Mary Schneider

Posted by Mary Schneider in AgCommons, Geospatial Information, Interviews on 19 November 2009 | No Comments

West African smallholder farmers are witnessing unpredictable changes in their land. Some are noticing that their soil is not as fertile as it used to be, and in some places, where there was once soil, there are now barren patches – useless for planting anything but uncertainty and fear for their...

Mobile phones fight disease and poverty ...

Posted by Mary Schneider in AgCommons, Geospatial Information on 4 November 2009 | No Comments

At the beginning of this year, three different banana diseases were attacking East Africa, devastating farms around the region and exacerbating the prevailing food crisis. To help prevent the spread of such diseases, it is vital that smallholder farmers have access to comprehensive information about...

Mapping the roads less travelled...

Posted by Mary Schneider in AgCommons, Geospatial Information, Interviews on 29 October 2009 | No Comments

Throughout most of the developing world, there is a real and urgent need for roads data. Road location and attribute information can play a vital role in long term development applications and also help humanitarian agencies with short term emergency and logistical planning. Despite this dire need,...

The Community Knowledge Workers model �...

Posted by Mary Schneider in Events, Geospatial Information, ICT-KM Program, Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Sharing in Research on 22 October 2009 | 1 Comment

“Melinda and I believe that helping the poorest smallholder farmers grow more and get it to market is the world’s single most powerful lever for reducing hunger and poverty.” – Bill Gates. One of the five AGCommons’ Quick Win Projects, Community Level Crop Disease Surveillance,...

AGCommons at Africa GIS Conference 2009 ...

Posted by Mary Schneider in AgCommons, Events, Geospatial Information, ICT-KM Program on 11 October 2009 | 1 Comment

AGCommons, the program led by the ICT-KM Program to provide location-specific (geospatial) information to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa with the goal of improving productivity and livelihoods, will be present at the Africa GIS Conference 2009 in Kampala, Uganda (25-30 October), to inform...

Our Website Revamp: More than Just a Fac...

Posted by Mary Schneider in ICT-KM Program, Social Media on 9 October 2009 | 2 Comments

Although we like to look fresh and current, this isn’t the driving force behind the present revamp of the ICT-KM Program’s website. Our focus continues to be on providing our audience with an easy-to navigate, content-rich site. You won’t find any unnecessary bells and whistles on the...

The Face behind Our Popular Social Media...

Posted by Mary Schneider in ICT-KM Program, Social Media on 8 October 2009 | No Comments

Six months ago, when Meena Arivananthan posted the first installment of her Social Media Series on our blog, no one could have envisaged the impact and popularity of her articles. This versatile woman has a passion for both writing and knowledge sharing, attributes that are evident in her posts. Indeed,...

ICT Infopoint – Providing CGIAR st...

Posted by Mary Schneider in CGXchange, ICT Developments, ICT-KM Program on 6 October 2009 | No Comments

If you are looking for good ICT practice guides, or want to find out more about low-bandwidth collaboration tools, or see what CGIAR-wide applications are available to you, then ICT Infopoint is the place for you. ICT Infopoint provides CGIAR staff located at headquarters and in regional offices with...

We’ve come a long way – An i...

Posted by Mary Schneider in CGXchange, ICT-KM Program, Interviews, Online Collaboration on 24 September 2009 | No Comments

In the beginning … Shwu Jiau Teoh Way back in the early 1980s, there was no email in the CGIAR. When scientists wanted to collaborate with each other, they did so using the technology available at that time: phone, fax, telex and cable. Some of these communication methods were often slow and unreliable,...

Francesca Pelloni – Returning with...

Posted by Mary Schneider in AgCommons, ICT-KM Program, Interviews on 17 September 2009 | No Comments

Francesca Pelloni Life is a balancing act. Finding an equilibrium that works for you, your family and your friends is often difficult to achieve. And no one knows this better than AGCommons Project Officer Francesca Pelloni. After a five-year hiatus of sorts from the hectic world of IT project management,...