Johannes Keizer AGRIS Secretariat, FAO, Library and Documentation Systems Division

FAO, Library and Documentation Systems Division – Dr. Johannes Keizer | May 2006

AGRIS – A new Vision and Strategy GAAS, Guangzhou May 2006

A new vision and strategy to enhance the AGRIS model for access to and

exchange of information on agricultural science and technology

Johannes KeizerAGRIS Secretariat, FAO, Library and Documentation Systems Division



FAOs mandate

“Combating Hunger and Poverty in the World”

.......knowledge sharing and dissemination is a main instrument in this effort......



The mandate of my group

facilitating the exchange of knowledge in agricultural research and technology through

a world wide network of open archives

common standards for knowledge sharing and dissemination



Objective: to improve access and exchange of information on agricultural science and technology

www.fao.org/agris

AGRIS Network

1975 – 2005



International

Multilingual

Participatory – national & international “Input Centres”

Centralized open access bibliographic database, esp. grey literature – now > 3 million records

Support from FAO – coordination, tools, methods, data processing, training, technical support

AGRIS Principles (1975)



decentralized approach

greater diversity of participating organizations

strengthened role in capacity building

focus on full text documents

greater availability of associated information about activities/organizations/people

set of web-enabled standards and tools

New AGRIS Vision (2002)

Electronic Conference in 2003 - 15 Recommendations



Capacity Building: Individuals

IMARK development to support the AGRIS network

Partnership-based e-learning initiative

Oversight from the IMARK Steering Group

+www.imarkgroup.org



workflows, processes, technologies and skills involved in the creation, management and distribution of digital libraries.

Management of Electronic Documents

Digitization and Digital Libraries

collection, archiving, management and dissemination of electronic documents and associated images.(English/French/Spanish)

(FAO and UNESCO)



New Modules in 2006:

Investing in Agricultural Information: Issues and Options (FAO, CTA and GTZ)

Building Electronic Communities and Networks (FAO, CTA and IFPRI)



Challenges

• Decentralization: establishment of national networks – institutions and policies

• Capacity building: supporting decentralization

• Standards and tools: common approaches

• Partnership: at international level



Expert ConsultationInternational Information Systems for

Agricultural Sciences and Technology Oct 2005



Key Components of Systems



• Advocacy

• Capacity building

• Institutional networks

• Individual awareness/skills

• Content management

• Open Access

• Standards

Future Priorities



Identity -AGRIS – the Relaunch

• Key priority : National Networks/Systems

• Building on all relevant experiences

• Explicit co-ownership/branding

• New Web Portal on neutral domain

• Governance:

− Steering Group

− Three Task Forces



• Vision – strong clear messages• Champions – strategically-placed individuals • Case studies – evidence & lessons learned• Indicators – common approaches to M&E

Advocacy Platform



Capacity building: Institutional Networks

National/Regional

NARS

Universities

Regional Research Fora

Regional Agricultural Organizations

etc….

International

Effective Mechanisms for Partnership



You know, my group is very engaged in one of the 3 pillars of the new AGRIS initiative

Managing and mobilizing the results of Agricultural research and Technology



• Knowledge Organization- Multilingual

Subject Vocabularies and Ontologies

• Interlinking – Access to Different Types of

Information - (Projects, News – RSS Feeds)

• Open Access – making agricultural knowledge in science and

Technology available

• Open Archive Pilots – making agricultural knowledge in science

and Technology available

Content Management -Special Issues



AGMES – Agricultural Metadata Element Set

AGRIS Application Profile

AGROVOC

AOS – Agricultural Ontology Service

Software – WebAgris, DSpace.....

Open Archives

Content Management- Basics

www.fao.org/aims



China’s Knowledge for the World – A Proposal

China has achieved food security for more than 1.3 billion people

Agricultural Science and Technology was relevant for these achievements

Chinese Agricultural Science and Technology is relevant for other Developing Countries, but not accessible

Most of the material is not published and the published material is published in Han Yu.

Today it is possible to make these materials accessible for the world

We want to propose you a common big initiative

...making a lot of material from the Chinese Academies of Agricultural Science available for the world



China’s Knowledge for the World – The Design

Portal

3AAS

OA

GAAS

OA

4AAS

OA

CAAS

OA

AG

RIS

-AP

AG

R/C

AT-

Mac

hine

Tr

ansl

atio

n

French

English

Spanish



China’s knowledge for the WorldImplementation Steps

Selection of 5- 8 participating organizations

Formulation of an Open Access Policy

Set Up of Open Archives (Full Text and Meta Data)

Definition of Services

Introduction of OAI/MHP and AGRIS search plug in

Introduction of Harvesting or WebService Mechanisms

Developmet of “good enough” translation tool based on existing software

Development of multilingual Portal using AGROVOC/CAT



China’s knowledge for the WorldWho will benefit?

All countries in the world who still have to fight for food security

Farmers in developing countries who face the same problems Chinese farmers faced and face

China, getting the credits to take an important position in knowledge transfer for combating hunger

China, because technology export will follow knowledge export

Johannes Keizer AGRIS Secretariat, FAO, Library and Documentation Systems Division

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