Knowledge sharing on best practices for managing crop...
Transcript of Knowledge sharing on best practices for managing crop...
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Knowledge sharing on best practices for
managing crop genebanks
Authors: MA JORGE, G CLAESSENS, J HANSON, ME DULLOO, E GOLDBERG, I THORMANN, S ALEMAYEHU, E GACHERU, A AMRI, E BENSON,
D DUMET, N ROUX, P RUDEBJER, R SACKVILLE HAMILTON, I SANCHEZ, S SHARMA, S TABA, HD UPADHYAYA and I VAN DEN HOUWE
IAALD XIIIth World Congress, Scientific and Technical Information and Rural Development
29 April 2010
Presented by Geert Claessens
The Crop Genebank Knowledge Base (CGKB)
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Outline• Background
• Why develop CGKB?
• Approach to development
• Results
• Challenges
• Conclusions
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
1800’s: Farmers in USA growing 7100
varieties
Today: 6800 of those are extinct
Potentially lost varieties with
resistance or tolerance to
disease or stresses
Photo: www.bestliquidvitamins.com
Background
(Info from TED talk Cary Fowler)
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Background• Safeguarding the world’s crop genetic
diversity = extremely important resource to meet food production challenges
• Plant breeders & farmers use diversity directly or to develop new varieties that are resistant to stresses (pests & diseases, drought, salinity...)
• Storage rooms of this diversity = Genebanks
• First genebanks established over 50 years ago to conserve threatened crop diversity
• Lately, however, new technologies and better practices are developed for more effective and efficient conservation
Photos: CGIAR
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Background
• People looking for this information turn more and more to the internet to find information instead of using traditional sources i.e. publications, encyclopedias
• But genebank management guidelines for different crops are scarce and hard to find
• Or inaccessible in the public domain
A real need to make information on genebank practices accessible online to genebank holders
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
BackgroundSeveral online crop-related knowledge bases were developed in recent years
Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology (ISAAA)
Food Security & Agricultural Production Knowledge Forum (FAO)
Cereal Knowledge Bank on rice, maize and wheat (CIMMYT/IRRI)
None of these KB’s focuses specifically on conservation crop genetic resources
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Why develop CGKB? • A website to give access to user-
friendly and up-to-date information on germplasm management and genebank procedures
• A website that facilitates sharing of practices between genebanks
• A website that can be used as a training tool for technical staff in genebanks
Photos: CGIAR
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
• Development of the website was an initiative of the System-wide Genetic Resources Program (SGRP) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
• Part of a large 3-year project on collective action for crop genetic resources
• Project first focused on 9 crops conserved and managed by minimum 2 International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs)
Approach: Framework
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
• Contacted crop experts from genebanks worldwide to collate and develop content
• Engaged training & communication specialists as well as selected users for technical and editorial reviews
Approach: Setting up partnerships
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
• Website structure and layout were developed with the involvement of genebank experts
• 4 themes were selected to cover the content of the website
• Every theme contains a number of menus and submenus
• Names, content and layout for all menus were regularly fine-tuned and adjusted to ensure a simple and logical flow
Approach: Website structure
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Design and navigation features were fine-tuned based on feedback from user questionnaires
Approach: Website design
2008 2009 2010
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
• Contact person to keep the information updated and to respond to queries
• Key contributors
• Best practices with images, flip books, videos
• Image attributions
• References with links to full text or other websites for further reading
Common layout structure for the different pages makes it easy for the user to locate information
for the editor to add new information
Approach: General page layout
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
• CMS software that helps to organize web pages, menus as well as content such as, photos, video, documents...
• Can have multiple editors around the world (Montpellier, Rome, Addis Abeba, Mexico city)
• Joomla content management system (www.joomla.org)– Requires minimal specialized skill or
knowledge to set up and manage
– Yet great extensibility (forum, video player, forms, etc.)
– Freely available (open source)
Approach: CMSJoomla editor and admin window
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Wiki (Wikispaces) to post, edit and discuss possible content
Approach: Collaboration tools
Comments boxes
Blog (WordPress) for informal communication about work progress/activities
Form to upload contributions
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Enriched with multimedia such as
• images
• flipbooks (sequence of images to illustrate steps of a process)
• video clips
Approach: Multimedia tools
Images Flipbooks Videos
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Made use of Flickr and YouTube to facilitate downloading of
all CGKB images and videos
Approach: Multimedia tools
CGKB Flickr photostream CGKB YouTube channel
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Website traffic is monitored and recorded using Google analytics
(http://www.google.com/analytics/)
Approach: Webstats
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Results: Home page
• Information about– website and its features
– contributors
– copyright policies
– contacts for maintenance and queries
– form to upload new best practices
• Entry point to– forum
– blog
– RSS feed on genebank news (from agrifeeds.org)
– editor login
– wiki work space
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Results: Crops
• Provides crop-specific information on recommended procedures for 9 crops (initially)
• For each crop detailed information about conservation, characterization, regeneration and safety duplication
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Results: Procedures
• Describes all the genebank procedures in general (not crop specific)
• Explains why, when and how they should best be followed
• Can be printed and used as handouts for training purposes
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Results: Management strategies
Provides information/advice on management of a genebank
– Risk assessment
– Quality management
– Policies
– Safe transfer of germplasm
– Performance indicators
– ...
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Results: Learning resources• Aims to strengthen capacity of
genebank curators and technicians
• Gives teachers and learners access to a one-stop library:– Publications (training modules,
handbooks, manuals etc.)
– Multimedia (videos, slide shows, a photo database)
– Glossary and acronym list
– Relevant links to websites
• Website also available on DVD
The training component of the website was
validated in a genebank training course in Korea
Photo: CGIAR
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Challenges: Collaboration
• Multiple partners in many locations; Discussing the site structure, content and design by email with people across the globe was often difficult and complicated
• Higher transaction costs and delays than expected because of writing and reviewing the content by subject experts
Partly solved by face-to-face meetings, skype calls, workshops and genebank visits to create awareness, prompt contributions and collect visual materials and make complex or difficult decisions
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Challenges: Tools and Training
• Learning curve for editors to use the CMS
• Most collaborators were unfamiliar with web tools like wikis, blogs or
Google shared documents so these were not used as extensively or
effectively as hoped for
Training tutorials were developed to facilitate learning for editors
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Challenges: Content• Much of the content was submitted at the very end of the project
• Templates were prepared to collect structured information but needed adjustment because of different interpretations by the experts (level of depth or details, visual aids)
• Converting text-based information into meaningful web content
• Reviewing the layout of each web page for consistency was time consuming
Negotiated an extension of the project with the donor to finalize content
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Conclusions• This paper/presentation describes the process of developing a one-
stop platform about best practices on crop genebank management
• Synergies were created by many experts worldwide who gathered and transformed scattered information into knowledge about conserving crop diversity
• An interactive platform that can be expanded, updated and used by the genebank community
• Communication and collaboration mechanisms have been established to promote networking
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Conclusions
This is not the end but the beginning.
We hope the CGKB will contribute to narrowing
knowledge gaps, help to create communities of
genebank practitioners and strengthen their capacity to
be effective custodians of the world’s crop diversity for
food and agriculture in the future.
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org
Acknowledgements
World Bank for funding the development of the CGKB
Wide range of experts who spent their valuable time and
contributed significantly to improving the content, layout
and navigation of this website.
Contact email: [email protected]
Thank you