The AIMS team presented the Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) movement at last week's 13th Biennial USAIN Conference,  April 29 - May 2, 2012, in Minneapolis. The presentation entitled "CIARD, a global framework for information/data sharing in agricultural research and innovation - the Beijing agenda" is now available on SlideShare.

Open Acces, knowledge sharing and knowledge organization
After an introduction to the CIARD initiative and its current situation, the presentation concentrated on the importance of Open Acces, knowledge sharing and knowledge organization. Explained and illustrated was how CIARD and AIMS contribute to this by showing the work done in the field of Linked Data and the CIARD R.I.N.G. portal, a Routemap to Information Nodes and Gateways for Agricultural Research for Development.

CIARD
The Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) movement is working to make agricultural research information publicly available and accessible to all. This means working with organisations that hold information or that create new knowledge – to help them disseminate it more efficiently and make it easier to access.

USAIN
The United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) is an organization for information professionals that provides a forum for discussion of agricultural issues, takes a leadership role in the formation of a national information policy as related to agriculture, makes recommendations to the National Agricultural Library on agricultural information matters, and promotes cooperation and communication among its members.