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

I have a background in social sciences, especially communication studies and, since about 15 years, research on the use and impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) in various sectors such as media, education and cultural heritage. The organization I am working at is the not-for-profit ICT research and development centre Salzburg Research in Austria.

For 10 years I was head of the department Information Society Research, a role which two years ago I was happy to hand over to a younger colleague. Recently the department was renamed to Innovation Lab, but the focus of my research work is still the same: what changes in practices, business models, collaborations, etc. take place when novel ICT are introduced in organisations.

Many of our projects are funded through European Union research programmes. Two current projects are in the area of digital research infrastructures, one in the field of agriculture and one in archaeology. So now I am working on innovations in the sharing of research results, for example, through open access repositories and novel information portals and services.

How did you get in contact with AIMS?

Through the EU-funded project agINFRA - A Data Infrastructure to Support Agricultural Scientific Communities in which FAO is one of the lead content and technology partners. When checking the AIMS website it became clear to me that it is the place to go for up-to-date information and communication about standards and tools for agricultural information management and sharing.

What is your opinion on AIMS?

I mainly follow the AIMS news feeds and many are directly relevant to the agINFRA project. They go much beyond the core topics of AIMS and provide a highly valuable radar on on-going and new initiatives, projects, reports, events, etc. in the sector.

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

It is the community of practice that AIMS mobilizes and connects through a place for sharing knowledge and experiences. It has the right spirit of openness based on common goals and values of agricultural research for development.

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

Using common standards allows for interoperability and, thereby, more effective sharing of research results across institutions and scientists in different regions. Knowing what others already know helps to reduce duplication of work, sharpen research questions and methods and, hopefully, speed up the development and dissemination of solutions for critical issues, in particular, food security for all based on sustainable agriculture.