Collaborate, Create, Communicate...

This month, we took the CGXchange road show to Malaysia. Returning to Penang to launch our intranet/extranet system at the WorldFish Center was a homecoming of sorts, because it was there that the idea for CGXchange first germinated and started to grow.

In the short while since CGXchange was unveiled at the CGIAR Annual General Meeting last December, many CGIAR members of staff have been taking advantage of the system’s tools and resources. CGXchange has also brought the world of Dgroups to the attention of users, some of whom have already signed up for their own online workspaces. 

In other developments, we successfully negotiated another System-wide purchase that allows all CGIAR Centers to take advantage of a substantial software discount; and the outcome of a recent CGIAR survey is already helping foster collaborative efforts between Centers.

Being featured in our “Behind the Scenes” section this month also gave me an opportunity to let you know, among other things, how the ICT-KM Program got started.

Don’t forget to check our website (http://ictkm.cgiar.org) regularly to learn more about the Program and its activities.

Enrica Porcari

Chief Information Officer

CGIAR

In this issue of ICT-KM News:

What's cooking?

As CIO Enrica Porcari took her place behind the lectern at the WorldFish Center in Penang, Malaysia, many in the audience must have wondered if they were in the right auditorium. Wearing an apron with the words “What’s cooking?" emblazoned across the front, she wouldn’t have looked out of place at a culinary demonstration.

Dgroups: Dway to Go!

Since December 2005, when the CGIAR became a member of the DGroups partnership through the ICT-KM Program, CGIAR staff and partners have opened 12 new online workspaces, six of them through CGXchange. If you are looking for a platform that hosts discussion spaces powered by mailing lists, Dgroups is certainly the way to go.

Kilimanjaro: Taking You to New Heights

The power of collaboration has now made it possible for CGIAR staff to take a real-time interactive flight over a terrain of their choice, at a hugely reduced price. Flying over Mount Kilimanjaro has never been easier or cheaper.

Off to a Busy Start

For those of you who took a lengthy year-end holiday and came back to work feeling as if the break wasn’t long enough, you might want to have a look at what the VASAT team has been up to since the beginning of the year.

Partners in Prevention

Collaboration and cooperation are vital to the success of the ICT-KM Program. The backbone of the Program comprises dynamic individuals: busy professionals who juggle the responsibilities of their nine-to-five jobs with the demands of their respective projects. But there is only so much they can do on their own.  

Winds of Change

Due to their autonomous nature, the 15 CGIAR Centers usually make many of their decisions independently. What goes on in any one Center is often not disclosed to the other fourteen Centers. But things are changing, as a successful survey sponsored by the CGIAR Internal Auditing Unit (IAU) and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) shows.  

Upcoming Events

A Learning, Review and Planning Workshop for CGXchange and Plumtree will be held at IPGRI, Rome, from 28 February to 3 March 2006.   

^ back to top

We welcome feedback on the ICT-KM News, so please feel free to contact us at ictkm@cgiar.org.