DFM Info hub specifications

The Dried Fish Matters proposal mentions the establishment of an "info hub" as a core project output and knowledge mobilization support.

While this hub was originally conceived as an integrated knowledge management system modelled on ISSF (Information System on Small-Scale Fisheries), DFM has in practice adopted several platforms that serve dedicated functions in the knowledge management workflow:

• Zotero (publications database),
• OneDrive (internal document management),
• YouTube (video management),
• the project website (public-facing information about the project),
• WordPress blog, Twitter, and Mailman email list (news and announcements), and
• Dataverse institutional repository at the University of Manitoba (research data archival).

This working document summarizes the knowledge management goals of the DFM project and outlines an evolving strategy for meeting those goals using existing platforms and the DFM Knowledge Base.

Info hub specifications listed in the project proposal document

• The final component of the first two years of the project is the development and launching of the Dried Fish Matters website and information hub. The former will serve as the project’s first line of knowledge dissemination to the general public; the latter will be a repository for a wide range of information and media related to dried fish, including geospatial visualizations of the social economy of dried fish in South and Southeast Asia.
• The DFM information hub is a research tool. It is a custom-built web database through which the partnership will engage in knowledge mobilization. The hub initially will be a site where DFM will upload various preliminary outputs from the project. Later in the project period, it will serve as the host for the raw data collected in the project. As more audiences begin to interact with the hub, it will become a unique collaborative space for sharing information and materials related to dried fish. As the only online space for sharing knowledge of dried fish, the hub will have considerable appeal for fisheries specialists, food security practitioners, and national and international organizations in Asia and around the world. The hub will be designed with open code so that it can be migrated to other hosts if needed. The hub aligns with the University of Manitoba’s strategic research priority to support research on safe, healthy, just and sustainable food systems.
• [The] online hub is a critical part of our Web-based knowledge mobilization strategy.
• [Project outcome] Online information hub and academic publications that present multi-dimensional maps and descriptions of regional and local value chain(s); e.g: comparative institutional maps of responsibility for dried fish sector; comparative cultural attachments to dried fish; comparative maps of intensity of labour exploitation; drivers of change.
• Our flagship digital knowledge mobilization platform will be the DFM online information hub. There we will follow FAIR data sharing practices [1] to make our original survey data available for re-analysis as well as a host of other products of our research including images, video, recipes, research and policy briefs, and GIS-based visualizations of our emerging understanding of the social economy of dried fish in South and Southeast Asia. The online information hub will have interactive functionality to permit comments and discussion. It will also allow for crowdsourcing of information on dried fish and for the collation of gray literature on the social economy of dried fish.
• [Academic stakeholder impact] Summaries of [DFM-sponsored] articles will be translated into local languages, disseminated locally, and published on the online information hub.
• [Other impact] Practitioners, Civil Society Organizations, and the General Public: While our online information hub will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers, it will also appeal to participants in dried fish chains, NGOs working in fisheries, and the general public. Although the platform will be in English, we will post documents and videos in regional languages that will allow us to broaden our reach to NGOs active in fisheries, and participants in the social economy of dried fish. This latter group is very large as it includes dried fish consumers, and bridges into the general public category as well.
• When linked to the umbrella DFM information hub, all of these [knowledge mobilization] activities will have an important impact in terms of creating awareness, facilitating the sharing of knowledge about dried fish among multiple audiences, and building networks among groups involved in the social economy of dried fish.
• [Government impact] Our website and DFM information hub will have policy pages and areas to target government audiences. We will prepare targeted research and policy briefs for government agencies which we will also make available online.