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<font size=3>Dear IAALD member<br>
<br>
This is the third selection of recent Agricultural Information news items
appearing at
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/">http://iaald.blogspot.com</a><br>
<br>
In case you are interested, here are some simple statistics from a
tracker that started on 26 August. There have been 319 unique visitors
from 60 countries, 41 of whom returned more than once – an average of 9
per day. The busiest days were the 14 and 19 September, when 26 different
people visited the blog. In terms of geographic spread, 26.5% of page
loads were from visitors from the USA; 11% from the Netherlands; 5.7%
each from Germany, Italy and Japan; 5.5% from Australia; 4.5% from France
(including New Caledonia); 3.2% each from Canada and the UK; and 2% each
from Kenya and Belgium.<br>
<br>
Some automatic language translation options have been added to the blog
to see if they can help across languages. It is not clear how reliable
these are, but they may help. Let us know at: info@iaald.org if these are
useful or not.<br>
<br>
As before, any comments, contributions, and feedback is much appreciated
and can be sent to: info@iaald.org.<br>
<br>
Best regards<br><br>
Peter<br><br>
Peter Ballantyne, President of the International Association of
Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD), email -
peter.ballantyne@iaald.org<br><br>
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AgInfo News:<br>
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</font><h1><b>Conference: Information for Responsible Fisheries
</b></h1><font size=3>From 10-14 October 2005, the
<a href="http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/nefsclibrary/2005iamslic/2005home.html">
<i>International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and
Information Centers</a></i> will meet in Rome, Italy. Entitled
"Information for Responsible Fisheries: Libraries as
Mediators", the meeting will focus on the creation, use, and
understanding of innovative information management techniques and
technology, both existing and emerging, which facilitate easy and
equitable access for target audiences. The Conference will explore the
role of libraries as mediators in providing access to the complexity of
information required and the opportunities and challenges for securing
access over the long term. Navigating the issues of Open Access and the
intricacies of Open Archives requires new skills as well as stronger
collaboration between libraries.<br>
<br><br>
</font><h1><b>Conference: Frontiers in Forest
Information</b></h1><font size=3>From 5-7 December 2005, the Oxford
Forest Information Service holds a
<a href="http://www.plantlib.ox.ac.uk/forestry/events.htm"><i>
conference</a></i> to celebrate 100 years forest information from Oxford.
The story will be told in an accompanying exhibition, showcasing the
achievements of the long collaboration between Oxford University, the
International Union of Forest Research Organizations, CAB International,
FAO and other partners, and highlighting future opportunities, including
the developing Global Forest Information Service. Pre-register now for
full details, reduced rates, and information on submitting a paper.<br>
<br><br>
<b>Conference: Managing Agricultural Information for Sustainable Food
Security and Improved Livelihoods in Africa</b> <br>
IAALD members and partners in Africa are organising a conference from 21
to 26 May, 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting will look at five broad
themes: Building capacity in agricultural information resources
management; Enabling policy for agricultural information management;
Narrowing the digital divide; Knowledge sharing and information systems
for networking and partnerships; Meeting the information needs of
stakeholders. Information on how to participate, contribute, or sponsor
the event is available on the
<a href="http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/"><i>conference web
site</a></i>. <br>
<br><br>
</font><h1><b>Conference: World Congress on Computers in
Agriculture</b></h1><font size=3>Planning has begun for the 2006 World
Congress on Computers in Agriculture that will provide a forum for
agriculture related professionals to exchange information on applications
and developments in the use of Information Technologies. The call for
papers and other information is available on the congress
<a href="http://www.wcca2006.org">web site</a><br>
<br><br>
</font><h1><b>Conference: Asian Federation for IT in
Agriculture</b></h1><font size=3>Planning has begun for the 5th
<a href="http://www.insait.org/afita2006.php"><i>AFITA Conference</a></i>
to be held in Bangalore, India from 9-11 November, 2006. The main theme
of the conference is 'agricultural information technology for rural
development' - contact the Organising Secretary Dr. V.C. Patil at
<a href="mailto:afita2006@yahoo.com">afita2006@yahoo.com</a>. <br><br>
<br>
<b>Australia sets up knowledge brokering system on natural resources</b>
<br>
Land and Water Australia have set up a
<a href="http://www.lwa.gov.au/resource.asp?section=282"><i>National
Knowledge Brokering for Regional NRM</a></i> initiative to build stronger
connections between research/information providers and Natural Resource
Management (NRM) planners, decision makers, implementators and
evaluators.<br><br>
According to project documents, 'knowledge brokering' is a "dynamic
activity that is the human force behind knowledge exchange and adoption.
It involves bringing people together, helping to build links, identify
needs, and share ideas and information that will allow a problem to be
solved or lead to a better way of doing things." The initiative will
simplify access to data and information and facilitate information
exchange between regional bodies and research/information
providers.<br><br>
One activity is to examine the setting up of an 'Interconnected Knowledge
System' for NRM. A 'first stop knowledge shop', this will give
information seekers easy access to multiple data and information sources
from a variety of sources. It will help people find the information or
contact they need when they need it, and help people sort out the most
relevant of the potential information sources. It will also allow
increased coordination, cooperation and interconnection between
agencies.<br>
<br>
<b> <br>
Making agricultural information services more coherent <br>
</b>On 19 and 20 May 2005, a group of agricultural information
specialists met in Lexington to discuss how information systems and
services in agriculture could be made more coherent. The problem
identified is that the many information services we have access to do not
necessarily communicate with each other, they do not even refer or link
to each other, and the common standards necessary for them to do so are
lacking. Users are easily confused by the many options available and
there is much duplication and competition. Many pieces of our global
'jigsaw' do not fit properly which restricts our ability to see the whole
picture.<br><br>
It was suggested that the coherence initiative needs to create a common
exchange layer between distributed datasets held by different
organisations. Using controlled vocabularies and other standards,
information service providers could develop and deliver user-oriented
services based on the distributed data archives.<br><br>
The group agreed to: establish a pilot for a working system that would
integrate agricultural project information; test a methodology to
exchange metadata on electronic documents; use web services and/or RSS
aggregation to share calendars of events and news services; and develop a
website or a 'clearinghouse' showcasing activities and progress of the
initiative.<br><br>
The next meeting of the group will be held alongside an Expert
Consultation on 'International Information Systems for Agricultural
Science and Technology: A Review of Progress' to be organised by FAO in
October 2005. The report of the initial phase of this project was
published in 2004 with the title:
<a href="http://www.iicd.org/articles/IICDnews.import2292">Fertile ground
- Opportunities for greater coherence in agricultural information
systems</a>.<br>
<br><br>
<b>Plans for collaborative agricultural information and outreach system
take shape in the USA</b> <br>
Major agricultural information organisations and networks in the USA have
set up a planning group to establish a
'<a href="http://www.agnic.org/agnic/About/LeadershipCouncil">Leadership
Council on Agricultural Information and Outreach</a>'. The idea is that
the Council will develop a national vision and plan for an agricultural
information and education system that is based on collaboration between
the agricultural library/information and outreach/extension communities.
Such a collaboration could become the basis for a more broad-based
national, and even international, agricultural information and
educational system involving both the library and extension communities.
At its
<a href="http://www.agnic.org/agnic/About/LeadershipCouncil/May2005">May
2005 meetings</a>, the planning group reviewed several reports covering
best practices for collaboration, standards for interoperability, users
of agricultural information and their information needs, and a draft
'national plan for agricultural information management and outreach'. The
documents are all online.<br>
<br><br>
<b>Agricultural information needs and content delivery mechanisms <br>
</b>A recent report prepared for the US Leadership Council for
Agricultural Information and Outreach maps the
<a href="http://www.agnic.org/agnic/About/LeadershipCouncil/May2005/shelves">
agricultural information landscape</a> in the USA. Subtitled "how we
stock the shelves for an online agricultural information system",
the report explores emerging models for delivering and accessing
agricultural content. It maps the various streams (or sources) by which
information flows, illustrates the information needs of different
information 'consumers', and outlines the priorities of various
agricultural information providers in this area.<br>
<br><br>
<b>CAB Abstracts 'Plus' full text launching in January 2006</b> <br>
CABI Publishing will soon release
<a href="http://www.cabi-publishing.org/AboutUS.asp?Heading=Press%20Releases#CABPlus">
<i>CAB Abstracts Plus</a></i> - a full text enhancement to CAB Abstracts.
The new service will bring together difficult-to-find full text
conference proceedings, reports and other journal content not already
available through the major aggregators. According to the
<a href="http://www.cabi-publishing.org/Pdf/Librarians/CABAbsPluspressrelease.pdf">
press release</a>: "For the first time researchers will have fast,
easy access to valuable, 'hard-to-find' full text documents alongside the
mainstream literature."<br>
<br><br>
<b>New AGRIS metadata standard to describe, index and exchange
agricultural information <br>
</b>As more and more organisations make their library catalogues and
other databases accessible over the Internet, there is a demand for
standards and common formats to facilitate exchange among systems as well
as cross-searching across different platforms.<br><br>
The scope and use of the
<a href="http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=//docrep/008/ae909e/ae909e00.htm">
AGRIS Application Profile</a> (AGRIS AP) is explained in a recent FAO
report. Based on the Dublin Core Elements and Qualifiers, the
Agricultural Metadata Element Set, and the Australian Government Locator
Service Metadata Set, the new AGRIS AP is intended to facilitate
interoperability of metadata formats, enable linking of various types of
agricultural information, and to facilitate the sharing and harvesting of
data compiled by countries and centres participating in AGRIS.<br><br>
A related document explains how institutions whose local XML-enabled
database does not follow the AGRIS standards can be configured to
<a href="http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/008/ae908e/ae908e00.htm">
generate AGRIS AP XML</a> data that can be disseminated to and harvested
by the <a href="http://www.fao.org/agris/">AGRIS</a> system.<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Accessing, sharing and disseminating fisheries information</b> <br>
Recent FAO documents give an impressive insight into the sources and
complexity of fisheries information. The 2005 report by Janet Webster and
Jean Collins gives an overview of information needs, systems, services
and challenges associated with the implementation of the
<a href="http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/007/y5847e/y5847e00.htm">
Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries</a>. The authors conclude the
report by proposing several strategies to increase the information
capacity of fisheries institutions, enabling them to take advantage of
technological developments for accessing and disseminating information
cost-effectively over the long term.<br><br>
This report draws heavily on papers and discussions at a Regional
Workshop on
<a href="http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/007/y5519b/y5519b00.htm">
Networking for Improved Access to Fisheries and Aquaculture Information
in Africa</a> from November 2003. The report contains information on
several national institutions, presents 4 country case studies, and
elaborates on regional and international collaboration mechanisms. Some
of the main topics addressed included: mapping fisheries information
resources in Africa, timely document delivery, a union database of
fisheries and aquaculture serial holdings in Africa, accessing full-text
online journals, disseminating African fisheries and aquaculture
publications, facilitating networking among fisheries information
centres, and using standards to facilitate information exchange.<br><br>
<br>
<b>FAO study on agricultural knowledge and information systems for rural
development <br>
</b>A new FAO publication (in PDF format)
<a href="ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/008/y9087e/y9087e00.pdf">Enhancing
Coordination among AKIS/RD Actors</a> analyses case studies on
Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems for Rural Development
(AKIS/RD) in ten countries. It gives insights into the operations of
these systems as well as drawing out lessons learned.<br><br>
The studies show the importance of a well-formulated AKIS/RD policy that,
among other things, encourages actors to interact with each other for
their mutual benefit in advancing agricultural and rural development. It
argues that agricultural institutions need to actively promote linkages,
technology transfer, knowledge sharing and exchange of relevant
information and avoid competition for limited government resources. They
need to strengthen linkage mechanisms that improve the flow of technology
to agricultural producers.<br>
<br><br>
<b>US soil survey data accessible over the web</b> <br>
The United States Department of Agriculture recently launched a
'<a href="http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/">Web Soil Survey</a>'
site that will provide public access to national soils information. The
web site has been designed with three easy to use features - Define, View
and Explore and operates much like internet sites that provide locator
and directional information. When viewers visit the site, they are asked
to "Define" a geographic area of interest. Once a location has
been defined and projected on the screen, the viewer has the choice to
print the map and related information, save it to their hard drive or
download the data for use in a geographic information system. Prior to
this new web site, all soil survey maps were printed and bound into soil
survey books - that will slowly be phased out. Visit the
<a href="http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/">web site</a> or read
the USDA
<a href="http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2005/08/0312.xml">
news release</a> about the new service. <br><br>
<br>
</font><h1><b>Agricultural information network for St Vincent and
Grenadines</b></h1><font size=3>At a recent CTA-supported workshop,
participants from government, civil society, and libraries decided to set
up a <a href="http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=370531">National
Agri-Information Network</a> to facilitate the exchange of information
and resources in support of agricultural and rural development, through
collaboration, training and the use of a question and answer
services.<br>
<br><br>
<b>Good ICT practice in the agricultural sector</b> <br>
In recent years information and communication technologies (ICTs) have
been applied in various development settings - often as part of efforts
to bridge digital divides. A new
<a href="http://www.goodictpractices.dk">portal</a> by <i>Danish ICT
Management</i> for the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs displays
lessons learned from ICT-related development projects. A special section
on
<a href="http://www.goodictpractices.dk/B215F0B2-7BA0-48E4-99BE-8E8DB0249F38.W5Doc?frames=yes&">
agriculture</a> collects and presents lessons and cases from projects in
Nicaragua, Uganda, Bolivia, Ghana, India, and Bangladesh.<br>
<br><br>
<b>Knowledge sharing in international development organisations</b> <br>
The second issue of the recently-launched <i>KM4Dev</i>
<a href="http://www.km4dev.org/journal/index.php/km4dj/issue/view/4">
e-journal</a> focuses on ways in which international (development)
organisations are using knowledge sharing and knowledge management
approaches. The issue is guest edited by people affiliated to the CGIAR
<a href="http://ictkm.cgiar.org/">ICT-KM Program</a> and therefore has
several articles of interest to agricultural information
specialists.<br>
<br><br>
<br>
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See the IAALD pilot blog at
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/">http://iaald.blogspot.com/</a><br>
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