Conceptual Design of TAPipedia

Conceptual Design of TAPipediaIntroducing initial version for public feedback & comments

Nikos Manouselis, CEO [email protected]

Tropical Agriculture Platform

Facilitating Capacity Development (CD) for Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) in

the tropics – a G20 initiative

• > 40 Partners• Target Groups involve policymakers,

institutions, the private sector and civil society active in agricultural innovation well as relevant development agencies, fora, etc.

• Operational framework– Charter, General Assembly, Steering

Committee, Global Task • Inception Phase incl. regional needs

assessments and action plan development• Implementation of TAP Action Plan

supported by EC funded CDAIS project, implemented jointly by FAO and Agrinatura from 2015 to 2018 with global and CD for AIS activities in 8 countries

Background information

How can TAP make a difference?

TAP wants to address the problems at stake by providing greater coherence of CD initiatives. It is facilitating mechanism that will build on and complement existing mechanisms and advocate and support sound CD for AIS.

Common CD solutions and

knowledge sharing between

stakeholders

Partnerships and shared

understanding

More coherent interventions aligned with

national needs

National leadership

and ownership

CD solutions at scale with

higher impacts & lower costs

Common Capacity Development Framework

TAPipedia design webinar

I. Requirements– content / user/system

II. Conceptual Design– high-level architecture– key components + interface wireframes

III. Software Technology Choice

I. Requirements

scope: analysing important requirements about TAPipedia that have informed this

conceptual design report

Inputs

• 2012 TAP stakeholder consultation recommendations

• Regional assessments carried out by regional TAP partners

• Terms of Reference (ToR) on Conceptual Design by TAP Global Task Force

• Feedback on first ideas from TAP CD Expert Group (CDEG) at March’15 meeting

Main types of requirements

a) user requirements (“Which stakeholders & roles should be the primary audiences of TAPipedia?”)

b) content requirements (“What information should TAPipedia include?”)

c) system requirements (“Which key services & functionalities should the TAPipedia software provide?”)

a) User requirements for TAPipedia

Requirement name Type Importance/RelevanceGlobal info system focal point User Prioritize

National focal points & Organizational focal points

User Prioritize

Rural extension and advisory services, development agencies, training centers

User Prioritize

Agricultural value chain actors & organizations (agribusinesses, consumers, producers)

User Keep - low priority

Research organizations & universities User Merge & Prioritize

b) Content requirements for TAPipedia

Requirement name Type Importance/Relevance

Inventories of focal points of CD organizations, CD programs and projects & meta inventory of technologies

Content Prioritize

Fellowships and scholarships available for CD stakeholders & opportunities for MSc and PhD research

Content Keep - low priority

Lessons learned and good practices; Advocacy and case studies, Capacity Development; Innovation Systems; Knowledge Management; Learning and Facilitation; Monitoring and Evaluation

Content Prioritize

c) System requirements for TAPipedia

Requirement name Type Importance/Relevance

Sharing updates through RSS feeds System Prioritize

WikiTAP; knowledge management systems;e-Forum Platform; e-Learning platform; Multi-media TAP 2.0; OER Repository

System Prioritize

Online & offline functionalities System Keep - low priority

Option for registered users System Prioritize

New ICT tools (Web 2.0, social networking sites)

System Prioritize

Hybrid tools (integration of mobile SMSs, video and audio with KMSs and social networking sites)

System Keep - low priority

Interoperability with existing agricultural extension systems and other platforms used by stakeholders

System Prioritize

II. Conceptual Design

scope: describing the high-level architecture & key software components

that the TAPipedia platform should include to support core functions

high level technical architecture

Regional/local knowledge sources

TAPipedia index

Regional, local & other knowledge sources & collections on CD for AIS

Regional/local knowledge sources

TAPipedia indexRegional/local

knowledge sources

TAPipedia index

Knowledge sharing services

Knowledge discovery services Knowledge authoring services

Knowledge repository Analytics dashboard

Key TAPipedia components

1. TAPipedia knowledge services (repository, discovery, sharing, co-creation/authoring)

2. TAPipedia interactive, user-friendly CD on AIS framework presentation

3. TAPipedia usage & analytics dashboard4. TAPipedia community & collaboration

(recommended as separate platform)

1) TAPipedia knowledge services

• supporting and providing all services related to knowledge organization, management, sharing, discovery & co-creation– repository (storing and/or cataloguing all relevant

knowledge resources related to the CD for AIS framework)– authoring & co-creation (collaborative editing of CD for AIS

framework and its localized versions, as a shared knowledge resource)

– sharing (mapping stakeholders, initiatives & knowledge resources across TAP network)

– discovery (search for relevant information within TAPipedia and across TAP network)

2) TAPipedia interactive framework

• presentation of CD for AIS framework and its supportive knowledge resources to users, in a graphical, interactive and dynamic way– interactive, intuitive & action-oriented interface– linking user interface modalities with dynamically

updated knowledge resources in repository– use responsive web interfaces to support adaptation

user devices (such as smartphones, tablets)

3. TAPipedia usage & analytics dashboard

• logging and collecting information on the way users access, search into, and view the various components and knowledge resources of TAPipedia– search queries & navigation clicks indicating what users are

looking for– knowledge resources users view, download, share & comment

upon, indicating interest– statistics on sources, topics, formats, types of knowledge

resources to indicate gaps– analytics dashboard with user-friendly visualisations

4) TAPipedia community & collaboration

• supporting community engagement, communication between people from different parts of the world, discussions on various topics of relevance to CD for AIS, provision of feedback to TAP activities, e-consultation on topics of relevance– discussion forum with multiple topics of interest– user registration, profile management, personal & institutional

interests related to CD for AIS– synchronous & asynchronous collaboration functions– allowing community members to create own space

Positioning & links to other platforms

e.g. GIZ

Variouscommunity & collaboration platforms

TAPipedia index

e.g. CG centers e.g. AGRIS, AGRICOLA

Various marketplace platforms

…

III. Software Choice

scope: reviewing software platform choices & recommending suitable

one for TAPipedia

Software platform options• Web content management systems: (e.g. Drupal,

Joomla, Wordpress…)• Content repository systems: (DSpace, Drupal, Fedora,

ePrints…)• Wiki platforms: (MediaWiki, DokuWiki, TWiki)• Collaboration platforms: (e.g. Drupal file sharing

modules, Alfresco, eGroupware)• Usage & analytics platforms: (e.g. Google Analytics,

Kibana, Piwik, Open Web Analytics, …)• Content searching engine (Apache Solr, elasticsearch)• Linked data publishing (Virtuoso, AlegroGraph, 4store)

Software choice recommendations

• select a popular and well-supported web CMS that can provide most of the required functionalities, using existing open source modules

• avoid going for several different software systems, unless existing, proven services are already there– use different software components that are well

integrated e.g. Drupal with Apache Solr

Why (agri)Drupal (1/3)?

• already in use by a global community– agriDrupal partners: GFAR, CONDESAN & UN FAO– large Drupal community of developers & users (> 780K active members)– specific FAO AIMS community:

http://aims.fao.org/community/group/agridrupal • agriDrupal contains necessary content types, taxonomies & views

to manage a web-based information system– Supports various metadata standards– Supports AGROVOC out of the box

• appropriate for management of various content types in one website– including a document repository

Why (agri)Drupal (2/3)?

• agriDrupal uses existing standards• metadata standards: DC, AGRIS AP, basic RSS

extended with AgEvent AP and AgJob AP & FOAF• FOAF and LODE-BD recommended properties (DC,

BIBO) are used in the RDF store• enhanced content retrieval options

• by subject/title/author/journal/conference, or search through advanced search

• enhanced multilinguality support• add remove user interface languages & easily add new

translations

Why (agri)Drupal (3/3)?

• enhanced interoperability options• OAI-PMH: Dublin Core & AGRIS AP metadata• Extended RSS feeds, both 1.0 (RDF) and 2.0

• additional features:• versioning (native) & access rights configuration• analytics through native option & extended through

plugins / Google Analytics• import functionalities (RSS for AgEvent AP &AgJob

AP for vacancies; AGRIS AP XML for docs); additional importers can be built

Wrapping Up

Next steps• Initial version of TAPipedia Conceptual Design Report

circulated for review & feedback to CDEG within next 8 days– Non-CDEG members that wish to comment, should provide their

email address; comments until Sunday June 28th

• Revised version will be presented at the TAP Global Task Force (GTF) meeting on July 9th-10th – Feedback from TAP GTF will be incorporated in Final version of

TAPipedia Conceptual Design (by July 15th)

• Final version will guide TAPipedia implementation until end of 2015

Feedback needed

1. Do you have feedback on the overall design & high level architecture of TAPipedia?

2. Do you have specific comments or suggestions for the key TAPipedia components?

3. Do you have specific comments or suggestions on the choice of the software platform?

4. Other comments

Thank you!

[email protected]://www.agroknow.gr