Support unit for International Fisheries

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Support unit for International Fisheries and
Aquatic Research - SIFAR- presents
oneFish one internet portal. all fisheries
research
...linking Fisheries Research and Development
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First, an introduction to why and how we arrived
at oneFish.....
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SIFARs aims are

• to foster more responsiveresearch in fisheries
  andaquatic resources
• to encourage knowledge-based decision-making
  for policy
• to stimulate holistic debate and improve
  information-sharing..

? Responsive Research for Responsible Fisheries
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an enabling environment for development
research?...
We set out to create a digital community platform
that could help realise this broad mandate.
Some background and context...
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Beginnings

• The Fisheries ProjectInformation System (FIPIS)
  - the global database for fisheries projects - is
  discontinued at FAO in 1995 due to staff overload

• SIFAR is then mandated by donors to resurrect
  FIPIS as a user-driven, Internet-based tool

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THE CHALLENGE How could SIFAR facilitate a
viable online communitywhile still enabling
powerfulproject searching and retrieval?
ONE APPROACH To see if lessons could be learned
from the newly established Internet pioneers
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We took a closer look at several of these
INTERNET PORTALS
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INTERNET PORTALS
..doorways to the internet - the first place
you go when researching a subject.

• Leading Internet Portals such as Netscape and
  Yahoo! successfully combine
• keyword searching
• categories or topics for organising information
• community-building facilities for discussion and
  collaboration.

Key features of these portals include.. ..
openness to, and participation by, many users.
BUT....
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Problems with portals... some Internet pioneers
may be washed up - victims of their own
success
Problem small paid editorial staff categorise
information precisely - but cannot keep up with
demand. It may take months to get your link
submitted. Link rot is setting in obsolete
websites are not removed from the database...
Problem a keyword search on AltaVista for
fisheries regulations returns this virtually
useless result ltltAltaVista found about 1,904,510
Web pages for yougtgt
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An alternative solution NetscapesOpen
Directory Projectwww.dmoz.org
Each category in the Open Directory is managed by
a volunteer subject specialist - an expert in
their field.
How does it work? When you submit a link to the
Netscape Open Directory, this category editor
reviews it and determines if it belongs in their
category.
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This is what it looks like
Note the category editor near the bottom of the
page...
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Advantages of Open systems
People-centred-harnesses hundreds of human
mindsto organise information that small
paideditorial staff and search engine
robotscannot possibly handle, and to filter out
irrelevant information Inclusive and
decentralised-helps create ownership amongst
users

• Interactive and participatory -fosters
  communities of subject specialists and
  enthusiasts based around topics
• Cost-effective -only the 1st and 2nd levels of
  the information pyramid need to be managed
• Scaleable -can grow to handle large quantities
  of information

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Result
This is what we were looking for. A good balance
between information management and community
participation. In collaboration with the World
Agriculture Information Centre at FAO, SIFAR
then spent just over a year developing a new
solution....
An open directory for the fisheries and aquatic
research and development community
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oneFish Home Page
Spotlight issues and Highlighted topics
Lets first take a closer look at oneFish
worldviews...
Sponsors' links
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WorldViews are top-level topics that provide a
variety of access routes to information.
Worldviews permit browsing via multiple
navigation pathways and from diverse
perspectives.
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• Worldviews include...
• SUBJECT a wide range of sub-Topics covering
  traditional, formal approaches to research, and
  informal, people-centred and participatory
  approaches
• ECOSYSTEM based on current classifications
  (ICLARM)
• GEOGRAPHY countries, regions, or zone type (e.g.
  Inland Waters)
• SPECIES Classification
• STAKEHOLDER Individual, groups, institutions or
  agencies, private or public

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• Knowledge objects
• oneFish information is stored in the form of
  multi-dimensional knowledge objects which you can
  browse either all together or separately.
• Knowledge object types include
• Books
• Contacts
• Discussions
• Documents
• Multimedia
• Projects
• Websites

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Project Information - The New FIPIS Project
records can be browsed under any topic in any
worldview. In this example, we are looking at
World Bank projects under the STAKEHOLDERgtDonor
organisationsgtWorld Bank Group Topic. Click on
any project record to see more.....
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View project information Having drilled down
to a selected Topic, you can click on any listed
project to navigate across and find detailed
information on the project key contacts the
project website other projects in that country
other projects by that donor or with a similar
theme, and so on.....
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Browse projects by country or by region You can
generate special reports for projects, viewing
these by country, sub-region or region sub-Topic
under the GEOGRAPHY worldview - here we show
Africa and her regions
The FIPIS database already contains some 8000
projects up-to-date data is needed
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or browse projects by other topics In this
example, we show a report generated for Projects
on Lakes and inland lagoons under the
ECOSYSTEMS Worldview
Adding and maintaining project records is the
same as for any other knowledge object. Project
managers may also wish to become Topic Editors
for the specific field/s covered by their own
project
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Adding Knowledge Objects... Users can submit
knowledge objects in their own specialised
subject areas, relate these to other relevant
oneFish topics and propose any new sub-topics in
which these may reside.
Submitted knowledge objects are checked by the
respective Topic Editor/s for relevance, quality
and cross referencing. It is then added or
rejected
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Adding Knowledge Objects... Example add a
project to the African inland watersgtLake
Victoria Start by ensuring you are in the
subtopic where you wish your project knowledge
object to reside...
Click on add Projects link to go the the oneFish
Add knowledge object screens...
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Adding Knowledge Objects... Step 1 requests
simple Basic information which you provide
online. Optional information provides a much
richer source of information which is more likely
to attract attention
Click on Nextgtgt to go Step 2...
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Note that you need only select the topics which
you feel are appropriate. The link to your
original topic (African inland watersgtLake
Victoria) is automatic...
Linking Knowledge Objects... In Step 2 you use
rapid selection boxes to choose from a broad
range of topics relevant to the subject coverage
of your project knowledge object
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Linking Knowledge Objects... In Step 3, you link
your project knowledge object by further
selecting from a range of oneFish subtopics. It
will then appear under all of these other
subtopics when these are viewed.
You can also directly add unique topic codes to
your knowledge object to make the operation even
faster...
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In Steps 2 and 3 every knowledge object added to
oneFish can be cross-referenced to as many topics
as necessary. This allows you to map out
horizontal relationships in powerful new ways.
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Viewing Knowledge Objects... Lets now have a
look at the oneFish Lake Victoria topic to see if
your project knowledge object has appeared.
Click on the project to check the details and
links...
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Keyword searches... Entering a search term will
return lists of projects, websites, documents,
books, discussions, contacts, and other
multimedia objects matching the search term.
Trout
Searches will be very popular, and will always
return relevant categories.
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Media Objects... oneFish allows users to submit
topic-related issues, polls, news items and
relevant calendar dates. These can be added at
any level providing clearly identifiable and
attractive subject-specific "headline" pages.
Clicking on more... will reveal full details
about each item and further contacts....
Media objects are also checked by the respective
Topic Editor/s for relevance and can be chosen
for highlights or Editors Choice on the Home Page
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Virtual Offices... oneFish allows institutions
and groups to create virtual offices within the
oneFish domain. The example here is for SIFAR.
These can be open or restricted to group member
access. They can be accessed directly from the
Home Page or by going to a special virtual office
Topic
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Virtual communities ..can be established
around any oneFish topic such as this one on
ltAfrican Great Lakesgt
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More
Virtual communities permit Events, News and
Polls which are relevant to the respective topic
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Clicking on More provides further information
and contact points for News, Events and Polls.
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Clicking on Website knowledge objects goes to the
respective linked Website
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Selecting from the Related topics window offers
a means of lateral navigation to other related
oneFish topics and virtual communities in
this case, from ltAfrican Great Lakesgt to ltLake
Tanganyikagt
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Additional Features...

• Add notes / discussion - provide your
  perspective on a document, project or any other
  object
• Content ranking - resultsare averaged. A straw
  poll for feedback on a particular piece of
  information
• Popularity - see which knowledge objects have
  been visited most
• Editors Choice - the oneFish chief editor
  selects information, events and news of
  particular relevance

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from december 2000
Thank you for watching the oneFish demo
www.onefish.org