ACDC News – Issue 10-16

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

“The new ag media model: conventional + contemporary strategies.”

That title introduced a recent Paulsen Marketing report that we have added to the ACDC collection. Among the reasons cited:

  • Agricultural marketers are marketing to two different audiences that require different media strategies. “The younger generation of decision-makers wants to receive information differently than the older generation.”
  • Digital media are supplementing traditional media, not replacing them.
  • The source of information is more important than the channel.
  • Both the conventional and contemporary media models involve use of two-way channels (e.g., dealers and trade shows) as well as one-way channels (e.g., farm periodicals and podcasts).

“All forms of media are important and need to be included in the marketing mix.

You can read the report here and watch interviews on which some of the findings were based.

“It’s the thing that will save journalism.”

That is how 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Daniel Gilbert recently described the role of investigative journalism that attempts to hold government and government officials accountable.  “It’s the most meaningful form of journalism there is. It’s the thing that will save journalism because no one else can do this.”

We called attention during June to this newspaper reporter’s honored achievement in examining the management of natural-gas royalties owed to thousands of land owners in southwest Virginia. His thoughts about the role of investigative reporting appeared in a more recent article we have added to the ACDC collection from The Core , a supplement to the University of Chicago Magazine .

You can read the article here .

“Agriculture uses contests to create engagement.”

John Blue of Truffle Media Networks recently called attention to several media creation contests being run this summer with an agriculture focus.  Among them:

New guide to social media .

The Ohio Farm Bureau recently published a new guide to social media.  Applications have a rural bent, so we are adding this 21-page guide as a resource in the ACDC collection. It covers topics such as:

  • Signing up for social media accounts with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
  • Facebook friend management
  • What’s public and what’s private on Facebook
  • Types of tweets and how to decipher and use them
  • Linking Twitter and Facebook
  • Resources for social media etiquette

You can read the guide here .

How newspapers framed differing sources of “Go Green” messaging.

A 10-year content analysis (1999-2009) revealed substantial differences in how nine major U. S. dailies framed the “Go Green” initiatives of two sources in conflict: BP and Greenpeace. Here are some of the frames identified in a paper Maria Garcia presented at the 2010 International Public Relations Research Conference:

  • Greenpeace was framed as the conflict group with greater credibility.
  • BP was questioned for the accuracy of its reports, motivations for new projects and true interests in the environment.
  • BP was assigned with causal attribution more so than Greenpeace.

You can read the research paper, “Perception is truth,” here .

Welcome to new ACDC student associate Michelle Fluty.

Michelle Fluty

During August we were pleased to welcome Michelle to the ACDC staff as a part-time associate.  A junior in the agricultural communications curriculum, Michelle brings a strong dairy background to her studies here. She is a partner in her family Brown Swiss dairy farm located in central Illinois, has worked at the University of Illinois dairy farm and is active in the University Dairy Club. This summer, as an intern with Prairie Farms Dairy, she helped plan and prepare for producer meetings and traveled to plants throughout the Midwest.  She will gain further communications experience as she reviews materials and processes them into the ACDC collection. Dairy-related communications will be among the beats she covers for the Center.

Communicator activities approaching.

  • September 30-October 2, 2010
    “Big land.  Big sky.  Big business.” Annual conference of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Information: http://www.saskfarmwriters.ca
  • October 1, 2010
    Deadline for papers to be presented in the 2011 Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists conference, Corpus Christi, Texas, February 5-8, 2011. Two categories – research papers and professional papers – are invited.  Information: http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas/ > Click on “Call for Papers for 2011 Meeting.”
  • November 5-9, 2010
    “Science writers 2010.” Joint gathering of the National Association of Science Writers and the Council for the Development of Science Writers in New Haven, Connecticut. Information: http://www.nasw.org/meeting/index.htm
  • November 10-12, 2010
    “Beyond the microphone.”  Sixty-sixth annual conference of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri. Information: www.nafb.com

“Snake tracks?  Are they like cow tipping?”

That question came from a reader in response to our recent ACDC News item about enormous snake tracks found near Ferber’s Branch.  The notion of “cow tipping” was new to us.

It turns out that “cow tipping or cow pushing is the purported activity of sneaking up on  a sleeping, upright cow and pushing it over for fun.”  Our informant explains that the activity is a myth “as cattle do not sleep standing up. …Out East, youth organize cow tipping trips for potential or new members of teams, clubs, fraternities, etc.”

Have you observed or taken part in such an event?  If so, get in touch with us at docctr@library.uiuc.edu .

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 510 LIAC, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.uiuc.edu .

Get in touch with us! When you see interesting items in the ACDC collection and can’t gain full-text access through information in the citation, or through online searching.  We will help you gain access.