Slides of the AIMS webinar on the Conceptual Design of TAPipedia, introducing initial version of the Design for public feedback & comments. http://aims.fao.org/activity/blog/new-webinarsaims%E2%80%9Cdesigning-tapipedia-information-sharing-platform-capacity-development

1. Conceptual Design of TAPipedia
Introducing initial version for public feedback &
comments
Nikos Manouselis, CEO Agro-Know
nikosm@agroknow.gr

2. Tropical Agriculture Platform
Facilitating Capacity Development (CD) for
Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) in the
tropics – a G20 initiative

3. • > 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

4. 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

5. Common Capacity
Development Framework

6. TAPipedia design
webinar
I. Requirements
– content / user/system
II. Conceptual Design
– high-level architecture
– key components + interface wireframes
III. Software Technology Choice

7. I. Requirements
scope: analysing important
requirements about TAPipedia that
have informed this conceptual design
report

8. 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

9. 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?”)

10. a) User requirements for
TAPipedia
Requirement name Type Importance/Relevance
Global 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. II. Conceptual Design
scope: describing the high-level
architecture & key software components
that the TAPipedia platform should include
to support core functions

14. 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 index
Regional/local
knowledge sources
TAPipedia index
Knowledge sharing services
Knowledge discovery services Knowledge authoring services
Knowledge repository Analytics dashboard

15. 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 dashboard
4. TAPipedia community & collaboration
(recommended as separate platform)

16. 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)

17. 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)

18. 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

19. 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

20. Positioning & links to other platforms

21. III. Software Choice
scope: reviewing software platform
choices & recommending suitable
one for TAPipedia

22. 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)

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. Wrapping Up

28. 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

29. 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

30. Thank you!
nikosm@agroknow.gr
http://www.agroknow.gr