This document proposes a project to promote linked open data in agriculture and nutrition. It would support 20-30 data providers to adopt interoperability standards and share information through common technologies and directories. The project has three workstreams: 1) establishing reference infrastructure of standards and directories; 2) developing an open technology architecture; and 3) building capacity through mentoring and competitive grants. A lead organization would manage the effort and subcontract core partners to implement workstreams. Monitoring and evaluation would assess the impact of making data more open and linked. The total estimated cost is $8.5 million over 3-4 years.

1. Enabling Global Solutions for
Agricultural and Nutrition
Challenges through Linked
Open Data
Presented by
Chris Kollen and Barb Hutchinson, University of Arizona Libraries

2. Agenda
 Introduction
 Opportunity and Need
 Importance of Linked Open Data (LOD)
 Preparation of LOD Concept Note
 Needs to be Addressed and Objectives for Proposed
Project

3. Introduction
 Availability and access to good quality data is key for development
research, especially in knowledge-intensive areas such as agriculture and
nutrition
 Wide array of development partners are aware and interested in the need
to improve information management by opening up data
 Number of key stakeholders have started to make their data repositories
accessible and advocating for others to build the capacities
 Coherence in Information for Agriculture Research for Development
(CIARD), founded in 2008, is a leader in opening access to agriculture-
related knowledge and building capacities
 Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) Initiative, founded
in 2013, addresses policy engagement and advocacy in the global debate
on open data, and expand network of partners focusing on the private
sector
 Both groups have similar interests – how can they work together?

4. GODAN and CIARD Consultative Conference
 GODAN and CIARD held joint 3 day consultancy in Rome (April 2014) with
72 participants from a wide range of groups
 Goals
 Determine areas of shared interest, opportunities for collaboration, and overlap
between
 Consensus on GODAN Secretariat structure
 Facilitate advocacy, networking, collaboration, and coordination on projects
 Identify key constraints use of open data
 Establish a broad framework for GODAN Strategic Advocacy Plan
 Discussions ranged from high level funding and policy issues to more
practical advocacy and technical issues
 Current efforts in open data were also presented

5. Opportunity and Need
Points from Dr. Catherine Woteki, USDA
 Promise of open data for agriculture and nutrition
 GODAN and CIARD have similar goals. Alliance is desirable, but ...
 GODAN likely be a 3-5 year initiative
 CIARD is long-term
 Limited political window to advance open data at a high level, limited time
for payoff (uncertain future of GODAN after President Obama leaves office)
 Need to identify resources and potential funders; gain more support among
G20 members

6. Next Steps from Conference
 Establish working groups – collaborative activities
 Proposed North American Working Group; proposed facilitators include Luz
Marina Alvare (International Food Policy Research Institute), Mary Ochs (Cornell
University), and Barb Hutchinson (University of Arizona)
 Organize public GODAN event
 Prepare concept paper on Linked Open Data Infrastructure for Agricultural
Development with focus on advocacy, technology, technical standards,
and partnerships with information providers in developing countries

7. Importance of Open and Linked Data
 Open data moves to linked open data where data is linked to other data to provide
context (enrich, connect, and link)
 Need for adherence to common standards that support data interoperability
Fig. 1 Berners-Lee 5 star model for Linked Open Data
Information is available on the Web (any format) under an open license
Information is available as structured data (e.g. Excel instead of an image scan of a table)
Non-proprietary formats are used (e.g. CSV instead of Excel)
URI identification is used so that people can point at individual data
Data is linked to other data to provide context
 Linked open data can provide
 Mechanisms to facilitate new solutions for information management and integration
 New knowledge discovery and innovation for better decision-making

8. Need and Opportunity to Work
Together on LOD
 Information Service Providers (ISPs) recognize a need and opportunity to work
together on linked open data with other partners in the north and south in the
following three main areas:
 Standards and Directories
 Technology
 Capacity Development
In a process of mutual learning as to how LOD practice can benefit information
providers and users at all capacity levels

9. Participants in Development of
Concept Note
The following ISPs play important roles as global sources of development
information in their respective domains. Participants in the development of the
concept paper were from the following organizations:
 Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)of the UN
 CABI
 Institute of Development Studies
 Land Portal
 The Rangelands Partnership/Global Rangelands

10. Project Goal
 Support 20-30 data providers and aggregators in agriculture and nutrition
to become enablers of an information ecology in which the sharing and
reuse of information from developing and developed countries becomes
the norm
 Project will initiate a collaboration that will create infrastructures allowing
people around the world to access, share, and re-use data through
common standards and appropriate technologies
 Key components of the proposed project include the following
workstreams:
 Inception phase
 Reference infrastructure
 Technology
 Capacity development

11. Project workstream: Inception phase
Three to six month inception phase
 Finalize plans for project
 Build relationships with consortium members and core partners
 Develop shared understanding and ownership of project
 Assess how LOD could be put to use to address specific user needs
Also involve external communication to raise awareness of the LOD initiative

12. Project workstream 1: Reference infrastructure
 Establish a set of agreed upon interoperability standards for opening access to
agricultural information and data and for making connections between distributed
datasets
 Establish a set of Global Directory services so that whatever is collected or created
in the project is discoverable by all potential users
 Provide a set of methodologies and guidelines on the use of standards and
reference services

13. Project workstream 2: Technology
 Project management ISPs will establish an open technology architecture for
broad use both among themselves and for others, drawing on systems and
software already available and developed where possible
 The open architecture will support technologies that will make information
originating in both developing and developed counties available globally
in a LOD ecosystem

14. Project workstream 3: Capacity development
 Critical attention will be directed to developing the capacity of the agriculture
and nutrition sector to effectively produce and use LOD
 Mentoring opportunities will support an additional 20-30 southern and northern
information providers interested in understanding linked data basics and
building practical linked data models
 The collaboration will be expanded through an open competitive call as well
as drawing on existing networks of Core Partners

15. Project Team
 A lead organization (to be determined) for the project will manage the
effort and be responsible for ensuring the Core Partners meet deadlines,
conduct timely assessments, are accountable for continuing progress,
maintain ongoing evaluation, and report results as required by the funding
agency(ies)
 The lead organization will sub-contract with other Core Partners to
implement workstreams 1 and 2 (reference infrastructure and technology)
 Core Partners, as appropriate for regional coverage, will also work with
associated partners targeted for capacity building in workstream 3 and
provide sub-grants for these additional partners to take part

16. Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, Impact
Monitoring and evaluation to test out the assumption that LOD leads to positive
impacts will be essential components of the project
 Embed an action research methodology to analyse use cases and ensure
learning about what has worked and what has not.
 Plan to set up a learning and monitoring environment that emphasizes “learning
by doing” to help design smarter services and understand user experiences better
 Demonstrate and document how opening up knowledge can make a difference
in development planning and implementation

17. Communications Strategy
 3-4 year project is expected to cost approximately 8.5 million U.S. dollars
Financial Support Requested
 Develop strategy to identify who in the broader agriculture, nutrition and
open data sectors to engage with throughout the project
 Use social media, online communities (e.g. the global AIMS community of
practice) and information sharing mechanisms (e.g. video, webinars,
websites)

18. Questions?
Is there an opportunity for GODAN/CIARD to work with
RDA IG in Agriculture on data interoperability?