http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org knowledge sharing on best practices for managing crop genebanks...

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)


Outline• Background

• Why develop CGKB?

• Approach to development• Results• Challenges • Conclusions


1800’s: Farmers in USA growing 7100 varieties

Today: 6800 of those are extinct

Lost varieties with potential resistance or tolerance to diseases or stresses?

Photo: www.bestliquidvitamins.com

Background

(Info from TED talk Cary Fowler)


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


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


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


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: CGIARPhotos: CGIAR


• 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


• 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


• 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


Design and navigation features were fine-tuned based on feedback from user questionnaires

Approach: Website design

2008 2009 2010


• 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


• 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


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


Enriched with multimedia such as• images• flipbooks (sequence of images to illustrate steps of a process)• video clips

Approach: Multimedia tools

Images Flipbooks Videos


Made use of Flickr and YouTube to facilitate downloading of all CGKB images and videos

Approach: Multimedia tools

CGKB Flickr photostream CGKB YouTube channel


Website traffic is monitored and recorded using Google analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/)

Approach: Webstats


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


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


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


Results: Management strategies

Provides information/advice on management of a genebank

– Risk assessment– Quality management– Policies– Safe transfer of germplasm– Performance indicators– ...


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: CGIARPhoto: CGIAR


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


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


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


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


ConclusionsThis 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.


AcknowledgementsAcknowledgementsWorld 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 youThank you

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