AgInfo News from IAALD

Prospects for open access to AgInfo in Africa

2009-07-16T23:11:00.000Z

Accra, 16 July 2009: One of yesterday's plenary session at the IAALD Africa conference examined open access potential in two African countries: Tanzania and Zambia.

Davy Simumba of the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute reported on a survey of attitudes to open access among agricultural researchers in Zambia. More than 85% of survey respondents indicated that their research is funded through public sources. Hence, it could be reasonable that the results would be publicly and openly accessible.

View more presentations from iaaldafrika.

His survey revealed a low awareness among researchers regarding open access, copyright options, and open access publishing in general. Also a greater than expected pattern among the researchers to publish in grey literature – non peer-reviewed journals.

His conclusions: Many of the researchers support basic open access principles - to be more visible and more accessible and most would support policies to improve access to literature. But, there was little support to deposit their grey literature in repositories or institutional websites....

In the subsequent open discussion, he argued that low accessibility is due to the lack of attention by research institutes to policies in this area. “Often we don’t capture the outputs; and the journal articles are not accessible because authors lack awareness of open access principles.”

Asked to suggest priorities for the future, he emphasized the need to understand how researchers see their own roles: “Scientists usually say they do research, anything else is by the way.“ It is important that research outputs are packaged for others to take them up - “it’s about linkages” between researchers and others working to apply agricultural knowledge.

Complementing Simumba’s survey, Frankwell Dulle from the Sokoine University of Agriculture reported on a survey of open access attitudes among university policy makers Tanzania. The overwhelming majority (95%) of respondents indicated that “dissemination of research outputs was a problem” in their institutions.

View more presentations from iaaldafrika.

Regarding open access, his research revealed a high general awareness of open access with 75% of respondents likely to support institutional interventions to foster open access.

He concluded by suggesting that the policy environment is favourable, so actions are needed to put in place the necessary funding, mechanisms and repositories to make Tanzanian research outputs open access.

Asked to suggest priorities for the future, he recommended that we “create content, make it in different formats, make it open accessible. We must not forget to empower users how to get to such content.”

Reflecting on these issues in the open panel discussion:

Elizabeth Dodsworth of CABI cautioned that open access should not be at the expense of good quality research – we need to continue to strive for ‘excellence’. It is essential that we provide “choices and policies” that allow researchers to publish in the most appropriate places.

Paa-Nii Johnson of Ghana’s Food Research Institute suggested that we need to look at ways to turn ‘classic’ research outputs into more user-friendly outputs. Beyond open access, we should make it “mandatory that bits and pieces from an output can be re-used.”

From an initial focus on the availability and accessibility of research publications (in repositories) the lively discussion concluded by focusing on ways to maximise the uptake and applicability of outputs in different forms more suited to the capabilities of different agricultural groups.

More:

AgInfo Africa newsfeed
Open AgInfo newsfeed
IAALD Africa presentations

Monty Jones on open access to AgInfo in Africa

2009-07-15T17:05:00.000Z

Accra, 15 July 2009: In today’s keynote address to the IAALD Africa conference, Monty Jones – Executive Director of FARA and World Food prize laureate - argued that open access, to transform African agriculture, must:

catalyse innovations
improve African knowledge management
strengthen Africa’s capacities to build its own capactities
promote enabling policies
facilitate access to markets

Arguing that “all of us should be doing advocacy in one way or the other,” he also posed some key questions to attain opening access:

Are we advocating to the right people and the right institutions?
Do we have the right systems for the intended users?
Do the users have the skills and infrastructure to access the Knowledge?
Do we have the appropriate institutional policies?
Do we have the platforms that practitioners need to share and learn?
How do we build and how do we manage knowledge - among all the different actors?

More:

FARA website
AgInfo Africa newsfeed
Open AgInfo newsfeed
IAALD Africa presentations

AgInfo management system for Southern Africa

2009-07-15T14:56:00.000Z

Accra, 15 July 2009: Speaking in the opening plenary of the IAALD Africa conference, Krishan Bheenick of the SADC Secretariat traced the development of AIMS – the Agricultural Information Management System of SADC.

View more documents from iaaldafrika.

The idea is that AIMS will be an integrating platform - according to Bheenick, “ we are being asked to integrate and package and make sense across all the projects.”

AIMS, when fully developed, will give access to numeric data, spatial data, directories and repositories, and a range of content management and networking tools.

AIMS has emerged from a series of consultations and discussions in recent years. The strategy adoped was to “start by providing a common interface to these various information sources; then we can look at ways to integrate the various subsystems.”

Guiding principles adopted by AIMS participants:

Focus on people and networks in instititutions in the regions
Content – quality, accessible, timely
International standards to allow sharing and re-use of content
Satisfy multiple needs with multiple functionalities

Knowledge creation and knowledge systems for African agriculture

2009-07-15T11:49:00.002Z

Accra, 15 July 2009: Speaking in the opening plenary of the IAALD Africa conference, Myra Wopereis-Pura introduced FARA and its ‘RAILS’ initiative as a linking and connecting facility among agricultural research and aginfo activities in Africa.

She said that Africa needs comprehensive models and approaches to agricultural information exchange that address the limitations of the various systems and services already spread across the continent.

Arguing that “mere information, in the form of message is not enough” she emphasized the need to move towards knowledge creation. Across Africa, she anticipates – and FARA supports – the emergence of “dynamic and evolving knowledge systems – that each one of us is contributing to.”

At the heart of these systems: knowledge ‘tagged’ according to farmer needs, quality information databases, multi-media tools, as well as feed back and feed forward mechanisms.

She shared some lessons FARA has learned in building and animating such knowledge systems:

“they must be people focused”
“ownership has to be claimed by each of the partners”
“the focus should be on partner priorities not on a particular tool”
“we must be conscious of, and recognize, the value adding of each partner.”

More:

FARA website
FARA - RAILS
AgInfo Africa newsfeed
Open AgInfo newsfeed
IAALD Africa presentations

Open access to Indian AgInfo: Progress, barriers still to overcome

2009-07-15T04:49:00.000Z

"It is paradoxical to note that despite the intent of scientists to make their published research as widely be read as possible, most of the world cannot access their work."

A paper by Paraj Shukla and Anand P. Singh for the 2009 IFLA Congress give a broad account of current open access initiatives in Indian agriculture.

They highlight some problems and barriers to the adoption of open access:

"There is a greater need of changing the mindset of researchers and policy-makers regarding
the public-funded research and access to information." The authors argue that generating sufficient "will" for open access in the scientist community is hampered because:

Scientists mostly are ill-informed about copyright and prior-publication issues and fear losing opportunity of publishing their work in a high impact journal.
Scientists are apprehensive that due to swift spread of OA concept, publishers of the ‘elite’ journals would change the subscription-based model of revenue to ‘author pays’ and levy charges for publication.
Many scientists think website to be an adequate substitute for repository and lack understanding of advantages of using institutional repositories.
Many scientists do not understand data on the impact of their work and how their performance compares against peers.
Level of awareness about OA and its inherent advantages is low amongst scientists; even if they are aware, they have little understanding of self-archiving modes and methods.

These barriers in the science community are further compounded, they argue, by:

Confusion and lack of awareness amongst Library & Information Science professionals about technical and functional differences between Digital Library, Archive, Repository, etc., and their respective uses.
Policy makers and administrators have little understanding of both physical and functional aspects of repositories.
At many libraries and network centres of agricultural institutions, minimum scalable infrastructure for establishing repositories is not available.
Availability of trained manpower for creating and maintaining repositories is a problem at most of the institutions. Many agricultural institutions lack an independent cell for IT-related support.
Most of the agricultural institutions seldom collect feedback from the scientists regarding their needs and preferences. It is important to incorporate the latter into implementation of OA.
The need of compliance with OAI-PMH protocol is not appreciated by policymakers. Free access is often confused with OA.

Open Access to AgInfo in Kenya faces many barriers

2009-07-14T04:23:00.000Z

A paper at the 2009 IFLA Congress identifies many barriers to the adoption of open access (OA) initiatives in scientific research communication, with particular reference to agricultural information in Kenya. The study by Florence Muinde and Gary Gorman concludes that "progress in capitalizing on OA initiatives to enhance accessibility and visibility to Kenyan/African research has been slow.

At the beginning they highlight one crucial issue: The researchers they interviewed argued that "the priority need in agricultural and scientific research in Kenya was reinforcement of strategic research communication capacity to first ensure there was a message that can be communicated either OA or otherwise." As the authors later conclude: "The availability of appropriate content remains crucial."

Other findings include:

"Many researchers in the public institutions, especially the universities, were yet to come to terms with e-communication processes in research, including e-publishing and the open access initiatives and software that can aid free sharing of scientific research information. "

"Computer-mediated ICT, on which OA is predicated, had not been integrated into work routines."

"Lack of institutional framework and policy regulations to guide online communication of government information made scientists unwilling to share research information online."

"Both research communication and ICT were not a priority in budget allocation, resulting in infrastructural problems that discouraged OA initiatives. Also, disconnect between the policy-making wing and the research community resulted in lack of enforcement to communicate research and so no efforts to spearhead open access initiatives that could facilitate access to scientific information."

"Researchers lacked skills to search and manipulate online information systems, write, speak, organize and present their research."

"There were no institutional repositories that could provide a platform for scientific knowledge sharing and full text open access journals were limited. "

OA is hindered by "conflicting institutional mandates and government regulations where those who produce scientific information are not charged with dissemination and those supposed to disseminate are unfacilitated."

"The study recommends the need for massive awareness campaigns on available OA initiatives and introduction of institutional frameworks and strategies on harnessing OA initiatives to communicate local research outputs. This should be in addition to revision of prohibitive government policy and legislation and introduction of new policy legislation that creates an enabling environment for online communication of agricultural and scientific information. Capacity building, both in communication and ICT capability, should be enhanced. Above all, there is need for both government and donor and other agencies to increase support for research and ICT infrastructure to ensure sustainability."

Ministra de Agricultura de Chile lanza programa de conectividad rural por $2.441 millones

2009-07-13T16:25:00.003Z

La iniciativa, que beneficiará a pequeños productores, contempla la entrega de conexión a Internet por banda ancha, acceso a una plataforma de servicios, instalación de comunidades virtuales por rubro y alfabetización digital, entre otras acciones.

la Ministra de Agricultura lanzó un programa integral de conectividad rural que permitirá a los productores agrícolas, conectarse a Internet, recibir datos mediante mensajes de texto en sus celulares y acceder a una plataforma de servicios con información sectorial. Esta iniciativa es desarrollada y cofinanciada por el Ministerio a través de la Fundación para la Innovación Agraria (FIA), contempla una inversión de $2.441 millones, parte de los cuales proviene de recursos del Fondo de Innovación para la Competitividad (FIC).

La Ministra aseguró que "la incorporación de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TICs) en los sistemas productivos, es un factor determinante en el desarrollo del sector agropecuario". Además, agregó que que "el tema de las TICs en el mundo rural es una materia prioritaria. A través de los desafíos presentados en la Agenda Digital se busca fortalecer a las micro y pequeñas empresas, responsables del 80% de la fuerza laboral del país". También detalló que sólo en esta localidad de la Región de O´Higgins se están invirtiendo $200 millones en el marco del Programa, montos destinados a poner en funcionamiento la comunidad virtual del maíz y la red inalámbrica de Peumo-Pichidegua.

El Programa de Conectividad Rural y Servicios de Información para la Innovación, se centra en cuatro líneas de trabajo: conectividad, información, alfabetización digital y servicios. En cuanto a conectividad, se contempló la instalación de seis experiencias piloto de Redes Inalámbricas Rurales a Nivel Local, las que están ubicadas en las Regiones de Valparaíso y de O´Higgins. Éstas beneficiarán a localidades orientadas a diversos rubros y entregarán una solución integrada de comunicación capaz de dar conectividad de banda ancha a zonas rurales que carecen de una infraestructura técnica y operativa para la transmisión de datos, información, voz e imagen.

Junto con ello, FIA tiene en funcionamiento su Plataforma de Servicios de Información I+D+i para el Sector Silvoagropecuario cuyo objetivo es fortalecer la competitividad de la agricultura, a través del desarrollo de contenidos aportados por distintas entidades nacionales e internacionales proveedoras de información.

La Plataforma, a la que se puede acceder a través de Internet en el sitio www.innovacionagraria.cl, integra bases de datos especializadas con información de mercado, legislativa, técnico-productiva y agrometeorológica, este último también financiando con recursos provenientes del FIC, el fortalecimiento del Sistema de Información Agroclimático que cuenta con una red de 114 estaciones automáticas en zonas fundamentalmente frutícolas, que registran información de temperatura, humedad relativa y precipitación. El proyecto aportará 110 estaciones adicionales, se calibrarán las estaciones preexistentes y se implementará un sistema de envío de información y alertas agrometeorológicas a los dispositivos móviles de los agricultores.

También en el marco del Programa, se suscribió un convenio con el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) para instalar comunidades rurales virtuales por rubro. El proyecto piloto, que beneficia a unos 8 mil productores, contempla diseñar un portal en Internet, realizar capacitaciones y conformar comunidades virtuales de encadenamientos productivos. El portal estará en operaciones a fines de este año.

La última línea de trabajo tiene por objetivo promover la alfabetización digital entre los pequeños agricultores. Para ello se instalaron dos escuelas piloto de Informática y Ciudadanía las regiones de Valparaíso y de la Araucanía.

Ver artículo completo.

Open Access enhances accessibility and citation impact

2009-07-13T04:07:00.000Z

A paper at the 2009 IFLA Congress compares the citation impact of open access (OA) and non open access (non-OA) agricultural research outputs.

Kayvan Kousha and Mahshid Abdoli from Iran posed themselves three research questions:

At the article level, is there significant difference between citation counts of OA and non-OA articles appearing in non-OA journals index by ISI?
At the journal level, is there significant difference between the Impact Factors of OA and non-OA journals as reported by ISI Journal Citation Reports?
Do OA publications deposited online by FAO tend to attract higher citations than its non-OA publications in the same year?

While mentioning some limitations, the answers they found are:

"The results showed that there is an obvious citation advantage for self-archived agriculture articles as compared to non-OA articles." - "results indicate that self-archived research articles published in the non-OA agriculture journals could attract nearly two times more citations than their non-OA counterparts."

"At the journal level, the average Impact Factor for OA agriculture journals during 2005-2007 was 0.29, considerably lower than the average Impact Factor for non-OA journals (0.73). - "although at the article level self-archiving could considerably increase articles’ citation impact in the same non-OA journal, this does not imply that open access journals themselves have a higher Impact Factor than non-OA journals."

"FAO publications which were freely accessible online tended to attract more citations than non-OA publications in the same year."

Darwin Core - a standard to share biodiversity information

2009-07-13T00:43:00.000Z

Similar to the 'Dublin Core' metadata standard, a 'Darwin Core' is a body of standards to facilitate the sharing of information about biological diversity.

TDWG is pleased to announce the commencement of the Public Review of Darwin Core. To participate, visit the Darwin Core Progress site for the latest background information on the process and critical links to content.

CGIAR Virtual Library: A vital tool to enhance access to agricultural research

2009-07-12T07:54:00.000Z

A recent, closed access, article in the Journal of Agricultural & Food Information "provides an analysis of the content of the CGVLibrary, of the various information avenues it opens for improving access to agricultural research, and of how the tool is being improved and marketed to promote awareness and worldwide use."

More:

Blog posts on the CGVLibrary

Search the CGVLibrary

CGVlibrary blog

e-Knowledge about biodiversity and agriculture

2009-07-11T19:16:00.000Z

From 9-13 November 2009, Montpellier hosts the annual TDWG conference. Co-organized with Agropolis International and Bioversity International, it will gather experts in biodiversity informatics from leading museums of natural history, botanical gardens and major agricultural research institutions and universities.

The conference is open to anyone working with biodiversity information and informatics wishing to discuss and define the most recent informatics tools and standards applying to taxonomy, imaging, biodiversity data exchange, specimen observations, and diversity analysis.

TDWG - Biodiversity Information Standards - is an international not-for-profit group that develops standards and protocols for sharing biodiversity data.

SIDALC: Sistema hemisférico de información agrícola cumple 10 años

2009-07-11T04:59:00.003Z

SIDALC Sistema hemisférico de información agrícola cumple 10 años

Con más de 2 millones de registros de información compilados en una megabase de datos, cerca de 300 profesionales de la información congregados en una comunidad virtual y más de 25 mil visitas diarias, el Sistema de Información y Documentación Agrícola de América Latina y el Caribe (SIDALC) cumple este año su décimo aniversario.

SIDALC es un servicio internacional de información agrícola, pecuaria, forestal y ambiental que le permite a instituciones de una veintena de países del hemisferio compartir información y servicios informativos.

AGRI2000 reúne colecciones especializadas en agricultura y ciencias afines de 162 centros de información del hemisferio.

El sistema, que es administrado por el Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA), reúne en su megabase de datos AGRI2000 colecciones especializadas en agricultura y ciencias afines de 162 centros de información del hemisferio y es una ventana a otras bibliotecas de renombre internacional.

Más...

Hemispheric agricultural information service celebrates tenth anniversary

2009-07-11T04:41:00.005Z

Agricultural information specialists from the hemisphere to meet in Costa Rica

The Agricultural Information and Documentation Service of the Americas (SIDALC), which operates a mega database comprising more than 2 million entries, brings together some 300 information specialists in a virtual community and receives 25 thousand hits on its Website every day, will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year.

SIDALC is an international agricultural, livestock, forestry and environmental information service which enables institutions in 20 countries of the hemisphere to share information services and provide access to their repositories of knowledge for others outside the region.

The Service, administered by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and coordinated by the Orton Commemorative Library, operates the AGRI2000 mega database, which contains specialized collections on agriculture and related sciences from 162 information centers throughout the hemisphere and provides access to other internationally renowned libraries.

More...

Media, ICTs, extension to accelerate agriculture in South Asia

2009-07-10T13:53:00.000Z

This week, the SAARC Agriculture Centre held a workshop to discuss ways to strengthen linkages among research, extension, farmer and marketing through improved use print and electronic media in SAARC Member States.

The discussions were picked up in regional media:

The News (Pakistan) reported that the experts "stressed the need for the establishment of the first agriculture e-chamber, besides utilising information and communication technologies to promote the agriculture sector in the region." Dr Qadir Bux Baloch, Agriculture Development Commissioner of Pakistan's Ministry of Food and Agriculture referred to a series of websites to be set up - see www.agroleadclub.com. He further "called for extending all kinds of support to the media to facilitate transfer of technology from research institutes to farmers."
South Asia Media Net reported interventions by agricultural experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India. Md.Nazrul Islam from Bangladesh suggested to develop agricultural technology related farmers friendly contents for disseminating through ICT facilities and community based information centers; he also recommended the use of tools like mobile, CD, and Web to transfer technology at the village level - ensuring that agriculture technologies and information will be available at the "door-step of the farmers."

Download workshop paper - PDF

Question Box connects farming communities to AgInfo answers

2009-07-10T06:26:00.002Z

Under the tagline 'Realtime Web for the Bottom Billion', a new type of service for farmers is emerging.

Piloting in India and Uganda, Question Box "brings information to people who cannot or do not access the Internet directly." It "leaps over illiteracy, computer illiteracy, lack of networks, and language barriers."

Combining mobile phones with the power of the Internet, rural people can pose their questions to local call centers where operators research answers. The questions and answers are in local languages and, notably, don't require users to be able to read and write. (Note, the Kothmale Internet Project in Sri Lanka did something similar by combining rural radio with questions and answers)

For information specialists, the project is also documenting and sharing some of the questions that they receive. Visit 'World Wants to Know' to see a visualization of the questions received. For the first time, we can all see examples of the kinds of issues on the mind of farming communities.

More info:

Question Box home
What is Question Box?
QuestionBlog
Ask Us Anything - podcast

Congrès IAALD 2010 : 1er appel à communications

2009-07-10T04:31:00.000Z

Information scientifique et technique et développement rural : Eclairages sur des pratiques innovantes

Les communications et posters devront porter sur un des cinq thèmes suivants :

Processus d'apprentissage innovants
Services d'information : une évolution constante
Communication et échange d'informations multi-acteurs
Systèmes d'information pour une information structurée et intégrée
Produits et services d'information en appui aux politiques publiques

Des informations plus détaillées sur les thèmes du congrès

Toute personne souhaitant présenter une communication ou un poster doit préalablement s'enregistrer et soumettre un résumé en anglais ou français (300 mots maximum) à l'adresse suivante

Fils RSS

IAALD 2010 Congress: 1st Call for papers

2009-07-10T04:24:00.000Z

Scientific and Technical Information and Rural Development : Highlights of Innovative Practices

Papers must address one of the following themes:

Innovative learning processes
Information services, the need for a continued redefinition
Communication and Information exchange for multiple stakeholders
Information systems for structured and integrated information
Information products and services as public policy enablers

Further information on the 5 themes of the congress

Those wishing to present a paper or a poster should register and submit their abstract in English or French (maximum 300 words) to the following address.

RSS Feed

Animal health libraries, librarians, and librarianship

2009-07-09T07:43:00.000Z

Vicki Croft at Washington State University has compiled a "comprehensive, international bibliography to works written about animal health libraries and by their librarians." Download the full text from the WSU Dspace.

Science blogging: The future of science communication?

2009-07-08T14:49:00.000Z

The relationships between science journalism, science communication and new social media was one of the discussion points at the recent World Conference of Science Journalists.

A recent post by Daniel D. Brown on his Biochemical Soul blog explains why scientists and science students should follow science blogs:

To keep up to date on fascinating research
Join in the great discussion
Science blogs allow you to talk about science in an informal setting
Gain emotional and social support from like-minded people

Why they should start a science blog:

Share your passion for science
Be a part of the community
Make connections
Be a part of “the good fight”
Become a better writer
Hone your ability to distill complex research into understandable terms
Showcase your dedication to science and your interest in outreach
Get feedback on your own thoughts and/or research
Blogs are great teaching tools both inside and outside the classroom
Increase the visibility of yourself, your lab, your department, and your University
Have fun

ATI Interactive: e-extension for Philippine agriculture

2009-07-07T14:34:00.000Z

The Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI) maximizes the potentials of information and communication technology to empower stakeholders along agriculture and fisheries. The ATI is the "home of e-extension" in the Philippines.

'ATI interactive' is a source of information on various programs and services, knowledge products on various agriculture and fishery technologies as well as success stories and breakthroughs along extension and training, among others. It is a place for extension workers to share their views, stories and experiences in the field.

Check out the ATI e-extension portal - and especially the Interactive System for Agricultural Exchange and Electronic Learning.

Nouveau site Internet du CTA / New CTA website

2009-07-06T14:56:00.003Z

Welcome to the new CTA website! / Bienvenue sur le nouveau site Internet du CTA !

It is not merely a facelift, but an all over body job. The improvements to the site include a new federated search engine, an improved Google map feature to showcase our partners and a new thematic feed from the site - http://www.cta.int/en/

Il ne s’agit pas d’une simple rénovation, mais d’une transformation de fond en comble. Un nouveau moteur de recherche fédérée, une nouvelle présentation des cartes Google afin de référencer nos partenaires et un nouveau contenu thématique sont autant d’améliorations apportées à ce site - http://www.cta.int/fr/

Knowledge sharing in agriculture and development

2009-07-06T12:57:00.003Z

In October 2009, the KM4Dev community organizes its next meeting in Brussels...

One of the 'huddles' will be on knowledge sharing (and knowledge management) in agriculture.

Sign up to the KM4Dev community of practice if you work with KS or KM in international development - and with an agriculture/rural focus.

CIARD research accessibility news

2009-07-03T08:34:00.000Z

Stephen Rudgard of FAO recently shared some information on the CIARD initiative.

Regional Workshop with AARINENA: AARINENA called a regional workshop of information specialists from national agricultural research services in its member countries, which was held in Cairo in May 2009. One day of this workshop was allocated to introducing and discussing the CIARD agenda with the colleagues from national institutions, with facilitation provided by Ajit Maru of GFAR, Nihad Maliha of ICARDA/CGIAR, and Stephen Rudgard of FAO.

CIARD Pathways: In addition to the Manifesto and Principles, now published on the CIARD website, a CIARD Checklist and set of Pathways are being developed. The Pathways are being identified and drafted by a joint working group comprising the CIARD Content Management Task Force and an ad-hoc group comprising representatives of some of the members of the Advocacy Task Force. Good progress has been made to date, with around half of the pathways available at least in draft form. A small "writeshop" was convened in late May at the headquarters of Bioversity International in Rome, bringing together a few of the people involved in the drafting exercise. In due course, an area of the website will be opened where the Checklist and Pathways will be available for comment and input, and we will inform you of this as and when appropriate.

Capacity Building in CIARD: In association with the IMARK Steering Group held recently at CTA headquarters, a short impromptu meeting was organized with some of the CIARD partners to have an initial discussion on the role and justification of a CIARD Capacity Building Task Force (CBTF), which has long been foreseen but not yet activated.

IAALD is a partner in the CIARD initiative

Social media tips for agricultural research

2009-07-02T19:44:00.000Z

Social media is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. - wikipedia

Meena Arivananthan of the CGIAR ICT-KM Program recently published 10 blog posts introducing different social media and how she and her ICT-KM colleagues are using them.

Here's the full set:

10. Put it out there! Tools for photo, video and slideshow sharing

9. Newsfeeds: delivering the latest news to your virtual doorstep; and ways to share it!

8. Are newsletters a dying breed?

7. Wikis, sites, docs and pads: the many flavours of collaborative writing

6. Social Bookmarking: storm-a-brewing

5. Social Media: Are You Listening?

4. Social Networks: friend or foe?

3. Social Media: how do you know it’s working?

2. Blogging for impact

1. Microblogging

More IAALD blog postings on social media

ICT-KM knowledge sharing toolkit

ICCO - Euforic web2 toolkit (en français

Research4Life website launched today

2009-07-02T09:29:00.005Z

In London this morning, the Research4Life partnership website was launched at the World Conference of Science Journalists.

Research4Life is the collective name given to HINARI, AGORA, and OARE, the three public-private partnership programs of the WHO, FAO, UNEP, Cornell and Yale Universities and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers.

Speaking in London today, Andrew Plume (Associate Director of Scientometrics and Market Analysis at Elsevier) showed data suggesting that Research4Life has a "profound impact on the scholarly landscape" in the countries where the partnership is active.

His analysis of data from the Thomson Reuters database shows a "dramatic rise in research outputs by scientists in the developing world since 2002." The study compared growth in research outputs for the periods 1996-2002 and 2002-2008 - before and after HINARI was launched.

His data showed growth of research publications in countries that are 'non-eligible' for Research4Life to be 67% in the 2002-2008 period. In the same period, Research4Life 'Band 1' countries (institutes get free access) reported 145% growth while 'Band 2' countries (institutes pay a small fee) reported 194% growth.

According to Plume: "We can attribute this, at least in part, to the provision of literature through the Research4Life programme."

It seems that these initiatives are improving the abilities of scientists from developing countries to publish in international peer-reviewed journals.

Note: the analysis is based on peer reviewed publications outputs in the Thomson Reuters database and does not include other factors such as changes in levels of research funding, improved connectivity, or efforts of other initiatives.

The video explains how Research4Life helps researchers in Kenya:

More videos from research4Life