2 and offers attractions such as a river, lakes, lagoons, islands, cliffs and more than 20 km of coastline. The local hydrography is a valuable natural resource, but the river Itapemirim, which borders the city suffers from silting while ponds and lagoons are polluted or already in the process of degradation. Nowadays, the city of 30 thousand lives has a context of few opportunities, both professional and personal enrichment. Local residents have little education and low income. The main activities are fishing, marketing of local products, and cultivation of cassava, sugar cane and pineapple. This last one practice has been carried out without proper management, and has led to environmental degradation through inappropriate use of pesticides, which contaminate water resources. This contamination, coupled with the release of sewage into lakes, lack of sanitation and buildings in areas of environmental reservation, have worsened the population's life quality. The educational project Environmental Awareness Marataízes is important because it aims to discuss environmental issues with the community, and to raise awareness of residents to their daily activities, mobilizing them for the transformation of their actions in support of the community. We hope that every person can act with more clarity, develop a systemic view and act as a disseminator of socio-environmental knowledge. Through the tools of information used in environmental education programme that we propose, we will encourage the use of sustainable management practices for farmers. We believe that participants will be multipliers of the ecology principles, as they will understand better the context in which they live and increase their capacity for action and transformation in society.
Extension services through Mobile telephony and internet: The National Farmers Information Service in Kenya 1Ministry of Livestock Development, Kenya; 2University of Nairobi, Kenya; 3Pyrethrum Board of Kenya; 4Private Consultant;
Public extension service remains the most reliable for the 4.5 million smallholder farmers, pastoralists and fisher-folk in Kenya who form 13% of the population. Current extension outreach is 2.1 million smallholders per year through Common Interest Groups (CIGs), Self Help Groups (SHGs), Extension Groups (EGs), field days, demonstrations, exchange visits and individual targeting. Hence, 2.4 million smallholders are not reached at all yet they are Kenyans who have a right of access to public extension services. Innovative ways were needed to have the majority if not all farmers reached by extension services to enable them to make a positive contribution to agricultural productivity that remains the economic mainstay of the country. This is made possible by the positive response on the use of mobile phones by all Kenyans including the illiterate, young and old. Why not take advantage of this opportunity on telephone and internet technologies to reach this enthusiastic population to pass agricultural information for enterprise production and marketing to contribute to food security and poverty reduction. Farmers easily get critical agricultural information for application at the right time that they need it. The National Farmers Information Service (NAFIS) is an electronically generated voice information service for providing farmers with agricultural extension packages through mobile telephony and internet. It is a Government extension service currently in English and Kiswahili languages with room to accommodate other languages. It is easy to use and requires minimal training. There are no extra charges beyond the normal telephone and internet charges. It can be updated with site-specific information by frontline extension officers. Quality assurance is guaranteed through in-built alerts. Feedback mechanisms are in place for response through emails. Farmers get agricultural information by dialing the NAFIS number (02047NAFIS – 0204762347) on their mobile phones. Detailed information is accessible by browsing the NAFIS website www.nafis.go.ke.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Open Repository Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Italy;
One of the main activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is to collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information related to agriculture. The FAO’s Web site receives million of visits per months and the organization has more than 50 years of experience in the production and the diffusion of information. With the aim of facilitating access to information FAO has been an early implementer of: • the online catalogue for documents produced by FAO (FAODOC), which contains bibliographic metadata of electronic and printed documents produced by FAO since 1945; • the Corporate Document Repository (CDR), a corporate output interface for FAO full text electronic publications and minimal metadata associated; and • the Electronic Information Management System (EIMS), a workflow management tool and database which manages the publication of electronic documents and multimedia resources on FAO’s Web site. This poster describes the creation of the FAO Open Archive (FAO OA) based on the merging of the CDR-EIMS and the FAODOC. With this approach, the FAO OA becomes one sustainable digital repository that offers a solid foundation for the collection, management, maintenance and timely dissemination of material published by FAO. The poster presents the approach taken in choosing the most suitable platform and the work carried out to adapt the selected platform - Fedora Commons - to support the integrated workflow and complex data structure and can be of interest to other institutions undertaking a similar task. The modular, service-oriented architecture of Fedora Commons is crucial in supporting incremental merging of FAODOC and EIMS-CDR, as well as the incremental deployment of advanced features to the FAO user communities. With the establishment of this digital repository, FAO will take an important step in promoting the Open Access Publishing model within the Agriculture and related sciences.
Opening-access and opening dialogue: the use of web 2.0 technologies in Laos 1National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute, Laos; 2National Agriculture and Forestry Extension Service, Laos;
Laos is quickly making the transition from a “closed society” to an ‘open society’. This is being spurred by regional interest to invest in the country and by the Government that is promoting the country as the ‘garden and battery of Asia’. In this situation, access to information is increasingly important for different stakeholder to make informed decisions. As the country is highly diverse (with more than 47 ethnic languages and cultures) and literacy levels low, innovative ways for information and communication need to be identified. The National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute and the National Agriculture and Forestry Extension Service have been testing out a variety of new web information services targeted toward researchers, extensions agents and development professionals. Both organizations have taken advantage of advances in technology to improve access to information as well as two-way communication through web 2.0. This paper explores three of these systems (The Lao Agriculture Database, Lao44.org website and the LaoLINK discussion group) and evaluates how they have improved researchers and extension agents access to information as well as opportunities for improving two-way communication channels. The main lesson learned is that systems need to have the participation of the intended target group from the outset and allow them easy access. Systems also need to be built over time with the users rather than building large systems from the outset. Finally, there is a need to ensure that these web systems are facilitated and actively promoted.
Bringing research results to users: the case for a knowledge resource centre 1Commodities for Livelihoods, Bioversity International, Kampala, Uganda; 2Commodities for Livelihoods, Bioversity International, Montpellier, France; 3Bioversity International, Nairobi, Kenya;
Impact of research for development can only be achieved via transmitting and applying the findings of such research. Bioversity-International’s Commodities for Livelihood’s research for development programme (CfLP) is engaged with work by the Consortium for Improving Agriculture-based Livelihoods in Central Africa (CIALCA). This brings together national, regional and international partners to focus their resources on improving the livelihoods of people recovering from decades of civil conflicts. CIALCA is implemented by the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) of Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in collaboration with three Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centres (Bioversity International, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture-IITA and the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical-CIAT). CIALCA’s goal for the next three years is ‘to improve the livelihoods of agriculture-based communities in Central Africa by enhancing their capacity to access and efficiently use the resources needed to improve system productivity, resulting in a better income, nutrition, and environment’. CIALCA will play important roles in strengthening the sub-regional cooperation on agricultural research for development, while enhancing the linkages for information and technology access/exchange between the sub-region and the wider global fora with interests in the region. CIALCA aims to enhance local capacity for effective resource use for improving the productivity of agricultural systems by: establishing a knowledge resource centre (KRC) for providing information and communication support to the project and translate/repackage technical information and knowledge from earlier project phases, in various client-specific forms; by creating new knowledge through focused research and delivering science-based knowledge to farming households in the mandate areas; and by scaling-out the research results and monitoring the impact of improved communications. This paper provides insights based on progress to date.
The _Musa_ Germplasm Information System: Enhances knowledge of banana diversity 1Bioversity International, France; 2CIRAD, France;
Bananas ( Musa spp.) are a staple food and vital source of income for millions of people. These livelihoods in developing countries depend on over 1000 traditional varieties that are mostly consumed locally. Because Musa cultivars are usually seedless, their genetic diversity must be conserved as full-size plants or plantlets, in field collections or in in vitro genebanks. More than 6000 accessions are conserved in about 60 Musa national collections. The International Musa Germplasm Collection (ITC) in Belgium, managed by Bioversity International, stores more than 1081 Musa germplasm accessions in trust. The utilization of the germplasm in the collection depends on the availability of information relating to the characteristics of each accession. In 1997, a global exchange system - the Musa Germplasm Information System (MGIS)- was developed and is today the most extensive source of data on Musa genetic resources. It contains information on 5522 accessions managed in 22 banana collections, including passport data (where and when the germplasm accession was collected, donated or developed), botanical classification, morphotaxonomic descriptors, and evaluation data (agronomic traits, response to biotic and abiotic stresses) as well as a set of standardized photographs showing the most important morphological traits. Each participating collection enters and manages its own accession data, which is centralized by Bioversity. Links have been created to external data sources such as the System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources (SINGER), under which FAO in-trust accessions held by ITC are published. MGIS has been recognised by the Generation Challenge Programme as a model system for storing accession-level data. The database has undergone two upgrades (see new release http://www.crop-diversity.org/banana/) and new features should be made available in the coming months: such as links to a molecular database (TropGENE DB), Geographic Information System (GIS) records, data quality control and inter-collection data comparison.
Methodology for the Metadata Description of Authority data in Agriculture FAO of the UN, Italy;
This poster presents the innovative idea of adopting a concept-based system exploiting an ontology-based structure for the authority control lists such as Corporate Bodies, Series, Journals, Conferences and Projects, currently used by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Bibliographic Catalogue. The objective of the FAO Authority Control Lists for Bibliographic Data project was firstly to provide more efficient management of the several multilingual forms of a concept, use of URIs, compliancy and use of the official FAO Terminology and relationships between the out dated forms used and new authorized forms. Secondly the project aimed to provide consistency in the browsing, e.g. adding hierarchical relationships between concepts. The AGROVOC Concept Server Workbench (CS WB) system was chosen as software solution for the Authority Control Lists management since it allows the representation of semantics such as specific relationships between concepts and relationships between their multilingual forms. In addition, it is a web-based working environment which provides tools and functionalities that facilitate the collaborative editing of multilingual terminology and semantic concept information, which includes workflows for maintenance, validation and quality assurance of the data. As a result, the data from the FAO Bibliographic Catalogue authority lists were cleaned up, merged, corrected - particularly spelling mistakes -, mapped to the FAO Terminology official forms; the relationships were created and finally integrated in the AGROVOC CS WB. Finally, web services were implemented for accessing the lists and returning formatted data for repositories/data providers and search engines/service providers which would like to access and use to the FAO Authority Control Lists for Bibliographic Data for assuring efficiency in the data entry, cross-linguistic information retrieval and easy navigation.
Result of the survey on the use of technology and semantics in open access in the agricultural domain FAO of the UN, Italy;
Since 2000, Open Access (OA) and the Open Archive Initiative (OAI) models have been extensively promoted within the scientific and scholarly agricultural community. First through the AGRIS network - international initiative based on a collaborative network of institutions - and since 2007 through the Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) - initiative to make agricultural research information publicly available – among others. Consequently many repositories based on OA have followed around the world and are at present contributing to the visibility and dissemination of scientific documents in the field of agriculture. According to the OpenDOAR directory, 29 repositories in Agriculture, Food and Veterinary have been implemented during the last years. But there are more implementations that are not currently present in international registries. The scope of this study is to get a detailed overview of the state of the art of OA and OAI within the agricultural research community. Therefore the characteristics of the main institutions, networks and associations taking a leader role in the promotion of OA and OAI in Agriculture and Related Sciences are analyzed. In the study we present the number of repositories, countries, software used, number of digital objects contained, use of enriched metadata formats and use of semantics like AGROVOC. Special attention will be paid to available software tools for facilitating the creation of repositories using Agricultural metadata and semantic standards.
Scientific information resources development in Chinese agricultural scientific library and information centres: a situation analysis 1Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences; 2CABI;
Increasing capacity of accessing to scientific information resources is one of key objectives for scientific library and information centres to improve their library and information services, particularly for those centres which information resources development budgets are especially limited. Based on the outcomes of the situation analysis of our study, this poster (a) describes development trends, key issues related to information resources development under a networking environment; (b) put forward some recommendations on how to maximize efficiency of budget spending on information resource development from different perspectives; and (c) finally attempts to find a solution to reduce digital divide between different regions of China due to different economy development level.
Stimulate development through knowledge: the case of the center of documentation for rural development (CDDR) Support Service to Grassroot Intiatives of Development, Cameroon;
Objectives One of the first tools implemented at SAILD’s creation in 1988 was the “Center of Documentation for Rural Development”. The purpose of this communication tool is to help democratize information about rural development, in order to promote increasing agricultural productivity by providing rural development actors with relevant, suitable and accessible agricultural information. Materials and methods To achieve these objectives, the CDDR must process the information to make it easily and quickly accessible by the seekers. The material used is based on ICT - "Questions and Answers Service" (documentation mailing), "Allo, engineer” (consulting service using the mobile phone), "The Farmer’s Voice online” (consulting service using email), a website, etc. Activities developing direct exchanges between scientists, practicing actors and those seeking information are organized very successfully since more than a decade: it is “information days” . Participation and empowerment of beneficiaries of the Center's actions are essential factors in the methodology used. Results Acknowledgement from the public. A documentary unit existing since over twenty years. Documentary tools appreciated by the public. A sub-regional radiation. Conclusions and interest of the subject CDDR's experience shows the interest of a documentary unit for the diffusion of scientific and technical information in rural environment. This experience is special in the African context, particularly in French-speaking Africa, where documentary units are struggling to exist.
|
Agropolis International publication - ISBN 978-2-909613-03-1
IAALD2010 Web Site : iaald2010.agropolis.fr
