The Global ARD Web Ring

IAALD-AFITA-WCCA Congress 2008, Tokyo25th – 27th August 2008

The Global ARD Web Ring

“a voluntary coalition of web spaces that share information related to agricultural research and innovation for development”

Ajit Maru and Valeria Pesce

IAALD-AFITA-WCCA Congress 2008The Global ARD Web Ring

Outline 2002-7: the idea of the EGFAR Web Ring 2008: the Global ARD Web Ring

Rationale Architecture Participation

How to be part of the Web Ring Roles of GFAR and its Partners Role of NARS Role of Regional Forums and RAIS

Next Steps?


GFAR and EGFARGFAR is the Global Forum on Agricultural

Research. One of the strategic objectives of the GFAR 2007-2009 BP is knowledge and communication for agricultural research and Innovation.

EGFAR is the electronic GFAR, including all the electronic tools accessible through the website (the document repository, the newsletter, the mailing list etc.) and the distributed Web 2.0 tools used.


The EGFAR Web Ring - 1

The EGFAR Web Ring was defined in 2002 as “a gateway function to access the GFAR stakeholders’ information resources that are presently available” and a way to establish “a formal link between websites of the key stakeholders”


The EGFAR Web Ring - 2

The EGFAR Web Ring provided (provides):

a custom full-text search on partner websites; harvested news from several partner organizations; advanced searches on partner databases in those cases

where agreement on protocols and standards has been reached (some databases from FAO, Wageningen International, Infosys);

links to relevant sources in other cases


The Global ARD Web Ring - 12007: ICM4ARD Inter-Regional Consultation and EGFAR Task Force

- Recommendations for the evolution of the Web Ring A more participatory approach, based on voluntary

participation on the part of partners Consideration of the changes brought about by (and

exploitation of) new technologies and new paradigms (e.g. Web 2.0) in information access, sharing and exchange.

Setting of the project in the context of the Coherence Initiative in Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD; earlier International Information Systems for Agricultural Science and Technology, IISAST)


The Global ARD Web Ring - 2

The Global ARD Web Ring is defined as a “voluntary coalition of web spaces that share information related to agricultural research and innovation for development”

These web spaces make ARD related information sources more accessible through each other


Rationale - 1 Agriculture is increasingly becoming knowledge

intensive. Information needed by agricultural communities now include a wider range of topics and go beyond that available from their local communities

Greater equity in agricultural information access can contribute significantly to food production and sustainable livelihoods, especially participation in markets, by small producers.

Globally, all stakeholders to agricultural research and development are demanding cohesive efforts to enable improved availability of and greater equity in access to agricultural and related information


Rationale - 2 Current information systems for agricultural development

cannot meet the huge and complex demand of an increasingly knowledge driven agriculture. Current systems are based on individual efforts to make information available that do not necessarily make information more accessible.

Current information systems suffer from: duplication of information (similar overlapping

databases) work (maintenance) and subsequent costs heterogeneity in knowledge organization and

subsequent difficulties in accessing diverse and dispersed knowledge on the part of the final users


The past (current?) flow of information

InformationProcessed information

Information processing

Node

Gateway

Website

Database

Cross searches, federated searches

Information service interested in interfacing information from other networks and databases to give customized access to it to its users

Database

Website

Closed network with good internal information flow

Network

Node with website and database[e.g. WISARD, Infosys+, FAO NARS database]

HTML, custom dynamic XML, static export

HTML

SurveysData entry

Surveys

Data entry

Complex parsing

Web searches


The current flow of information

Submits datato 1 info system

Submits datato 2 systems

Research centerDB

National Institute

Thematic

info system

DB

Regional

info system

DB

National thematic

info system

Where do I look forthe information I need?

User ?

NALT

Agrovoc

Special classification

Data entry

Will our information be visible in all info systems?

Research outputs

Research data

Funding sources

Experts

Paper

Electronic tables

Online forms

XML files

What How


The “voluntary coalition” Information services to meet new demand can be

best built through a network of cooperating partners that enable sharing and exchange of information in a coherent and integrated manner.

The information services will be free and publicly available, thus constituting Global Public Goods that can be leveraged by any organization, person or information service.


Architecture of the Web Ring - 1The ARD Web Ring is best described as a network of

ARD related “webspaces” which may be: “gateways” (websites or systems that enable value added

access to networks or “nodes” of ARD related digital/electronic information through such facilities as search engines, indexes, catalogues, classifications, aggregators, digests etc.) or

nodes (websites or systems that may either store and maintain ARD related information or just consume information from other systems).


Architecture of the Web Ring - 2Websites / information services can have one

or more of the following roles: Expose their own information Aggregate external information Further process and elaborate aggregated

information Expose processed aggregated / elaborated

information


Architecture of the Web Ring

InformationProcessed information

Information processing

Node

Gateway

Website

Database

Cross searches, federated searches

Gateway processing information from distributed sources and exposing processed information[e.g. AgriFeeds, GFAR, SIST]

Database

Website

Search engine[e.g. GFAR GCSE, GFAR institutions search, SIST]

Gateway processing and exposing information from an integrated network

[e.g. CGIAR, FAO, or Regional Forum gathering information from integrated national systems]

Network

Search engine[e.g. AGRIS, CG Virtual Library)

Node exposing database records[e.g. FAO NARS database]

Node with website and database[e.g. WISARD, Infosys+]

Node with website, consuming/presenting information


Participation - 1Examples of ways in which partners can participate

Being included in the common Directories (organizations, projects etc.) now under development in the context of the Content Management Taskforce (CMTF) of CIARD;

Providing RSS feeds and, more in general, XML or RDF exports of information based on agreed metadata sets;

Providing advanced web services to dynamically generate RSS feeds and, more in general, XML or RDF exports of information.


Participation - 2

Sharing their documents participating in the new AGRIS or in the Open Archive Initiative labelling their repositories or records as ARD related and possibly using common vocabularies.

Building advanced services exploiting the ARD Web Ring framework such as providing wikis, white papers and reviews, indexes, catalogues, bookmarking services, object repositories, alerts etc.


Participation - “Gateways”The aim is that of improving accessibility of the information that is relevant to the gateway and adding value to it, e.g. by: Selecting and filtering the sources ensuring quality, thematic

relevance and broad coverage. Offering a common browsing or searching interface to different

sources. Interfacing the different knowledge organization systems (KOS)

used by the various sources. Providing integrated services linking entities (organizations,

projects, experts, documents) through hyperlinks and relations. Providing multiple ontologies (thematic – even using different

vocabularies, geographic, by type of organization, by information type etc.)

Providing advanced services like digests, bibliographies, best practices, surveys etc.


Participation - Roles

Services built on the Global ARD Web Ring framework can be provided by any of the partners, and all partners can be providers of information and value-added services and consumers, or all of these. There will be no hierarchy in the network.

The partners in this initiative will shape their role according to their mandate, scope, capacities and strengths.


Role of GFAR

Promote and support the adoption of standards that facilitate availability, accessibility and use of information (and knowledge) to improve ARD and its impact

Understand and fulfil the information needs of the ARD stakeholders by improving accessibility of information from the point of view of its users


Role of GFARThe main information needs of the ARD community have been identified as exact, timely, reliable, accessible and semantically rich information on: Organizations working in ARD Experts working in ARD Past, ongoing and planned projects in ARD Relevant documents in general and project outputs and

outcomes in particular Donors and funding opportunities


National and regional systemsSince many ARD stakeholders usually need information that

is strongly characterized geographically and that integrates with other relevant local information, the geographic component in the Web Ring will be relevant, with a national, regional and global approach.

A very important role in this is played by the Regional Agricultural Information Systems (RAIS) and, within the RAIS, by the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS).


Role of NARSSTI, scientific publications

participate in the AGRIS network (FAO Waicent) by providing metadata of their publications in the AGRIS AP format;

participate in the Open Archive Initiative by creating an OAI repository of their publications; using additional agriculture-specific metadata sets would help to create an agriculture community within the OAI

adopt more traditional forms of submission to large catalogs and publishing / indexing services (NAL, CABI), if these services agree to play a gateway role for ARD information.


Role of NARS

Research data (geospatial, crop models etc.) adopt standard taxonomies and export data in

standard formats; coordinate with the RAIS in order to contribute

both to regional databases and global scientific databanks;


Role of NARSResearch Management (institutions, projects, experts)

contribute to sub-regional or regional systems by using the same management software and / or common standards so that directories of institutions, projects and experts can be created at the regional level;

make the data that they have available in a common format (Applications Profiles for these types of information are already available or under development in FAO);

participate in the initiatives promoted by GFAR under its mandate to lead efforts in managing and sharing information on research management, e.g.: the AgriOrg Registry, implemented in strict collaboration with FAO

and also promoted by the Regional Fora, IAALD, Wageningen International and the CGIAR;

the Registry of projects, still under development; the future registries of experts


Role of NARSExtension / outreach / education

contribute to sub-regional or regional systems by using the same management software and / or common standards so that good information systems can be created at the regional level;

contribute to global information services built by international organizations or communities like CTA, the Community of Learning (COL), the NRR Division at FAO etc.


The Role of the RFs and RAISSTI, scientific publications

support NARS’ participation in the AGRIS network or in the Open Archive Initiative, coordinate efforts, promote tools, play a subsidiary role where NARS cannot play their role;

create regional gateways (e.g. language-based services, or services based on regional critical issues);

Research data (geospatial, crop models etc.) promote standard taxonomies and standard formats for

exchanging (e.g., promote geospatial indexing according to GIS format and create geospatial regional information services);

create regional databases accessible through web services; contribute to global databanks;


The Role of the RFs and RAISResearch management (institutions, projects, experts)

promote a common management software and / or common standards and implement solutions to create directories of institutions, projects and experts at the regional level;

make the data that they have available in a common format (Applications Profiles for these types of information are already available or under development in FAO), possibly through web services;

promote NARS’ participation in the initiatives promoted by GFAR under its mandate to lead efforts in managing and sharing information on research management (the above mentioned AgriOrg Registry, the Registry of projects, the future registries of experts);


The Role of the RFs and RAISExtension / outreach / education

promote common tools and standards and implement solutions to create information services at the regional level;

contribute to global information services built by international organizations or communities like CTA, the Community of Learning (COL), the NRR Division at FAO etc.


The role of FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has always played a leading role in improving access to scientific publications, especially through AGRIS, and the Open Archive architecture foreseen for the new AGRIS can be a very important component of the Web Ring, as well as all the work on standards documented and promoted on the Agricultural Information Management Standards (AIMS) website


The role of the CGIAR

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) can play a big role in providing global access to commodity and scientific information through gateways based with the CGIAR International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs) according to the Centres’ mandates.


The role of existing servicesOther potential partners are the managers of services, tools

and databases that own or give access to relevant information related to agriculture.

The Wisard and Infosys+ information services, giving access to a large amount of data about agricultural management (organizations, projects, experts), could participate in the ARD Web Ring by improving access to their data through web services.

Flexible platforms for aggregating and querying information from different sources like SIST could be enhanced and customized for specialized usage with agricultural ontologies and standards.


Thank You

Ajit Maru and Valeria Pesce

Date post:	28-May-2015
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