Paris, 3 March 2008


EFITA newsletter / 351 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


Q.: How many software engineers (efita members) does it take to change a light bulb?
A.: None! It's a hardware problem.


At the last Acta seminar (26 February) I presented: "Google Maps MAPs - MASHUPS - The rise of online (AMATEUR) CARTOGRAPHERS AND MAPMAKERS in Tourism and The rise of online “MAPMAKERS”in Agritourism."
In continuation of this presentation I can offer ACTA Informatique / Efita members to promote their Agrotourism activities for free in the website www.hotels-in-france.nl. The website gives the opportunity to add your own content - with text, image and links. It is possible to add latitude and longitude which will be translated in a Google Map indicating the location of your agrobusiness. How to add your own Agrotourism activity to the website:
1. Open the website: www.hotels-in-france.nl
2. Register on the website (on the homepage).
3. After login you will be redirected to a page for Acta with some demo-maps. Fell free to copy for your own purposes.
4. Check your latitude and longitude. When you don't have it open: http://www.hotels-in-france.nl/maps/geocoding-drag-marker-france.htm and click on the map to find the current coordinates.
5. Click on "Participate" in the Top menu. A page will appear with the option: Add entry. Click on Add Entry!
6. Put the information in the available fields. At the end of the fields you decide to connect your data to the category: Agrotourism.
7. Check all fields and save.

Note:
You can only submit your data to the category "Agrotourism". The content submitted will stay online until the end of the year 2008.
www.hotels-in-france keeps the rights to delete submissions that can damage the websites concepts, data traffic and technology.
It is possible that there will be a pop-up with the message that you must pay something before going online. Don't be afraid - we will validate the submission and activate.
Contact: Rene HUSKEN
Mail: r.husken(a)geo-t.nl


ICT Update magazine - new issue
The latest issue of ICT Update magazine has just been published with the theme ‘Wi-Fi’.
Wi-Fi is being put to good use in some innovative projects in developing countries. The flexibility, relative low cost and the fact that several computers can operate on the same wireless network make Wi-Fi an ideal technology for improving communication in rural areas. This issue of ICT Update highlight projects in Ghana, Dominican Republic and Rwanda where the relatively short range of Wi-Fi has been extended using by some very imaginative technological applications.
See: http://ictupdate.cta.int
Contact: Jim DEMPSEY
E-mail: jim(a)contactivity.com


International Advanced Workshop on Information and Communication Technologies for Sustainable Agri-production and Environment (AWICTSAE 2008)
22-23 May 2008 - ALEXANDROUPOLIS, Greece
The workshop is organised by the Hellenic Association for Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture Food and Environment (HAICTA - Branch of Northern Greece). The workshop is the annual programmed event of HAICTA's Branch of Northern Greece and it is organized in cooperation with the following academic institutes:
Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Democritus University of Thrace
The organiser's goal is to organise an Advanced Workshop to host in a friendly and warm environment experienced researchers, practitioners, ICT specialists and young PhD students in the field of ICT in Agri-Production and Environment. A series of social events will be organised including a gala dinner, lunch and coffee breaks. A daily excursion is also planned to the magnificent area of Dadia forest, on Saturday 24 of May.
The Conference and Program Chairs invite all those working in areas related to ICT in Agri-Production and the Environment to submit original research contributions.
AWICTSAE 2008 welcomes contributions related to any aspect of ICT in Agri-Production and the Environment, including:
- e-Commerce, Supply Chain Management
- Multimedia and Internet Applications
- GIS/Remote Sensing
- Decision Support Systems
- Expert Systems
- Neural Networks Applications
- Precision Agriculture & Livestock Farming
- Monitoring and Τraceability Systems
- ICT Adoption in the Agricultural Sector
See: http://ir.it.teithe.gr/


Launch of an international Task Force on Agricultural Learning Repositories (AgLR-TF)
An increased interest has been recently witnessed in the area of learning resources for agriculture and rural development. Discussions among key stakeholders (like the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the World Agroforestry Centre, the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, and other organizations) has resulted in an idea of bringing together people that  are interested/involved in the development and/or operation of agricultural learning repositories.

A key conclusion of this discussion has been the importance of promoting the adoption of open standards and technologies for the design, development and deployment of agricultural learning repositories. This is expected to be a major enabler in order to further facilitate and extend the production, collection, organisation and usage of agricultural learning resources around the world.

To this end, we decided to push forward this idea, through the creation of the Agricultural Learning Repositories Task Force (AgLR-TF): a task force of people/organization that are leading relevant efforts and who would be willing to contribute to this common cause. The Task Force is expected to join the forces of individuals and organizations from around the world, in order to provide guidance, standards, technologies, tools, recommendations, and best practices to interested stakeholders. In this way, we aim to promote and facilitate the idea of sharing and reusing learning resources on topics related to agriculture and rural development.

We welcome all interested individuals and/or organisations to join this Task Force. To do so, you just need to register yourself and/or your organisation through the web site of the AgLR-TF: http://infolab-dev.aua.gr/aglr/

Contact: Nikos MANOUSELIS, Gauri SALOKHE
E-mail: nikosm(a)aua.gr, Gauri.Salokhe(a)fao.org


A shopping trip
I took my dad to the mall the other day to buy some new shoes.
We decided to grab a bite at the food court.
I noticed he was watching a teenager sitting next to him.
The teenager had spiked hair in all different colours: green, red, orange, and blue.
My dad kept staring at him. The teenager would look and find him staring every time.

When the teenager had enough, he sarcastically asked, "What's the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?"

Knowing my Dad, I quickly swallowed my food so that I would not choke on his response; knowing he would have a good one. And in classic style he did not bat an eye in his response.

"Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son."



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