A knowledge platform in veterinary public health : the experience of Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise

Abstract

Information has today a strategic role and the Web can guarantee its immediate availability. Management science considers opportune and appropriate information, which gives rise to knowledge, one of the most important success strategic factors.

At Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “Giuseppe Caporale” (IZSA&M),(Italy), research is one of the most important institutional tasks and is considered as starting and arrival point of scientific knowledge. Information distribution is critical for the fulfilment of its strategies and the dissemination of the results of research projects is a concrete indicator of goal achievement. Research projects on animal health, veterinary public health, epidemiological surveillance, animal welfare, food safety, and learning methodologies are currently developed upon financial support of the Italian Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Research, the European Union, and other international organisations such as the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). IZSA&M implemented a documentation system able to further production, sharing, flow, and efficient use of internal knowledge. This arises from scientific research and requires the integration of services and competences within a system for global access, transmission and exchange of information. The IZSA&M project develops an information system able to make visible and accessible outside its existing competences; a user friendly database is available on the web and researchers can update it directly. Every kind of documents - published or preprint – can be treated, detected and found electronically, through links to the full-text. The software is realised in a web based technological environment, with open source products; it is on line and can find scientific articles published in specialist journals, personal communications, research projects and technical reports produced by IZSA&M.

Thanks to this project, the Institute today has: • a unique data base, which is complete and updated, of its competences; • homogeneous and processed information on specific fields of action. Data collected are organised in order to: o simplify information detection, o allow a personalised access to information, according to the access profile, o guide users through navigation paths giving exhaustive but not redundant results, o facilitate access at local, national and international level, o enhance collaborative networks and partnership based on common goals.

The final project goal is to implement an ePortfolio, in order to realise the first network of competences in the veterinary field.