An innovative tool for on-farm data collection and information sharing

The development of innovative tools based on existing knowledge is a major interest of the EU policies to facilitate research, to enhance registration, access and re-use of data. Aim of the project was to create a digitalized data collection system to improve the efficiency and reliability of data collection on-farm, low-time consuming, reducing mistakes during data transcription and enabling automatic upload of data to a common server. Open Data Kit (ODK) is a free and open-source set of tools, which manages mobile data collection solutions, developed by the University of Washington, Department of Computer Science and Engineering. The application is available for Android devices. ODK was selected for our purposes due to the easiness of building forms without specific knowledge in computer programming, the possibility to create a virtual server to collect and aggregate data, and therefore the possibility to access data from everywhere. On-farm welfare assessment prototype protocols for horses, donkeys and goats - developed in the framework of the AWIN project (FP7-KBBE-2010-4) - were organized in ODK forms to collect animal-based and management- and resource-based indicators. The application was tested in 22 farms (10 donkey, 2 goat and 10 horse farms) to evaluate feasibility and easiness of use. Our experience demonstrated that the app is friendly to use and practical, does not require a long training period, it is flexible and easy to modify and permits to aggregate and analyze data faster and error-free. By the end of September, the application will be further tested in about 100 farms. Future development is planned to create a dedicated app with the same characteristics that immediately provides a preliminary output of welfare status. Data will be available for further analysis on the server. The app would be useful to the development of an accessible data repository on animal welfare and to increase data and knowledge accessibility to all European countries.