steve katz chief, waicent/faoinfo f.a.o. of the u.n. gfis task force, 6 february 2001 world...

Steve Katz

Chief, WAICENT/FAOINFOF.A.O. of the U.N.

GFIS Task Force, 6 February 2001

World Agricultural Information Centre


Topics of Discussion

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


World Food Summit World Food Summit - November 1996 Leaders of 186 Countries Pledged to Reduce by

Half the Number of Undernourished People in the World by 2015 (About 800 Million in 1996)

FAO has a Major Role in Assisting Countries in Implementing the Provisions of the WFS

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”.


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 Knowledge management Dissemination Information exchange


WAICENT FAO’s Strategic Program on Information Management and

Dissemination (Key to implement component “E” of the Strategic Framework)

Based on a Philosophy of Decentralization Sound Principles of Information Management

Strategic use of Metadata and Content Repositories Separation of Content, Presentation, & Processing Controlled Vocabularies (e.g. AGROVOC) Categorization Schemes (e.g AGRIS) International & Non-Proprietary Standards (e.g XML)

Cooperation with Internal/External Stakeholders


WAICENT (cont) Primary Manifestation is WWW.FAO.ORG

(12.5 million hits/month, 500,000 sessions/month) WFS Follow-up (e.g. SPFS, FIVIMS, Telefood) Technical and Scientific Information Resources Integrated Statistical Databases (e.g. FAOSTAT) Photos, Maps, and other Multimedia Apps. Early Warning and other Information Systems Agricultural “Yellow Pages” (people, inst., projects) Info. From Normative Programmes (e.g. CODEX) Meeting Documents, including Council/Conference

Outreach and Capacity Building Component Intergovernmental Process (COAIM)


FAOSTAT

KIMS

INPHO

GEOWEB

InformationSystems

Bibliography

Databases

ExpertProject

Organizations

Databases Databases

Databases

Directories

Specialised Applications

Database Search Engines

Metadata Metadata Metadata

Doc. RetrievalApplications

Map Retrieval Systems

Web+InformationFinder Applications

Core Metadata

Core Metadata

CoreMetadata

Portal Search/Dissemination InterfacePortal Architecture DiagramStandardisation in InformationCollection and Dissemination

AGROVOC

SubjectCategories

DTD

AGROVOC

SubjectCategories

DTD

Web PagesFAO-On-line

Web PagesCOAIM

Workshops

Document Repository

Photos

Maps

DTD

AGROVOC

SubjectCategories

DTD

Data Collection Sheets

Input Sheets

TemplatesGIS+Graphics Documents

Work-Flow Systems

WAICENTResource Finder

Country Profiles

Community Directory Systems (CDS)


Inter-Governmental Process 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”


COAIM Agenda

Improving Access to Agricultural Information

Strengthening Information and Knowledge Management Capacities through International Cooperation

Standards and Guidelines for Agricultural Information Management


COAIM Recommendations

Work with Regional/National Programmes and Partners

Document evidence of successful implementation of information and knowledge systems based on modern technologies

Promote coordination between Development Assistance Agencies working in the area of information management in agriculture


More COAIM Recommendations

In close collaboration with other stakeholders, assist Member Nations in adopting international standards for content management

Assume a leading role as a clearing-house for international agreed information management standards in the agricultural sector

Maintain and further develop the multilingual thesaurus AGROVOC


Who are the Users? Academic and Research Organizations Government Institutions International Organizations NGOs FAO Staff General Public


WAICENT Statistics (November 2000)

User Sessions by Region

North America57%

Europe30%

Latin America5%

Asia4%

South Pacific2%

Africa2%

North America

Europe

Latin America

Asia

South Pacific

Africa


WAICENT Statistics (December 2000)

12.5 Million Hits 500,000 User-Sessions Average Session Lasts 18 Minutes Top Entry-Pages:

FAO Home Page Vacancy Announcements Codex Alimentarius WAICENT Home Page


Word Templates

Content Preparation

Archives

Content Management

XML Editor

Document Repository

DTD

-Meetings-Articles-BooksEtc...

-Metadata

DTD

Working Version

...the next thing

DTP Process BOOKS

WEBDocument

CD-ROM

WirelessDevices

Information Dissemination

HTML Filter

WAP Filter

CD-ROMFilter

MetadataEditor

CatalogueCatalogue

Metadata Repository

Information Exchange

Filter

CoreDTD

MetadataInformationExchange

Metadata

Indexing

Publications Work-Flow

XML FilterXML Text

Graphics


Author Metadata Model

Document Model

Integration of Document and Metadata

Authoring

Word Template

Author Metadata

Document

RDF Metadata

XMLText

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

XMLText

Graphics


The Information Access Problem Quantity of Internet information is spiraling out of

control Standard search engines provide too many and

non-relevant answers Only a small percentage of sites are Indexed Decentralization : Information is vastly dispersed

around the World

The inevitable and obvious consequence: It is very difficult to find information on the

Internet


What to do? 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

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

Form a Working Group (Agstandards) Implement a Pilot Project with existing portal

initiatives (e.g. WAICENT, NOVAGate, AGNIC, GFIS?)


Plans : Questions to Resolve What are the core fields necessary to effectively find

agricultural scientific documentation on the internet? What is the specific role of classification schemes

and thesauri both at the production stage and at retrieval time?

How do we guarantee resource location and better integration of meta-data with the information object itself?

Central DB or dynamic core generation? Language considerations


Process Query

AGRIS Multiple Database Search Engine

Host

Data

base

Qu

ery

-1

Host

Data

base

Qu

ery

-N

Host

Data

base

Qu

ery

-2

Host Database-1 Host Database-2 Host Database-N

Host

Data

base

Resu

lts-

1

Host

Data

base

Resu

lts-

2

Host

Data

base

Resu

lts-

N

XML Interpreter XML Interpreter XML Interpreter

XML Query XML QueryXML Query

XML Results XML ResultsXML Results

Host Information Request

Host Reference Information Host Information Reply

Search Form

HTML Query ParametersIntegrated Results HTML


Example of Information Sharing


Benefits

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


Problems

Dynamic Processing! Host is down, sorry no data available! Retrieval speed Quality Issues - How to aggregate different

classification schemes? Quality Issues - How to deal with duplicate

records?


Line Up the Ducks!

Information Sharing Requires: Active engagement of all participants Establishment and adoption of a

minimum level standards Different information technologies and

local applications are ok... BUT There must be a minimum set of

common data elements When all the ducks are lined up, the

Internet and XML can help!


Lessons Learned Engagement of partners before presenting any

information technology solutions Need for a Institutional Framework Agreed standards for content management and

information exchange is what really matters XML is a useful tool, particularly to assist in

information sharing


A Few References FAO Document Repository, http://www.fao.org/documents

FAO On-Line Catalogues, http://www4.fao.org

Home-Page of FAO, http://www.fao.org

Home-Page of AGRIS, http://www.fao.org/agris

WAICENT Access Statistics, http://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.htm

Home-Page of WAICENT, http://www.fao.org/waicent

Yours Truly, [email protected]


“Invest in new technologies, but secure your knowledge-base first”

THANK YOU !!!!!