Evolution of a Digital Ecosystem for Knowledge Services to Indian Agriculture

Cooperative efforts of experts from apparently unrelated domains: farmers and agricultural scientists working with computer scientists and economists can lead to effective knowledge creation and growth. Relevant information at the right time could provide farmers with the appropriate tools to make more economically sound decisions. This process of decision making could enhance their competitiveness and, as a result, improve well being. This is the main objective of the project "The digital ecosystem for agricultural livelihood (DEAL)". Developing such an ecosystem requires the development of peer to peer networks, classification schemes, controlled vocabularies, thesauri, authority files, and glossaries as well as the creation of semantic standards for exchange of high quality metadata. The semantic framework would comprise shared data exchange standards and instruments that would allow services exchange (interoperability) between collection of information and knowledge. There is a need to consult, inform, orient, and involve stakeholders (NGOs, farmers and administrators) in developing, sharing and refining the content of the open knowledge space. This is particularly important since the aim is to facilitate interaction between peers on all relevant issues and to share resources and experiences. This paper explores the crucial elements which lead to the creation of relevant content for effective deployment and use of socio technical networks in the context of Indian agriculture. Identifying and applying alternative roadmaps for self-sustainability and growth of sociotechnical networks for enhancing knowledge sharing would lead to our ultimate goal of achieving regional development.