1999 is the final year in the second phase of the cooperative project between VIR and ZADI (Bonn, Germany). Within the framework of this project VIR once a year conducts reviewing workshops.
The next phase of the cooperation will challenge, as the main objective, assistance to VIR in the development of the Institute’s local computer network and establishment of a WEB Server providing access to the INTERNET.
This year’s workshop was dedicated to the problems of documentation in the sphere of plant genetic resources and consisted of two sections:

• Documentation problems (20 – 21 September)
• Intra/Inter technologies (22 September – 3 October)

In addition to the Institute’s staff members and persons in charge of the project, the workshop was attended by the invited leading expert in the field of computer networks Mr. Morten Hulden from the Nordic Gene Bank.

The first part of the workshop included presentations of the project participants and guests.

The workshop was opened by Prof. V.A. Dragavtsev, Director of VIR. In his speech Prof. Dragavtsev marked out the importance of the topic under discussion in view of further development of VIR’s presence in the Internet. He made special remarks on the need to furnish VIR’s homepage with reports on collecting missions and the results of research activities undertaken by VIR’s scientists.

Mr. Hulden (NGB, Finland), explained to the workshop participants the structure of NGB and reviewed its activities. He also spoke about Internet Homepage NGB.

Dr. A.Y.Omelchenko (VIR, Russia), Database Administrator and Section Head of the Computerization Department, in his presentation "Internet Homepage of VIR, Its Current Status and Prospects of Development" accounted for the homepage structure and latest additions. In particular, new publications have recently been added to the section "Scientific Work"; among them there are works by Dr. S.V. Grigoryev, Dept. of Industrial Crops – Hybridization of Wild Species Amphiploids and Cultivated Varieties as a Way of Broadening the Cultivated Cotton Genetical Basis, Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Genetic Resources at the VIR: From the Collection of Seeds, Through the Collection of Sources, Towards the Collection of Donors of Traits and Cold Resistance of Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.); by Dr. V.A. Gavrilova, Dept. of Industrial Crops, and Ms. N.A. Savchenko, Kuban Experiment Station – Studies of Hybrids Between Cultivated Sunflower and Wild Perennial Helianthus Species.
The section "Publications" was considerably updated. Now it presents a compilation of references to various WWW libraries and journals.
Passport database of the global PGR collection has also been updated and enlarged. Today it consists of 220,021 entries covering 147 crops (88% of VIR’s catalogue). Evaluation database of oat accessions has been established.
Besides, a suggestion was made to make an electronic version of Scientific Research Bulletin of the VIR.

Prof. M.A. Vishnyakova (VIR, Russia), Head of Dept. of Leguminous Crops, curator of the European Glycine Database in her presentation "Importance of VIR’s Homepage for International Cooperation" indicated the crucial role of VIR’s presence in the Internet from the viewpoint of European cooperation. The European Glycine database was established in 1996, following the meeting of the ECP/GR Working Group on Grain Legumes, held in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is maintained by the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry and it is searchable on-line at the Internet server of the German Centre for Documentation and Information in Agriculture. This database contains passport data of more than 11 990 accessions representing the Glycine collections from 9 European contributors. The structure of the database follows the principles of the IPGRI/FAO Multicrop passport descriptors.

Mr. Siegfried Harrer (ZADI, Germany), informed the audience about the structural patterns of German evaluation databases in the Internet. The Online-Information System for Evaluation Data (EVA; www.genres.de/eva) aims at establishing a very use-specific documentation system on the agronomic and breeding characteristics of germplasm. Beyond passport data of genebank accessions, breeders and researchers find reliable characterisation and evaluation such as yield, agronomic performance, resistance and quality from different sources. Currently, the EVA prototype database consists of evaluation data for barley (7 500 accessions), potato (2 000 varieties) and fruit crops (mainly apple, 1 000 varieties).

Dr. I.G. Loskutov (VIR, Russia), Dept. of Rye, Barley and Oats, VIR, presented a pattern of a collection curator's work in the Internet by reviewing his own work with the passport and evaluation databases of oats.

In the second section of the workshop, intended mostly for the staff of the Computerization Department, Mr. M. Hulden delivered lectures and conducted practical classes on the following topics:

• installation of Linux operating system on four “test” machines
• configuration of system utilities for Internet services
• network theory and practical setup of network applications
• installation and configuration of Apache web-servers
• installation of WAIS indexing & search engine
• installation and configuration of PostgreSQL database servers
• installation of scripting language PHP, used to connect the web server to the database server
• installation of GRASS Geographical Information System with map data for Russia and Eurasia.
• practical work and test with real gene bank data, such as copies of VIR WEB-pages were transferred to the test machines copies of VIR forage databases were transferred to the test machines search scripts were installed to allow direct searches in databases

As a result, the participants obtained primary practical skills in forming Intra/Internet systems, establishment of a WEB server, works with LINUX Database Management System and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This knowledge is essentially important for networking and network administration. Mr. Hulden provided VIR with LINUX operating system and a number of LINUX attachments.