What is Resource Description Framework (RDF)?

Monthly Spotlight

It is a W3C standard, and is the foundation of several technologies for modeling distributed knowledge. RDF is meant to be used as the basis of the Semantic Web.

About RDF

W3C - RDF

w3schools on RDF

www.rdf.com

RDF & AIMS

AgriDrupal

AGROVOC

OpenAGRIS

Linked Data

LODE-BD

Upcoming Events

India. Library and Information Professionals Summit

Germany. DGI-Conference 2012

Online event. The DuraSpace Community Webinar Series. 1.3. Preservation and Archiving Highlights from the Alliance Digital Repository

Spain. 34th European Conference on Information Retrieval (ECIR 2012)

USA. Electronic Resources & Libraries (ER&L)

China. 14th Asia-Pacific Web Conference (APWeb)

France. World Wide Web 2012

More at Events Service

AgriOcean DSpace releases version 1.1

The AgriOcean Dspace (AOD) version 1.1 contains one important new feature: a batch import module for AGRIS AP, Endnote and Web of Science RIS files. Version 1.1 and its installation guide can be downloaded from Google code.

Three OdinAfrica partners, which are using OceanDocs for archiving their institutional research outputs, are now exploring how to set-up their own repositories, which will be harvested in the future by OceanDocs. Where possible, these case studies will be shared with the AOD Community on AIMS.

The instances currently using AOD are: OceanDocs, the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas (IBSS), the Central and Eastern European Marine Repository (CEEMAR) and the Ministry of Agriculture (Peru).

News

AGRIS repository published in RDF

The AGRIS collection has been published in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) data format, producing 60 million triples. AGRIS can now be queried by SPARQL, a query language and a protocol for accessing RDF. The publication of AGRIS in RDF is part of of the OpenAgris Beta project, a web application that aggregates information from different web sources providing as much data as possible about a topic or a bibliographical resource. Explore and query the triple store.

AGROVOC LOD aligned with two more data sets

The AGROVOC LOD has expanded recently with two more data sets (now 13 in total). The SWD (German: Schlagwortnormdatei), a controlled keyword or descriptor system that is mainly used for indexing in libraries. And Geonames, a geographical database containing over 10 million geographical names which is available for download free of charge under a creative commons attribution license.

AGRIS database enriched with full text articles from DOAJ

The AGRIS database has recently enriched its collection of full text articles from scholarly journals on agriculture with the Agriculture and Food Science set of data from DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals): 18,864 citations with full text from 102 new journals.

Agricultural Ontology Services (AOS) 2012 - Call for papers

The 2012 edition of the AOS workshops is concerned with works that address real-world problems by using semantic technologies in conjunction with any type of knowledge organization systems (KOS), for the management of agricultural information. AOS 2012 is part of Knowledge Technology Week 2012 (KTW2012), which takes place in Kuching, Malaysia, on 3-7 September 2012

AGRIS and VOA3R collaborate

The AGRIS initiative of FAO is collaborating with VOA3R, a European Union project. AGRIS benefits from VOA3R’s integrated open access services and academic orientation, to enlarge AGRIS’ network with new research institutions and quality content. VOA3R gains the support and sustainability that affiliation with a United Nations special agency provides.

Ranking top repositories: E-LIS on 22nd position

The Ranking Web of World repositories published in January a first 2012 Ranking of Top Repositories. The E-LIS repository, supported by AIMS, is 22nd on the list. E-LIS is an international Open Archive for Library and Information Science. The Ranking of Repositories is published since 2008 and two editions are available usually at the end of January and July.

More news at Of Interest

5 Questions in 5 Minutes with Jim Cory

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.

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

I am a retired GIS Database developer, having worked in that field for 17 years. Half of that time I worked for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the rest I worked as a consultant with a private firm. I worked on land survey data sets, water management systems, and spatial assessments for sales territory optimization. For the last four years I have done pro bono website development, building mapping components for existing sites as well as designing and building CMS-based sites. Currently, I am working with Remineralize.org to promote the use of mineral dust as a sustainable soil amendment. This includes developing new web components and web maintenance support.

How did you get in contact with AIMS?

I have been following news on the web related to ICT and Agriculture for several years, mainly through the e-Agriculture mailing list and forums. At some point I came across the AIMS initiative and subscribed to its news feed. My interest in these subjects stems from my belief that ICT can help agriculture meet the needs of the earth's growing population.

What is your opinion on AIMS?

AIMS is an interesting digital approach to agricultural development. It is a sophisticated and technically cutting-edge project to develop standards based data repositories of agricultural information. This effort will provide the means of centralizing critical data that researchers and practitioners will need to respond to changing demands in the environment.

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

The ongoing crises of food and water availability in the world demand that every effort be applied to organizing and standardizing existing data so that it can easily be searched and utilized to develop and implement more effective agricultural methods. AIMS is an important contribution to this challenge.

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

An information system's effectiveness depends on the ability of users to discover data relevant to their needs. Agricultural information systems are no different. Discoverability requires that data is associated with common terms and unique identifiers. This can only be provided by a consistent, standardized nomenclature that cross references terminology to regional or local representations of similar entities.

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]