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Dear IAALD member<br>
<br>
This is the seventh 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 forest information
meeting in Oxford (December). 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>
On behalf of the IAALD Executive Committee, I take this opportunity to
wish you a prosperous new year. <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>
--------------------<br>
Upcoming AgInfo Conferences:<br>
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<br>
May 16-17, 2006: Information Systems in Agriculture and Forestry, Prague.
<br>
-- > <a href="http://www.iszl.cz/index_en.htm">More
details</a><br><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>FAO reforms to impact information and knowledge activities<br>
</b>Reform proposals by FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf seem set to
enhance the Organization's activities in support of knowledge exchange
and capacity building. Delegates to the FAO
<a href="http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2005/1000163/">governing
Conference</a> authorized the FAO Director-General "to begin
progressive implementation of his proposals on changes to the
organizational structure of Headquarters." A new organization
<a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/010/j6285e/j6285e0a.htm#bm10..3.1">
structure</a> is proposed with a "Knowledge Exchange, Communication
and Capacity Building Department." Components of this are shown as:
Capacity Building; Library and Documentation; IT Systems, Concept,
Development, Management and Maintenance Division; Knowledge Exchange
Division; and Communication Division. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/fao-reforms-to-impact-information-and.html">
More details<br>
</a> <br><br>
<b>100 years forest information at Oxford <br>
</b>Between 5 and 7 December 2005, the Oxford Forest Information Service
celebrated its centenary. Some 50 people met in Oxford to explore
<a href="http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/users/millsr/isbes/forestry.htm"><b>
frontiers in forest information</a></b>, discussing global needs for
forest-related information, forest information for development, new
publishing paradigms, and the impact of changing technologies. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/100-years-forest-information-at-oxford.html">
More details<br>
</a> <br><br>
<b>Digital access to research documents of the US Forest Service<br>
</b>Bonnie Avery of Oregon State University (OSU) shares information on
the university’s project to make some US Forest Service legacy documents
available in full text through an institutional repository. -- ><u>
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/digital-access-to-research-documents.html">
More details</a><br>
</u> <br><br>
<b>Herbaria using information systems to index and access plant
biodiversity<br>
</b>Many herbaria around the world have begun to use a database software
for botanical research and herbarium management known as
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/www.brahmsonline.com">Botanical
Research And Herbarium Management System</a> (BRAHMS). -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/herbaria-using-information-systems-to.html">
More details<br>
</a> <br><br>
<b>Virtual field herbarium creates image bank of tropical plants<br>
</b>Stephen Harris, Curator of Oxford University's Herbaria describes how
a <a href="http://herbarium.literal.si/">virtual field herbarium</a> is
being set up to promote field guide production within and for communities
around tropical forests in developing countries. The idea is to help
local people identify tropical forest plants and plant diversity. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/virtual-field-herbarium-creates-image.html">
More details<br>
</a> <br><br>
<b>All about Christmas tree care<br>
</b>Christmas trees come in all shapes and sizes from the huge natural
tree that towers above the White House lawn every season to little
artificial ones with shiny aluminum needles. They all need care. --
>
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/all-about-christmas-tree-care.html">
More details<br>
</a> <br><br>
<b>Devising and designing a European forest information system<br>
</b>A report from the Network for a European Forest Information Service
(NEFIS) <a href="http://nkb.efi.fi/index.php">knowledge base</a> on
Forest Information Systems looks at the description, discovery,
communication and sharing of forest information from an
information/computer science perspective. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/devising-and-designing-european-forest.html">
More details<br>
</a> <br><br>
<b>Global forest information service<br>
</b>At the recent Oxford
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/100-years-forest-information-at-oxford.html">
conference</a> on 'frontiers in forest information', Eero Mikkola,
coordinator of the <a href="http://www.gfis.net">Global Forest
Information Service</a> (GFIS) gave an update on its current status and
upcoming plans. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/global-forest-information-service.html">
More details<br>
</a> <br><br>
<b>UK gateway to information on agriculture, food and forestry<br>
</b>AgriFor is a gateway to evaluated, quality Internet resources in
<a href="http://agrifor.ac.uk/">agriculture, food and forestry</a>. All
records in the database have been hand-selected and evaluated by
information or subject specialists, according to a set of established,
published evaluation criteria. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/agrifor-uk-gateway-to-information-on.html">
More details<br>
</a> <br><br>
<br>
<b>All about reindeer husbandry and research<br>
</b>The Nordic Council for Reindeer Husbandry Research (NOR) facilitates
cooperation among scientists working in the fields of reindeer/caribou
and reindeer husbandry. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/all-about-reindeer-husbandry-and.html">
More details<br>
</a> <br><br>
<b>All about mistletoe<br>
</b>Since 1997, the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Flagstaff has
hosted a global mistletoe resource centre. -- >
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/all-about-mistletoe.html">More
details<br><br>
</a> <br>
<b>Portals on health and life sciences <br>
</b>BIOME is a collection of gateways which provide access to evaluated,
quality Internet resources in the <a href="http://biome.ac.uk/">health
and the life sciences</a>. It is created by a core team of information
specialists and subject experts based at the University of Nottingham. --
>
<a href="http://iaald.blogspot.com/2005/12/biome-portals-on-health-and-life.html">
More details<br>
</a> <br><br>
---------<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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