Weekly Spotlight

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VEST Registry Vocabularies highlighted

The scope of the VEST Registry Vocabularies is to give a general overview of vocabularies in agricultural information management. Currently it contains 113 vocabularies, i.e. authority files, classification systems, concept maps, controlled lists, dictionaries, ontologies, subject headings etc. To facilitate the search all vocabularies are classified by type and subject domain. Do you know of a vocabulary not yet present, just send an e-mail to aims@fao.org.

Become a member of the "AIMS Consultative Group”: Shaping AIMS together

AIMS has started a revision procedure to implement the recommendations at content and technical level coming from the e-consultation 2011. In order to make this a team effort, we decided to create the "AIMS Consultative Group", an informal group on voluntary basis that will be operative during 2012. Every AIMS community user can become a member and help us to shape the new AIMS website by providing feedback on proposals. Please write to us at AIMS@fao.org.

AIMS Newsletter no. 8 (February) is now online!

We are pleased to announce that the AIMS Newsletter no. 8is now available with news on, among others, a new set of features developed by AgriDrupal to implement a document repository, the AIMS e-consultation, AGROVOC topic map and VocBench web services. The 'What is...?' section is dedicated to Content Management Systems. Elizabeth Ascencio Jurado, information management specialist at the Ministry of Agriculture (Peru) anwers this month the 5 Questions.

OpenAGRIS, agINFRA and AGROVOC presented at "AOS 2011"

The Joint International Symposium on Natural Language Processing and Agriculture Ontology Service (SNLP-AOS) 2011 took place in Bangkok (Thailand) from the 9th–10th of February, 2012. During the Agricultural Ontology Service (AOS) workshop, presentations were held on OpenAGRIS, agINFRA and the AGROVOC Concept Scheme. At AOS workshopsresearchers and practicioners in the area of semantically-driven information management in agriculture gather.

Evaluating AIMS. Summary report of e-consultation online

In December 2011 the AIMS team held a closed e-consultation to evaluate the AIMS website. Different aspects of AIMS, like audience, objectives, content and technical aspects, were examined by 18 information management specialists. The summary made of the received input can now be downloaded from the AIMS e-consulation page. To take a direct look at the exchange of ideas, please visit the e-consultattion itself - now publicly accessible from the same page.

Register your agriculture-related information service on the CIARD RING

The CIARD Routemap to Information Nodes and Gateways (RING) is a global registry of web-based services that gives access to information sources pertaining to agricultural research for development (ARD). Currently the RING contains 273 services and 136 providers. All service providers of ARD information are invited to register on this portal. Help the RING to facilitate the discovery of sources of agriculture-related information across the world!

Test AgriOcean DSpace

AgriOcean DSpace is a joint initiative of the United Nations agencies of FAO and UNESCO-IOC/IODE to provide a customized version of DSpace 1.7. Its objective is to provide research institutes with an open source repository system that is easy to install, use and maintain. To test the system, please go to the Demo version. If you would like to install AgriOcean DSpace or have questions, join the AgriOcean DSpace community.

ZAR4DIN uses AGRIS AP and AgriDrupal

The idea behind the Zambia Agricultural Research for Development Information Network (ZAR4DIN) is to facilitate access to institutional repositories through a national AR4D portal. The national service provider, ZAR4DIN portal, periodically imports records from its data providers: ZARI, NAIS and NISIR. Metadata sets based on AGRIS AP are used to smoothly integrate these records into the portal. The CMS chosen for ZAR4DIN and two of the three data providers is AgriDrupal.

	VEST Registry is looking for vocabularies, metadata sets and tools!
	The VEST Registry is a catalog of controlled vocabularies, metadata sets and tools used in agriculture and related sciences; primarily concerned with collecting and maintaining a consistent set of metadata for each resource. It already contains 110 vocabularies, 29 metadata sets and 33 tools, but we are sure many more can be added! Your contribution is highly appreciated!

	AIMS Newsletter no. 7 (December) is now online!
	We are pleased to announce that the AIMS Newsletter no. 7is now available with news on the ZAR4DIN portal, the release of VocBench 1.3 and the EIFL-PLIP grants for public libraries. The new ' What is...?' section is dedicated to Linked Open Data and contains useful resources to provide background information. This month Edith Hesse, president of IAALD, answers the 5 Questions.

IAALD moves to AgriDrupal

The International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD) is a leading global community of practice for information specialists serving agriculture. At the end of 2010, IAALD decided to move its website to the Drupal content management system using the AgriDrupal aggregation functionalities to more easily integrate all its social and information channels. A few components are still being updated, but the official launch is imminent.

Special AIMS newsletter on the VOA3R platform project

The AIMS Team and the VOA3R community are pleased to announce the second special newsletter on the VOA3R platform project. This issue contains an interview with Urban Ericsson, repository manager of EPSILON, and news on the release of the beta version; the new content providers, and the controlled experiments on "Reviewing life cycle" services. Also featuring are events and activities of the last 3 months.

Repository Toolkit for African universities: how to establish a digital repository

The goal of the Open Access Repositories Capacity Strengthening Programme (OA-IRCSP) is to stimulate African universities to establish Open Access repositories. A Repository Toolkit and accompanying training modules have been developped. The kit provides a roadmap for establishing and operating a digital repository in your institution. It is a compilation of concepts, tools and links to resources, all organized in logical steps reflecting the key stages in a repository development project.

	The AIMS Newsletter no. 6 (October) is now online!
	We are pleased to announce that the AIMS Newsletter no. 6 is now available with news on agINFRA, NALT, GOAP and the plan of LC for new bibliographic framework. Some upcoming events and the most recent activities on AgriOcean DSpace, FAO Country Profiles, AGROVOC and OpenAGRIS are also covered . Hugo Besemer gives his view on AIMS in the section 5 Questions 5 Minutes.

Publishers for Development meeting: getting research to researchers in developing Countries

The annual Publishers for Development (PfD) meetingwill take place in London on the 2nd of December. Pfd was launched in 2008 and is a joint initiative of the Association of Commonwealth Universities(ACU) and INASP. It is a forum for information and discussion around the importance of access to information for development. The conference introduces some of the most pertinent topics for developing country librarians, researchers and publishers. For more information on the conference, please see the agenda.

International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) on AIMS

INASPworks with partners to support global research communication through innovation, networking and capacity strengthening, focusing on the needs of developing and emerging countries. INASP, based in Oxford, was established by the International Council for Science (ICSU) in 1992 and is working with, and through, partners and networks in over one hundred countries. AIMS will publish on a regular basis news on activities taking place at INASP.

Open Access week - October 24-30 - Everywhere

Open Access Week, a global event now entering its fourth year, is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research. Ready for action? Sign up at www.openaccessweek.org for access to all the support and resources you need, and to connect with the worldwide OA Week community.

The AIMS Newsletter no.5 (October) is now online!

We are pleased to announce that the AIMS Newsletter no. 5 is now available with news on Open-Agris, AIMS at DC2011, the Public Library Innovation Programme of EIFL and the OAI-PMH module for AgriDrupal. Also covered are some upcoming events and the most recent activities on AGRIS, AMS, AgriOcean DSpace, AGROVOC and VOA3R. Krishan J. Bheenickof FARCgives his view on AIMS in the section 5 Questions 5 Minutes.

AGROVOC LOD integrated into the LOD cloud diagram

The LOD Cloud Group of the Linking Open Data communityhas integrated AGROVOC LODinto the latest update of the Linked Open Data cloud diagram. The diagram gives a high level overview of linked data sets from around the globe. AGROVOC LOD is the first and a largest linked open data set in the Agricultural domain. The AGROVOC team and its technical partner MIMOS Berhad published AGROVOC as linked open data in April 2011.

AIMS and EIFL exchange experiences

AIMS has started a collaboration with Electronic Information for Libraries(EIFL), especially with its Public Library Innovation Programme(PLIP). PLIP helps public libraries in developing countries to use ICT to provide innovative community services. One of their main focus areas is agriculture. AIMS will disseminate through news and blog entriesPLIP’s important work in the field. EIFl from its side is very interested in deepening the FAO-EIFL relationship and will communicate to their public library community what is happening at AIMS.

EIFL helps public libraries to reach out to farmers

Two innovative library services on opposite sides of the globe - Chile and central Serbia - are demonstrating the value of public libraries to farmers. The Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL)'s Public Library Innovation Programme (PLIP) funded these services. PLIP is using ICT to provide and share valuable agricultural information, create online product markets and link farmers in remote rural areas to the wider world. EIFL is now encouraging these services in public libraries in other parts of the world.

	The AIMS Newsletter no.4 (September) is now online!
	We are pleased to announce that the AIMS Newsletter no. 4 is now available with news on AgriOcean DSpace, Open-Agris 1.0 beta, the E-LIS competition and the results of the OA survey . Also covered are some upcoming events and the most recent activities on AGRIS, AMS, AgriDrupal and Open Access. Adam Sánchez Ayteof CONDESANgives his view on AIMS in the section 5 Questions 5 Minutes.

OpenAgris 0.1 beta: bibliographic records linked to other datasets

OpenAgris is a new beta application based on RDF. OpenAgris does not only display bibliographic records, but starts from a record to retrieve information from other datasets: DBPedia, Agrovoc, AGRIS journals. This was accomplished by converting a first part of records contained by the AGRIS repository (2008 to 2011) to RDF and AGRIS journals. Links to other existing datasets were made to increase the amount of information on a record and a topic. Take a look at this example.

	Release of AgriOcean DSpace installer: quick and easy
	To make the installation on Windows of