Dear Colleagues:

This e-mail was recently sent to ICASA for sharing among ICASA members or DSSAT users. If you are interested in the issue of data sharing, please access the web site below. Please do NOT send a response to the DSSAT or ICASA listserver.

Thank you,

Gerrit


*Subject:  E-Consultation:"Building the CIARD Framework for Data and Information Sharing*

Dear Colleagues:

In 2011, The Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD:http://www.ciard.net) is addressing the topic of sharing and interoperability of data and information for agricultural research for development.

There will be an international Expert Consultation in Beijing from 20 to 23 June 2011 with the title "Building the CIARD Framework for Data and Information Sharing".

An electronic consultation will be held from 4 to 15 April on the e-Agriculture platform (www.e-agriculture.org) with the same title, in preparation for the Beijing workshop. Both events will be conducted in English. The e-Consultation will address the following questions:

- What are we sharing and what needs to be shared?
- What are the prospects for interoperability in the future?
- What are the emerging tools, standards and infrastructures?
- What actions should now be facilitated by the CIARD Task Forces?

The attached background document (in English) explains some of the issues behind the questions and provides some material for discussion. Experts in various aspects of this field are acting as resource persons and contributing their observations to the discussions in the e-Consultation.

We encourage ICASA to participate and contribute from its own experience and expertise in DSSAT. We also request that ICASA gives wide publicity to the e-Consultation among its partners and invite their participation.

.The e-Consultation will be held on the a-Agriculture platform from 4 to 15 April 2011 athttp://www.e-agriculture.org
.The e-Consultation is hosted by CIARD. For more information on CIARD visithttp://www.ciard.net
.For specific queries on the e-Consultation and the International Expert Consultation, please contact: Ms. Bi Jieying ([log in to unmask])

Active participants in the e-Consultation will be invited by GFAR to present their views at the International Expert Consultation in Beijing in June 2011.


Ajit Maru

Senior Knowledge Officer
Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) Secretariat OEKD, FAO, Rome, Italy

Address:

B 648,OEKD, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00153, Rome, Italy

Phone: 39-06-57054022
Fax: 39-06-57053898

e-mail:[log in to unmask]


--

Gerrit Hoogenboom
Director, AgWeatherNet, and
Professor of Agrometeorology

Washington State University
24106 North Bunn Road
Prosser, Washington  99350-8694, USA
1-509-786-9371; Fax: 1-509-786-9370
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www.weather.wsu.edu