ACTION PLAN

INTRODUCTION:

The CSIR-Soil Research Institute has the mandate to undertake inventory of the soil resources of Ghana and carry out scientific research to generate information and technologies for effective planning, utilization and management of the soil resources of Ghana for increased and sustainable agriculture, industry as well as ensuring safe and sound environment.

There are 5 main researchable divisions in the institution, which are;

Soil Genesis, Survey & Land Evaluation

Soil Chemistry, Fertility & Plant Nutrition

Soil & Water Management

Soil Microbiology

Laboratory Analysis

As a research institution, researcher's, technologist's and technicians are often geographically distributed in Ghana, with the help of Web 2.0 tools like;

Google Alerts,

iGoogle,

GoogleDocs,

GoogleMaps,

Wikis (pbwiki & wikiEducator),

LinkedIn,

Google Reader,

Skype,

Blogs (Blogger) etc.

This will help in reporting, mapping, data or information sharing and processing. Also "Office - Field" data interrelation can be achieved which is made possible by the use of these tools.

Adjustment and data pre-processing can be done before the arrival of field workers at the office.

However, project works could be published globally for technical teams to share their ideas on how methodologies and outcomes need to be achieved.

Lastly, training sessions will be organised in our institution for our co-workers. This will help them use the above mentioned tools in their research activities.

my new developed map server

WEB 2.0 TRAINING AT KNUST ( THURSDAY 8 July, 2010 )

The training on this day covered programmes like iMARK, GoogleDocs, and WikiEducator.

1.0 iMARK

The Information Management Resource Kit (IMARK) is an e-learning initiative to train individuals and support institutions and networks world-wide in the effective management of agricultural information.

IMARK is being developed as a series of modules on CD-ROM and on the Internet. The modules focuses on a specific area of information management and its easily adapted to.

The List of Modules are Listed below:

Digital Libraries and Digitization

Web 2.0 and Social Media for Development

Networking in Support of Development

Building Electronic Communities and Networks

Investing in Information for Development

Digitization and Digital Libraries

Management of Electronic Documents.

Also there are units of these modules, thus;

a. Social Media for development

b. Social media tools and services.

Lastly, we learnt about Podcasting etc.

1.0 GoogleDocs

A free service from Google that allows you to upload and save documents from your desktop, edit them online from any computer, and invite others to read or edit your documents. Here files and media are stored in Google's secure servers for.

What Do You Use Google Docs for?

It may be a better blog editor than the one included in Blogger or other blogging platforms. You may use it to read an OpenOffice document (OpenDocument) or a Microsoft Word document on a computer that doesn't have a compatible software. Or maybe it's nice to know that your documents are always available even if you use a different computer. You could a keep a simple ToDo list, write a book, brainstorm ideas or collaborate on a school project. You may even use it a wiki, like did when I invited you to define Google collaboratively.

"I used Google Docs exclusively to teach my daughter her senior Civics/Gov't course. In a course we put together she had to analyze and summarize various aspects of each state government's branches. So, there was a doc for each state then a final paper discussing what she found and her supported opinion on what works best. Sharing the docs saved lots of paper and printing and hassle. It was as close to paperless as possible," argues Lynn.

"Teachers are publishing announcements about upcoming assignments and monitoring student progress via the revision history. In the revision history, you can see clearly who contributed to what assignment and when; if a student says he or she worked on a given project for five hours, it will be documented (no more "dog ate my homework" excuses). Additionally, faculty are using GDS to keep track of grades, attendance, student projects and assignments. Students are using GDS to stay organized and work more effectively. Google Docs & Spreadsheets helps promote group work and editing skills, and encourages multiple revisions and peer editing. Students can go online to collaborate with other students, teachers, parents, relatives and tutors, and enter updates anytime from anywhere. And through their revisions history, kids can check how they've revised a document and who has helped. Not to be outdone, Google spreadsheets allows students to track their grades, assignments, semester goals, baseball statistics, car expenses, or anything else that interests them," thinks Gordon F. Snyder Jr.

"I love Google Documents. I'm a journalist and it allows me to work on stories without transfering everything back and forth across devices," says Steven Allen Adams.

"Our daily shopping list was written on scrap paper in the kitchen. If my wife was able to go shopping during her lunch break at work, but did not have the list it took a phone call to clarify what was on the list. Items could not be added at the last minute, again without a phone call to the other. The solution was a shared spreadsheet designed to print on one sheet of A4. The items are categorised in the same order as the layout at the local supermarket. Each of us can add items at any time without having to contact the other, and each of us can go shopping in confidence that we have the latest list. After printing out the spreadsheet, the cell contents are deleted and the list starts again," confesses Mick.

reference:

WEB 2.0 TRAINING AT KNUST ( WEDNESDAY 7 July, 2010 )

We learnt about Wikis thus; wikieducator and pbwikis.

On pbworks, we realised how multiple authors can work on a particular document or research paper.

Moreover, we created a page with

1.0 A brief description on the background Info

2.0 Objectives

3.0 Workshop Contents

4.0 Participants / Targets

5.0 References / Resources.

Also, we got to know how to control who comes in and out and some customization of our pages.

Lastly, we were introduced to wikieducator, created an account and explore one or more things about wikieducator.

Link to my pbwiki page

Link to my wikieducator page

WEB 2.0 TRAINING AT KNUST ( TUESDAY 6 July, 2010 )

We learnt about the use of Bloggers like blogspot etc and some other social networks like LinkedIn, ning etc

This training is really helpful because we could create our own websites and pages which can portray our various projects for invited friends to join in the discussion and share thier views.

Archiving is one part i really enjoyed using because what ever one puts there remains for good which could be accessed anytime anywhere.

Also these are some other functions we realised;

1.0 Self Archiving

2.0 More Links to other pages and websites.

3.0 Unique URL (permalink)

4.0 Commentry

5.0 RSS Feed

6.0 Blogrolls

7.0 Technorati etc

MOBILE MAPPING SYSTEMS

Mobile 3D laser mapping

is an innovative mapping solution that incorporates the most advanced ground-based LiDAR sensors, cameras and position/navigation to collect survey-quality point data quickly and accurately.

SAM, Inc. was an early adopter of the LYNX Mobile Mapper system and has identified the significant potential of this technology. Mobile 3D Laser Scanning offers numerous advantages over Aerial Mapping and conventional ground surveys.

This non-invasive method of surveying can be operated day or night, with efficient acquisition of millions of 3D design points per minute.

Mobile Laser Scanning provides data density of up to 0.01-foot point spacing (dependant on system settings for the project), allowing for faster coordinate acquisition compared with traditional survey methods.

THE FUTURE OF NAVIGATION AND TRACKING

Please share your ideas.

WEB 2.0 TRAINING AT KNUST ( Monday 5 July, 2010 )

Below are some of the tools we learnt;

ALERTS

link: http://www.google.com/alerts

watch

iGOOGLE

link: http://www.google.com/ig

READER

link: http://www.google.com/reader

GOOGLE SEARCH

link: http://www.google.com .

The introduction to this training was brilliant beacause, we got to know how information retrieval, collaborative generation, sharing and cost effective communication can be achieved.

However, the aims of this workshop is to improve networking and flow of agriculture information and among development actors. This is really going to be achieved hopefully by the end of the workshop.

We also learnt about VOIP; this can transmit telephone services, video and audio sharing and other media over the IP based. here softwares like Skype was used in the process.

Lastly, we were introduced to the use of advance search and some other syntax in google search, this really helped because searches was made easier and what you really needed could be got if the right syntax was inputted.