Paris, 15 June 2009
EFITA newsletter / 415 / European Federation for Information Technology in
Agriculture, Food and the Environment
This newsletter on the efita web site
See: http://www.efita.net?d=6471
Come and see the Field Robot Competition!
7 July - WAGENINGEN
See: http://www.fieldrobot.nl/
Summer University on Information Technology in Agriculture and Rural Development
26 - 27 August 2009 – DEBRECEN - Hungary
University of Debrecen and the Hungarian Association of Agricultural Informatics
(HAAI) and EFITA with other partners are organizing the Summer University
2009 on IT in Ag. and Rural Development. The purpose of the conference is
to give a forum to exchange information on education, research, applications
and developments of Information Technologies in Agriculture and Rural Development
and publish the most recent results. This forum is recommended for graduate
and PhD students and of course everybody welcome! (abstract submission deadline
30 June 2009).
See: http://odin.agr.unideb.hu/su2009/
Parallel with this event the FARMER EXPO will be held at University of Debrecen,
Centre for Agricultural Science (26-29 August 2009).
Detailed information: http://www.farmerexpo.hu/?lng=eng
Contact: Miklos HERDON
E-mail: Herdon(a)agr.unideb.hu
Czech Living Lab
The main purpose in the Czech LL is to create common technological components
which correspond with Open Service Oriented Architecture (OSOA). The target
applications are formed from collaborative tools and have the following characteristics:
- Open Web Services
- Collaborative Environment
- User involvement in the technical solution
- Re-use of existing tools, methods and technologies
- Decentralised data sources
- Open interfaces
The C@R project has developed its own bus and this has been implemented within
the Czech LL. The Czech LL has also developed a portal for all the LL members
with geospatial data sharing (based on the INSPIRE principles) which provides,
for example, mapping services for people interested in making applications
for forestry subsidies. The Czech LL is also experimenting, along with the
Frascati LL, how to access sensor data over the internet. The Czech LL has
also set up the metadata for all of its Client Component Services (CCS).
Contacts: Petr HORAK and Karel CHARVAT, Wirelessinfo
E-mail: horak(a)wirelessinfo.cz
Frascati Living Lab, Italy
The Frascati LL has concentrated mainly on two areas, firstly, business
incubation with about 150 users and secondly, precision agriculture with one
user (where the C@R bus has been implemented). A number of different tools
and services have been developed within the C@R and ECOSPACE projects. For
example, there are services based on the Basic Support for Cooperative Work
(BSCW) shared workspace platform. The services and tools cover such areas
as portal management, ideas marketplace, web services access and applications
enabling the use of GIS.
The BSCW tool fully reflects the needs for collaboration and shared workspace
concepts. It allows business workflow management, creation of documents, appointments,
contacts, tasks, notes and many other features in a shared way accessible
through a typical web browser.
Contact: Fabio Bertoldi, European Space Agency – ESRIN
E-mail: Fabio.bertoldi(a)esa.int
Rural Archipelago Living Lab (RALL), Finland
This LL is in the Aboland region of Finland and is concentrated in the
Turku Archipelago which is characterised by its remoteness and the large number
of islands. The aim has been to develop two pilot services. The first concerns
the development of an eDemocracy Toolbox (eDT) designed to involve the local
administration and citizens. The second was the development of a mobile phone
service for holiday makers to order food and other goods for their holiday
period.
The eDT contains tools for use in municipal meetings. These are evaluated
from the points of overall applicability, security, trustworthiness, ease
of use, usability and the willingness of users to select and use the tools.
A change in the law will mean that live testing of virtual meetings can be
carried out.
The mobile direct sales pilot has been seen as valuable by the micro entrepreneurs
producing local agricultural products. The experimental cycle is strongly
seasonal and gaining the involvement of tourists and travellers is also challenging.
The development of a service for purchasing local produce on a mobile device
will allow the development of other, new services for visitors and citizens,
especially in attracting new customers.
The RALL has also implemented the C@R bus.
Contact: Patrizia HONGISTO, RALL
E-mail: Patrizia.Hongisto(a)hse.fi
Homokhati Living Lab, Hungary
The Homokhati LL is situated in the southern part of Hungary where about
half of the 45,000 residents live in remote (detached) farms. The rural stakeholders
are farmers and their cooperatives and LL supports a number of collaborative
actions. There is collaborative procurement of farm inputs plus seeking offers
and marketing of produce utilising mass SMS and other services. The LL also
has a tool for crop yield predictions in greenhouses and has deployed wireless
mesh networks. Other services include collaborative logistics for truck scheduling.
The work of the Homokhati LL also supports the development of rural tourism.
Contact: Vilmos BILICKI
E-mail: bilickiv(a)inf.u-szeged.hu
Sekhukhune Rural Living Lab, South Africa
The Sekhukhune RLL supports two main spheres of activity. The first is
the development of virtual buying cooperatives using mobile technology. The
buying cooperatives are made up of the owners/managers of the chain of Spaza
shops. The second sphere of activity is rural public transport brokerage which
allows rural citizens to collaborate over the timing and availability of public
transport and to share the costs.
The applications are being built and adhere to the OSOA requirements. The
prototype services have been developed with the direct involvement of users
through such mechanisms as focus groups and end user workshops. There is lots
of interest and enthusiasm from the end users and it is hoped to attract new
interest from players that are in a position to extend the current scope of
the LL.
Contact: Christian MERZ, SAP Research
E-mail: christian.merz(a)sap.com
More information on the activities and results of the C@R project over
the next few weeks
Contact: Ian Houseman - Secretary General, EFITA
E-mail: ian.houseman(a)btconnect.com
You Gotta Love the Irish
Gallagher opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in
the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend, Finney.
"Did you see the paper?" asked Gallagher. "They say I died!!"
"Yes, I saw it!" replied Finney "Where are ye callin' from?"
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