**Apologies for cross-postings** SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS (the date of abstract submission extended to March 31) World Conference on Agricultural Information and IT 'advancing information and communication management, knowledge creation and sharing, and the application of information technologies in agriculture' Tokyo, Japan, 24-27 August 2008 Conference Site: http://iaald-afita-wcca2008.org/ 12th World Congress of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists 6th Asian Conference of IT in Agriculture 6th World Congress on Computers in Agriculture Hosted by the Japanese Society of Agricultural Informatics, the Japanese Association of Agricultural Information Specialists, and the Tokyo University of Agriculture - with the e-agriculture community of expertise - According to the World Bank, agricultural development depends to a great extent on how successfully knowledge is generated and applied. Noting the exponential growth in information and communication technologies, especially the Internet, it suggests that knowing how to take advantage of new knowledge has become just as urgent as knowing how to generate and diffuse new knowledge. This Conference brings together researchers, communicators, knowledge managers, IT experts and information specialists to share and discuss the application and uses of information, knowledge and IT in agriculture. These include new applications of well established and understood technologies, innovative and entrepreneurial applications of emerging technologies, as well as issues related to policy and knowledge dissemination. It provides a precious chance for participants from all over the world to meet and share knowledge on all aspects of ag-bioscience information and agro-informatics development. Participants will be from diverse backgrounds, including practitioners, researchers, educators and policy makers from various disciplines such as computer science, information technology, library and information science, archives, knowledge management, etc. We expect the scope of the discussions to cover information technologies, information knowledge and communication activities related to the applied life sciences, including: agriculture, food from production to marketing, natural resources, fish and wildlife, environment, extension, communication, and education. Topics of the conference include but are not limited to: Information technologies, Information, knowledge and communication activities related to the applied life sciences, including: agriculture, food from production to marketing, natural resources, fish and wildlife, environment, extension, communication, and education. Typical key words to cover: ICT policies for rural development, ICT adoption in rural community, e-government, agricultural resources data banks and databases, agricultural information system, e-agribusiness, traceability and virtual agri-markets, GAP, extension service, digital library, education, training, pedagogical issues and e-learning, intellectual property, security and privacy , social, institutional, and policy issues, decision support system, remote sensing and GIS precision farming, sensors, grid, web and communication systems, modeling, pattern recognition, information retrieval, filtering and extraction, data/text/Web mining, social media/Web 2.0 technologies, metadata, standards and cataloging, taxonomy, ontology and the semantic Web, digital preservation, knowledge management, open source tools and frameworks for agricultural information, mobile services, human-computer interaction Important Dates: Oral and Poster Papers Abstract submission: March 31, 2008 (Extended) Notification of paper acceptance: April 30, 2008 Full paper submission: May 31, 2008 Registration Early bird registration: By May 10, 2008 Please Check the Conference Site: http://iaald-afita-wcca2008.org/. forwarded by ---------------------------------------------------------- Roger A. Mills Acting Keeper of Scientific Books Biosciences and Environmental Sciences Librarian & Oxford Forest Information Service Manager Oxford University Library Services Radcliffe Science Library (mornings) Parks Road, OXFORD OX1 3QP, UK tel.: +44 1865 272854; fax: +44 1865 272855 e-mail: roger.mills(a)ouls.ox.ac.uk web: http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/rsl Plant Sciences Library (afternoons) South Parks Road, OXFORD OX1 3RB, UK tel.: +44 1865 275080; fax: +44 1865 275095 e-mail: roger.mills(a)ouls.ox.ac.uk web: http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/isbes ----------------------------------------------------------