2. Steve Katz Chief, WAICENT/FAOINFO F.A.O. of the U.N. GFIS Task Force, 6 February 2001 World Agricultural Information Centre

3. Topics of Discussion n Information Within a Context (WFS) n Knowledge Management at FAO n What is WAICENT? n WAICENT’s Inter-Governmental Process n Who Are the Users? n Electronic Publishing n International Activities n Conclusions (Lessons Learned)

4. World Agricultural Information Centre World Food Summit n World Food Summit - November 1996 n Leaders of 186 Countries Pledged to Reduce by Half the Number of Undernourished People in the World by 2015 (About 800 Million in 1996) n FAO has a Major Role in Assisting Countries in Implementing the Provisions of the WFS n For Example, Improving Access to Information... “It is necessary to target those people and areas suffering most from hunger and malnutrition and identify causes and take remedial action to improve the situation. A more complete, user- friendly source of information at all levels will enable this”.

5. World Agricultural Information Centre Information and Knowledge Management at FAO (WAICENT) The First Article of the FAO Constitution: “The Organization shall collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information relating to nutrition, food and agriculture.” My responsibility: to provide Tools and Standards for n Knowledge management n Dissemination n Information exchange

6. World Agricultural Information Centre WAICENT n FAO’s Strategic Program on Information Management and Dissemination (Key to implement component “E” of the Strategic Framework)Strategic Framework n Based on a Philosophy of Decentralization n Sound Principles of Information Management u Strategic use of Metadata and Content Repositories u Separation of Content, Presentation, & Processing u Controlled Vocabularies (e.g. AGROVOC) u Categorization Schemes (e.g AGRIS) u International & Non-Proprietary Standards (e.g XML) n Cooperation with Internal/External Stakeholders

7. World Agricultural Information Centre WAICENT (cont) n Primary Manifestation is WWW.FAO.ORG (12.5 million hits/month, 500,000 sessions/month) u WFS Follow-up (e.g. SPFS, FIVIMS, Telefood) u Technical and Scientific Information Resources u Integrated Statistical Databases (e.g. FAOSTAT) u Photos, Maps, and other Multimedia Apps. u Early Warning and other Information Systems u Agricultural “Yellow Pages” (people, inst., projects) u Info. From Normative Programmes (e.g. CODEX) u Meeting Documents, including Council/Conference n Outreach and Capacity Building Component n Intergovernmental Process (COAIM)

8. World Agricultural Information Centre FAOSTAT KIMS INPHO GEOWEB Information Systems Bibliography Databases ExpertProject Organizations Databases Directories Specialised Applications Database Search Engines Metadata Doc. Retrieval Applications Map Retrieval Systems Web+Information Finder Applications Core Metadata Portal Search/Dissemination Interface Portal Architecture Diagram Standardisation in Information Collection and Dissemination AGROVOC Subject Categories DTD AGROVOC Subject Categories DTD Web Pages FAO-On-line Web Pages COAIM Workshops Document Repository Photos Maps DTD AGROVOC Subject Categories DTD Data Collection Sheets Input Sheets Templates GIS+Graphics Documents Work-Flow Systems WAICENT Resource Finder Country Profiles Community Directory Systems (CDS)

9. World Agricultural Information Centre Inter-Governmental Process n 1st Consultation on Agricultural Information Management (June 2000) “Recognizing the key role that information and knowledge play in ensuring food security and sustainable development, the Consultation aims of to bring agricultural information management policy issues to the attention of the inter-governmental process, and to establish a global framework for the normative work of WAICENT”

10. World Agricultural Information Centre COAIM Agenda n Improving Access to Agricultural Information n Strengthening Information and Knowledge Management Capacities through International Cooperation n Standards and Guidelines for Agricultural Information Management

11. World Agricultural Information Centre COAIM Recommendations n Work with Regional/National Programmes and Partners n Document evidence of successful implementation of information and knowledge systems based on modern technologies n Promote coordination between Development Assistance Agencies working in the area of information management in agriculture

12. World Agricultural Information Centre More COAIM Recommendations n In close collaboration with other stakeholders, assist Member Nations in adopting international standards for content management n Assume a leading role as a clearing- house for international agreed information management standards in the agricultural sector n Maintain and further develop the multilingual thesaurus AGROVOC

13. World Agricultural Information Centre Who are the Users? n Academic and Research Organizations n Government Institutions n International Organizations n NGOs n FAO Staff n General Public

14. World Agricultural Information Centre WAICENT Statistics (November 2000)

15. World Agricultural Information Centre WAICENT Statistics (December 2000) n 12.5 Million Hits 12.5 Million Hits n 500,000 User-Sessions n Average Session Lasts 18 Minutes n Top Entry-Pages: u FAO Home Page u Vacancy Announcements u Codex Alimentarius u WAICENT Home Page

16. World Agricultural Information Centre Word Templates Content Preparation Archives Content Management XML Editor Document Repository DTD -Meetings -Articles -Books Etc... -Metadata DTD Working Version...the next thing DTP Process BOOKS WEB Document CD-ROM Wireless Devices Information Dissemination HTML Filter WAP Filter CD-ROM Filter Metadata Editor Catalogue Metadata Repository Information Exchange Filter Core DTD Metadata Information Exchange Metadata Indexing Publications Work-Flow XML Filter XML Text Graphics

17. World Agricultural Information Centre Author Metadata Model Document Model Integration of Document and Metadata Authoring Word Template Author Metadata Document RDF Metadata XML Text Graphics Content Management XML Filter -Full Text -Thesaurus Support -Classifications -Etc.. Search Interface Dissemination Final DTD Internet Search Engine Additional Catalogue Information Catalogue Final RDF Metadata XML Text Graphics

18. World Agricultural Information Centre The Information Access Problem n Quantity of Internet information is spiraling out of control n Standard search engines provide too many and non-relevant answers n Only a small percentage of sites are Indexed n Decentralization : Information is vastly dispersed around the World The inevitable and obvious consequence: n It is very difficult to find information on the Internet

19. World Agricultural Information Centre What to do? n Of particular interest is the establishment and adoption of standards for the publishing of scientific and technical information in the field of agriculture on the internet n If such electronic documents are furnished with an agreed set of core metadata, search engines could be customized to efficiently access and render them over the web n Form a Working Group (Agstandards) n Implement a Pilot Project with existing portal initiatives (e.g. WAICENT, NOVAGate, AGNIC, GFIS?)

20. World Agricultural Information Centre Plans : Questions to Resolve n What are the core fields necessary to effectively find agricultural scientific documentation on the internet? n What is the specific role of classification schemes and thesauri both at the production stage and at retrieval time? n How do we guarantee resource location and better integration of meta-data with the information object itself? n Central DB or dynamic core generation? n Language considerations

21. World Agricultural Information Centre Process Query AGRIS Multiple Database Search Engine Host Database Query-1 Host Database Query-N Host Database Query-2 Host Database-1Host Database-2Host Database-N Host Database Results-1 Host Database Results-2 Host Database Results-N XML Interpreter XML Query XML Results Host Information Request Host Reference Information Host Information Reply Search Form HTML Query Parameters Integrated Results HTML

22. World Agricultural Information Centre Example of Information Sharing

23. World Agricultural Information Centre

25. Benefits Dynamic processing! n No aggregate database overheads n Up-to-date, real-time information n Distribution of labour

26. World Agricultural Information Centre Problems Dynamic Processing! n Host is down, sorry no data available! n Retrieval speed n Quality Issues - How to aggregate different classification schemes? n Quality Issues - How to deal with duplicate records?

27. World Agricultural Information Centre Line Up the Ducks! Information Sharing Requires: n Active engagement of all participants n Establishment and adoption of a minimum level standards n Different information technologies and local applications are ok... BUT n There must be a minimum set of common data elements n When all the ducks are lined up, the Internet and XML can help!

28. World Agricultural Information Centre Lessons Learned n Engagement of partners before presenting any information technology solutions n Need for a Institutional Framework n Agreed standards for content management and information exchange is what really matters n XML is a useful tool, particularly to assist in information sharing

29. World Agricultural Information Centre A Few References  FAO Document Repository, http://www.fao.org/documentshttp://www.fao.org/documents  FAO On-Line Catalogues, http://www4.fao.orghttp://www4.fao.org  Home-Page of FAO, http://www.fao.orghttp://www.fao.org  Home-Page of AGRIS, http://www.fao.org/agrishttp://www.fao.org/agris  WAICENT Access Statistics, http://www.fao.org/wwwstatshttp://www.fao.org/wwwstats  Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food Summit Plan of Action, http://www.fao.org/wfs/final/rd-e.htmhttp://www.fao.org/wfs/final/rd-e.htm  Home-Page of WAICENT, http://www.fao.org/waicenthttp://www.fao.org/waicent  Yours Truly, Stephen.Katz@fao.orgStephen.Katz@fao.org

30. World Agricultural Information Centre “Invest in new technologies, but secure your knowledge- base first” THANK YOU !!!!! 