SUMMARY
                               

WAICENT  is  FAO’s centralised information service which  came
under  the  responsibility  of the Library  and  Documentation
Systems  Division  (GIL) at the beginning of  this  year.   An
outline is given of the specific project components which form
the  basic structure of WAICENT, and of the public information
initiatives for which the system is a vehicle.

WAICENT  has  had a welcome impact not only on the  scope  and
extent  of  FAO’s  information strategies,  but  also  on  the
approach of  the staff to their work and to inter-departmental
cooperation generally.  The benefits available and to come for
users  world-wide  are described in detail. In  conclusion,  a
short description is given of WAICENT’s utility and potential.


WAICENT  (World Agricultural Information Centre)

1   the beginnings

     WAICENT  was  launched  in  1989,  as  a  response  to  the
increasing problem of consolidating the 40 independent databases
developed throughout the Organization over the years.  The first
prototype  was  presented to the biannual Conference  of  Member
Countries at FAO in November 1991, and met with wide consensus.

The main reasons  for the establishment of WAICENT were :

         Improved data management in FAO;
         Wider  coverage  of  the information  released  by  the
    Organization;
         Reduction  of  processing  costs  in  the  compilation,
    analysis and dissemination of     information;
         Improved   information-flow   to   and   from   Member
    Countries,  through in-house synergy   and co-operation;
         A more effective outreach to FAO’s target audiences.

    The  practical advantages hoped for were principally  three:
    the   capitalisation  of  the  intellectual  output  of  the
    Organization  through the maintenance  of  an  institutional
    memory   in   electronic  format;    availability   of   the
    information  at  the  user’s  desk  top  computer,  bringing
    greater   efficiency   and   cost-effectiveness,   and   the
    reduction  of the burden on the national offices  of  Member
    Countries in reporting to FAO.


1.1 The objectives

     The  aim of WAICENT, and this aspect needs emphasising,  is
not  that  of  creating a centralised environment  in  order  to
control the flow and content of information.  The intention  is,
rather,  to  foster a corporate atmosphere - to co-ordinate  the
information,  and,  through a co-operative  and  well-structured
approach,   enhance the content, improve the quality  and  widen
still further its outreach.   This is the reason why WAICENT  is
termed  an  ”umbrella”  project:   the  connotation  is  one  of
cumulating or protecting,  not of controlling.

As  the  system expands within the Organization, a more  elastic
and open approach to its development can be seen compared to the
early  stages of its creation.  This is because a centralised  -
and centralising - system of this type can only work well if  it
is  open-ended.   WAICENT has brought home to FAO  the  manifold
advantages both of channelling information into a base where  it
can  be classified and enhanced, and from which it can be easily
and  speedily  extracted, and of storing and  distributing  that
information electronically.

A  development team worked progressively on the essential, basic
characteristics   necessary   to   the   system:   a    flexible
architecture,    cross-platform    portability,     royalty-free
distribution, multimedia potential,  and, most importantly,   an
open-path  approach to enable it to include new -  and  novel  -
databases  in  the  future.   The team  continues  to  elaborate
enhancements.

WAICENT  operates within and for the United Nations environment,
for a clientele inhabiting the most - and the least - privileged
parts  of  the globe.  Flexibility and economic access  are  key
operational factors.


1.2 how WAICENT works
    ... from the inside

     WAICENT  is made up of two principal components  which  are
both  interactive and complementary:  FAOSTAT, for  the  storage
and dissemination of statistical information, and FAOINFO, which
covers  hypermedia  information (viz. text,  images,  audio  and
video).  A  third  component, FAOSIS, covering very  specialised
information  systems  was  recently  added.   These   components
display  subdivisions  on  the screen  according  to  individual
disciplines. This method facilitates searches and access on  the
part  of the user, and the visual impact on the Internet is well
organized  and  easy to understand.. In FAOSTAT,  for  instance,
the Fisheries database under the Time-Series, is subdivided into
data  ”chapters”, viz. means of production; production; external
trade;  utilisation; commodity balances; and  prices,  while  in
FAOINFO,  Trade  Flows  are  divided into  crops  and  products;
livestock  and products, means of production; fishery  products,
and forestry products.

The departments within FAO prepare the text which they intend to
display along with the images,  statistics, and information they
wish to place on FAO World Wide Web.  They coordinate with other
departments  for  any  ”linking”  between  documents  needed  to
highlight  more  information or provide  details  of  a  related
programme   or  initiative  which  is  the  domain  of   another
department.  This operation has often proved beneficial  to  the
staff  and work of FAO, since the need for a modern ”horizontal”
approach towards Web presentations has led to increased in-house
co-operation  and  stimulated interest  in  the  work  of  other
departments.

A brief description of the components of WAICENT follows.

  FAOSTAT

     FAOSTAT  contains  a  collection  of  time-series  data  on
demography,  agriculture, fisheries and  forestry  covering  210
countries  and  territories to date.  There are  data  on  trade
flows, food aid, development assistance, and the results of  the
World   Agricultural  Census  on  household  budget   and   food
consumption surveys.  Software was developed to allow  users  to
select and organise the statistical information into tables  and
charts that meet their individual requirements.

  FAOINFO

     FAO  runs a text retrieval system which covers a wide range
of  information  on  food  and agriculture,  including:  monthly
reports on global food production, a comprehensive collection of
internationally  accepted  food  standards,   updates   on   the
distribution of animals diseases and plant pests world-wide, and
country-level   nutrition,  fisheries  and  forestry   profiles.
Technical  and  public information can now  be  delivered  in  a
responsible and comprehensible way.

There  are  at  present  two principal projects  under  FAOINFO:
CEREStronics and the Virtual Library.

         (i)  CEREStronics  : the name given to  the  electronic
         text  and  multimedia  vehicle,  launched  as  a  pilot
         project in May 1996, through which FAO communicates  on
         the  Internet with the rest of the world, the  body  of
         textual  information which is FAO’s first  ”message”  -
         its  Homepage.  General interest  stories  about  FAO’s
         work,  and  how experts and or individuals in developed
         or  developing  countries are  participating  in  FAO’s
         programs  and utilising its technical expertise  -  are
         transmitted  by  this  electronic,  real-time  ”e-zine”
         CEREStronics.
         
         (ii)The  Virtual  Library project  covers  the  ongoing
         work  to transform the microfiche-based archive of  the
         David  Lubin  Memorial  Library (the  keeper  of  FAO’s
         institutional  memory, and one of the  world’s  largest
         agricultural  libraries,  founded  in  1909),  into  an
         electronic archive under WAICENT.  In practical  terms,
         this  will  mean  immediate  access  to  documents  and
         publications, via FAOINFO.
         
              The  bibliographic databases  of the  Library  and
         Documentation Systems Division  -  AGRIS  and  CARIS  -
         are also part of the Virtual Library project. AGRIS  is
         the    International   Information   System   for   the
         Agricultural  Sciences and Technology, created  by  FAO
         in  1974,  to  facilitate information exchange  and  to
         identify  world literature dealing with all aspects  of
         agriculture,  from plant production and  protection  to
         agricultural    administration,    legislation,     and
         extension.   AGRIS   collects  conventional   or   non-
         conventional  bibliographic  references.    It   is   a
         typical  example  of  the kind of database  which  will
         greatly  benefit  from the wider audience  WAICENT  can
         attract.   A co-operative system in which participating
         countries  input references to the literature  produced
         within  their boundaries, and, in return, draw  on  the
         information provided by the other participants,  AGRIS’
         mandate  is  similar to the structural philosophy  that
         inspired the establishment of WAICENT.
         
         CARIS,  the  Current Agricultural Research  Information
         System,  is  a  global network of national agricultural
         research    centres,    regional    institutions     or
         international  agencies and organisations  co-operating
         in   an   international  information  system  for   the
         collection, organization and dissemination of  data  on
         current, ongoing research.
         
         The   objectives  of  CARIS  are  to  record  and  make
         available   an  accurate  account  of  the  state   and
         expected  results of all agricultural  research  within
         the  individual country or research carried out by  the
         organization  concerned,  and  process  this  data  for
         mutual  exchange  at  the global  level.   CARIS  is  a
         management tool for research;  a centralised source  of
         information;  a  means  for monitoring  and  valuation,
         identifying   expertise,  reducing   duplication;   and
         aligning national and regional programmes.
         
         The    CARIS   network   is   complementary   to    the
         International   Information  System  for   Agricultural
         Sciences  and  Technology  (AGRIS).   The  two  systems
         adopt   the   same   country  codes,  language   codes,
         transliteration  schemes, the same indexing  using  the
         AGRIS/CARIS  Categorization  Scheme  and  AGROVOC,  the
         multilingual   agricultural  thesaurus.   Incorporation
         into  WAICENT  will  mean  that  the  user  can  cross-
         reference  on  a particular discipline, obtaining  data
         on   any  on-going  research  projects  in  the  world,
         information  on  the  current status  of  the  project,
         available,   relevant   literature,   national    input
         records, etc.
         
      FAOSIS

         FAOSIS,  like  FAOSTSAT and FAOINFO  - and  in  keeping
with  the  operative  concept  of  WAICENT  -  gathers  together
channels  of information under its own discipline-heading.    At
present,  there  are  two information systems  accessible  under
FAOSIS,  and  a third (EMPRES) which will be made accessible  in
the near future.

       the  Global Information and Early Warning System on  Food
    and  Agriculture (GIEWS) provides regular bulletins on  food
    crop  production  and  markets  at  the  global  level,  and
    situation  reports  on  a  regional  and  country-by-country
    basis.   It  answers  questions like .... How much  food  is
    the  world  producing?  What is happening  to  food  prices?
    Will  there  be drought in southern Africa this year?  Which
    countries  are  the  most  food-insecure?  Where  are   food
    interventions most needed?   To achieve this objective,  the
    System  monitors food supply and demand all over the  world,
    compiles  the  information  and analyses  the  estimates  it
    receives  on  trade  and food, develops  new  approaches  to
    early warning and reacts to man-made or natural disaster  by
    sending  food supply and demand evaluation missions  to  the
    affected countries.

       the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS)
    is  the key communications tool for the Global Programme for
    the  Management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR);  it
    provides  extensive searchable databases, tools, guidelines,
    references  and  contacts.   Its objectives are  to  involve
    and  assist  governments, NGOs, international  training  and
    research  groups  in the world to achieve better  management
    of their animal genetic resources.

       the   FAO   Emergency  Prevention  System  (EMPRES)   for
    transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases. The  term
    ”transboundary” refers to major epizootic diseases that  are
    of  significant  importance in economic, trade  and/or  food
    security  importance;   basically,  where  the  control  and
    management  of  the importation of animals  requires  inter-
    country   co-operation   for   the   prevention   of   major
    emergencies.   The  system has two  components  :  Livestock
    Diseases, and Desert Locust Management.

         (a)    Livestock   Diseases.  EMPRES   highlights   six
         particularly  serious diseases:  Rinderpest,  Foot  and
         Mouth,   Rift   Valley  fever,   Lumpy  skin   disease,
         Contagious  bovine  pleuropneumonia (CBPP),  and  Peste
         des Petits Ruminants (PPR).

         There  are  divers problems to face  in  the  fight  to
         eradicate these diseases: lack of adequate systems  for
         diagnosis,    uncoordinated    vaccination    policies,
         ineffective  control  measures.  One  of  EMPRES’   key
         tasks  is to develop a global early warning system  for
         its six priority diseases.

         (b)  Desert Locust Management.  As far as the  critical
         desert   locust  situation  is  concerned,  the   first
         priority   of  EMPRES  is   to  establish  a   rational
         management  approach to reduce and  eventually  prevent
         desert   locust  emergencies.  As  with  the  livestock
         diseases  component, an efficient early warning  system
         is  seen as the foremost effective tool to combat plant
         pests.     A   viable   early   warning   system   will
         automatically  bring  benefits to  monitoring  and  the
         evaluation  of  activities, increase  preparedness  and
         rapidity  in  the  deployment  of  additional   control
         resources during emergencies.


  ...  from the outside

     Individuals,  institutions, organisations  and  governments
all  over  the world may access the WAICENT centralised database
through  the  FAO Homepage on the Internet.  The extent  of  the
database  is  immediately  visible;  the  principal  fields   of
agriculture are on FAO’s Homepage. Each department  in  FAO  has
presented  its  wealth  of  information  sources  independently;
conformity only lies in the search mechanism.

The  databases  of the Organization have been enriched  and  and
their  scope  extended  by  the development  of  this  corporate
information system.  Centralisation means interactivity  between
databases:   the user accesses the page he/she is interested  in
and  can  navigate on through to any relevant database  or  text
file on the system.  The examples given of FAOSTAT, FAOINFO  and
FAOSIS (and their infrastructures) are only the beginning:

Besides  the ease with which users world-wide can now enter  and
navigate through areas of immediate interest, FAO hopes that  by
providing exhaustive on-line information through the World  Wide
Web,  countries which are prey to emergency situations  will  be
alerted fully and ahead of time; there will be real-time contact
with  experts  and immediate relief programmes. The organization
of  EMPRES described above) under FAOSIS in the ambit of WAICENT
will  halve  the  effort  required to  establish  adequate  data
information  for  the system to function well,  and  double  its
effectiveness.

A  particularly illustrative example is AGLINET, the  world-wide
agriculture   libraries  network.  This  voluntary  co-operative
library network was founded in 1971 within the framework of  the
International
Association   of   Agricultural  Librarians  and  Documentalists
(IAALD).     General   agricultural   libraries   with    strong
regional/country  coverage  and  specialised  subject   resource
collections  around  the  world have agreed  to  participate  in
AGLINET.

Under  this system, all member libraries provide, upon  request,
speedy inter-library loan and photocopy services to other member
libraries.  AGLINET centres are only asked to provide literature
originating  in  their country or region, and  concerning  their
particular   specialisation.   The   aim   is   to   achieve   a
comprehensive  coverage and mutual and rational use  of  library
resources,   not   only  for  the  benefit   of   members’   own
constituencies,  but also in support of other  libraries  within
their  country  and/or region.   Member libraries  provide  each
other   with  inter-library  loans,  reproductions   (fiche   or
photocopy) and bibliographic information.  The structure, tasks,
principles  and procedures and changes in membership are  guided
by   the   AGLINET  Statutes  which  were  formulated  and   are
periodically reviewed by members.

It  is  not  difficult  to  see the  advantages  that  WAICENT’s
centralised  information  system  will  bring  to  the  work  of
AGLINET.   Users enter the bibliographic database  via  FAOINFO,
identify  the  texts  and references they  require,  communicate
their   requests  via  e-mail  and  may  receive  the  documents
requested  electronically.  The reduction in communication  time
and the costs of photocopying and mailing will be considerable.


2.  The dissemination of WAICENT’s products

     FAO is present on the Internet, both on the World Wide  Web
and on the Gopher.  More than 25,000 users access FAO’s Homepage
every  day;   25,000  diskettes  are  disseminated  every   year
containing  information collected by FAO.  The  Organization  is
promoting  wide access to WAICENT through its new  ”Computerised
Information  Series” which collects WAICENT products  on  floppy
disks or CD-ROM.  The series includes a dissemination module  of
WAICENT  on  diskette with statistics collected  since  1961  on
population,  land use, production, trade, food balances,  forest
products and food aid.

Lack  of  sufficient means obliges the majority of countries  in
the  developing world to look to other network channels for  the
information generated by FAO.  Most of the information available
on   the   Internet  is  produced  for  the  Gopher  and  e-mail
distribution,  although this necessarily  implies  the  loss  of
graphical  and  photographic impact. A CD-ROM has been  produced
which  mirrors what is found on the FAO WEB site,  for  computer
workstations  where  Internet access  is  not  available  or  is
limited.


3.  Technical improvements to WAICENT

     In  order  to achieve its aims, however, WAICENT must  keep
pace with information technology, which is continually evolving.
The  system  has  to  be closely monitored,  its  platforms  and
applications constantly developed and improved. Several parallel
projects  are  underway  with  WAICENT:  the  extension  of  its
applications,   and,  most  importantly,  the   study   on   the
introduction of SGML (Standard Generalised Mark-up Language).  A
thorough analysis of all the documentation produced by  FAO  has
already  been  carried  out.   Critical  parameters  have   been
identified,  e.g.. short time for preparation and delivery,  co-
authoring,  integration of multi-media, varied  output  such  as
illustrated  catalogues  or database reports.   The  concept  of
SGML, put simply, is ”generate once, use many”.  Standardisation
of  styles  allows for the generation of many different  outputs
either  on the same or on different media.   A set of rules  and
relationships  within  documents of the same  type,  called  the
document  type  definition (DTD) is the first step  towards  the
application of SGML, which has the advantage of being customised
to suit an organisation’s evolving needs.

At present FAO uses HTML (Hyper-text Mark-up Language), which is
the most important - because the simplest - application of SGML.
The  ultimate result of the study underway could be the creation
of  a  core-group  trained in SGML, defining  DTDs  (supra)  and
database  integration,  while the majority  of  those  preparing
documents  for  the World Wide Web will be trained  to  work  in
HTML.


4.  The future of WAICENT

     Through the ”Information Flow” created by the mechanism  of
WAICENT,  there  is a continuous, circular movement  around  the
globe  of  information  generated by  the  countries,  analysed,
interpreted and organised in a logical, structured manner by the
body  of WAICENT experts, and disseminated on diskette,  on  CD-
ROM, in books or on the Internet to the rest of the world.

This  is  the  system  and the path of the  future:  information
collected and then disseminated in the form most appropriate  to
the audience requesting it.  No target audience is excluded;  it
is merely a question of defining the best vehicle of information
transmission for each client-user.

FAO’s mandate is to collect, classify and disseminate
information about the world’s agriculture.  Each era has had its
own method to fulfil this mandate.  The era of information
technology offers new tools accompanied by a new vocabulary -
”accessibility”, ”user-friendliness”, ”cross-platform
portability”, etc.  WAICENT is one of the products this
technology has made possible;  one enterprising step closer to a
truly effective way of  interpreting FAO’s mission.

    Yet the system is still far from perfect.  As Henry Ford
once said:  ”True progress is made only when the advantages of a
new technology are within reach of everyone”.