Presentation of the pre-final version of the TAPipedia Conceptual Design Report, at the meeting of the TAP Global Task Force Meeting hosted by FAO (July 9-10, 2015). Part of the work related to the G20 initiative TAP (Tropical Agriculture Platform, http://tropagplatform.org).

1. Conceptual Design of TAPipedia
Pre-final version after feedback & comments
Nikos Manouselis, CEO Agro-Know
nikosm@agroknow.gr

2. Background

3. An extraordinary company that captures, organizes
and adds value to the rich information available in
agricultural and biodiversity sciences, in order to
make it universally accessible, useful and meaningful.
http://www.agroknow.gr

4. TAPipedia

5. TAPipedia

6. “reference work
or compendium”

7. another Wiki-pedia?

8. a repository?

9. a search engine?

10. a collaboration portal?

11. my work
• understand context of work & operation
• propose, explain, defend, adapt design
principles (the real thing)
• write a Conceptual Design report (138 pages,
OK – not carved in stone)

12. The report
(what I would like you to endorse
and pay me for)

13. ToC
I. Study Requirements
– content / user/system
II. Conceptual Design of TAPipedia
– high-level architecture
– key components + interface
wireframes
III. Knowledge Organisation
IV.Software Technology Choice

14. input on requirements
• 2012 TAP stakeholder consultation
recommendations
• Regional assessments carried out by TAP partners
• ToR on Conceptual Design by TAP Global Task Force
• Feedback on first ideas from TAP CD Expert Group
(CDEG) at Montpellier
• Feedback on initial report during Webinar of 18/6
• Open commenting period until last week

15. categories
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?”)

16. priorities from Montpellier
1. To help TAP members and local stakeholders to
discover methods & tools that will help them identify
and assess emerging capacity development needs for
AIS (inc. knowledge from other regions)
2. To help TAP members to present, explain and
communicate the framework on CD for AIS so that it
may be easily adopted & implemented
3. To help local stakeholders share their own applied
and context-specific AIS knowledge that addresses
the needs of their stakeholders

17. design principles
1. “Standing on the shoulders of giants”
– take advantage of what TAP partners are doing
(and/or paying for)
– map, enhance discoverability, link resources to
each other
2. Open, modular architecture
– built to collaborate & inter-operate
– easy to plug content+services in (and out),
extend and expand

18. 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

19. Positioning & links to other platforms

20. recommending
(agri)Drupal
• avoid going for developing TAPipedia using
different software systems
– rather focus on one core software platform for
core knowledge management
– take advantage of existing, working platforms
• select a popular and well-supported system
that can provide most of the required
functionalities, using existing open source
modules

21. Proposed implementation steps
A first prioritisation, for discussion

22. Phase I: autumn’15
• set up TAPipedia index & carry out mapping of
TAP partner resources [Sept’15]
• develop Knowledge Sharing services to help
manage & curate TAP partner contributions
[Oct’15]
• develop Knowledge Repository & initial version
of Knowledge Discovery service [Nov’15]
• revamp TAP web site, include deployed
components, launch TAPipedia alpha [Dec’15]

23. Phase II: spring’16
• deploy Knowledge Authoring services to support
online presentation of CD for AIS framework
[Feb’15]
• transfer operationalised forms of framework
into their online formats, develop Analytics
Dashboard [March’15]
• integrate into deployed components, develop
additional language versions, launch TAPipedia
beta [April’15]
• testing & documentation period; operational
launch [June’16]

24. To discuss further

25. (my) Points to consider
1. Positioning TAPipedia
2. Making TAP partner activities visible
through TAPipedia
3. Running TAPipedia

26. 1. Positioning
• Not as a competitive IT platform to existing
ones, but as an open platform that may
catalogue & syndicate content
• Using existing systems for parts of the job
that are marginally in scope or that have high
cold-start & maintenance cost
– e.g. community platform, online marketplace?

27. 2. Visible TAP partners
• Cataloguing & pointing to CD for AIS
interventions, resources, case studies that
partners want to showcase
• Carrying out an online mapping of relevant
resources & interventions
– Call to Action to TAP Partners

28. Running TAPipedia
• Expected to need a number of teams to operate
activities around TAPipedia
– Editorial Team, Online Framework Authoring Team
(incl. local teams), Online Community Facilitators
• Tasks & workflow of TAP secretariat; support &
engagement of TAP members

29. …more?

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