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Project Report, University of Warwick, Coventry

CV4 7AL UK

January1996

Preamble

This study arose from the need for the European Initiative on Agricultural Research for Development to have an information system at its core, to enable co-ordination and proactivity amongst the participants and create an enabling environment for the emergence of new partnerships.

A number of key elements have had to be included in the design not least of which were the highly evolutionary nature of the initiative itself and the nature of the information required. Given these points and the fact that no one single node should have hierarchical prominence in terms of data storage and retrieval, it is clear that a distributed network is the most appropriate structure. With the rapid expansion of electronic highways throughout the world it is proposed that the information system would be established on the Internet using some of the latest software to enable users to browse the system, exchange data, form partnerships and eventually have multilingual entry points for those researchers outside the initiative interested in forming links.

Any such system will require clear co-ordination. In the case of a distributed network of nodes tere are a number of advantages including increased performance and security and reduced operational costs. The main hurdles to be overcome relate to registration, creation of an agreed list of entry points, the organisation and management of hot-links and development of knowledge about the system including acceptable codes of practice to be adopted by the participants.

The study, conducted in Late November and December of 1995 by Jacqueline McGlade, a Professor of Ecosystems Analysis and Mathematics at Warwick University UK, and her research assistant Mark Abbiss, was funded by the European Commission DGXII as part of its commitment to develop the European Initiative on Agricultural Research for Development.

Aims of the Report:




TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW

ANNEXES

GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS




OVERVIEW

1. Background and Philopsohy of the
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Initiative



The European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development (EIARD) was initially announced by the French Presidency to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) donors meeting at Lucerne, Switzerland in February, 1995.

The aim of the Initiative is to create a co-ordinated and proactive environment for co-operation, partnership and information exchange between the relevant parties in agricultural research and development in Europe, and ultimately on a world-wide basis. One of the key elements of EIARD is the development of an information system (InfoSys) which will allow exchange of material and communication via electronic networking as well as more traditional modes such as printed copy, fax and telephone. This report covers the essential details of what InfoSys should contain, how it should be maintained and operated, together with Terms of Reference for its implementation.

The main consequences of the voluntary co-ordinating role of EIARD will i) be the large degree of overlap between users and providers of information and ii) the wide organisational and thematic scope of EIARD's demands. InfoSys will therefore need to act as a virtual repository; that is, it will provide access and serve as a gateway to all that it references, across a co-ordinated network of individuals, institutions, systems and information repositories. InfoSys will not be a new database or operate a physical repository, but rather it will constitute an enabling mechanism to facilitate transparent access to existing (and future) information, wherever it might exist.

The open-ended and evolutionary nature of InfoSys is also an important element in its design, along with the inherent responsibilities of both user and providers in using and supporting the system. This is an important issue, strongly debated within the community-at-large, and likely to have the greatest long-term impact on users of EIARD's InfoSys; a special section on network ethics has therefore been included.

Overall the main functions of InfoSys will be to

promote constructive interaction between those parties concerned with increasing the development impact of research, through improved focus on priority development needs.

facilitate the flow of information amongst all participants and disciplines, irrespective of their location.

promote partnerships in research between participants in Europe and between participants in European and Developing countries.

It is not the intention of the EIARD InfoSys to develop any new software or hardware technologies. Instead the functionality of the system outlined in this report will be achieved through the use of existing systems (in particular Bulletin Boards and the multimedia services on the Internet and World Wide Web), technologies (such as personal computers (PC's), modems and other peripheral equipment) and software (such as Netscape). Given the rapid increase in data demands and the day-to-day availability of information in multimedia format, that is digital tapes, files, video, voice and graphics the use of the Internet is in step with advances throughout society as a whole.

The multiplicity of resources currently available at minimal charge means that a structured, distributed and functional multimedia system can now be developed to meet the needs of InfoSys. However, the recent expansion of global networks and the associated possibilities for information exchange, mean that the technologies underpinning their continued development are also evolving at an extremely rapid pace. For this reason, the design of InfoSys will need to be both robust and functional under present conditions, but able to adapt and integrate itself into the highly dynamic environment of global information systems.

Other important elements that should be carried forward into InfoSys are that users will need a multiple-entry system, i.e. different entry routes, such as Thematic areas, Member States and services such as documentation & training, research and other institutions, private sector companies, farmer organisations, NGOs etc. should exist. This will help to ensure the mobilisation of actors and promote a sense of ownership by all interested parties, especially EU/Member States plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and the Commission, and later on international and other organisations as well as DCs coming in at a later stage.

Such a multiple entry system will allow the participants to identify clearly who are users and providers of information and the different perceived types of information. Underlying the structure of InfoSys it will be necessary to develop matrices for users and providers in which actors (that is policy makers, researchers, financial institutions, research managers, companies etc.) are matched with perceived interests (that is policy, management, business, research).

2. Operational environment of InfoSys
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It is intended that EIARD InfoSys will be a virtual repository for information. As such it will act as a cross-index, that is it will collect at one site references to information available from the whole EIARD network. In addition it will provide many facilities such as search and retrieval of source documentation.

Prior to specifying the design and functionality of the EIARD InfoSys it will be important to identify the environment in which it will be operating. Key questions that will need to be addressed are:

1) Who will the most likely participants be?

2) What type of information will be most often required by the participants ?

3) What level of participation might be expected in terms of numbers and traffic ?

4) What level of support can be exists and/or can be expected from institutional servers within the EIARD community ?

Given the initial emphasis on participants from the EU/Member States plus Switzerland, Norway and the Commission, it is likely that InfoSys will rapidly become the focus for bringing individuals from research institutions, policy-makers, resource managers, NGOs, commercial enterprises and farmers organisations together. The type of traffic in such a system might be as high as 1 million requests within the first six months. It is therefore very important to the success of EIARD that InfoSys runs smoothly right from the start, and that it is not only well documented but also widely advertised.

At the individual scale the system will most likely be used for rapid exchange of information and views, and transfer of data. As the organisational scale increases, the breadth of information is likely to broaden, with requests for on-line access to publications, reports and information on allied research projects and potentially Delphi feed-back on policies and management issues.

It is intended that no restrictions are to be placed on access to the EIARD InfoSys; electronic, visual access to InfoSys will be provided to anyone with the ability to connect to the Internet or with an electronic mail (e-mail) address. However, there will still be potential contributors who have no electronic access. To facilitate their valued participation a method of eliciting and processing other forms of correspondence, for example through voice mail, will need to be developed so that they may be entered into the contact database.

With such a scenario as the one given above, InfoSys will have to rely heavily on the reciprocity of institutional support plus co-ordination amongst users at the same site. The European Co-ordination Group (ECG) encompasses the 15 EU Member States, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, plus the EU Commission (6 Member States). Thus in the first instance, exchange of data and information is likely to rely heavily on the Internet via BITNET, JANET (Joint Academic Network in the UK) and superJANET, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) and other similar systems such as Fidonet.

There are a number of sources of agricultural information outside EIARD that are directly accessible via the Internet e.g. EUNITA STN. The European Network for Information Technology in Agriculture (EUNITA; http://eunita.lii.unita.it/EUNITA/), currently served by the Danish Informatics Network in the Agricultural Sciences (Dina) under a concerted action, has as its purpose to provide professionals in agricultural information technology with knowledge, data and software they need to do their job. Further afield there are easy contacts with the US Department of Agriculture Extension Service (gopher esusda.gov) and with other sources via EINet Galaxy: Agriculture, a directory listing many agricultural WWW pages and servers. Such sources of information will be readily available via the Contacts Database.

Electronic mailing lists for different aspects are quite widespread; for example there is AGMODELS-L (listserv@unl.edu) an agricultural models discussion group; EXP-L (listserv@vml.novak.edu) an agricultural expert systems group; and VETINFO (listserv@wulist.wustl.edu) a veterinary informatics discussion group. Amongst European researchers many such lists occur, and help provide support and communications amongst teams spread throughout the EU.

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3. The structure of InfoSys
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In the Annexes to this report a detailed description of the Internet and some of its most important services such as the World Wide Web is given. Here we provide more of a summary and overview of the issues relating to the implementation, functionality, administration and traffic rules of InfoSys.

Due to the anticipated size of the system, a distributed network is envisaged. Mirroring of the focal node (Brussels) will spread the load, reduce costs and improve access and transmission times. A distributed system will also provide an additional level of security should physical damage occur to any of the network servers.

The system will be flexible enough to adapt to future developments and structured to accommodate the anticipated and projected levels of traffic. Simplicity and efficiency of use will be vital to the success of InfoSys. Different participants will have differing information needs and so they are likely to collect and store only that which they perceive as having potential interest in the future, rather than other possible uses, that is to say their own information systems are likely to remain self-contained. Even though the same data may have a multiplicity of users, completeness will not be sought if it is at the expense of efficiency via overloading of the system.

Functionality

Operations will be as transparent as possible. Due to the open nature of InfoSys it will have to be designed to allow easy access by all. InfoSys will provide the following functions :

A configurable, easily searchable Contacts Database/Listing which will provide hyperlinks and hence multiple entry points to locations which have matching information to the search criteria. Participants will be able to configure a search query in a number of ways, such as by research area, type of provider, geographical area of interest etc.

The ability to search and retrieve multimedia information from the Internet using the unconstrained approach of hypertext and hypertext mark up language (html).

A method self-registration for new participants which can be accessed via the screen or printed off and mailed to the Secretariat/Co-ordinator. The ability to update information as participants circumstances change.

The ability to make initial e-mail contact with information repositories via InfoSys by providing an e-mail registration form. All subsequent communications can then be made directly between interested parties.

The ability to mail the Secretariat/Co-ordinator with comments and suggestions.

The ability to register and set up Discussion Groups and Bulletin Boards covering a wide variety of subject areas.

Eventually the ability to preselect the language with which to interact and navigate through InfoSys.

Administration of InfoSys

The Secretariat/Co-ordinator will provide administration and maintenance of InfoSys. They will participate specifically in relation to:

a) the registration of new information repositories and participants

b) the establishment of new discussion groups and bulletin boards

c) comments resulting in the adoption of new services

There is no intention that the Secretariat/Co-ordinator will act as a repository for third parties. Neither can the Secretariat/Co-ordinator provide technical support on the establishment, maintenance and administration of a site wishing to provide information to the EIARD.

The Secretariat/Co-ordinator will need to be responsible for the maintenance of information integrity and access to the Contacts Database, Discussion Groups and Bulletin Boards. All other data maintenance will be the responsibility of the participant.

Wherever possible the functionality of the system will be provided by Third Party systems or automatic processes. For example discussion groups could be handled within the context of a Usenet newsgroup. This would facilitate widespread access and remove the overhead maintenance and administration for the Secretariat/Co-ordinator. As stated above, a number of newsgroups already exist in the area of agricultural research and development.

Registration with and updating of the Contacts Database will be, wherever possible, the responsibility of the participant. However, in the case of potentially large and significant information providers and users, such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation, it is recommended that administration and maintenance of their inclusion is achieved via formal co-operation between the Secretariat/Co-ordinator and the party concerned.

Traffic rules

Full and unrestricted access will be provided to the participants listed in the Contacts Database. Participation in Discussion Groups will require registration and may be restricted in certain cases. details of registration procedures and/or restrictions will be provided on-line. Contributions to the various groups and bulletin boards will be handled automatically and activated by the participant.

4. Presentation, access and future growth
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Presentation

An example of the types of information pages for the EIARD home page are provided in the Annexe to this report. The text will be augmented by some graphics, however this will be kept to a minimum as heavy use of graphics tends to make the system both slow and cumbersome.

The front end or graphical user interface (GUI) is readily configurable to adapt to the likely evolution of EIARD to provide global coverage and the environment that InfoSys will have to operate within. In the first instance the InfoSys homepages will be presented in English and French. However, it is anticipated that it will very soon be possible to provide the participants with the option to preselect the displayed language using an ongoing translation facility which will convert hypertext as it is received.

The option to presenting data in a non-graphical way will also be included for the benefit of participants who are accessing the system via narrow bandwidth connections (e.g. modems).

Access and future growth

The information system will become more widely known through journals, trade magazines, announcements on the WWW and via other sites and registration with Lycos, a search tool from Carnegie-Mellon University, that combines a search engine with a robot that goes out on the Net to collect data - over 5 million unique Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) were identified for the 1995 summer catalogue (http://lycos.cs.cmu.edu/).

Advertising will be jargon free so as to encourage everyone with relevant information to contribute. By harmonising the design and marketing the system to appeal to the simplest possible connection, widespread use should be guaranteed.

Direct contacts will also be made with potentially large holders of repositories of information so that agreement can be reached as to the most acceptable mechanism of information exchange between the participants. In addition, contact will be made with those involved in the additional agricultural networks such as the European Tropical Forest research Network (EFTRN) to prevent duplication.

The preliminary stage of the EIARD will be concerned with the establishment of an Information system cataloguing participants within the countries identified above whilst allowing immediate unrestricted access throughout the network. Ultimately, intention is to expand the system up to a global scale. This presupposes that all interested parties will have access to the relevant technologies permitting such involvement, which given the expansion of networks across regional bandwidths, may not be too far away in time for many DC partners. However, a clear divide exists between the Northern and Southern countries in regard to the information superhighway and all its benefits. The Secretariat/Co-ordinator needs to be aware of these inequalities and address the problems of participation in and contribution to the evolution of InfoSys.

ANNEXES



1. COMPUTER SYSTEMS, COMMUNICATIONS & ONLINE SERVICES
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Participants in the InfoSys will need three things to explore and use the Internet: a desire for information, the ability to use a computer and access to the Internet. Desire for information is the most important, because this is what the Internet offers: what you want, when you want it. You use the Internet with a computer; as discussed below there is an enormous range of computers on which the Internet will run. However, there are minimum standards. Depending on a participants desire to have no graphics at all or high resolution graphics, fast data processing abilities etc., the type of computer needed will change dramatically. Finally, an Internet connection is needed. This connection can take a variety of forms ranging from a full time connection via a local area network (LAN) to a dial-up connection using come software called SLIP or PPP. Depending on the insitutional arrangements that individuals have these connections may be academic related or entirely dependent on commercial, leased services.

All the software to make either of these kinds of connections comes with a system known as Windows 95, and it is very likely that the majority of participants will have a compatible windowing environment. The emphasis in developing the information system will thus be on "mouse"- driven activities and buttons.

In defining the components of the EIARD InfoSys it will be very important that the system if based as much as possible on the resources that participants already have. So within the design it will be necessary to incorporate 16-bit machines as well as faster and larger workstations; Compuserve and other online servers that give access to the Internet but not to all its services; machines that have low resolution graphics; machines that are accessed via low bandwidth, that is most modems etc.

The types of services that are available to users of the Internet include electronic mail, with all its possibilities including mail lists, moving data files via ftp, and now with the World-Wide Web, multimedia communications and hypertext. It is envisaged that the InfoSys will be designed to take account of s highly heterogeneous computing environment and user capability. Below some of the more important ideas and issues concerning Internet and the World-Wide Web are described in order to highlight the need for InfoSys to be based on such an approach.

2. THE INTERNET: WHAT IT IS AND WHAT'S ALLOWED?
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What is it ?

A network is simply the linking together of any number of any number of individual computers. The Internet is the interconnection of many smaller networks to form a single network that is very vast. It connects together governments, universities, businesses, online services, hospitals, professionals and millions of people across the globe from all walks of life.

The high-speed communication backbone of the Internet is today formed by a number of large commercial networks. A number of smaller networks are then connected to these. The Internet itself has no central authority.

Based on a set of protocols known as the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite, the Internet uses a system of packet switching for data transfer. TCP breaks up the data into packets adding an address, reassembly instructions and error-correction controls. IP breaks TCP packets into even smaller units.

Growing from research originally funded by the US Advanced Research Projects Agency (http://www.arpa.mil/) in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Internet was designed to be highly robust in case one section of the network (or a host computer) became inoperable. Packets could simply be transmitted over another route through the network, because no one single network path was essential. The packets can each be sent or re-sent over different routes on the network, and assembled (based on information encoded into the packets) in their proper order upon arrival at the destination.

A new protocol called Internet Protocol Next generation (IPv6) will support the Internet far into the future, allowing use of high-performance networks, particularly Asynchronous Transfer Mode and low-bandwidth (wireless) networks. Computers that connect to the Internet via telephone lines need a kind of interpreter called SLIP or PPP to make TCP/IP understood.

Strictly speaking only those networks which use TCP/IP are part of the Internet proper. However, many bulletin boards, networks using different protocols and commercial online services have gateways to this IP traffic. Being a part of the Internet has informally come to mean that a user has some sort of ability to communicate with other Internet-connected people.

Internet Services

Historically the three primary applications are electronic mail, file transfer protocol and Telnet. Electronic mail (e-mail) allows users to send messages from one computer to another via a mail list or Usenet. File transfer Protocol (FTP) allows the user to upload or download files. Telnet lets users log in remotely to other computers and use them as if the user was at a terminal in the same location.

Secondary applications have greatly modified the way people use the Internet facilities such as Internet Relay Chat (multi-user realtime conversations across the globe), Multi-user Dimensions (MUDS ) and Internet Radio (downloadable radio programmes).

The most important secondary application for the EIARD InfoSys will however be information retrieval tools that share the characteristic of helping to locate information and/or files held on various Internet computers. The important tools are Archie, Gopher, Wide Area Information Servers and the World Wide Web - each unique in its capabilities to retrieve usable information.

Archie is a searchable database of the location of files that are available for the public to download. Gophers organise information on different computers into a menu and with the help of Veronica can lead you to relevant resources. Wide Area Information Services (WAIS) go further than Archie and can search the contents of files looking for a ,match to your query. The graphical World-Wide Web (WWW) is becoming so prominent that calling it a secondary service is now outdated. Gopher and the WWW link together assorted elements so seamlessly that their client applications are known as browsers , reflecting the easy nature of accessing resources through them

As IP addresses are not easily memorised and can in fact change, the Domain Name System (DNS) uses a hierarchy of named domains (subdivisions of computers) to make things more intuitive. The broadest category uses a three letter acronym: org for non-profit organisations, edu for educational institutions and gov for government computers. The rest of the world uses two letter acronyms, such as uk for the United Kingdom and ac for academic institutions.

What's allowed on the Internet ?

What you are allowed to do on the Internet is a very complex issue. It is influenced by law, ethics and politics. How these all interrelate and which is paramount varies from place to place. The Internet is not a network; it's a network of networks, each which may have its own policies and rules. It is important therefore that users of the EIARD InfoSys are given some guidelines, and understand that it is their own responsibility to find out if what they want to do goes over the edge.

When the Internet was first set up the main issue as to what you wanted to do was permissible depended on whether your application was commercial or not. This was because many of the networks were supported by federal or government agencies which had strict conditions on the type of work that they were permitted to undertake. Nowadays, network culture is a bigger restriction than legal issues. Commercial activity has not only been accepted, but is now welcomed. However, the network has a culture of its own, and activities that disregard this (like sending junk e-mail) will get a user into trouble: you do not have to worry as much about the law, but you also won't sustain any partnerships.

Legal Implications

It would be naive, however, to state that the Internet is beyond the law. Three areas affect users:

o The Internet is a truly global network. When moving information across national boundaries or outside the European Union export laws come into effects and local laws change. It is thus important that EIARD understands the implications of this when implementing InfoSys.

o Whenever users are shipping software or ideas from one place to another it is important that intellectual property and licence issues are considered.

o Although the Internet is global, local jurisdictions may try to exert authority over a user's Internet usage.

When investigating their potential for legal liability, the consortium that runs the Bitnet (Centre for Research and Educational Networking) came to the following conclusions. A network operator is responsible for illegal export only if the operator was aware of the violation and failed to inform proper authorities; the network operator is not responsible for monitoring usage and determining whether or not it is within the law.

Property Rights

Property rights can also become an issue when you send something to someone else. The problem gets even more confusing when the communication is across borders. Copyright and patent laws vary greatly from country to country. On the network users should know who has the rights to anything before giving it away.

The law surrounding electronic communication has not kept pace with the technology. If you have a book, journal or letter you can ask almost any lawyer or librarian if you can copy or use it in a particular manner. They can tell you whose permission you have to have. Ask the same question regarding a network bulletin board posting, an electronic mail message or a report in a file available on the network and they will throw up their hands. Even if you knew whose permission to obtain and got it via mail, it is not clear whether an e-mail message offers useful protection.

Property rights can also be a problem even when using publicly available files. Some software available over the Internet must be licensed through the vendor. Just because a file is there for the taking does not mean that taking it or using it is legal.

The Bulletin Board (BBS) community has given the legal community a number of opportunities to enforce intellectual property laws. For example BBSs that carried piratised software have been subject to impoundment of equipment.

It is important to realise that the Internet has many political supporters, including members of European governments, federal/national agencies, teachers etc. They support it because it benefits the whole community. But this support should not be taken for granted; the political support for the network is broad but relatively thin. Any act that can cause political waves might radically change it, and probably for the worse.

Network Ethics

So said, for the new user of the network, the apparent lack of ethics is disquieting. In reality, however, the network is a very ethical place; the ethics are just a bit different. You can delve safely, provided you know what to expect.

The two main premises of network ethics are

o the network is good and must be protected

o individualism is honoured.

Protecting the Internet is essential for frequent users who find it extremely valuable for both work and recreation. Since access often comes at little or no personal expense, they view this resource as something that needs protection. The threats to the Internet come from excessive use for unintended purposes and political pressures. Self-regulation is thus important because of this; included in the list of areas that are considered damaging are excessive ill-conceived use, intentional damage or interference with others (e.g. the Internet Worm)

On the network critical mass is two. You interact when and how you want; geography does not matter. However, freedom of speech may often be curtailed if users enter specialist areas where others may not wish to read extensive texts on what they consider to be peripheral to the group. Etiquette on the net suggests that users should respect the group's dynamic. This may be a double-edged sword, but given the powers in most countries for freedom of speech it is critical that providers and users of any information system specify clearly in advance what is expected of participants.

Security Consciousness

Many users on the Internet feel that if a file or a computer happens to be available, then it is fair game to be used; after all if a user did not want it to be on the Net then they should not have connected. This view has no basis in law. Most break-ins occur on computers that are connected continuously, but nevertheless there is the distinct possibility that someone can attack an individual's computer whilst they are asleep. In this case the best advice is to take the attitude that it is the responsibility of each individual to make certain that their workstation or computer should protect itself, and not rely on the network.

Security on the Internet is really a group effort by the whole community. There are a number of ways in which network machines can be compromised; these include the use of bad passwords; importing corrupt software; illegal entry through misconfigured software; and illegal entry through an operating system security flaw. All of this indicate that care should be exercised in establishing how an information system involving electronic communication should be set up.

3. WORLD WIDE WEB
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The ways in which many of us interact, collect and organise information and undertake research is highly nonlinear. Recognition of this amongst researchers in the high-energy physics community led to the development of the World-Wide Web (WWW), which today provides a system for distributing hypermedia information locally or globally.

Web origins

Vannevar Bush described a system for associatively linking information in an article "As we may think" in 1945 in The Atlantic Monthly ( available on the web http://www.csi.uottawa.ca/-dduchier/misc/vbush/as-we-may-think.html). He called his system memex (memory extension) and proposed it as a tool to help us cope with information. Bush wanted memex to expand human knowledge in a way that took advantage of the associative nature of human thought. Although never built, Bush's system provided many of the concepts that we now use in the WWW.

In the decades following Bush's article, many ideas emerged; in 1965 Ted Nelson coined the term hypertext to describe text that is not constrained to be sequential. Hypertext links documents to form a web of relationships that draws on the possibilities for extending and augmenting the meaning of a "flat" piece of text. Hypertext is thus more than just footnotes that serve as commentary or further information in a text; rather hypertext extends the structure of ideas by making "chunks" of ideas available for inclusion in many parts of many texts.

Nelson also coined the term hypermedia, which is hypertext not constrained to text. Hypermedia can also include multimedia - pictures, graphics, sound and movies. In 1967 Nelson proposed a global hypermedia system, Xanadu, which would link all the world literature with provisions for automatically paying royalties to authors. Xanadu was never completed by Nelson is still working to develop the project further (http://www.xanadu.net/849).

Bush and Nelson's ideas about information systems showed up again in the late 1980's amongst the CERN (Conseil Europeen pour le Recherche Nucleaire European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva. Unaware at the time of Nelson's term, Tim Berners-Lee proposed a hypertext system to enable efficient information sharing for members of the high-energy physics community. The important parts of his proposal HyperText and CERN were as follows:

o A user interface that would be consistent across all platforms and that would allow users to access information from many different computers

o A scheme for this interface to access a variety of document types and information protocols

o A provision for universal access, which would allow any user on the network to access any information.

By late 1990, an operating prototype of the WWW ran on a NeXT computer and a line-mode user interface (called www) was completed. The essential pieces of the Web were in place, although not widely available for network use.

In March 1991, the www interface was used on a network and by May it was made available on central CERN machines. The CERN team spread the word about their system, announcing the availability of the files in the Usenet newsgroup alt.hypertext and to the high-energy physicists community by the end of 1991. In October a gateway from the Web to Wide-Area Information Server (WAIS) software was completed.

During 1992 the Web continued to develop, and interest grew. By the start of 1993 there were 50 known Web servers in existence and the first graphical interfaces (called clients or browsers) for the XWindow System and the Macintosh became available.

Until 1993 most of the development of the Web technologies came out of CERN, but in early 1993 Marc Andreessen, a young researcher at Illinois, shifted attention to the USA. Working at the National Centre for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), Andreessen and his team developed an X Window System browser for the web called Mosaic. With its fresh look and graphical interface presenting the Web using a point-and-click design, Mosaic fuelled great interest in the Web.

Communication using the Web continued to increase throughout 1993. Data communication traffic from Web servers grew rapidly and by October 1993 there were 500 known web servers. During Mecklermedia's Internet World in 1993, John Markoff writing on the front page of the business section of The New York Times hailed Mosaic as the "killer app[lication]" of the Internet.

In 1994 more commercial players got into the Web game. Companies announced commercial versions of web browser software. Marc Andreessen and colleagues left NCSA in March to form with Jim Clark (former chairman of Silicon Graphics), a company that later became known as Netscape Communications Corporation (http://home.netscape.com/). By May 1994, interest in the Web was son intense that the first international conference on the WWW, held in Geneva, overflowed with attendees. By June there were 1500 known (public) Web servers.

By mid-1994 it was clear to the original developers at CERN that the stable development of the Web should fall under the guidance of an international organisation. In July, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and CERN announced the World Wide Web Organisation (which later became known as the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C). Today the W3C (http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Consortium) guides the technical development and standards for the evolution of the Web. The W3C is a consortium of universities and private industries, run by the Laboratory for Computer Science at MIT collaborating with CERN and Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et an Automatique (INRIA; http://www.inria/fr/). The Web ended 1994 with 16% of the US National Science Foundation Network backbone traffic.

In 1995, the Web's development was marked by rapid commercialisation and technical change. Netscape Communication's browser, called Netscape Navigator, continued to include more extensions of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and issues of security received much attention. By May 1995 there were 15,000 known public Web servers, a tenfold increase over 1994. Many companies had joined the W3C including At&T, Digital Equipment Corporation, FTP Software, IBM, MCI, NCSA, Netscape Communications, Novell, Spyglass and Sun Microsystems.

Along with growing interest in the Web, the number of Web resources offered through servers exploded. Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com/), a subject tree of Web resources, grew from approximately 100 links in late March 1994 to more than 39,000 entries by May 1995. Web service by the end of 1995 on the NSFNet backbone had exceeded all other services (in terms of bytes transferred through service ports). CompuServe, America Online, Prodigy and many others provided dull access to the Web for their customers.

The rapid growth in the number of servers, resources and interest in the Web has set the stage for a user base that has achieved such numbers that further growth will be self-sustaining. Members of such a mass audience find that they can reach many people and sites of interest using a medium, and this nearly universal access brings a benefit that attracts other users. For example, the use of Internet e-mail amongst scientists reached this stage long age because, for many scientific and other disciplines, and Internet e-mail address is extremely helpful for scholarly communication. With large numbers of scholars participating in electronic mail it becomes beneficial for other scholars to adopt communications technology to gain the benefit of being in touch with so many others.

It is difficult to predict when the Web will reach any one particular mass audience. Certainly amongst groups of scientists, there is a growing expectation that no matter where they are working there will be Web communications. Even under severe communication restrictions, access to satellites and other enabling technologies, can ensure a stable link-up. For organisations serving such user groups, there is a cost of not having a web presence.

What is the World-Wide Web today ?

The Web in 1995 still retains the essential elements it had in 1990. Its popularity as a view of the Internet has confused popular understanding of it, because the Web is sometimes viewed as equivalent to the Internet. The Web is a very distinct system from the Internet; first the Web is not a network, but an application system (a set of software programs); second, the WWW can be deployed and used on many different kinds of networks or it could even be used on no network at all.

The WWW is a hypertext information and communication system popularly used on the Internet computer network with data communications operating according to a client/server model. Web clients (browsers) can access multiprotocol and hypermedia information (where helper applications are available for the browser) using an addressing scheme.

Hypertext information is not constrained to be linear; in mathematical terms the Web is a directed graph in which the nodes (the hypertext pages) are connected by edges (the Web's hypertext links). Areas on Web pages, called anchors, are "hotspots" that can be selected by the user to retrieve another document for display in the Web interface (or browser).

Another characteristic of Web hypertext involves the idea of boundedness. In its networked form, information on the Web, because it can be linked to other information written by other authors, is not bound to a single document. Thus, Web hypertext often exhibits the characteristic of not being linked to a single author. Rather, Web hypertext links to and augments its meaning from many other pages of text from all over the network. Similarly, any Web-based work is potentially a destination for an anchor on another page somewhere on the Web. This interlinking fosters highly enmeshed systems of thought and expression very different from static, stand-alone systems of hypertext encoded in some CD-ROMs or on a single computer host controlled by a single author.

4. CREATING A WEB SITE FOR EIARD INFOSYS
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In the following pages we have attached examples of the pages that are characteristic of what the InfoSys might look like. There is also a demonstration of these pages which will be shown during discussions with the European Co-ordination Group.

Many of the elements will require discussions amongst the players and participants, for example the Research Area



EARD-Infosys+ Logo

European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development

Information System EIARD InfoSys

This is a gateway to the EIARD InfoSys, a cross index and virtual repository of information about Agricultural Research for Development in Europe and Developing Countries.

Address comments and questions to jmg@oikos.warwick.ac.uk

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Background Information

Project summary.

Glossary of terms.

Repositories Indexed

Information Sites.

Wide-Area information Servers.

References, credits and disclaimers.

Here is a timely message. For further details, see News

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Agricultural Research Cross Index

Search for information according to

research area.

renewable natural resources.

geographical area

institution.

NGO's.

farmer organisation.

researcher.

education & training services.

agricultural conference list.

commercial groups.

publications.

list servers.

.

etc.

Go straight to the research area decision tree

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If you cannot find what you need in the cross index, you might try some of these other sources of information about agricultural research in development.

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The EIARD InfoSys was developed by staff of the UUUUUU and the UUUUU.

This HTTP gateway was developed by NNNNNN and NNNNNNN.

Last change in this page: January 1, 1996

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This server has satisfied xxxxxxx requests as of Sun Jan 14 08:42:23 1996 GMT

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EARD-Infosys+ Logo

Send Message to InfoSys Developers

we welcome questions and comments from users. if you would like to send a message to the developers of EARD-Infosys+, simply fill out the form below and press the button marked Send Message. We will always try to reply but make sure that you put your electronic and if necessary your land mail address in the From field!

________________________________________________________________________

From:

To: jmg&oikos.warwick.ac.uk

Subject:

________________________________________________________________________

EARD-Infosys+ Logo

Research Area Decision Tree

The classification system itself is here

Background

Classification systems have long been used to give structure to large bodies of information. A well-formulated system can improve understanding of the information as well as ease access to it, thus making the information more useful. A subject-oriented classification system can be an effective means of directing users to appropriate sources and repositories of information, whilst allowing multiple entries to co-exist and the natural evolutionary dynamics of such a system to occur.

To be effective, such a classification system must have the following properties

Problem-orientation.

It must classify the research areas which are contained within the system so that users can easily identify those institutions and areas where research of a particular kind is being undertaken.

Variable-level tree structure

A tree structure is the most natural for a decision/classification. Allowing arbitrary levels of refinement permits the system to adapt to both mature and new subject areas. In new subject area little information may be available, and hence little refinement will be necessary. In mature area where much is known, increased refinement is necessary to distinguish among the choices.

The Classification scheme can be thought of as a pre-defined hierarchy of key-words. Since the entire universe of these keywords is visible to users the possibility of finding the correct sources of information, partners or links is improved. In addition, the tree structure shows explicitly relationships among the set of keywords which can aid in user' understanding of them.

To use such a system, each information entry must be assigned to a class. This will be an interactive process which will improve as the EIARD gets underway and the InfoSys evolves. At the moment there is no need to use any one particular system, but rather post keywords into the system and monitor their use.

EARD-Infosys+ Logo

Research Area Decision Tree

Subclasses

Livestock

Cropping

Forestry

Grains

Biotechnology

International Treaties & Conventions

Aquaculture

.

.

.

.

.

Glossary of technical terms


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addressing scheme see URL's

Archie is a searchable database of the location of files that are available for the public to download.

BITNET is an electronic communication network linking institutional and departmental computers at some 560 participating organisational CERN members in the United States. BITNET also connects about 1,400 organisations in 49 countries for the electronic exchange of information in support of research and education.

boundedness Zones of interaction within a group of Users

browsers are World Wide Web clients which allow users to retrieve information.

Bulletin Boards are areas where messages can be posted, read and responded to in an on-line discussion.

CGIAR Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research ()

client A software application that works on your behalf to extract a service from a server somewhere on the network.

Discussion Groups allow Users to participate in debates relating to any one of thousands of subject areas. Users can register with Discussion groups via e-mail so that they may be placed on mailing lists which notify them of developments in the discussion topic of interest.

Domain Name System (DNS) uses a hierarchy of named domains (subdivisions of computers) to make things more intuitive.

.org for non-profit organisations

.edu for educational institutions

.gov for government computers

.uk for the United Kingdom

.ac for academic institutions

ECG European Co-ordination Group

EIARD European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development.

Electronic mail (e-mail) allows users to send messages from one computer to another via a mail list or Usenet.

EUNITA The European Network for Information Technology in Agriculture

Fidonet is an amateur electronic mail network with almost 40,000 mail node world-wide.

File transfer Protocol (FTP) allows the User to upload or download files between computers.

gateways allow transfers of information between normally incompatible applications or networks. The data is reformatted so that it is acceptable for the new network or application before passing it on.

Gophers organise information on different computers into a menu and with the help of Veronica can lead you to relevant resources.

Graphical User Interface (GUI) the mechanism by which the User communicates information to the computer, for example Windows 95.

hardware All the components of a computer and its accessories. See software.

helper applications are a group of applications that let you access or view a variety of file formats (e.g. pictures, sound, animation). Each computer systems has a different set of helper applications.

hyperlinks are sensitive areas of text within a document which link to other Internet locations and that can be accessed by clicking on them.

Hypertext Mark Up Language (HTML) is the language in which World Wide Web documents are written.

InfoSys EIARD's Information System

Internet A world wide network of networks that communicate using the TCP/IP protocol suite, allowing users to exchange information.

Internet Services Historically the three primary applications are electronic mail, file transfer protocol and Telnet.

Internet Worm A programme which used the Internet to attack certain types of computers on the network. It would gain unauthorised access to computers and then use those computers to break into others.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) is a digital telephone service which allows high-speed access to the Internet.

JANET (Joint Academic Network in the UK) is a private computer network for academic and research activities within the UK, linking over a hundred and fifty institutions.

modems are devices that connect a computer to a data transmission line, such as a telephone line.

multimedia A computer-based application that delivers information or entertainment to the user in the form of several types of media, including sound, text, graphics, animation and video.

Multi-user Dimensions (MUDS) are computer based forums where Users can interact together in real-time regardless of their geographic location, frequently used to allow conferencing.

Netscape is a software product which allows users to search for and display documents distributed across the Internet.

packet switching is a technique whereby a network directs individual packets of information between different destinations based on the address within each packet.

peripheral equipment any input or output device connected to a computer, such as a printer, modem or keyboard.

personal computers (PC's), are low cost computers sold with software packages for use by an individual.

protocol An agreed set of operational procedures to enable data to be transferred between systems.

software Synonymous with programme. Software is a general term for all types of computer programs and their associated documentation.

Telnet lets users log in remotely to other computers and use them as if the user was at a terminal in the same location.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite, TCP breaks up the data into packets adding an address, reassembly instructions and error-correction controls. IP breaks TCP packets into even smaller units.

Usenet newsgroups are basically bulletin boards on specific topics.

Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) are the addresses used to locate files and services provided across the Internet in much the same way a file on a personal computer has a path to locate it. The URL consists of three parts: a protocol (e.g. http, telnet, gopher), a server name (e.g. csv.warwick.ac.uk) and finally the path to the file.

virtual repository A collection of computer systems which connect together across a wide geographical area which is invisible to the User giving the impression that all the information is held at one location.

Web clients see browsers

Wide Area Information Services (WAIS) go further than Archie and can search the contents of files looking for a match to your query.

World-Wide Web (WWW) is an Internet Service , the WWW uses the metaphor of a page, associated via hypertext links with other pages widely distributed over the Internet. Readers of WWW pages - which may include graphics and other multimedia elements - use a WWW browser to navigate this 'web' of links in any order that they choose. See Hypertext Mark Up Language



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