Paris, 24 November 2008


EFITA newsletter / 387 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


A funny aspect is that I (GW) would hesitate to publish this joke in French and I do it in English because the language establishes a sort of distance (efita newsletter nb 385)
A comment by a French reader of this newsletter: I understand too well what you mean, having enjoyed swearing with the worst English words for the past 30+ years? Without having the diktat of my Mother that they were bad French words!
However, I think also that you have crossed the yellow line with this bad-taste joke about the priest, the cock and the goat?? !!! It's OK in a small group of friendly adults and some wine, but to be included in your newsletter with 20,000 readers (in France) is a bit gross and debilitating. No big deal; your excuse was a good try? But frankly it's b*ull s*hit.
Sorry, but you can do better!!!


Good news: candidature for hosting EFITA 2011 by CSITA in Prague
Contact: Zdeněk HAVLÍČEK
E-mail: havlicek(a)pef.czu.cz


Turkish Association for Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Environment
See: http://www.tarbil.org


Launch of the Rural-eGov Observatory for Rural Small & Medium Enterprises
The public version of the Rural-eGov Observatory is now on-line at: http://rural-egov.aua.gr:8080/observatory/. In the Rural-eGov Observatory you can search and find resources related to e-government in various European regions. We would like to invite you to try using the Rural-eGov Observatory and then spend some minutes completing this short evaluation questionnaire: http://rural-egov.aua.gr/questionnaire/

More specifically, in the Rural-eGov Observatory you can search, retrieve and find information about the following:

(i) e-Government services from five European countries (i.e. UK, Germany, Greece, Slovenia, and Poland) that can be useful for supporting business operations of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas.

(ii) Training resources on how SMEs can use and take advantage of e-Government services in their everyday business operations.

The Rural-eGov Observatory is currently operating in five languages (English, German, Greek, Slovenian and Polish). It has been developed in the context of the Rural-eGov pilot project that is funded by the European Commision's Leonardo da Vinci (LdV) programme.

See: http://rural-egov.aua.gr
Contact: Alexander SIDERIDIS
E-mail: as(a)aua.gr


EuroTier reports record number of visitors
Some 130,000 animal farmers and experts from all over the world.
See: http://www.eurotier.de/3512.0.html


Information Technologies in Environmental Engineering (ITEE-2009) - call for papers
Abstract Submission Deadline: November 15, 2008 (Extended November 30)
28 - 29 May 2009, THESSALONIKI, Greece
 (proceedings to be published by Springer)

ITEE is a bi-annual international symposium on information  technologies in environmental engineering. Ecology, environmental  engineering and natural resource management comprise an excellent real world testbed for IT system demonstrations, while bring up new  challenges for computer science. Complexity, uncertainty and scaling  issues of natural systems set up a demanding application domain for  sensor networks and earth observation systems; modelling, simulation
and scientific workflows; data management and reporting; decision  support and intelligent systems; distributed computing environments;  geographical information systems; heterogeneous systems integration;  software engineering; accounting systems; and control systems.
The 4th International Symposium on Information Technologies in  Environmental Engineering aims to present recent success stories in  ecoinformatics, promising ideas and new challenges, demonstrating new  paradigms for problem solving and decision making.

ITEE-2009 will be held in May 28-29, 2009, in Thessaloniki , Greece,  hosted by the Intelligent Systems and Software Engineering Lab (ISSEL)  of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the  Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

>>> Important dates:
        * Abstract submission: November 30, 2008
        * Paper submission: January 15, 2009
        * Author notification: February 28, 2009
        * Revised papers: March 15, 2009
        * Conference: May 28-29, 2009

Areas of interest include but are not limited to the following:
* Environmental Information Systems
* Geographic information & earth observation systems
* Formal methods, data processing and decision support systems
* Environmental modelling and simulation
* Tools and measurement techniques
* Environmental policy and management
* Practical applications and experiences

>>> Paper Submissions:
Authors are invited to submit original papers on research results or  novel applications in ecoinformatics and related areas. Papers will be  subject to two-phase review process. First, paper abstracts (maximum  1000 words) will be screened with respect to relevance to the  Symposium and appropriateness to the organized sessions. Upon abstract  acceptance, authors will be invited to submit their full papers  (approximately 12 pages). Full papers will be reviewed for scientific  excellence and innovation by at least two members of the Program  committee.
All accepted papers will appear in the conference proceedings,  published by Springer.
It is further planned that authors of the best papers will be invited  to submit their extended versions for special issues of relevant journals.

>>> ITEE 2009 Co-chairs:
- Ioannis N. Athanasiadis (Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial   Intelligence, Lugano, Switzerland)
- Pericles A. Mitkas (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,  Thessaloniki, Greece)
- Andrea-Emilio Rizzoli (Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial  Intelligence, Lugano, Switzerland)
- Jorge C. Marx-Gomez (Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg,  Germany)

See: http://www.itee2009.org
E-mail: organizers(a)itee2009.org


JOIN our Latest Forum on "Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas" 17-28 November 2008 on www.e-agriculture.org

- over 150 active participants from 50 nations ...

- contributions from small farmers, private sector and NGO workers, scientists and academics, and governmental representatives ...

This Forum examines the challenges that rural communities face in enhancing the benefits of mobile telephony, and looks at some examples of interesting initiatives and good outcomes from around the globe.

Here’s what some of the participants are saying:

"Today, mobile telephony is being used for providing information to the farmers on pest advisory system, branchless banking, agricultural market arrivals and prices through SMS and multimedia supported system in many Asian countries. [...] However, there is a lot more we can do in this field to improve the plight of small and marginal farmers with the help of innovative products/technologies customized for rural sector. This is an important forum where we can all discuss the challenges and strategies for the implementation of mobile telephony in rural areas." - Sapna A. Narula, Assistant Professor of the G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, India.

“The forum has provided a great opportunity to hear about creative uses for mobile phones from people across the world. From college professors in Uganda to farmers in Bangladesh, everyone is reporting that phones have indeed become a ubiquitous source of information reaching even remote rural areas. Their potential is really captured by all of the suggestions being made for their use and the participation of many field experts will likely make them happen.” - Hélène Martin, Grameen Foundation Technology Center, www.applab.org

Subject Matter experts include:
- Pete Cranston, ICT and New Media in Development Consultant;
- Laura M. Drewett, Partner Director, BusyLab Ltd.;
- Jawahar Kanjilal, Global Head of Emerging Market Services, Services & Software, Nokia;
- Christian Kreutz, Consultant, Knowledge Activist;
- AHM Sultanur Reza, Additional General Manager and Head, Community Information Center, Grameenphone Ltd.;
- Luca Servo, Communication for Development Consultant, Research and Extension Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;
- Nigel Scott, Gamos Ltd.
With Charlotte Masiello-Riome, Communications Expert and e-Agriculture.org Coordinator; and Michael Riggs, Information Management Specialist for the Asia-Pacific region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Join us in this exciting forum!
If you haven't yet registered on the e-agriculture.org platform, see: http://www.e-agriculture.org/regform.html

Go to http://www.e-agriculture.org, log in, and click on the forum section!
Any questions, please write to info(a)e-agriculture.org


The Afterlife
A couple made a deal that whoever died first would come back and inform the other of the afterlife. Their biggest fear was that there was no afterlife.
After a long life, the husband was the first to go, and true to his word he made contact.
'Mary. Mary.'
'Yes, I've come back like we agreed.'
'What's it like?'
'Well, I get up in the morning, I have sex, I have breakfast, then off to the golf course, I have sex, I bathe in the sun, and then I have sex twice.
Then I have lunch, another romp around the golf course, then sex pretty much all afternoon.
After supper, off to the golf course again.
Then have sex until late at night.
The next day it starts again.'
'Oh, Fred you surely must be in heaven.'
'Not exactly, I'm a rabbit in Yorkshire.'
Contact : Alecos TRINGIDES
E-mail: tringos(a)logos.cy.net


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