Agricultural Telecommunications 2001
Full Proposal 5.7 / 20538

Project Summary:

Title of Project:	Using Advanced Internet Technology to Promote Soil Health Information Exchange
Project Director:	Professor Phil Arneson
Applicant Organization:	Cornell University

Summary:

Market forces and environmental concerns are increasing demand in the US for information on organic agriculture and related "soil health" issues by growers, extension personnel and researchers. The Tropical Soil Cover and Organic Resource Exchange (TropSCORE) Consortium and Mann Library at Cornell University are developing an Internet portal for tropical soil management. The portal uses Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC) software that allows all AgNIC partner sites--including US land-grant universities and the National Agriculture Library--to function as one comprehensive portal for agriculture-based Internet resources. MOIST/CIIFAD, a Cornell-based TropSCORE member, proposes to expand this site to: 1) include US-based research and training materials; 2) link researchers in tropical and temperate zones through interactive discussion features; and 3) develop on-line learning modules keyed to discussions occuring on English, Spanish and French listservs managed by TropSCORE members. Mann Library will adapt software to provide XML-based search functions and access to topic-specific, electronic discussions in several languages; translated summaries of traffic will bridge the language gap. The new Global Soil Health Gateway will provide links to both TropSCORE and AgNIC partner sites worldwide. To reach a broader audience, important information from the Gateway will also be posted in selected hardcopy agricultural newsletters.

Authorized Organizational Representative:

Name:	Linda Brainard
Email:	lms16@cornell.edu
Phone Number:	(607) 255-7123
FAX Number:	(607) 255-5058
Address:	Office of Sponsored Programs, 123 Day Hall
	Ithaca, NY   14853

IRS Number:	15-0532082
Congressional District Number:	26
Period of Proposed Project Dates:	09/01/2001 to 08/31/2002

Principal Investigator/Project Director #1:

Name:	Phil A. Arneson
Email:	paa3@cornell.edu
Phone Number:	(607) 255-7871
FAX Number:	(607) 255-4471
Address:	Department of Plant Pathology Cornell University
	Ithaca, NY   14853

Curriculum Vitae:

Phil A. Arneson

Department of Plant Pathology
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Telephone: (607) 255-7871
Facsimile: (607) 255-4471 E-mail: paa3@cornell.edu

Date and Place of birth: May 17,1940
Fergus Falls, Minnesota, U. S. A.

Education: Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, 1958-1962, B.A. in biology

University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1962-1967, Ph.D. in plant pathology

Employment:
Research Assistant, University of Wisconsin, 1962-1967
Research Plant Pathologist, United Fruit Co., La Lima, Honduras, 1967-1970
Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, 1970-1976
Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, 1976-present

Current appointment: 80 percent teaching, 15 percent administration, 5 percent extension

Teaching: Agriculture and Life Sciences 480, "Global Seminar: Sustainability of Environment and Food Systems," 1-3 credits, every spring semester, 1998-present (with H. D. Sutphin)

Plant Pathology 101, "Pests, Pesticides, People, and Politics," 3 credits, every fall semester, 1994-present

Plant Pathology 241, "Plant Diseases and Disease Management," 4 credits, spring semester, 1995-1996

Plant Pathology 402, "Plant Disease Control," 3 credits every spring semester, 1979-1994

Entomology/Plant Pathology 444, "Integrated Pest Management," 4 credits, alternate fall semesters, 1977-present (with J. E. Losey)

Plant Pathology 651, "Diseases of Fruit Trees," 1 credit, every semester, 1979-1992

Plant Pathology 642, "Plant Disease Epidemiology," 1 credit, every semester, 1980-1987 (with W. E. Fry)

Plant Pathology 644, "Ecology of Soilborne Plant Pathogens," 1 credit, every semester, 1985-1987

Plant Pathology 655, "Integrated Pest Management in Tropical Agriculture," 1 credit, every spring semester, 1999-present

International Agriculture 402, "Agriculture in the Developing Nations I," 2 credits, every fall semester, 1998-present

International Agriculture 602, "Agriculture in the Developing Nations II," 3 credits, every spring semester 1999-present

International Agriculture 694, "Graduate Special Topics in International Agriculture," 1 credit, fall semester, 2000-present

Short course (10 lectures, 10 labs), "Principios para Modelar Sistemas de Manejo Integrado de Plagas," 1988, 1993, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Turrialba, Costa Rica; 1989, 1991, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Chapingo, México.

Short course (4 lectures, 4 labs), "Sistemas de Predicción para el Manejo de Enfermedades," 1992, Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Saltillo, México; 1993, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Turrialba, Costa Rica.

Extension:
Fruit Crops Extension Specialist, 1970-1976
Integrated pest management, 1980-present

Research:
Soil-borne pathogens of fruit trees, 1970-1980
Vegetable pest management, computer simulation of bean root rots, 1980-1984
Computer simulation of selection of fungicide resistance, 1984-1990
Computer simulation of black Sigatoka on plantain, 1988-1991
Computer simulation of potato late blight, 1991-1992

Administration:
Coordinator, Cornell/Zamorano Joint Master of Professional Studies Program in Tropical Agriculture, 1991-present
Project Director, USAID University Development Linkages Project, "Pilot Program to Establish a joint Cornell University/Escuela Agrícola Panamericana Master of Professional Studies Program", 1993-1998

Publications:
Arneson, P. A. 2000. Coffee Rust, Plant Disease Lessons. APSnet Education Center. American Phytopathological Society. <http://www.apsnet.org/education/LessonsPlantPath/Coffeerust/Top.htm>

Arneson, P. A. 1998. On-Line Glossary of Technical Terms in Plant Pathology. <http://arneson.cornell.edu/Glossary/Glossary.htm>

Arneson, P. A. 1998. The Sterile Insect Release Method-A Simulation Exercise. Radcliffs IPM World Textbook. <http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/SirSimul.htm>

Arneson, P. A. 1998. Plant Disease Management: Principles and Practice. <http://arneson.cornell.edu/OLplpath/OLplpath.htm>

Arneson, P. A. 1998. Plant Disease Profiles. <http://arneson.cornell.edu/OLplpath/Profiles/Diseases.htm>

Arneson, P. A. and K. L. Reynolds. 1997. Evolution of Fungicide Resistance: A Study of Fitness and Selection. Chapt. 20 in Francl, L. J. and D. A. Neher. Exercises in Plant Disease Epidemiology. APS Press.

Reynolds, K. L. and P. A. Arneson 1997. Simulation of Potato Late Blight Epidemics. Chapt. 32 in Francl, L. J. and D. A. Neher. Exercises in Plant Disease Epidemiology. APS Press.

Principal Investigator/Project Director #2:

Name:	Laurie E. Drinkwater
Email:	led24@cornell.edu
Phone Number:	(607) 255-9408
FAX Number:	(607) 255-9998
Address:	Department of Horticulture, 124 Plant Science, Cornell University
	Ithaca, NY 14853

Curriculum Vitae:

Laurie Ellen Drinkwater

124 Plant Science Building Department of Horticulture Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853

Phone: 607-255-9408 FAX: 607-255-9998
Email: led24@cornell.edu

Education:

PhD, Department of Zoology, University of California, Davis, Sept., 1986.(Area of emphasis: physiological ecology)
BA, Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Mar., 1978.

Chronological Work History:

Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Associate Professor, September 2000-present, Conduct basic research on soil nutrient cycling processes in intensive annual cropping systems, emphasizing mechanisms that control carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. Teach one graduate course in the area of agroecology and co-teach an upper division course in soil ecology.

Rodale Institute, Kutztown, PA
Director, US Regenerative Agriculture Resource Center, July 1995-May 2000,
Asso. Director, Research, July 1993-July 1995

Department of Agronomy, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
Adjunct Assistant Professor, 1996-August 2000

Department. of Vegetable Crops, University of California, Davis, CA
Asst. Research Faculty, Systems Ecologist, 1992-93; Post-Doctoral Researcher 1988-92

Dept. of Zoology and Dept. of Botany, University of Calif., Davis, CA
Visiting Lecturer, 1987-88

Dept. of Zoology, University of Calif., Davis, CA
Graduate Student, 1981-86

Refereed publications (1995-present)

Puget, P. and L.E. Drinkwater. 2001. Short-term dynamics of root and shoot-derived carbon from a leguminous green manure. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. In press.
Drinkwater, L.E., R.R. Janke, and L. Longnecker. 2000. Effects of reduced tillage intensities on nitrogen dynamics and crop productivity in legume-based cropping systems. Plant and Soil. 227:99-113.
Reider, C., W. Herdman, L.E. Drinkwater and R. Janke. 2000. Yields and nutrient budgets under composts, raw dairy manure and mineral fertilizer. Compost Science and Utilization. 8:328-339
Wander M.M. and L.E. Drinkwater. 2000. Fostering soil stewardship in the U.S. through soil quality assessment. Applied Soil Ecology. 15:61-73.
Jaenicke, E.C. and L.E. Drinkwater. 1999. Sources of productivity growth during the transition to alternative cropping systems. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review. 169-181.
Drinkwater, L.E., M.W. Wagoner & M. Sarrantonio. 1998. Legume-based systems have reduced losses of nitrogen and carbon. Nature. 396:262-265.
Buyer, J.S. and L.E. Drinkwater 1997. Comparison of substrate utilization assay and fatty acid analysis of soil microbial communities. Journal of Microbiological Methods. 30:3-11.
Douds, D.D., L. Galvez, M. Franke_Snyder, C. Reider & L.E. Drinkwater. 1997. Effect of compost addition and crop rotation upon VAM fungi. Ag., Ecosystems and Environment. 65:257-266.
Hu, S., N.J. Grunwald, A.H.C. van Bruggen, G.R. Gamble, L.E. Drinkwater, C. Shennan, and M.W. Demment. 1997. Short-term effects of cover crop incorporation on soil carbon pools and nitrogen availability. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 61:901-911.
Letourneau, D.K., L.E. Drinkwater, and C. Shennan. 1996. Soil management effects on crop quality and insect damage in commercial organic and conventional tomato fields. Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment. 57:179-187.
De Luca, T.H., L.E. Drinkwater, B.A. Wiefling, and D.M. Denicola. 1996. Free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria in temperate cropping systems: Influence of nitrogen source. Biology and Fertility of Soils. 23:140-144.
Drinkwater, L.E., Workneh, F., Letourneau, D.K., van Bruggen, A.H.C., and C. Shennan. 1995. Fundamental differences in organic and conventional agroecosystems in California. Ecological Applications. 5:1098-1112.

Invited reviews

Drinkwater L.E. and M.M. Wander. Forthcoming. A logical link: Carbon management and resource use efficiency in agricultural systems. Advances in Agronomy.
Drinkwater, L.E. 2000. Using plant species composition to restore soil quality and ecosystem function. Invited paper, in press. To be published in: Designing and testing crop rotations for organic farming. Olesen, J.E., R. Eltun, M.J. Gooding, E.S. Jensen, and U. Kopke, Eds. FOJO Report No. 5, Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences.
Drinkwater, L.E., C.A. Cambardella and C.W. Rice. 1996. Potentially mineralizable N as an indicator of active soil N. IN: Handbook of Methods for Assessment of Soil Quality. Doran, J. and A.J. Jones, Eds.
Shennan, C., L.E. Drinkwater, A.H.C. van Bruggen, D.K. Letourneau, F. Workneh. 1991. Comparative study of organic and conventional tomato production systems: an approach to on-farm research. IN Alternative Agriculture Part 2. J.P. Madden, ed. National Academy Press. pp 109-132.

Relevant extension Publications

Drinkwater, L.E., Reider, C. and S. Connelly. 2001. Protocol for Soil Health Demonstrations. Rodale Institute and Northeast Regional SARE.
Peterson, C., L.E. Drinkwater and P. Wagoner. 1999. The Farming Systems Trial: The first fifteen years. Rodale Institute.
Drinkwater, L.E. and C. Oshins. 1998. Soil Health Training: Teaching tools and curriculum. Rodale Institute and Penn State University.
Chaney, D., L.E. Drinkwater,, and S. Pettygrove. 1993. Organic soil amendments and fertilizers. Special Publication. University of Calif. Press. Pub. #21505.

Description of the Agricultural Communication Network Project:

1. Project Objectives:

·    To improve agricultural research underlying agricultural telecommunications.

·    Make optimal use of available resources for agricultural extension, resident education, and research by sharing resources between participating institutions.

·    Facilitate interaction among leading agricultural scientists.



Explain how the project relates to the Program Objective(s) and how the Project will contribute to achieving these.

In order to make optimal use of resources in extension, research and education in soil health, information must first be easily accessible to the target audience, organized in a way that makes sense, and delivered in a form that is understandable to them. The project is designed to cross communications (language, technology and distance) barriers to link people with people, information and resources. The project will integrate new information technologies with traditional communications methods in order to reach (and link) stakeholders who range from scientists and policy makers to field technicians and farmers. The project will facilitate horizontal links among scientists as well as vertical links between stakeholders that range from farmers to researchers and policymakers.

With regard to accessing organized information on soil health, the project will 1) select and annotate quality information sites (research, extension and general materials) available on the Web, 2) make sites available through a database that is both searchable and browsable by topic through the use of XML metadata tags, 3) keep updated lists of on-line databases, electronic discussion groups, events, services, products, audiovisual and print material as well organizations and institutions involved in soil health and related organic agriculture topics. The searchable database will cover sites in English, Spanish and French. (Screening/entering of French sites will not be completed during the first year of the project).

The Global Soil Health Gateway will connect people with one another through access to on-going English, French and Spanish electronic discussion groups (listservs) that link leading scientists with each other and with non-governmental organizations and government agencies in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and the US. Ideas will cross the language barrier through translated summaries and syntheses of traffic that will appear on the Global Soil Health Gateway site. Further synthesis of important discussions will be developed by TropSCORE Consortium members (primarily CIIFAD/MOIST in conjunction with graduate students) as "learning modules" that accompany or follow priority discussions. The reference services to be provided by the Global Gateway will allow people to find and contact colleagues working on problems discussed on the discussion groups or that arise through use of the general Global Gateway database.

TropSCORE and CIIFAD expect to leverage all the facilities planned for the next-generation AgNIC portal software. As an example, the Global Gateway will provide users with a "priority topics" facility where multiple electronic discussion groups can be automatically monitored for the occurrence of user-selected keywords, with only relevant messages delivered to the users mailbox. The priority topics feature will allow users of the Gateway to monitor a wide variety of information sources without an overwhelming avalanche of irrelevant email messages. A planned second phase of software development will extend the priority topics feature to allow interested users to "subscribe" to specific discussion threads without having to subscribe to the list itself. By identifying interesting threads via priority topics, and then following the full discussion, lists that are of seldom interest can be sensibly exploited.

As the Internet is not accessible to the entire target audience, especially practitioners and farmers in Africa and Latin America, summaries of important list discussions and other crucial information coming into the Global Gateway to be printed in sustainable agriculture newsletters published by TropSCORE partners in English, French and Spanish. Finally, in order for scientists and policymakers to be able to view extension materials only available at the field level, the Global Gateway will link into a TropSCORE site that is providing "grey" literature on local farmer soil health practices to a wider audience through pdf files on the Web.

2. Description of Agricultural Communication Network to be Developed or Utilized.

Describe the Cost/Benefit Analysis for purchasing (or leasing) different types of facilities, equipment, components, hardware and software, or other items. (complete only if applicable to your project).

3. Agricultural Communication Network Programming:

Agricultural Communications and Education

Agricultural Profitability and Sustainability

Agronomy

Environmental and Natural Resources


Describe the Programming and how it will contribute to achieving the Objective(s):

Introduction:
The proposed project involves expanding the Tropical Soil Management Gateway Web site (currently under construction, http://trouble.mannlib.cornell.edu:9700/) to include temperate soil health information so that it can serve US-based researchers and extensionists interested in environmentally sound soil management technologies. This will benefit both US-based groups and those in tropical areas as there is a wealth of information on soil health that is relevant to both climates, especially with regard to organic agriculture and small farm management. The increasing market opportunities for organically-grown agricultural products together with the environmental benefits generated from adopting practices that improve soil health without toxic chemicals will result in economic and environmental benefits.

The new Global Soil Health Gateway will be an up-to-date, worldwide guide to relevant information on the Internet that relates to soil health, small farm soil management and associated organic agriculture topics. The information in the database will be searchable by country, climate, topography, or type, browsable by topic, or can be accessed through categorized listings for links to services, products, events, publications, audiovisual materials, and electronic discussion groups. An on-line reference service will also be provided.

In addition, the proposed Global Soil Health Gateway will provide a bridge between US and foreign scientists by linking into three on-going electronic discussion groups in English, Spanish, and French, and providing regular translated summaries of traffic. Further sharing of information will take place through development of three to five demand-driven learning modules that cover specific soil health topics selected from current transactions on the electronic discussion groups. And, finally, in order to reach groups without Internet access, important information will be summarized in several agriculture development newsletters in English, French and Spanish.

Global Soil Health Gateway

The original Tropical Soil Management Gateway Web site is being developed on behalf of the TropSCORE Consortium by MOIST/CIIFAD in partnership with Mann Library at Cornell University and the Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC), and with funding from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) Advisory Group for Electronic Technology and the Cornell Internation Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD).

The TropSCORE Consortium is a voluntary association of non-governmental development organizations and research and educational institutions that collaboratively addresses constraints to information and resource access by strengthening efforts to acquire, synthesize, exchange and disseminate information about low external-input approaches for improving smallholder farming systems in the tropics and sustainably managing the natural resource base. TropSCORE members have a common interest in cover crops, green manures and other organic means of managing tropical soils as well as related sustainable agriculture topics that are primarily relevant to resource-limited farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Currently, the primary members include the International Cover Crops Clearinghouse (CIDICCO), an NGO in Honduras, the Cover Crops Information and Seed Exchange Center for Africa (CIEPCA), which is affiliated with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), CIIFAD/MOIST, and ECHO, a US-based non-governmental organization.

The Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC) is a voluntary alliance of the National Agricultural Library (NAL), land-grant universities and other agricultural organizations, in cooperation with citizen groups and government agencies. AgNIC focuses on providing agricultural information in electronic format over the World Wide Web. One of the objectives of AgNIC is that member participants take responsibility for small vertical segments of agricultural information, developing Web sites and reference services in specific subject areas.

In June 2001, TropSCORE was accepted as a member of the AgNIC Alliance. This means that the TropSCORE Gateway Web site will be listed on the central AgNIC site (www.agnic.org), which links partner sites of several land-grant universities, the National Agricultural Library (NAL) and other US-based agricultural organizations that belong to the AgNIC Alliance (http://www.cornell.agnic.org/agnic/partners/index.html).

As an effort of an AgNIC Alliance member, the Global Soil Health Gateway will take full advantage of the AgNIC "umbrella" portal that reaches over all partner sites. For example, the unique distributed search facility in the AgNIC portal software allows users, if they choose, in effect to "see" all other partner sites. Searches that are initiated at any individual partner site can be extended to all other or selected partner sites. Thus, a visitor to the University of Arizona Arid Lands Web site can initiate a search that reaches down into the Global Soil Health Gateway. Conversely, a visitor to the Gateway Gateway will automatically have full access to all other AgNIC partner sites. Participation in AgNIC not only permits bootstrapping with the AgNIC software, but immediately gives partner sites high visibility on the Web and provides users access to high-quality agricultural information resources.

All information maintained in the Global Gateway will be managed via XML-based metadata. This means that all agricultural resources contained within will be consistently described so that users can be presented with search results that make sense. The reader is encouraged to visit the current TropSCORE test site (http://trouble.mannlib.cornell.edu:9700) and initiate a search for the term "mulch." Note the clarity of the returned results as compared to other Internet search engines. Improving the search functions will involve continuing adaptation of the AgNIC portal software, which uses XML-based Dublin Core metadata to supplement existing methods for searching and indexing Web-based metadata.

On-line Reference Service
This feature will make it possible for Gateway users to contact a resource person to ask specific questions. The reference service will help locate difficult material, put Gateway users in contact with experts when necessary and help those without Internet skills to target their searches for the best results. The on-line reference service may also be useful in encouraging collaboration between parties with similar interests by putting them in touch with each other during referrals.

Integration of Foreign Language Electronic Discussion Groups
The Gateway will provide a bridge among US and foreign scientists not only by carrying discussion list postings, but by providing regular translated summaries of traffic on the three discussion groups in English, Spanish and French (mulch-L, coberagri-L, and evecs-L). This will allow groups working in both temperate and tropical regions to take advantage of the similarities in low-external input and organic agriculture technologies related to soil health, and to collaborate on prioritizing issues and solving problems. Assisted by the project programmer, the project technology development leader (from the Mann Library Information Technology Section) will prototype the ability to join specific threads of interactive electronic discussions using software from KEA, a prototype keyword identification application, developed at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. This feature will allow users to be alerted when specific topics they are interested in appear in the discussion groups.

Learning modules
Three to five demand-driven learning modules will be developed that cover specific soil health topics selected from traffic on the electronic discussion groups. These modules, which will be linked into the Global Gateway, will be prepared by MOIST/CIIFAD together with Cornell graduate students through class projects in three CALS classes during Fall 01/Spring 02 semesters. These courses are Problem Solving in Tropical Agriculture (INTAG 694.4), IPM in Tropical Agriculture (PLPA 655) and Case Studies in Agroforestry (NTRES 615). Additional input from members of the TropSCORE Consortium or key participants involved in the electronic discussion topics chosen for a module will also be solicited. A module will contain 1) synthesized information originating from a priority discussion topic (generally not adequately covered in the existing literature) on the electronic discussion groups, 2) bibliographic references for further study, 3) links to relevant Web sites that shed more light on the topic, and 4) additional commentary from scientists or field personnel with relevant direct experience with the topic.

Detailed description of methods to be used in producing and/or delivering the programing.

The project will be managed by a fulltime coordinator, Lucy Fisher (currently outreach coordinator for the CIIFAD Management of Organic Inputs in Soils of the Tropics Group), who was involved in the design and content development of the current TropSCORE Gateway. The overall content guidelines, design outline, search browsing categories, power search metatag determination and information priorities of the new Global Soil Health Gateway will be determined by an advisory committee consisting of the project coordinator, both PIs, the project technical development leader and four additional faculty members from CIIFAD, the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and the Department of Plant Pathology. The eight-person advisory committee will meet to review the initial plans at the outset of the project and monthly thereafter for the duration of the one year project. At regular meetings, the advisory committee will also make recommendations for redesign of specific project content based on the results of on-going evaluation. Following the first year of the project, the advisory committee will continue to meet quarterly for a period of at least one year under the auspices of CIIFAD.

The project coordinator will provide project oversight, liaison with the AgNIC Alliance and TropSCORE Consortium, Gateway reference services, detailed Web site design, Gateway promotion and dissemination (targeted priority user notification, e-list and newsletter announcements, requests for hyperlinks to relevant sites), identification of material to be posted in hardcopy newsletters (quarterly), editing of electronic discussion group summaries (English, French and Spanish, with assistance from list co-sponsors and project research assistant), posting of electronic discussion group traffic and translations, review of search engine database entries and identification of additional priority materials from print and on-line sources to be included in the Gateway database.

The coordinator will also coordinate and help design learning modules together with graduate students from three graduate courses at Cornell who will undertake the module development as class projects. Content solicited from electronic discussion group participants and TropSCORE Consortium members involved in the original discussions will also be included in modules. Lastly, with direction from the advisory committee, the project coordinator will be responsible for implementing formative and summative evaluation. Formative evaluation results will be used by the advisory committee to suggest fine-tuning of the Gateway design during monthly meetings and to make recommendations for the its future maintenance and long-term development. Content modification, revision of promotion methods and strategies to ensure better use of the Gateway resources will be undertaken based on the results of summative evaluation.

Two half-time project research assistants will spend 75 percent of their time developing Gateway content. They will be responsible for seeking out relevant Web sites, events and resources on the Internet, and subsequently screening, describing, metatagging and entering them into the Gateway database. One of the research assistants will also be responsible for updating links, assisting with modules and participating in monitoring and evaluation of the project. In addition to working on English language Web resources, the second research assistant will take primary responsibility for screening Spanish language Web resources and translating traffic and summaries of the Spanish electronic discussion group (coberagri-L). (French summaries and traffic translations of the French language list evecs-L will be provided by the the Cover Crops Information and Seed Exchange Center for Africa [CIEPCA], located in Cotonou, Benin).

Technical assistance for development of the XML-based search engine and other advanced Internet functions will be provided by the Information Technology Section (ITS) at Mann Library. ITS is a core participant in the AgNIC Technical Development Team which is currently designing the next-generation AgNIC portal toolkit. TropSCORE will leverage this effort and provide feedback through ITS to the Technical Development Team for requested features and functionality to be included in the toolkit. Gateway functionality and customization that remains outside the design scope of the toolkit will be done by the programmer for the project. Supervision of technical aspects of the Gateway will be provided by Timothy Lynch, who is project technical development leader, Head of ITS at Mann Library and Chair of the AgNIC Technical Development Team.

4. Population to be Served and Target Audience(s):

Healthy soils contribute to clean air and water, productive agriculture, rangelands and forests, as well as diverse wildlife and ecosystems. Soils do this by regulating water; sustaining plant and animal life; filtering potential pollutants; and cycling nutrients. Agriculturists increasingly appreciate the critical role of soil management in sustainable farming, particularly regarding the use of organic amendments. Prescriptions for soil management have tended to emphasize chemical and physical manipulations, neglecting the essential role of soil biology in the maintenance of "soil health"--high soil quality, productivity, and buffering capacity. The soil health concept recognizes the great need to integrate the management of biotic and abiotic components of soil in order to achieve agricultural practices that favor healthier crops, environments and people.

Research related to soil quality involves farmers and experts from the fields of entomology, microbiology, nematology, plant pathology, soil science and agricultural extension. Each discipline contributes a different perspective to build new awareness of the processes involved in maintaining soil health, especially regarding the abundance, diversity and ecology of soil organisms. Researchers from these fields, both in the US and abroad are among the primary target audience to be served by the proposed Global Soil Health Gateway. The Web site, however, also links to related non-scientific information, including training materials, event listings, services and products, and, it provides a forum for interaction between researchers, users, and those involved in adapting research results. In this regard, agricultural extension personnel, educators, students, environmental groups, international development organizations, grower organizations and even individual farmers make up the target audience. If these populations are served well, farm productivity will be increased sustainably while the degradation of the natural resource base is minimized or reversed.

Our major partners in the TropSCORE Consortium in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the largely US-based AgNIC Alliance will be among the first to tap into the Gateway and its resources. The affiliates, partners and constituencies of each of these groups as well as the networks that they link into will provide a wider population to be served. Cornell graduate students who use (and add to) the site through courses and subscribers to the three electronic discussion lists (mulch-L, coberagri-L and evecs-L) linked into the Gateway will also be an important segment of the initial target audience. When the Gateway is fully operational, requests will be made to establish formal hyperlinks to the Gateway from fifty selected Web sites frequently visited by researchers, extension personnel and farmers. A wider group of users who are interested in soil management and related environmental issues will emerge as they find the site through general search engines, links to related sites or their colleagues.

The wider population of Internet users expected to access the Gateway Web site include US farmers (a fast-growing segment of the Internet community), non-governmental organizations in both tropical and temperate regions, scientists in related fields, students, educators and those interested in obtaining or providing services or products that are related to soil management. In order to provide access to important Gateway information to potential users in isolated areas or those who do not have Internet access, prioritized information will be posted several times per year in print newsletters that reach development agencies globally (ECHO News, ILEIA), in Latin America (CIDICCO periodic newsletters in Spanish) and in Africa (CIEPCA News in both French and English). These newsletters are also available on-line and, can be a means of advertising the Gateway URL.

5. Collaborating Institutions and Other Partners:

Management of Organic Inputs of Soils in the Tropics Group (MOIST)
Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD)
Cornell University
http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/moist/home2.html

Mann Library, Cornell University
Timothy Lynch, Head, Information Technology, TIM.LYNCH@cornell.edu

Agricultural Network Information Center (AgNIC):
National alliance of U.S. land-grant university libraries.
Liaison: Timothy Lynch, chair, Technical Implementation Team
www.agnic.org/

International Cover Crops Clearinghouse (CIDICCO):
NGO located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, concerned with information exchange on green manure and cover crops in the tropics. Operates in Spanish and English.
Director: Milton Flores
cidicco@gbm.hn, cidicco@sdnhon.org.hn
http://rds.org.hn/miembros/cidicco/

Cover Crops Information and Seed Exchange Center for Africa (CIEPCA):
A group hosted by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Cotonou, Benin; contributes to the sustainable management of tropical soils by assisting researchers and development specialists develop, target, and test appropriate cover cropping systems in Africa. Operates in French and English.
Coordinator: Albert C. Etèka
c.eteka@cgiar.org
http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/CIEPCA/home.html

Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO):
A non-profit, Christian organization actively involved in networking global hunger solutions.
Daniel Sonke - Director of Information Programs
General Information: echo@echonet.org http://www.echonet.org/

Additional groups at Cornell University:
Cornell Agroforestry Working Group (CAWG)
CIIFADs International Integrated Pest Management Program
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

6. Additional Rationale for Project

The Internet is a democratic, chaotic, bottom-up movement that provides previously unimaginable access to information in which text, visual and oral media forms are integrated. Millions of people currently access the Internet in every country of the world; millions of new Web pages come on line daily. It is a rapidly evolving entity that is developing faster than the ability of the users to know what to do with it. New perspectives and new tools are needed to fully realize its potential. This project is designed to use newly emerging technology to link people with people, ideas, quality information and selected resources on the Internet. If efforts by partners on several continents result in successful 1) examples of Internet-based international collaboration, 2) adoption and use of XML-based metatagging designed for the project and 3) integration and management of interactive discussions in several languages, the project can serve as a model for demand-driven agricultural telecommunications projects in related agricultural areas during the coming decade.

Prior to the development of the Internet, libraries, which contained a preponderance of edited, authoritative sources, were the major source of scholarly information. The democratization of data spawned by the Internet has expanded the general availability of information to include a plethora of less scholarly and even highly questionable material. In a citation analysis of undergraduate term papers in microeconomics at Cornell University, Davis and Cohen (1) noted a significant decrease in the frequency of scholarly resources cited between 1996 and 1999, and a corresponding increase in Web citations from 9 percent to 21 percent. Furthermore, only 18 percent of Web citations from 1996 papers (checked during 2001) led to correct documents. One of the measures recommended by the authors of this paper to ensure the quality and reliability of sources is the creation and maintenance of scholarly portals for authoritative Web sites with a commitment to long-term access. The Global Soil Health Gateway will provide screened and organized information on Web sites with commentary on content of each.

Although the Web should not be a replacement for traditional libraries, it cannot be ignored as an increasingly important resource for virtually every type of information. While the question of disappearing links will continue to plague those looking up Internet citations, organizing and annotating reliable sources so that they can be accessed by browsing or "smart" searches tailored to specific needs is a vital contribution toward making the Web a more valuable and usable source of knowledge.

(1) Davis, Philip M. and S.A. Cohen. 2001. The Effect of the Web on Undergraduate Citation Behavior 1996-1999. Journal of the American Society of Information Science and Technology 52(4):309-314.

7. Significant Impacts:

The significant impacts of the project will result from using new technologies and perspectives to enable new forms of human collaboration to solve basic agricultural problems. While the overall relevance of soil health to agricultural productivity has not changed much over the centuries, its implications for the environment, human health and agricultural sustainability have changed substantially as the global population has soared, available land has decreased and agricultural chemicals and pollutants continue to affect the environment.

The project is designed to build a bridge between US-based scientists and practitioners interested in soil health and their counterparts in the tropics and subtropics. While large-scale farming in the US often has little in common with farming in the tropics, there is a tremendous crossover of relevant research regarding small-scale farming. This is especially true for organic agriculture and soil management strategies based on the use of organic inputs, cover crops, mulches and other practices that encourage soil health. Advances in communication technologies now make it relatively easy to interact with colleagues on different continents. However, facilitating and nurturing these links is frequently required to ensure meaningful interinstitutional collaboration. While initial emphasis will be placed upon fostering links between TropSCORE Consortium members in Africa and Latin America and the US-based groups in the AgNIC Alliance, the Global Soil Health Gateway will be open to all who have access to the Internet, and, all are welcome to join the electronic mailing lists according to their language of preference (Spanish, French or English). Accordingly, an important impact of the project will be increasing interregional collaboration among colleagues working on similar problems in different parts of the world.

While the Internet is one of most important innovations in recent history, it is e-mail that has been the most effective computer-based method of connecting individuals with each other to exchange information. Experience with existing vertically integrated electronic discussion lists co-managed by CIIFAD/MOIST over the past five years has indicated a steady increase in temperate region subscribers to these largely tropical discussions of soil ecology and fertility, cover crops and organic inputs. These lists, which allow researchers to identify and interact with colleagues worldwide who are working on similar issues, will become increasingly valuable when the information is synthesized, and made available to a wider audience through the Gateway. Discussion topics are demand-driven within a democratic group that crosses political and geographical boundaries; problems can be prioritized, solutions can be more realistic, and isolated groups of researchers are not needlessly repeating the efforts and mistakes of their colleagues working on similar issues in different languages and settings. Through linking electronic discussion groups into the Gateway, an important impact of the project will be facilitating the collective development of priorities for addressing soil health issues by an integrated group of stakeholders worldwide who are working on similar problems from different perspectives. Summarizing and translating the findings of the French and Spanish TropSCORE member electronic discussion groups will help the flow of knowledge by crossing the language barrier.

The most relevant discussions on the electronic discussion groups associated with the Gateway, including those dialogues that include material not adequately covered in existing literature, will be expanded into on-line learning modules. The modules will round out the discussions by adding background material, additional opinions of experts and links to further information on the Web. The development of these learning modules will be assisted by students as class projects in three classes at Cornell, which will have positive impact on the students who assist in their development as well as those who access the material through the Gateway. Through filling existing gaps in the literature, learning modules will add significantly to the knowledge base on soil health and management.

8. Describe the plans for evaluation, dissemination and assessment:

Formative and summative evaluation will be facilitated by the project coordinator with assistance from research assistants and input from the project advisory group. Before launching the Global Soil Health Gateway on February 15, 2002, the final design and content will be evaluated by the project advisory group, selected TropSCORE members (MOIST, CIDICCO, ECHO and CIEPCA) and the AgNIC technical development team leader.

One month after launching the site, formative evaluation of the Gateway will be undertaken. Statistics on the number of hits per geographical region and the number of subscribers to the electronic discussion groups linked into the Gateway will be monitored on a monthly basis. Beginning March 15, 2002, a survey will be conducted to assess the Gateways functionality (www.albany.edu/library/internet/evaluate.html) and other attributes (accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency and coverage) outlined at http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webeval.htm. Those surveyed will include representatives of four selected TropSCORE members, students in graduate classes enrolled in three tropical and sustainable agriculture courses at Cornell, selected scientists at several universities (Cornell University, Purdue University, Zamorano) and research institutes (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture [IITA] and International Center for Tropical Agriculture [CIAT]), and extension workers from Cornell Cooperative Extension and CIDICCO. Input from other users will be solicited through the three electronic discussion groups associated with the Gateway. With the help of the advisory committee, the Gateway will be fine-tuned according to the survey results. A second formative survey will be undertaken after the Gateway has been operating for six months.

Summative evaluation of the Gateway content and what users are actually doing with the information and resources will be undertaken five months after the Gateway is launched. This will include contacting at least twenty individuals who solicited advice through the electronic discussion groups in order to evaluate the impact of the information they received. Users of the Gateway reference service will be sent followup e-mails to determine the value of the information and how it was used. In addition, targeted scientists, listserv subscribers, TropSCORE members and graduate students will also be solicited for comments and feedback. Finally, discussion list subscribers, TropSCORE Consortium and AgNIC Alliance members and reference service users will be contacted to determine the level of collaboration initiated or strengthened as a result of using the Gateway or the electronic mailing lists associated with it.

Dissemination of the Gateway URL will occur as follows: 1) links to and from AgNIC alliance members in the US; 2) links to and from TropSCORE Consortium members Web sites in Africa, Asia and Latin America; 3) requests to link to the Gateway sent to fifty selected home pages of organizations or groups that could best use soil health information in temperate and tropical environments; 4) promotion on the three electronic discussion groups and other lists that relate to soil health or related sustainable agriculture topics; and 5) promotion of the site in print and on-line agricultural newsletters: CIDICCO updates (published in Spanish in Honduras), CIEPCA News (published in French and English in Benin), ECHO Development Notes (published in English in Florida) and ILEIA Newsletter (published in English in the Netherlands). Additional US-based newsletters will be selected for advertising by January 2002.

A final evaluation report will be written at the end of the project. Future evaluation, assessment and promotion of the Gateway after completion of the ADEC-funded project will be undertaken by CIIFAD, which will maintain the site content. The AgNIC technical development team leader will also continue to monitor the Gateway as long as the site is supported by an AgNIC Alliance member.

9. Broader Impacts:

As environmental degradation increases, access to organic markets becomes more important to consumers, and the number of resource-limited farmers worldwide soars, the concept of soil health and the practice of low external input sustainable agriculture are becoming increasingly important. Awareness-raising through systematic dissemination of organized, quality information will lend legitimacy to the concept of soil health and help get it onto the agriculture agendas of countries in both the tropical and temperate regions. With increasing acceptance of the soil health concept, research, project funding, extension materials and application of practices that include the more environmentally-balanced ideas encompassed by soil health will become more common.

While globalization can lead to impoverishment and marginalization of small farmers as a result of open markets and volatile capital flows, transnational changes in communications technology that fuel globalization can in fact benefit resource-limited farmers and smaller organic growers by making previously inaccessible information available to them. Information can be traded and synthesized more easily and cheaply than ever before by persons previously isolated by geography, language, and access to resources. As the cost of Internet access and equipment drop and the rate of people using the World Wide Web continues to climb throughout the world, the "access gap" between the haves and have-nots will get smaller. However, to make the Internet optimally useful for those involved in researching, extending and applying information relevant for small and resource-limited farming, quality information must first be made available on the Web. The project will collect and provide this type of information, and will promote the Global Soil Health Gateway in a systematic manner so that it can be found by those who can actually make use of the information. Use of the ideas and resources found on the Gateway will ultimately result in more environmentally sustainable farming and increased ability of small and organic farmers to compete with larger-scale agriculture.

Unfortunately, being able to get on-line in itself will not assure people will find information that will help them. While the Internet access gap is getting smaller, the gap in being able to use the technology in meaningful ways may get larger. Although the Gateway reference service can help those without honed "Internet skills", disadvantaged groups that do not have Internet access at all will be left behind even further than before the advent of the Internet. The Internet may never be a primary purveyor of information to farmers worldwide. Information must flow between the various types of information delivery systems, from traditional modes of communication to the most technologically up-to-date innovations. To address this, important information from the Gateway will be summarized and presented in development newsletters in French, English and Spanish. While this in itself will not solve the information access gap, it will help to bridge the technological barriers that provide a bottleneck to linking information with people who are left further behind the modern world with each passing year.

Broader impacts of the project are expected to continue as CIIFAD has committed itself to continue maintaining, evaluating and fine-tuning the Gateway in conjunction with TropSCORE for the next five years. As it is associated with TropSCORE, a full AgNIC Alliance member, the Global Soil Health Gateway can be maintained indefinitely on the AgNIC server in Mann Library at Cornell University and continue to be linked with the US-based Alliance members.

10. Proposed Timetable:

Month 1:
Overall design of Gateway site; specification of Gateway user interface and phase-one functionality (search, browse and secondary design features) by programmer and technical development leader; search, screening, tagging metadata for sites to be entered into search engine database; two module topics defined; search for potential sites to promote and link to Gateway; first advisory committee meeting

Month 2:
Finish design of overall Gateway site; complete user interface design and phase-one functionality; continue screening/tagging URLs; begin entering data into search engine database; continue seeking sites and newsletters for promotion/advertising; begin monitoring three e-lists; advisory committee meeting

Month 3:
Continue screening, tagging and entering data; begin to implement user interface; continue seeking sites and newsletters for promotion/advertising; advisory committee meeting

Month 4:
Continue screening, tagging and entering data; continue seeking sites and newsletters for promotion/advertising; implement user interface; students turn in two modules; begin editing modules; monitor e-lists; advisory committee meeting

Month 5:
Continue screening, tagging and entering data; continue seeking sites and newsletters for promotion/advertising; implement user interface; finish editing two modules; summarize month 1 through 5 e-list traffic; advisory committee meeting

Month 6:
Continue screening, tagging and entering data; reaction and feedback to initial interface by advisory group; launch site on Internet; put up translated e-list summaries; define one module topic; launch two modules; send out requests to organizations to link into Gateway; advisory committee meeting

Month 7:
Continue screening, tagging and entering data; advisory group meeting; begin searching for Spanish language sites on Web; finish gathering reaction to initial interface; programming revisions; implement formative evaluation survey; check links to other sites; send summary of info to newsletters; monitor e-lists; advisory committee meeting

Month 8:
Continue screening, tagging and entering data for both English and Spanish; programming revisions; refine Gateway as per evaluation results; advertise Gateway e-list links to several general sustainable agriculture lists; summarize e-lists; advisory committee meeting

Month 9:
Continue screening, tagging and entering data for both English and Spanish language sites; advisory group meeting; put up translated e-list summaries; students turn in one module; begin editing module; advisory committee meeting

Month 10:
Continue screening, tagging and entering data in Spanish and English; send summary of Gateway info to newsletters; link completed module into Gateway; advisory committee meeting

Month 11:
Continue screening, tagging and entering data in Spanish and English; implement summative evaluation and second formative evaluation; advisory committee meeting

Month 12:
Refine Gateway as per evaluation results; finish final reports and evaluation; make sure continuing maintenance and development plans are in place; advisory committee meeting

11. Project Personnel and Time Commitment:

Lucy Hill Fisher, project coordinator 100%

research assistant/translator(graduate student) 25%

research assistant/data entry staff 25%

software programmer (graduate student) 16%

Phil Arneson (Professor), PI, advisory group member 5%

Timothy Lynch (Head of Information Technolgoy, Mann Library), project technology development leader, advisory group member 5%

Laurie Drinkwater (Associate Professor), PI, advisory group member 2%

Norman Uphoff (Professor), advisory group member 2%