Reengineering Scientific Knowledge sharing with Web 2.0: A case study of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)

Abstract

Despite the continuum of scientific knowledge generated by the World Agroforestry Centre for the public domain, there is evidence of the need for more innovative ways of accelerating the propagation of such knowledge to realize the organization’s objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of use of Web 2.0 tools by researchers and information and communication specialists at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) to accelerate the propagation of the Centre’s scientific research. The overarching aim of this study was to assess the extent of use of Web 2.0 tools in accelerating the impact of scientific research at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) with a view to prototyping a multilingual Web portal (Research 2.0 Portal) featuring relevant Web 2.0 tools to accelerate and extend knowledge sharing to the various consumers of the World Agroforestry Centre’s (ICRAF’s) research. The specific study objectives were to determine the relevance of the various Web 2.0 tools for scientific knowledge sharing at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), to study the extent of use of Web 2.0 tools for knowledge sharing at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), to establish the challenges experienced by research scientists in the application and use of Web 2.0 tools and to prototype a web-based portal (Research 2.0 Portal) integrating relevant Web 2.0 tools to enhance knowledge sharing for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). The study was informed by the Social Network Analysis (SNA) or Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) theory. The research methodology entailed face-to-face interviews, participant observation, and a detailed analysis of online Web 2.0 tools. Purposive sampling was used to select respondents among the ICRAF researchers and Information and Communication Specialists and simple random sampling was used to sample the Web 2.0 tools. Data analysis was conducted using MS Excel to calculate percentages and generate analytical charts. A matrix evaluation of the features of existing Web 2.0 applications was done to determine the most suitable Web 2.0 applications for the World Agroforestry Centre’s research. The output of the study is a prototype Web portal (Research 2.0 Portal) built on Drupal Content Management System on Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 featuring relevant Web 2.0 tools to accelerate and extend knowledge sharing to the various consumers of the World Agroforestry Centre’s scientific research. The Semantic Web (Web of Data) as an agent for research support using linked open data is suggested as an area for further research given the growing interest in making research data open access and shareable through Web services.