Session 4

Group 1Action points:• Union catalogue of forestry libraries (see IUFRO 6:03 – international

directory of forestry info services + role for gfis)• Agreed standard for forest Metadata• Controlled multilingual vocabulary/thesaurus for forestry• Ontology for forest information systems: synonyms, legacy terms

etc. retained• Funding: EU, FAO, IUFRO EFI, national Govts• Pilot projects which can be used in various projects to ease funding

difficulties• IK: how to earn money to sustain work; recording in appropriate

formats, preserving these formats together with Metadata for the info

Group 2 & 3

• ‘Silo mentality’ needs to be broken down – encourage talking to others in similar projects/work

• Policy for retaining archives of scientists (non-formal and formal information to be captured and retained)

• Let’s keep talking…• Don’t collect for collecting’s sake : purpose • Retain threatened key skills, e.g. taxonomists• Interoperability of basic data sets: exploit the

market to develop the tools

Groups 4 & 5

• Importance of gateways (GFIS) to discourage duplication of effort

• Open access discussion: problem for DC and developed world – who bears the cost? Can IUFRO be used to lobby for open-access journals/other publications?

• Role of editorial boards – could they be more proactive investigating open access models?

• Forestry and its cheaper journals are ‘endangered’ when libraries need to make cuts over several disciplines

• Increased journal prices when societies turn over their jnls to large publishers

Panel comments• Common themes between genetic resource collections and library

collections• Who pays? Where does the funding come from: the taxpayer? Or

other?• If info is to be freely available it cannot be available for free. • Exercise judgements in collecting information• Process of collection can change information itself: alters perception

of ‘reality’• If there is a need, the market will respond to that need. Alternative is

by regulation/convention• Convergence of multi-disciplinary aspect of research and the

development of tools• Open access cannot be driven wholly by needs of poorest members

of society; models for making info available for this community can be developed

Contd.• Borders: IK and other, published/unpublished; digital/non-digital;

oral/written; • ‘forestry iceberg’ is huge: information that is hidden and needs to be

made visible in future• ‘silos’ share similar challenges – need to cross these borders

effectively• Challenges in extension and public as well as between scientists• Gfis – requires mobilising different players; system less important as

focus than the people• Connect dispersed forestry community through joint activities • Open access: revolutionise way information is published to serve

the dispersed community – mind maps to assist

Contd.• Borders: IK and other, published/unpublished; digital/non-digital;

oral/written; • ‘forestry iceberg’ is huge: information that is hidden and needs to be

made visible in future• ‘silos’ share similar challenges – need to cross these borders

effectively• Challenges in extension and public as well as between scientists• Gfis – requires mobilising different players; system is less important

as focus than the people• Connect dispersed forestry community through joint activities • Open access: revolutionise way information is published to serve

the dispersed community – mind maps to assist

Contd.

• Use what we do know rather than reinventing the wheel

• Timeless nature of some data• Cochrane-style reviews of existing

information necessary: pressure of time makes this difficult (IUFRO example)

• Incentives needed if their time is short• If primary data is not in the public domain,

that presents a problem for meta analysis

General comments• Pressure to generate income : conflict between making money from

data sets and making these sets available• Pressure to find revenue in climate of reduced taxes• Information does need to be effectively ‘marketed’ to prevent loss• Different perceptions of quality of free information (published (-?),

software (+)• Role of advertising in web products• People remain important• Make collections policies transparent to avoid duplication and focus

effort• Importance of ‘selling’ our messages strongly: can we find a more

visually interesting way of communicating our messages?• Large demand for wide range of information messages• Focus what we need to collect and maintain