Paris, 11 October 2010
EFITA newsletter / 482 - European Federation for Information Technology in
Agriculture, Food and the Environment
To read this newsletter
on the efita.net web site...
See: http://www.efita.net?d=6805
Efita newsletter
Whenever I open your e-mail, I find a lot of interesting information and
a good joke. Well done! Best regards,
Contact: Vlasta KNAPIČ
E-mail: furs.mkgp(a)gov.si
My answer (GW): Thank you for your message! Do not hesitate to send me news
that may be of interest for our community.
International conference GeoFARMatics 2010 (See you in Cologne!)
24 November (14h) - 26 November (14h) - COLOGNE (DE)
The EU-funded projects FutureFarm (www.futurefarm.eu)
and agriXchange (www.agrixchange.eu)
as well as the CAPIGI-network (www.capigi.eu) organise a joint conference from
24th until 26th November 2010 in Cologne (Germany).
This public conference provides a unique opportunity to discuss the emerging
ICT and geo-information business in agriculture.
See: http://www.geofarmatics2010.org/
Contact: Guy WAKSMAN
E-mail: waksman(a)acta.asso.fr
e-Conference on Learning Repositories in Agriculture Food & Environment:
Quality Promises & Considerations in Learning Repositories and Portals
6 - 20 October 2010, e-Agriculture Platform (http://www.e-agriculture.org)
>>> Background
Learning portals and repositories that make learning content available on
various topics, have increased exponentially during the last few years. Digital
learning resources, addressing the needs of various types of learners reach
a worldwide audience with minimum effort through portals dedicated to specific
topics.
In the broader spectrum of topics related to Agriculture, Food & Environment,
various institutions have developed learning repositories and portals that
provide access to a vast number of resources, giving ground to new research
& practice directions regarding their management in repositories and portals.
One focal point of interest for all involved stakeholders (course creators,
repository & portal owners and users) is quality and its various aspects
and dimensions. The relevant discussion covers topics such as the learning
content, the process of creating/organizing new content as well as the usage
of the portals from the actual users of the
resources.
>>> Aims
To this end, it is necessary for all stakeholders that are involved in the
development and operation of repositories and portals on Agriculture, Food
& Environment to discuss on issues regarding quality and share guidance,
standards, technologies, tools,recommendations, and good practices for:
- Building quality into the creation process of Learning Resources;
- Creating processes & tools to ensure quality in the resource annotation,
curation & preservation life cycles;
- Setting up quality processes on a repository level;
- Defining quality criteria and processes on a web portal level;
- Assessing the quality of Learning Resources;
- Taking advantage of users' feedback as a component of the quality status
of either a repository or a portal
The aim of the e-Conference on "Learning Repositories in Agriculture
Food & Environment: Quality Promises & Considerations in Learning
Repositories and Portals" (AgLR 2010, http://www.e-agriculture.org/18.html?&no_cache=1)
is to initiate the dialogue that will hopefully contribute to the creation
of a common understanding of the quality considerations for all the stakeholders
of repositories and portals on environmental issues. It will be launched on
October 6th and end on October 20th.
The e-Conference is the second of a series of events that started two years
ago, with AgLR 2008 e-Conference (http://aglr.aua.gr/node/24) and are supported and promoted
by the Agricultural Learning Repositories Task Force (AgLR-TF, http://aglr.aua.gr).
>>> Agenda
The following agenda will be used to facilitate the discussions during the
AgLR 2010 e-Conference.
* Introduction -- 1-5 October 2010: Preparation, participants' registration
at e-Agriculture.org
* Phase 1 - 6-13 October 2010: Quality considerations for the Learning Resource
creation process
# Topic 1 - Learning resources creation: What constitutes a quality learning
resource?
# Topic 2 - Providing quality metadata: Is the gain worth the effort?
* Phase 2 - 14-20 October 2010: Building quality into repositories and portals
# Topic 1 - Populating a repository with resources and metadata: The quality
versus quantity dilemma
# Topic 2 - Managing a portal with thousands of resources and users: Are communities
"attracted" to quality, like bees to honey?
Each session will have a Subject Matter expert serving as a facilitator,
who will pose a number of open questions and ask all participants for their
opinions. At the end of each session, the facilitator will collect and report
an integration of the feedback from all participants in a short report that
will document the major ideas and contributions from the posts' exchange.
In addition, recognised experts will be invited to give short keynote Speeches
on each session topics. These speeches will be recorded and made available
online before the start of each session.
>>> How to participate?
The e-Conference is open to all interested members of the wider community
of stakeholders that work or are interested in repositories and portals in
Agriculture, Food & Environment. It will take place through the e-Agriculture
platform (http://www.e-agriculture.org) where all participants are kindly
asked to register.
See: http://www.grnet.gr
Contact: Nikos PALAVITSINIS
E-mail: palavitsinis(a)grnet.gr
What’s new, what’s next in dynamic system modelling in agronomy (Paris,
27 September 2010)
All the presentations are available.
See: http://www.modelia.org/moodle/course/view.php?id=45
Contact : François BRUN
Mél : fbrun(a)toulouse.inra.fr
Rural value-added services in India present a revenue opportunity
of USD835 million in 2014, says Analysys Mason
New Delhi, India, 4 October 2010 – Value-added services for subscribers in
India’s rural areas present a revenue opportunity of USD835 million for service
providers in 2014, according to the latest report from global telecoms, media
and IT adviser Analysys Mason (www.analysysmason.com).
The mobile subscriber base has increased significantly in rural India in the
past few years. However, the usage remains voice-focused, resulting in a poor
business case for operators. Mobile subscribers in rural India contributed
to 42% of net mobile subscriber additions in India in FY2010 (April 2009 to
March 2010).
“The addressable market for rural value-added services is as high as 70% of
households in India,” says Sourabh Kaushal, Principal Consultant at Analysys
Mason and author of the Overview
of rural value-added services in India.
“However, adoption of these services remains low because of limited service
awareness and operators’ focus on entertainment value-added services, which
are of low utility and are available through alternative channels. Operators
can address these issues by offering livelihood enhancement services in local
languages, enabling easy service discovery (similar to one-key access to GPRS)
and providing content customised to the needs of the rural population.”
Value-added services that address the livelihood and business needs of rural
subscribers, such as healthcare and agriculture, have the potential to increase
revenue from these subscribers. Such services would have a direct impact on
the livelihood of rural households by providing them with relevant information
and offering incremental earning opportunities. These services also offer
better margins for service providers because of their large revenue potential
and low opex.
“Agriculture, for example, is relied upon by 75% of the rural population in
India,” says Kaushal, who also leads Analysys Mason’s India
Value-Added Services research programme. “It is estimated that the benefits
of accurate and timely information related to commodity prices, farming techniques
and weather have led to farmers making additional profits ranging from USD100
to USD4000 per harvest”
See: http://www.analysysmason.com/Research/Content/Viewpoints/RDIH0_Rural_VAS_India_Sept2010/
Old man
After his exam, the doctor said to the elderly man, "You appear to
be in Good health... Do you have any medical concerns you would like to ask
me about?"
"In fact, I do," said the old man. "After I have s_x with my
wife, I am usually cold and chilly. And then, after I have s_x with her the
second time, I am usually hot and sweaty."
After examining his elderly wife, the doctor said to her, "Your husband
had an unusual concern. He claims that he is usually cold and chilly after
having s_x with you the first time, and then hot and sweaty after the second
time. Do you know why?"
"Oh, that crazy old fart!' she replied: "That's because the first
time is usually in January, and the second time is in August."
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