AIMS

AIMS Newsletter no. 16, March 2013

Global CIARD Consultation 2013

The founders of the Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) movement are organizing a Global CIARD Consultation to be held in Ethiopia, May 6–9, 2013. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) will host the Consultation on behalf of the partners at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa.

Objectives of the Consultation 

  • Review progress and achievements to date, and identify lessons learned.
  • Consider the priority areas of action identified in 2011 and 2012.
  • Determine a program of work for the next 2 years in relation to (a) advocacy/policy, (b) institutional/human capacities, and (c) technical issues.
  • Revisit and reconsider the CIARD Checklist and Pathways.

More information at http://www.ciard.net/news/global-ciard-consultation

Highlights

  • AGROVOC 2013 edition released. More info
  • AGRIS brings in new data providers. More info
  • AgriOcean DSpace version 1.2 now available for download. More info
  • The latest AgriOceanDSpace installation : citaREA Repository. More info
  • The series of free webinars on Linked Open Data (LOD@AIMS) concluded. More info
  • Open Call to Innovators: apply to present at G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture. More info
  • Workshop on e-infrastructure and services at the GIL2013 conference. More info

Upcoming Events

Glossary

What is Massive open online course (MOOC)?  Online course aiming at large-scale participation and open access via the Web. MOOCS include all of the components a person needs to learn away from the traditional classroom.. More information:

5 Questions in 5 Minutes with Toni Greider

Who are the users of AIMS and what do they think about agricultural information management standards? In this section AIMS users from all around the world answer five questions on the benefits and use of the AIMS website.

This month we interviewed Toni Greider, director of International Programs for University of Kentucky libraries, and since 2005 the secretary/treasurer of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD).

Tell us something about yourself... what is your background and role in the organization you are working for?

I have been working in agricultural information since 1973.  I began my career as an agricultural librarian at the University of Kentucky (a land-grant university in the USA) and served in that capacity for 32 years. I moved into higher level administration in 2005 but kept my agricultural connection and in 2010 moved into my current position as Director of International Programs for the university libraries. In 1985 I attended my first IAALD meeting and in 1990 became the journal editor of the Quarterly Bulletin (later Agricultural Information Worldwide) and served in that capacity for 10 years.  From 2000 to 2005 I served as the conference chair for the XIth World Congress of IAALD and in 2005 I became Secretary/Treasurer of the organization, an office I still hold.  My entire career has been in agricultural information management.

How did you get in contact with AIMS?

I learned about AIMS through the CIARD movement (IAALD is a supporter of CIARD).  AIMS represents a goal that information managers have worked toward as long as I have been in the profession -- the need to easily share information.

What is your opinion on AIMS?

Most of my career has been in sharing bibliographic data and in the 1980's I was part of an international group to develop the universal agricultural thesaurus in an effort to provide uniform access to agricultural information. CIARD and AIMS takes this a step further by allowing us to easily share the documents.

According to you, what is the most important benefit that AIMS provides to the agricultural information management community?

The community of sharing.  We often develop systems in a vacuum because we do not know what others are doing.  Having a culture of sharing both information and practices can only benefit the global agricultural community.

How do you think that information management standards can contribute to agricultural research for development?

Interoperability means accessibility.  Having the research accessible to all means that it can be used for development without concerns about how to pay for the information.  It will help narrow the gap between the north and south and move us into an environment of sharing and cooperation for the global good.

The scope of the AIMS Newsletter is to bring under the attention of the AIMS community recent news, events and achievements in the field of agricultural information management. If you have any contribution, suggestion, or need assistance with the newsletter, please contact us at [email protected]

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