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Dear IAALD member<br>
<br>
This is the sixth selection of recent Agricultural Information news items
appearing at
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/">http://iaald.blogspot.com</a><br>
<br>
This selection is biased towards stories from the World Information
Summit in Tunis (November). As before, any other comments, contributions,
and feedback is much appreciated and can be sent to:
<a href="mailto:info@iaald.org">info@iaald.org</a>.<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>
<br>
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Upcoming AgInfo Conferences:<br>
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<br>
May 21-26, 2006: Managing Agricultural Information for Sustainable Food
Security and Improved Livelihoods in Africa (IAALD), Nairobi, Kenya.
<br>
-- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/09/conference-managing-agricultural.html">
More details</a><br>
<br>
July 24-26, 2006: 4th World Congress on Computers in Agriculture (WCCA),
Orlando, USA.<br>
-- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/09/conference-world-congress-on-computers.html">
More details</a><br>
<br>
September 12-14, 2006: Toward a New Culture of Information (AIBDA),
Oaxaca, Mexico.<br>
-- > <a href="http://www.iica.ac.cr/AIBDA/">More details</a><br>
<br>
October 8-11, 2006: Delivering Information for the New Life Sciences
(USAIN), Ithaca, USA.<br>
-- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/10/conference-delivering-information-for.html">
More details</a><br>
<br>
November 9-11, 2006: Asian Federation for IT in Agriculture (AFITA),
Bangalore, India.<br>
-- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/08/conference-asian-federation-for-it-in.html">
More details</a><br>
<br><br>
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AgInfo News:<br>
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<b>Online access to research in the environment<br>
</b>Building on the successful HINARI and AGORA initiatives, a new
environmental portal <b>-
</b><a href="http://www.unep.org/library/OARE_project.asp">Online Access
to Research in the Environment</a> (OARE) - is being developed to provide
the developing world with free or reduced cost access to the scholarly
environmental record of the world's major scientific publishing houses.
-- ><u>
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/online-access-to-research-in.html">
More details<br><br>
</a></u> <br>
<b>E-agriculture at the Information Society summit<br>
</b>From 14-19 November 2005, specialists in agricultural information and
rural communication were among the many participants attending the second
phase of the <a href="http://www.itu.int/wsis/">World Summit on the
Information Society</a> (WSIS) in Tunis. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/e-agriculture-at-information-society.html">
More details</a><br><br>
<br>
<b>FAO's e-agriculture activities<br>
</b>In the run-up to the <a href="http://www.itu.int/wsis/">World Summit
on the Information Society</a> (WSIS) meetings in Tunis, Dr
<a href="http://ictupdate.cta.int/index.php/article/articleview/520/">
Anton Mangstl</a> - Director of FAO’s Library and Documentation Systems
Division - talked to CTA's <i>ICT Update</i> magazine about his
organisation's activities in e-agriculture and in bridging the rural
digital divide. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/faos-e-agriculture-activities.html">
More details</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b>New approach for AGRIS outlined in Tunis<br>
</b>30 years ago, in 1975, FAO set up
<a href="http://www.fao.org/agris/">AGRIS</a> to improve access and
exchange of information on agricultural science and technology. Since
2000, a new approach has been developed to help move AGRIS to become a
worldwide distributed open access resource on agricultural information.
-- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/new-approach-for-agris-profiled-in.html">
More details</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b>FAO website focuses on efforts to bridge the rural digital divide<br>
</b>In an effort to overcome the rural digital divide that isolates
almost one billion of the poorest people, FAO launched a new website on
<a href="http://www.fao.org/rdd">Bridging the Rural Digital Divide</a>.
-- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/fao-website-focuses-on-efforts-to.html">
More details</a><br>
<br>
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<b>CGIAR investments in knowledge and ICTs boost research effectiveness
<br>
</b>As part of a drive to operate more effectively and more efficiently,
the CGIAR is investing heavily in knowledge management as well as
information and communication technologies (ICTs). Enrica Porcari of the
CGIAR explains how its <a href="http://ictkm.cgiar.org">ICT-KM
Program</a> is moving towards a "CGIAR without boundaries”. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/cgiar-investments-in-knowledge-and.html">
More details</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b>IFAD project eradicates rural poverty by connecting rural communities
in Tanzania<br>
</b>At the WSIS in Tunis, the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD)
<a href="http://www.ifad.org/events/wsis/phase2/invite/">panel
discussion</a> on "Eradicating rural poverty by connecting rural
communities" drew from the experiences and lessons learned in the
<a href="http://www.ifad.org/events/wsis/phase2/factsheet/e.pdf">First
Mile Project</a> in Tanzania. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/ifad-project-eradicates-rural-poverty.html">
More details</a><br><br>
<br>
<b>Effective communication between agricultural research, extension and
farmers<br>
</b>A recent FAO report examines
<a href="http://www.fao.org/sd/dim_kn1/kn1_050501a1_en.htm">linkages
between research, extension, and farmers</a> and sets out some enabling
success factors for a more effective communication between research,
extension and farmers. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/effective-communication-between.html">
More details</a><br><br>
<br>
<b>India and US formalise knowledge initiative on agriculture<br>
</b>India and the United States recently formalised an India-US
<a href="http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=160568">
Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture</a> to re-energize the agricultural
relationship between the two countries through collaborative efforts by
promoting teaching, research, service and commercial linkages to address
contemporary challenges. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/india-and-us-formalise-knowledge.html">
More details</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b>ODI toolkit for successful communication<br>
</b>The Overseas Development Institute recently published a
<a href="http://www.odi.org.uk/RAPID/Publications/Tools_Comms_handbook.html">
communication toolkit</a> to help researchers and practitioners
communicate more effectively with policymakers. Tools covered include:
Stakeholder Analysis, Social Network Analysis, Writing a Communications
Strategy, Writing Policy Papers, Building a Community of Practice,
Lobbying, Websites, Blogging, Media Engagement, Radio, and Outcome
Mapping. -- ><u>
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/odi-toolkit-for-successful.html">
More details</a><br>
</u> <br>
<br>
<b>Wetlands satellite mapping scheme yielding first results<br>
</b>The European Space Agency's GlobWetland project, an initiative to
develop a global
<a href="http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMT952DU8E_environment_0.html">wetland
information service</a> to help conservation efforts, is sponsoring
research at 50 sites across the world. -- ><u>
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/wetlands-satellite-mapping-scheme.html">
More details</a><br>
</u> <br>
<br>
<b>Philippine government uses ICTs and knowledge management to boost
agriculture<br>
</b>Four government agencies in the Philippines recently agreed to merge
their knowledge resources through information and communication
technology for the farming sector. -- ><u>
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/philippine-government-uses-icts-and.html">
More details</a><br>
</u> <br>
<br>
<b>Web portal serves Filipino farmers and extensionists<br>
</b>The Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture has set up a
<a href="http://www.openacademy.ph">Pinoy Farmers Internet web portal</a>
to provide web-based services to extension workers and farmers. --
><u>
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/11/web-portal-serves-filipino-farmers-and.html">
More details</a><br>
</u> <br>
<br>
<b>NAL refreshes its web site<br>
</b>The National Agricultural Library has launched a new-look
user-friendly <a href="http://www.nal.usda.gov/news/web120105.shtml">web
site</a>. The site includes information on the 2005 edition of the NAL
<a href="http://agclass.nal.usda.gov/agt/agt.htm">Agricultural
Thesaurus</a>. -- ><u>
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/nal-refreshes-its-web-site.html">
More details</a><br><br>
<br>
</u>---------<br>
See the IAALD blog at
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/">http://iaald.blogspot.com/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
--------<br><br>
Peter Ballantyne<br>
President of the International Association of Agricultural Information
Specialists (IAALD)<br>
addr - P.O. Box 63, Lexington, KY 40588-0063,
USA<br>
email - peter.ballantyne@iaald.org<br>
skype - peterballantyne<br>
web -
<a href="http://www.iaald.org/" eudora="autourl">http://www.iaald.org<br>
</a> tel - +31 70 3509982 [the
netherlands]<br><br>
Join IAALD - "The leading global community of practice for
information specialists serving agriculture" -
<a href="http://www.iaald.org/" eudora="autourl">www.iaald.org<br><br>
</a>-------- <br><br>
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