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Dear Colleagues,
Collaborate,
Create, Communicate..
The new ICT-KM
website was launched earlier this month! http://ictkm.cgiar.org.
It provides overview information and the latest updates
on the Program and its activities. It has a new look and
substantially more information. With projects well
underway and a maturing Program, we will keep you
informed on events, progress of projects and
opportunities for partnerships. With a new section
called "Behind The Scenes" we will
introduce you to the colleagues who are working
collaboratively to realize our mission.
Please visit us
often to stay abreast of our efforts towards creating a
CGIAR without boundaries.
The month of November also saw all of the IT Managers
meet in Penang. An excellent meeting, may I add!
ICT-KM
2004
INVESTMENT PLAN UPDATES
Utilization
of Intelligent Information Systems for Plant Protection
The revised
proposal of this Project has been submitted to the ICT-KM
Sub-Committee to CDC for approval.
This Project proposes to develop a plant
protection expert system to assist training staff in the
diagnosis and treatment of crop diseases, enabling
farmers to use the resulting knowledge to increase the
productivity and profitability of their crops.
Content
for Development Thrust
The overall Content
for Development (C4D) Plan has been submitted to the ICT-KM
Sub-Committee to CDC to request formal approval of
the funding for the three outstanding activities within
the C4D Thrust.
These three activities are the Virtual Library
Service, Scientific Data Standards and Exchange:
Capacity Development and Web Content and Usage Analysis.
The Virtual Library Service activity will be
coordinated by Luz Marina Alvare and IFPRI; the other
two activities will be coordinated by IPGRI, Samy Gaiji
for the former and Dario Valori for the latter.
The
Content for Development Plan is posted on
the ICT-KM Collaboration Site. Please use user id: browser1 and password:
browser to
log on http://collaborate.ictkm.cgiar.org/project/ContentForDevelopment/Forms/AllItems.htm
The
demonstration on the Content for Development (C4D)
titled “Content for Development: New ways of
working at the CGIAR- A demonstration” featured at
the recent AGM can be viewed or downloaded from the ICT-KM
Collaboration Site as well.
Virtual
Resources Center (VRC)
The consultancy on
“Inventory of CGIAR Intranet Needs and Resources”
has been completed and the consultancy on “Evaluation
of Potential VRC Platforms” is expected to be
completed by the end of the year. The final
feedback from these consultancies is expected to be
ready by early next year.
During the IT Managers
Meeting in Penang some important decisions on the
prosecution of the Active Directory Project and Exchange
2003 Project in the CGIAR were taken which have an
important influence on the Virtual Resources Center as
the CGIAR Intranet. The VRC Team will be providing some
initial results to demonstrate the usefulness and
importance of the Project. The VRC team is currently
working on the implementation VRC Pilot Website.
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Consortium
for Spatial Information
The
CGIAR-CSI Consortium for Spatial Information is pleased
to announce the launching of its new website at http://csi.cgiar.org.
This website provides overview information and
the latest updates on the CGIAR-CSI and its activities.
Included on the site are CGIAR GeoSpatial Tools online,
links to GeoSpatial activities at the various CGIAR
Centers, description of GeoSpatial Activities for all
CGIAR Centers, Intellectual Property Rights Resource
Center (for GeoSpatial Data), MetaData Resource Center,
reports and results from recent workshops including
GASSIA, PovertyMap, Global Spatial Data Users Workshop
as well as vacancy and opportunity listings.
In
addition, the CGIAR-CSI Consortium for Spatial
Information launched its CGIAR-CSI 90m SRTM Digital
Elevation Database, which is also available on this
site. Please
visit the website as they are continuously updating
their site with new information and more data available
for download.
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OTHER ACTIVITIES
ICT-KM
Advisory Group
The
ICT-KM Program is pleased to announce that Mr
Douglas Dunstan, Associate Director General - Corporate
Services of The WorldFish Center, has been
appointed an Advisory Group Member of the ICT-KM
Program representing the CDDC.
We
take this opportunity to extend our warmest welcome to
Doug and look forward to working together with him
to achieve our vision of a CGIAR without
boundaries.
You
can view the ICT-KM Program Advisory Group members list
at http://collaborate.ictkm.cgiar.org/project/AdvisoryGroup/Forms/AllItems.htm.
To log on please use the user id: browser1 and
password: browser.
ICT-KM Website
The
ICT-KM Program is pleased to announce the launching of
its new website at http://ictkm.cgiar.org/index.html.
It provides overview information and the latest
updates on the Program and its activities. It has a new
look and substantially more information.
With
projects well underway and a maturing Program, we will
keep you informed on events, progress of projects and
opportunities for partnerships. With a new section
called "Behind the Scenes" we will
introduce you to the colleagues who are working
collaboratively to realize our mission.
Please
visit us often to stay abreast of our efforts towards
creating a CGIAR without boundaries.
^ back to top
ICT-KM2
Preparation
for the online consultation process are under way. This
initiative will include internal and external partners,
experts, and CGIAR staff.
The focus of this consultation will be on integrated
and collaborative approaches between CGIAR Centers and
national, regional and international partners,
maximizing the value and use of the critical information
systems it holds as Global Public Goods.
We will keep you updated on this exciting
initiative.
Collaboration
Software Review
The
report from the consultation on CGIAR Collaboration
Software is still being finalized. We will keep you
updated on the progress.
System-Wide
Software Acquisitions
During
the recent IT Managers Meeting, the IT Community
reviewed the opportunities for joint purchases. The IT
Managers focused on developing a sound arrangement to
leverage global capacity to make purchases and other
joint activities and achieve a strong commitment to
implement the plan.
The community will work collaboratively to
identify and develop a list of purchases for the year
2005.
ICT-KM Article features in upcoming IAALD 2005
Quarterly Bulletin
The
ICT-KM Program has been invited to submit an article on CGIAR
ICT-KM Program’s Initiative
by International Association of Agricultural
Information Specialists (IAALD) in their IAALD 2005
Quarterly Bulletin entitled "Making a Difference in
the Global Community" which will focus on
innovative global projects. This special issue of the
Quarterly Bulletin will be published next year.
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TECHNICAL
CORNER...
Active Directory Project
Four
CGIAR Centers are now on Exchange 2003 i.e. WorldFish,
CIFOR, CIP and ICARDA. In addition, we
have a new Exchange 2003 installation at ILRI Kenya, and
preparations for the same at ILRI Ethiopia. IPGRI,
CIAT and CIMMYT are the next centers scheduled to join
an Exchange 2003 server to the forest.
The
Center Migration Status table is included in the weekly
updates on the Active Directory Project and Exchange
2003 Project. The
weekly updates are posted on the IT collaboration site
at http://forum.ipgri.cgiar.org/cg-it/.
IT Managers can log on to the website for
details.
The
users in the centers that have installed Exchange 2003
are very happy about the new features…especially the
enhanced functionalities in the Web access.
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DID YOU KNOW THAT…..?
Spoofed Messages from Postmaster at CGIAR.ORG
Please
be aware that if you are getting messages that seem to
be coming from a legitimate source (postmaster@cgiar.org)
and asks you to follow a procedure to fix some bogus
problem in your e-mail account, following the advised
procedures can compromise your computers’ security or
functionality. Please note that CGNET never sends this
kind of messages to users. Please be aware that CGNET
sends email only to the IT contact points to the
Centers, never to individual users.
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TECHNOLOGY WATCH
This column is especially dedicated
to keep a regular watch for emerging ICT's of potential
interest to the CGIAR.
Microsoft
Launches Windows XP Starter Edition to Aid Developing
Countries
Microsoft
announced that Windows XP® Starter Edition will be made
available in India and Russia, the fourth and fifth
markets to join Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia as
Microsoft brings the benefits of the Windows operating
system to people in developing technology markets.
Click
here to view the article http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2004/sep04/09-27StarterEd.asp.
The Organizational Model for Open Source
Programmers
contribute to free software and open source Projects for
many reasons—some for the fun of it, some to improve
their skills, others for a paycheck. Many people have
wondered why these people give their work away. The
truth is that many Projects have incorporated in order
to protect themselves from individual liability. Since
the Free Software Foundation was founded in 1985, a
number of new nonprofit foundations have formed, often
around specific technologies, to serve the interests of
programmers. A
surprising entity has emerged to protect the interests
of open source software developers: the non-profit
foundation.
Harvard
Business School Professor, Siobhán O'Mahony discusses
her research on foundations formed around three Projects:
Debian, a complete non-commercial distribution of Linux;
the GNU Object Model Environment (GNOME), which is a
graphical user interface for Linux-based operating
systems; and Apache, a public domain open source Web
server.
Click
here to view the article http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=3582&t=technology.
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UPCOMING
MEETINGS
CGIAR
Senior Leadership Program, a pilot course organized
by the System Office, in cooperation with the Center
Directors Committee, being held at the Harvard Business
School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 5-10, 2004.
CGIAR
Women’s Leadership Courses 2005
The
Gender & Diversity Program is celebrating in 2005
its 10th
Aniversary of CGIAR Women’s Leadership Courses
by offering three women’s leadership courses:
1.
10thAnniversary Advanced Women’s Leadership
Course and Celebration
Hosted
by ICRAF in Nairobi, Kenya, June 26 – July 1, 2005 and
by
CIMMYT
in Mexico City, September 11-17, 2005
2.
10th Annual CGIAR Women’s Leadership and
Management Course
Will
be hosted by ICARDA in Aleppo, Syria, May 22-28, 2005
For
all three Women’s Leadership Courses, the deadline for
enrollment is 18 February 2005. For more
information about these courses, please contact G&D
Program Leader, Vicki Wilde at v.wilde@cgiar.org.
^ back to top
Collaborate,
Create, Communicate...
this is the motto of the ICT-KM
Program. We believe that by expanding the CGIAR's
opportunities to work together and communicate we will
produce better science to help poor in developing
countries.
Your comments are especially
welcome. Please visit the Website, http://ictkm.cgiar.org/
or write to ictkm@cgiar.org with
comments and/or ideas for the next monthly
update.
Working together for a better
future,
Enrica |
