Ray Elizabeth – Page 13 – Funk Library

ACDC News – Issue 03-04

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

See new agricultural communications research papers on the “New Features” page of this ACDC web site.

You can get full-text copy of nine papers presented recently to the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS). Members met in Mobile, Alabama, during early February.

Reference: On the ACDC home page, click on “Feature Articles” (left side menu).

Remembering the value of research-based communicating.

“It was the experiment station and not the agricultural college that has wrought such a marvelous change in the farmers of America toward scientific agriculture,” said Frank H. Hall in 1904. He was speaking at a meeting of the American Association of Farmers’ Institute Workers in St. Louis, Missouri.

Hall explained: “It was my privilege to compare the agricultural conventions of this state…at two periods separated by a decade within which the experiment station became a potent influence. The dominant intellectual and moral attitude of the earlier period was distinctly disputatious and dogmatic. … In the second period the dominant attitude was that of scientific conference.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Relation of the agricultural college”) or author search (Hall) for the full citation.

Horses and houses in competition.

A newspaper in the heart of Kentucky’s Bluegrass country helped local citizens find common ground for community development through an award winning series of articles. “Common ground: deciding how the Bluegrass should grow” was the title of this eight-part series published by the Lexington Herald-Leader. “We wanted to get past pat phrases and ideological camps,” explained the editor. The series won first prize for investigative reporting from the Kentucky Press Association.

Reference: For a case report of the effort, use a title search (“Lexington builds common ground”) or author search (Ford) for the full citation. The report in Civic Catalyst Newsletter was posted on:
www.pewcenter.org/doingcj/civiccat/displayCivcat.php?id=256.

Attitudes of newspaper editors toward agriculture?

Generally positive, according to the results of a recent study among daily newspaper editors in Arkansas. Researchers found that editors “possessed positive attitudes toward the agricultural industry, although they were less positive about the image of agriculture or about agriculture’s performance in educating the public about the agricultural industry.”

Editors also “agreed that journalists should receive instruction in agriculture and that K-12 students should be required to take at least one course in agriculture.” Researchers offered recommendations for such efforts.

Reference: Use a title search (“Attitudes of Arkansas”) or author search (Cartmell) for the full citation. The research paper was posted on:
http://aaaeonline.ifas.ufl.edu/NAERC/2001/Papers/cartmell.pdf

Media still struggling to cover biotechnology.

An article in the December issue of “AgBiotech in the News” explored some of the dilemmas facing mass media as they attempt to cover complex issues related to agricultural biotechnology. Among these dilemmas cited:

The typical journalistic approach of seeking balance by pitting one side against the other creates problems. Opposing voices selected for coverage may be extreme, or they may be unbalanced in the depth and soundness of arguments they present.
Some opposing voices may have more resources with which to gain public attention.
Scientists often don’t want to comment on “hot-button” issues.
Coverage varies widely from one mass medium to another, and within media.
There is a tendency for some media “to cast players in over-simplified roles.”
International differences may influence media coverage of biotechnology. For example, reporting in Europe may reflect more environmental or health concerns than that in the U.S. because Europeans “have lived through a number of food crises and tend to have less faith in regulators.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Odd couple”) for the full citation. The article was posted on: http://pewagbiotech.org/buzz/display.php3?StoryID=87

The most important form of grassroots communicating in the world.

It’s community radio, according to Charles Fairchild in a new book, Community radio and public culture. “Community radio is fast becoming the most important form of grassroots communication in the world,” he argued. Why? “…this is due in large part to the strong reactions by many people to the aggressive expansion of specifically American media worldwide, especially in Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

“As corporate entities become increasingly distant and untouchable, local media institutions are developing that are immediate, participatory, and increasingly able to contact and talk to one another. They are no competition for direct broadcast satellites and probably never will be, but they are the only possible institutions that can be controlled and directed by the local population and made to serve their interests, needs and desires.”

Fairchild included some rural dimensions in his thought-provoking examination of media access and equity in Canada and the United States. Examples include the respected Farm Forum programs in Canada and a case study of a community radio station serving native Canadians in the rural Six Nations and New Credit Reserves near Brantford, Ontario.

Reference: Use a title search (“Community radio and public culture”) or author search (Fairchild) for the full citation.

“Are your livestock depressed?”

An online commentary from the United Kingdom raised that question recently, in the wake of traumatic disease scares. Commentator Mike Meredith reported on research that described signs of “depression” in farm animals: reduced activity, loss of reactivity, heads drooping, eyes half-closed

“Could it be that stress, or even more specifically ‘depression,’ is at least as important as the infectious agents that we usually focus our disease preventive attention on?” Meredith asked. Referring to a trend toward a more holistic approach to human health — one that involves beliefs and faith along with medicines and surgery — he concluded: “Is there a livestock equivalent of ‘faith, hope, and compassion’?”

Reference: Use a title search (“Are your livestock”) or author search (Meredith) for the full citation. The commentary was posted on:
www.smartgroups.com/message/viewdiscussion.cfm?gid=774210
&messageid=7014

First specialized agricultural periodical in the U.S. The Horticultural Register was America’s first specialty paper devoted to a branch of agriculture – founded in January 1835. That’s according to Frank J. Holt in an historical analysis of the agricultural press of America, 1792-1850. Holt carried out this research project for a master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin.

Professional activities approaching

April 15-17, 2003
“Keep it fresh.” Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show at San Diego, California. Sponsored by the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA).
Information: http://www.nama.org/amc

Who might have known this?

Could today’s scholar in agricultural journalism gain ready access to this kind of insight about the history of farm publishing in the U.S.? This piece of the past came from a master’s thesis. How many master’s theses get distributed widely, summarized in scholarly journals, or otherwise reported for long-term access?

We ask these questions for a special reason – to encourage you to let us know when you see theses or dissertations that are not already in the ACDC collection. Please help us identify and make available these valuable materials that often sit on library shelves, little known and little used.

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801) or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu).

ACDC News – Issue 03-03

Posted on January 27, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

A newspaper’s unique experience covering a farm worker issue.

Transportation safety problems facing farm workers in the San Joaquin Valley of California prompted the Fresno Bee newspaper to try something new, using the Internet. The result: “Editors, publishers, webmasters, California Highway Patrolmen and California Assemblyman Dean Florez all came together for the first live bilingual forum on fresnobee.com, December 8.” According to a case report added recently to the ACDC collection, 1,500 people “hit” the forum on Internet.

Reference: Use a title search (“forum for all”) or author search (Ford) for the full citation. The report from Pew Center for Civic Journalism was posted on: www.pewcenter.org/doingcj/spotlight/displaySpotlight.php?id=30.

What is information worth to food shoppers?

Plenty, according to a study reported recently in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Purdue University researchers used a marketplace experiment to learn how shoppers in Mali decided what infant food to buy. “Regardless of income or education, mothers refuse to buy the unknown,” according to the researchers. Findings showed that “a lack of information about food safety is causing many impoverished mothers in Africa to buy brand-name infant food that costs about five times more than the generic brand.” Authors discussed the need for food certification systems, as means of building trust.

Reference: Use a title search (“Ag economist calculates”) for the full citation.

Rural areas — promising growth sectors for telecommunications in India.

“…changing the policy environment to create incentives to serve previously ignored and underserved populations is likely to be the fastest and most equitable means of achieving the goal of universal access to telecommunications and information technologies and services throughout India.” That was the counsel of Heather Hudson in a new book, Telecommunications reform in India.

Several of her points:

Rural demand may be much greater than assumed.
Rural areas may not be as expensive to serve as is often assumed.
Rural benchmarks need not be set lower than urban benchmarks.
Some rural areas may be viable for commercial franchises.

She offered policy suggestions for increasing rural teledensity in India from 0.4 lines per 1,000 population in 2000 to the national teledensity target of 7 per 100 by the year 2005 and 15 per 100 by 2010. Overall teledensity during 2000 was about 3 lines per 100.

Reference: Use a title search (“Lessons in telecommunications policy”) or author search (Hudson) for the full citation.

What students need in agricultural communications courses.

A national Delphi study conducted by researchers at Texas Tech University identified 76 competencies that are appropriate for high school students who complete courses in agricultural communications. Results showed these competencies fall within 11 topic areas:

Writing
Computer/Information technology
Agricultural industry
Communications history
Professional development
Research/Information gathering
Ethics
Public relations/advertising/marketing
Leadership development
Legislative issues
Communications skills

Reference: Use a title search (“High school agricultural communications”) or author search (Akers) for the full citation. The research paper was posted on: http://aaaeonline.ifas.ufl.edu/NAERC/2001/Papers/akers.pdf

An enduring challenge to ag journalism students (and others).

“Your work here is to study…nature in her manifold aspects,” said W. H. Burke to 18 class members in the first agricultural journalism course taught at the University of Illinois (Spring 1907). “But when you go out to engage in your life work…remember always and everywhere that the most important thing on earth is human nature; and human nature should be our chief study and the service of man our highest earthly aim.” Burke was a guest lecturer in the new course. He edited The Strawberry, published at Three Rivers, Michigan.

Reference: Use a title search (“Literary side of agricultural journalism”) or author search (Burke) for the full citation.

You’ve been had!

Is the title of a recent book subtitled, “How the media and environmentalists turned America into a nation of hypochondriacs.” The author, Melvin A. Benarde, is retired director of the Environmental Issues Center, Temple University. His wide-ranging analysis of what he considers scares and misinformation includes the health aspects of food and diets as well as air quality, nuclear power, hazardous waste and other matters. He cites examples of what he considers poor media coverage.

His central remedy: scientific literacy. “I propose a national campaign of scientific literacy that requires that all students demonstrate an understanding of the workings of science, religion, and pseudoscience. Such demonstration must put the media and environmentalists on notice: prepare for hard, searching questions.”

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Benarde) for the full citation.

Pending demise of debated university/corporation partnership.

A commentary in the San Francisco Chronicle noted “the pending demise” of a biotechnology-related research partnership between the University of California-Berkeley and the Swiss firm Syngenta. “The five-year, $25 million deal, which began in 1998 when the sponsoring firm was named Novartis, became the flash point in a debate about whether university researchers were getting hooked on corporate cash.”

“This will probably delight critics and demoralize supporters of genetically engineered foods, and each side will credit — or blame — the small but vocal group of opponents based in the environmental movement.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Agriculture, biotech mix”) for the full citation. The commentary was posted (December 24, 2002) on:
http://131.104.232.9/agnet-archives.htm

How about these rules for punctuating?

Some years ago, one typesetter explained his guidelines to a visitor in his printing office: “I set as long as I can hold my breath and then put in a comma. When I yawn I put in a semi-colon. And when I want a chew of tobacco I make a paragraph.” From The Typist.

Professional activity approaching

April 15-17, 2003
“Keep it fresh.” Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show at San Diego,
California. Sponsored by the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA).
Information: http://www.nama.org/amc

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions, and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801) or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu).

ACDC News – Issue 03-02

Posted on January 27, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Framing agricultural (and other) issues better.

Jan Schaffer, executive director of the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, has argued that civic journalism can help reporters do their job better by framing stories better. At a workshop in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schaffer cited an example from the editor of the Wichita Eagle newspaper. The editor described a “classic pro-con environmental story involving Kansas farmland in which his reporter decided to go and find the farmer who was neither totally for nor totally against the proposal, but was in-between.” The farmer as ambivalent, “like most readers.”

“Yet how often do we journalists play up the conflicts – the opposite sides or poles of an issue — rather than report the concerns of most of our readers. I’ll tell you one thing. It’s a lot harder to write about the gray area. We all know how to write the black and white.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Tapping hidden stories”) or author search (Schaffer) for the full citation. The speech was posted on: www.pewcenter.org/doingcj/speeches/s_tapping.html

New way to promote a farm paper — host a wedding.

“The P.V. Collins Publishing Company desires the honor of your company at the marriage of the Prettiest Farm Girl in the Northwest to The Lucky Man of her choice.” Where? At the Northwestern Agriculturist Cottage of the Minnesota State Fair. When? September 5, 1907. This wedding involved Mildred Nulph of Wyndmere, North Dakota, and Julius E. Watkins of Walcott, North Dakota.

We don’t know how many guests attended or new readers subscribed.

Coverage of the recent U.S. farm broadcasters conference.

Thanks to the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, we have added to the ACDCcollection 10 compact disks that feature program sessions at the 2002 NAFB conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Here are some of the topics addressed in these audio accounts:

“How to sell farm broadcasting” (Panel of farm broadcasters.)
“How to buy farm broadcasting” (Panel of agricultural marketing communicators.)
“How to use farm broadcasting” (Panel of commodity representatives and farm broadcasters.)
“The Wizard of Ads” (Creativity session that featured David Stanley, managing partner of Wizard of Ads, Inc.)
“The digital edge” (Professional improvement session that featured web site construction, electronic editing, alternative editing and one farm broadcaster’s use of a web site.)
“The best care in the air” (Session about organizational change and marketing strategies, featuring the approach used by Midwest Express Airlines.)

Reference: Check with us at the Center (docctr@library.uiuc.edu) if you are interested in these presentations.

Also – we’ve added 33 remarkable farm radio interviews to the ACDC collection.

They are on audio cassettes in a three-volume series, “Lee Kline’s Iowa Notebook.” Lee Kline selected these interviews from his 40 years of farm broadcasting on WHO Radio, Des Moines, Iowa. He is widely known and respected for his effectiveness as a farm broadcaster – and especially for his creative human interest programming, his unique interviewing style and his emphasis on using sound, functionally. Students of farm broadcasting will find in these interviews some excellent examples of these skills. You can tell from interview titles such as:

“Perry Popcorn Lady”
“Riding in a Glider”
“Mule Power”
“Jumping Tractors”
“Sounds of Farm Machinery”
“The Auctioneers”
“Walking the Beans”

Reference: Contact the Center (docctr@library.uiuc.edu) if you are interested in further information about these three audio cassettes.

When farmer-owned cooperatives go bankrupt.

Eyes turn to communicators and educators when the post-mortems come out — suggesting that directors and other shareholders and publics need to be better informed and educated. That was the theme of a recent article in Rural Cooperatives magazine. The article reported on a timely panel discussion at the 2002 conference of Cooperative Communicators Association.

Reference: Use a title search (“Business failures underscore”) or author search (Campbell) for the full citation.

How farmers prefer to learn.

Here are the learning styles identified in a recent Iowa State University study among Iowa farmers:

Active experimentation (learning by doing) seemed to be the preferred learning mode for topics related to physical farming resources (land, crops, livestock, machinery and buildings).
Abstract learning (by observing others) seemed to be preferred for critical thinking activities such as markets and prices, whole farm planning and financial management.

Farmers in the study also rated the effectiveness of 26 different learning activities and information sources.

Reference: Use a title search (“Assessing the learning styles”) or author search (Trede) for the full citation. The research paper was posted on: http://aaaeonline.ifas.ufl.edu/NAERC/2000/web/g2.pdf

“Large livestock farms viewed a ‘threat’.”

That title reflects findings from recent research among about 4,000 Ohio residents. Researcher Jeff Sharp of Ohio State University found that one-third said they are familiar with issues pertaining to large-scale poultry and livestock facilities. Among those, 71 percent said they are concerned that the farms pose a threat to Ohio’s water and stream quality.

Sharp recommended more public education about agriculture and more networking between farmers and non-farmers.

Reference: Use a title search (“Survey: large livestock farms viewed”) for the full citation. The report was posted on:
www.agriculture.purdue.edu/aganswers/2002/12-20_Large_Livestock_Threat.htm

Check our latest “Feature Articles” page.

Labeling of biotech foods is a lively communications topic these days. If you are interested in it, we have identified some handy information for you on the ACDC web site. You will find nine documents (all retrievable in full text) about aspects such as need/value of labels, consumer attitudes toward them and consumers’ use of them.

Reference: On the ACDC home page, click on “Feature Articles.”

Professional activity approaching

February 1-5, 2003
Annual meeting of the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) at Mobile, Alabama.
Information: www.saasinc.org

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 03-01

Posted on January 27, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Farmers adopting GM crops, but not feeling well informed about them.

In both 2001 and 2002, South Dakota ranked first in the proportion of total cropland area devoted to transgenic corn and soybean varieties among the major U.S. corn and soybean producing states. Even so, fewer than one-half of the South Dakota farmers who took part in a recent survey indicated they were well informed about transgenic crops. Researchers found: “Less than one-third stated that farmers in general have sufficient knowledge, and another one-third suggested that farmers do not have sufficient relevant knowledge, of biotechnology. Nearly a third of the respondents attributed the lack of knowledge of agricultural biotechnology to the difficulty in gaining access to objective information.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Farm level transgenic crop adoption”) or author search (Van der Sluis) for the full citation. The summary in Information Systems for Biotechnology News Report was posted on: www.isb.vt.edu/news/2002/news02.oct.html

Reporters are “underaggressive” in covering genetically modified foods.

Marc Kaufman, science reporter at the Washington Post, expressed that view at a recent conference on the role of media in keeping the public informed – or frightened – about the growing presence of biotechnology in food production. “It is unclear to me that the public is getting as much information on this as it should,” Kaufman said. Other panelists noted that the public’s lack of knowledge about this subject is not surprising, given the questions that still can’t be answered, even by experts.

Reference: To see a summary about this conference, use a title search (“Conference looks at role”) or author search (Powell) for the full citation. The summary article in Harvard University Gazette was posted on: www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/12.05/11-biofood.html

Health claims on food labels often confuse consumers

According to research carried out on behalf of the Food Standards Agency of the United Kingdom. A recent summary from the Agency identified sample sources of confusion on food labels. Here are some of the confusing terms identified, along with comments offered about them:

Fresh, Pure, Natural “Consumers are dissatisfied with, and distrust, a wide range of [such] marketing terms,” which are not defined in law.
Lite, Light The law doesn’t say what these terms mean, so manufacturers can use them to convey different qualities of a food, such as texture or calorie content.
Low fat, Fat-free Such claims “should not be taken at face value.
No added sugar, Unsweetened “This doesn’t mean to say that the food will not taste sweet, or that it will have a low sugar content.

Reference: Use a title search (“Health claims confuse”) for the full citation. The summary was posted online at: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/98783. A further title search (“Health claims on food packaging”) will identify detailed findings of the consumer research. This research report was posted at: www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/healtclaims.pdf

Ag scientists being “harassed.”

According to an article in the Des Moines (Iowa) Register, some university and government scientists studying health threats associated with agricultural pollution say they are being “harassed by farmers and trade groups and silenced by superiors afraid to offend the powerful industry. … The heat comes from individual farmers, commodity groups and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which finances and controls much of the research.”

Reporter Perry Beeman described examples of such pressure and included responses from government and commodity representatives.

Reference: Use a title search (“Political pressure”) or author search (Beeman) for the full citation. The article was posted on: http://desmoinesregister.com/business/stories/c4789013/19874144.html

Organic foods going mainstream.

“Gone are the days when organic foods were just for a small group of health fanatics,” said e-Brain Market Research in a recent research summary. An e-Brain Online Poll indicated that “nearly every American is not only familiar with organic products, but 58% of the public has purchased a food item labeled organic.” What’s driving this interest? Results of this web-based survey involving a national sample of 1,000 U.S. households point toward:

Increased awareness of health issues
Concerns about genetically modified food
Concerns about chemicals

The summary also reported responses about where shoppers buy organic foods and where price fits into their buying behavior.

Reference: Use a title search (“Americans hunger for healthy options”) for the full citation. The report was archived (December 10, 2002) at: http://131.104.232.9/agnet-archives.htm

When bad becomes normal (in the minds of those who work with poultry).

“Chicken producers have grown so used to seeing birds in cages with half their feathers missing that they believe it’s normal.” That’s the observation of livestock behaviorist Temple Grandin at a recent meeting cited in The Western Producer. The article by Mary MacArthur reported examples of problems on farms, in hatcheries and in processing plants. “This has got to change,” Grandin argued in her call for changed attitudes and higher standards. “This is absolutely totally awful.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Analyst says poultry growers”) or author search (MacArthur) for the full citation. The article was posted on: www.producer.com/articles/20021212/news/20021212news19.html

Headed toward “that fiery land.”

These days, many farm periodicals go to their readers without charge, through free controlled circulation. Subscription payments were more important (often troublesome) to publishers in earlier days of farm publishing. We can get a sense of friction in this short poem from a farm publisher’s autobiography in the ACDC collection. The poem is an editor’s preachment to readers:

The man who cheats his paper
Out of a single cent
Will never reach that heavenly land
Where old Elijah went.

But when at last his race is run,
This life of toil and woe,
He’ll straightway go to that fiery land
Where they never shovel snow.

Reference: Use a title search (“My first 80 years”) or author search (Poe) for the full citation. Page 89.

Please let us know if you would rather not receive ACDC News.

As Year 2003 begins we want to tell you how much we appreciate your interest in this e-newsletter. We hope it is helpful and convenient for you. However, we do not want to send something to you that you would rather not receive. So at any time please let us know if you would like to be removed from the list. You can do so by using the Documentation Center e-mail link below.

Other persons to suggest?

Also, let us know of associates or other persons you think might like to receive ACDC News through our free e-mailings of it.

Professional activity approaching

February 1-5, 2003
Annual meeting of the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) at Mobile, Alabama.
Information: www.saasinc.org

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 02-05

Posted on January 11, 2002 by Elizabeth Ray

Behind an ill-fated biotech advertising campaign.

A new book added recently to the ACDC collection provides background information about Monsanto Company’s public relations strategies and advertising campaign in Europe. The book:

Daniel Charles, Lords of the harvest: biotech, big money, and the future of food.

Farm raised, Charles was a technology correspondent for National Public Radio (US) from 1993-1999 and was Washington correspondent for New Scientist. His 348-page book offers a behind-the-curtain view of how genetically engineered crops came to be and why they became controversial. Communicators will find special interest in sections about Monsanto’s approach to public relations and an oft-cited advertising campaign that began in Europe during 1998.

Reference: Use a title or author search (above) for the full citation.

Informing about biotechnology – it’s not enough.

Recent research suggests that “.factual knowledge, in and of itself, has limited bearing on.attitudes and evaluations of biotechnology.” Tracy Irani, Janas Sinclair and Michelle O’Malley surveyed 381 college students in three universities to explore relationships among knowledge level, attitude and perceptions of accountability regarding food biotechnology. They concluded that “messages designed to explain and engender confidence in the regulatory process and the seriousness with which the actors involved regard adherence to regulation might stand the most chance of being effective in terms of influencing public attitude toward genetically engineered foods.”

Reference: Use a title search (The importance of being accountable) or author search (Irani) for the full citation. This conference paper was posted online at: http://list.msu.edu/archives/aejmc.html

“The trash heap of history is littered with failed communication technologies,”

Conclude Ronald E. Rice and James E. Katz in their new book, The Internet and health communication: experiences and expectations. “The video phone and the stand-alone kiosks in doctors’ offices for patients are but two of them. While we are not suggesting a similar fate for the Internet, the limits of computers also suggest that human communication cannot take place without regard to the biological and social linchpins that hold society together. Communication is a process of choreographic intensity and minute coordination.”

This book also documents the Digital Divide disparities that limit access in rural areas. And it describes some federal programs designed to help ensure that rural people can gain access to health education.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Rice) for the full citation.

Growth with equity. Will it ever happen? How soon?

Two books identified recently for the ACDC collection raise these questions in two different cultures.

Arvind Singhal and Everett M. Rogers, India’s communication revolution: from bullock carts to cyber marts. Sage Publications, New Delhi. 2001. 297 pages.
John Hartley and Alan McKee, The indigenous public sphere: the reporting and reception of Aboriginal issues in the Australian media. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 2000. 369 pages.

Both books report on media development and performance. Both offer communications perspectives that range from bark paintings and message sticks to telework, e-commerce and informatization. Both shed light on the unique roles of various means of human communication. And both leave haunting questions about those (often in rural areas) left behind, misrepresented and unemancipated.

Family tree of approaches to development communication.

We recently added to ACDC an interesting analysis of theories, methodologies and strategies in development communication. Silvio Waisbord of Rutgers University prepared it recently for the Rockefeller Foundation. His report reviewed theories such as:

Diffusion of innovations
Social marketing
Entertainment-education
Dependency theory
Participatory theories
Media advocacy
Social mobilization

The report concluded with six “points of convergence that suggest possible directions in the field of international communication.”

Reference: Use a title search (Family tree of theories) or author search (Waisbord) for the full citation. The report was posted online at: www.comminit.com/stsilviocomm/sld-2881.html

Equal opportunities for female ag journalists?

Meghan Sapp raised this question in a recent issue of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association newsletter, The ByLine. The article cited several perspectives, such as:

Difficult for women starting out because “there still is a ‘good old boys’ network.”
More women in this field now, and more at higher levels.
“Is it more important for the writer to look like the reader or for the writer to act and think like the reader?”
Maybe “we – as an industry – need to better convey messages about how varied and exciting career opportunities in agriculture can be.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Are there equal opportunities”) or author search (Sapp) for the full citation. The article was posted online at: www.ageditors.com/byline.pdf

“Mad cow, a new American scare campaign”

Offers a perspective on public relations efforts since 1999 to “ignite a U.S. panic over ‘mad cows’.” Guest Choice Network, a coalition of restaurant and tavern operators, posted this report in February 2001.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Guest Choice) for the full citation. The report was posted online at: www.consumerfreedom.com/report_madcow.cfm

Television coverage of the developing world.

Two worrisome issues and one hopeful sign emerged from a 2001 research report by the Glasgow Media Group, Scotland. Examination of beliefs and attitudes of UK television news broadcasters and audiences revealed that

“the decision made by broadcasters (on commercial criteria) about what viewers would desire to watch have in the long run produced very negative responses in TV audiences towards the developing world.”
“audiences are misinformed about the developing world because of the low level of explanations and context which is given in television reporting and because some explanations which are presented are partial and informed by what might be termed ‘post-colonial beliefs’.”
“a change in the quality of explanation which is given can radically alter both attitudes to the developing world and the level of audience interest in the subject.”

The last finding offers encouragement for those who report on development-related issues.

Reference: Use a title search (“Media coverage of the developing world”) for the full citation. The report was posted online at: www.gla.ac.uk/Acad/Sociology/debate.html

Professional meetings approaching.

April 17-19, 2002
“Catch the rhythm.” Agri-marketing conference and trade show at Nashville, Tennessee USA. Sponsored by National Agri-Marketing Association.
Information: www.nama.org

April 18, 2002
Public relations sessions and membership meeting of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Information:www.nama.org/arc

May 18-22, 2002
“Innovation through cooperation.” National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) at Pennsylvania State University. For persons interested in using or supporting technology in extension. Information: www.NETC2002.psu.edu

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)

ACDC News – Issue 02-04

Posted on January 11, 2002 by Elizabeth Ray

Best diet available? Who knows?

Not the national sample of U.S. adults who were surveyed last year in the Health News Interest Index Poll. They were asked which type of diet is “the best nutritionally, the most likely to keep weight off, as well as lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels.” Fifty-eight percent said they didn’t know or refused to answer the question. Other responses were divided among the moderate-fat, high-carbohydrate diet such as the Food Guide Pyramid (18 percent); high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet (14 percent); and low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet (10 percent).

Reference: Use a title search (“Health News Interest Index Poll”) or author search (Princeton Survey Research Associates) for the full citation.

Same with sources of salmonella and other disease-causing bacteria found on meat and poultry.

Only 16 percent of U.S. adults interviewed last year in a Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Survey correctly said that such bacteria came from animal feces. There is room for useful educational communicating in this food safety arena.

Reference: Use a title search (“Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine”) or author search (Opinion Research Corporation) for the full citation. Detailed responses to this survey question are posted in the Academic Universe of Lexis-Nexis: http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/

So much greenwash.

A Business Horizons article about green marketing noted that “a great deal of environmental promotion has been labeled ‘greenwash,’ having little if any real ecological meaning.” The authors observed that consumer skepticism and cynicism toward green claims may generally limit the benefit of green promotion. Such promotion “needs to communicate substantive environmental information to consumers that has meaningful links to corporate activities.” This article moves beyond token-level posturing to an integrated, strategic approach.

Reference: Use a title search (“Reevaluating green marketing”) or author search (Polonsky) for the full citation. Full text is available online at: www.sciencedirect.com/web-editions/journal/00076813

A poverty of theory.

Darren Schmidt recently provided some thoughtful insights about information in extension. In an extension conference paper added recently to the ACDC collection, he observed that the label “information” is having an identity crisis. He said it “has become so catholic in its scope and its vast diversity of uses that it is at grave risk of becoming diluted beyond usefulness. His analysis included information theories extending across mathematical models (e.g., Shannon and Weaver), diffusion theory, systems perspectives, interpretivism, structuralism and semiotics. Still, he argued, information “apparently refuses to behave as a variable should and morphs in structure and intent as it zooms around human systems sustaining purposeful human activity.

Where does this leave the extension professional? Schmidt asked. “Who has time for epistemological chin scratching when there is a brochure to be printed before the summer harvest.?” However, he said, the future may herald a different urgency in an era when it is beguiling to reduce extension information to “a series of discrete bubbles of knowledge produced, stored and sent digitally.” He suggested that extension professionals need to regard the “information” concept more rigorously, drawing upon a creditable body of literature and theoretical development that exists.

Reference: Use a title search (“Information in extension”) or author search (Schmidt) for the full citation. Paper posted online at: www.regional.org.au/au/apen/2001/p/SchmidtD1.htm

Profit not the biotech bottom line for farmers?

A recent news report in the Chicago Tribune described research showing that economic reasons are not fueling the growing popularity of genetically modified crops among U.S. farmers. Why would farmers use these crops without clear economic benefit?

“For herbicide-tolerant soybeans, farmers answer by saying they can cover more acres more quickly and they don’t have to worry about weed management as they did in the past.”
“.farmers who used the modified corn seed said they viewed it as insurance against a possible insect infestation.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Gene-altered crops costly”) or author (Van) for the full citation. Text is posted online at: www.chicagotribune.com/business/printedition/

Be mature and maintain a sense of humour.

Biotechnology communicators heard that advice from consultant Monica Coneys during a recent workshop, the first of its kind in Canada. A summary of her comments appeared in the January issue of AgBiotech Bulletin. This article also summarized thoughts and advice from other speakers about specific aspects of biotech communicating: web development and maintenance, media relations and news writing style.

Reference: Use a title search (“AWB hosts biotech”) for the full citation. The report is archived online (January 9, 2002) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/agnet-archives.htm

“What if we popularized agricultural communication?”

Hans Matthiesen, president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, raised this question in a recent editorial in IFAJ News. He said he thinks that agricultural reporting presented like other news in newspapers, radio and television “would make understanding difficult agricultural issues even harder.” At the same time, he said, “we should think about how we can better communicate to consumers nationally and internationally the facts about food and beverages. . In the global debate about agriculture and food, we as communicators should not stand at the back of the line.”

Reference: Use a title search (“What if we popularized”) or author search (Matthiesen) for the full citation. The editorial is posted on: www.ifaj.org/newsletter/dec2001/dec2001.pdf

Television – “like a grenade” in cultures.

When Scott R. Olson examined the role of television in social change and national development, he concluded: “Television is not the magic bullet that most developers and the general public still assume it to be. It is more like a grenade, bursting little bits of social change like shrapnel into the cultural fabric, unpatterned and unpredictable, now and then a dud, sometimes exploding in the face of its master. Bullet or grenade, there is no doubt that television is a powerful weapon for national development. The question is how to control it.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Television in social change”) or author search (Olson) for the full citation.

When the live links go dark.

What can you do when a live link shown in ACDC News or an online citation no longer operates?

Sometimes the “error” message directs you to an archive
Sometimes you can shorten the URL stem, visit the home page and trace the item that you seek.
If these techniques don’t work, get in touch with us. We archive the documents in ACDC, either in paper or electronic format, and will try to help you locate the materials you want. Even when the live links go dark.

Professional meetings approaching.

March 8-9, 2002
ACT Regional Conference hosted by the Oklahoma State University Chapter of Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow, Stillwater, OK. Career-oriented workshops feature professionals in agricultural public relations, advertising, broadcasting, publications and more.
Information: http://agweb.okstate.edu/act/

March 29, 2002
Deadline for 1- to 2-page abstracts to be submitted for papers proposed for presentation during Research Special Interest Group sessions of the Agricultural Communicators in Education meeting, Savanna, Georgia USA, during August.
Information: Sherrie Whaley at whaley.3@osu.edu

April 17-19, 2002
“Catch the rhythm.” Agri-marketing conference and trade show at Nashville, Tennessee USA. Sponsored by National Agri-Marketing Association.
Information: www.nama.org

April 18, 2002
Public relations sessions and membership meeting of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Information:www.nama.org/arc

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)

ACDC News – Issue 02-03

Posted on January 11, 2002 by Elizabeth Ray

More food/ag/rural content coming to the Internet?

And in home-country language? According to the 2001 State of the Internet Report, the global population of online users “crossed the half billion milestone and online demographics began to increasingly reflect offline realities. Significantly, native English speakers lost their dominance in 2001 and now represent approximately 45% of the online population.”

How might this trend influence Internet content for a global community in which most nations and their citizens are directly and urgently involved in issues related to food and agriculture – and for whom English is not their native language?

Reference: A news report about the 2001 State of the Internet Report is available online at: www.usic.org/pressreleases/111201.htm. It comes from the United States Internet Council.

Language: why the Internet didn’t leap like satellite TV in Nepal.

“It’s not only expense that puts it [the Internet] way, way behind,” said one source cited in a recently added report by Cherilyn Parsons about adoption of information technologies in Nepal. “It’s language. Sat-TV comes in Chinese, Hindi, other languages.” Parsons reported that “Language is the first and most obvious barrier. There are 22 different official languages in South Asia, and they use different alphabets than English does.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Online news in Nepal”) or author search (Parsons) for the full citation. The report is posted online at: http://ojr.usc.edu/content/story.cfm?id=215

Nearly 500 documents about risk communicating now fit into the ACDC collection.

All of them deal with communications aspects of food and agriculture (e.g., biotechnology, food irradiation, nutrition labeling, livestock diseases, cloning of livestock, food biosecurity and forest/wildlife preservation). They date back to 1972. More than 90 of them came into the collection during 2001, reflecting a growing interest in this topic.

Reference: Use a subject search (“risk communication”) for the list of titles, beginning with the most recent. And please alert us to other documents that we should add to this expanding collection.

Mere grist for the image control mill.

“There is a propensity for information extension.to descend to mere grist for the image control mill,” observed Darren Schmidt of Australia in a recent extension conference presentation. He described a group of information extension officers who support each other in efforts to produce and deliver quality information which can be used judiciously as a learning resource (extension context) rather than “ill-targeted promotion material for the policy de jour.” This paper outlined the purpose, formation, composition, operations, progress and challenges of the group.

Reference: Use a title search (“Information and Communication Network”) or author search (Schmidt) for the full citation. Posted online at: http://www.regional.org.au/au/apen/2001/p

Agriculture. A comfort factor in the U.S. public mind.

Signs of this appeared in results of the Battleground 2002 Survey conducted among U.S. registered voters during April 2001. Less than one-half of one percent of respondents said they think agriculture/farming/ranching is the number one problem that they and their families are most concerned about. Top concerns? These included the economy (12 percent), education (11 percent), moral/religious concerns (7 percent), crime (5 percent) and drugs (5 percent).

Reference: Use a title search (“Battleground 2002 Survey”) or author search (Tarrance) for the full citation. Posted in the Academic Universe of Lexis-Nexis: http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/

“Ignorance is no bliss.

It is a severe handicap in a social environment where knowledge is power.” This observation came from B.S.S. Rao in “Rural development: communication systems and working out strategies.” In the book chapter, Rao urged communicators to evolve rural development strategies that reach those needing information, provide the right information at the right time by the right means, and at optimal costs.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Rao) for the full citation, including details about the 1994 book in which this chapter appeared.

How farmers gather information these days.

Following are titles of some documents that we added during 2001 about the information sources that farmers use today in making decisions:

“Farmer radio listening ratings, past and present”
“Growers find increased value on the Web”
“Commercial Producer Insights, Part 2”
“Poll shows change in ag trends”
“Keep the presses rolling: magazines win an important ‘election'”
“Marketing Australian wheat”

Reference: Use a subject cross-search (farmers “information sources”) for the full list of documents added during 2001, as well as more than 180 documents from earlier years.

Trends in Australia’s agricultural media sector.

An update in the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) newsletter identified several trends and recent developments. Author Liz Kellaway noted:

Concentration of ownership in agricultural publications.
Several major daily metropolitan newspapers with rural editors or reporters looking at rural issues and putting them into an urban context.
Television and radio coverage of agriculture dominated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a national publicly funded broadcaster which incorporates television, radio and internet-based services. Staffing for regional/rural coverage has increased recently.
Emergence of portal web sites (from media, marketers and organizations) that offer news and information content to the rural sector. “This may be contributing towards a growing trend for Australian farmers to look to the Internet as an increasingly important source of information.

Reference: Use a title search (“Broadcast getting increased resources”) or author search (Kellaway) for the full citation. The article is posted on: www.ifaj.org/newsletter/dec2001/dec2001.pdf

Cooking schools come back.

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune reported that renewed interest in home cooking is one of 20 food-related trends for 2002. “Across the country after Sept. 11, couples with show-off home kitchens began to take cooking classes to learn to use them, while younger couples and singles have been signing up too, hoping to eat better–and more cheaply–when they eat at home.” Expanding cookbooks are among other noted trends of possible interest to food communicators.

Reference: Use a title search (“20 trends for 2002”) for the full citation. The article was posted online at: www.chicagotribune.com/features/food

Professional meetings approaching.

April 17-19, 2002
“Catch the rhythm.” Agri-marketing conference and trade show at Nashville, Tennessee USA. Sponsored by National Agri-Marketing Association.
Information: www.nama.org

April 18, 2002
Public relations sessions and membership meeting of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Information:www.nama.org/arc

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)

ACDC News – Issue 02-02

Posted on January 11, 2002 by Elizabeth Ray

Agricultural print media – the Big Bang of extension.

Commercialization of the printing press in Europe during the early 1600s created “the first opportunity for widespread information and knowledge transfer throughout all sections of society including agriculture.” Jess Jennings and Roger Packham, University of Western Sydney, Australia, traced the development of agricultural extension in a paper presented recently. They observed that the rise of agricultural print media “can be accepted as a legitimate origin of extension practice, and simultaneously the naïve beginnings of an agricultural extension profession.” On the downside, their historical analysis also identified origins of separation between on-farm practice and agricultural research and learning processes.

Reference: Use a title search (“Big Bang and genealogy”) or author search (Jennings) for the full citation. Paper posted at: www.regional.org.au/au/apen/2001/JenningsJ.htm

Watching for food from abroad.

A 2001 survey by the Tarrance Group among U.S. registered voters revealed that 81 percent considered it somewhat or very important that the food they eat comes from farms and ranches in the United States rather than from foreign countries. However, 40 percent said they rarely or never look at labels when they purchase or use food or beverages to see in which country or state they are produced.

Reference: Use a title search (“Farm Survey June 2001”) or author search (Tarrance) for the full citation. Details of the survey are posted in the Academic Universe of Lexis-Nexis http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/

More “feel-good” labels appearing on food these days.

“Bird-friendly,” “shade-grown” and “cage-free” are “just a few of the new marketing labels being plastered on food packages.” So reported a recent New York Times article. Writer Marian Burros said as organic labels have become commonplace, additional feel-good labeling is appearing in food stores. The article noted problems of meaning, accuracy and ethics. It also described the rise of new food certification programs.

Reference: Use a title search (“Good eating”) or author search (Burros) for the full citation. Text is archived (January 2, 2002) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/agnet-archives.htm

Also some misleading GM-free claims on food labels.

A recent survey by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland revealed this problem. The survey analyzed levels of GM (genetically modified) content in dried soy products, soy substitutes for dairy products and soy infant formulae to ensure that the industry is adhering to food labeling regulations. One-third of the samples that tested positive for GM ingredients were mislabeled. Most indicated they contained no such ingredients, one was labeled as organic.

Reference: Use a title search (“Survey shows misleading GM free claim”) for the full citation. A news summary and the full survey report are available online at: http://www.fsai.ie/press_releases/030102.htm

” A clear challenge for all is to become more professional in the way science is communicated.”

So concluded European Union Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin in response to a recent Europe-wide survey about genetically modified food. Results showed, for example, that nearly 86 percent of respondents wanted to know more about GM food before eating it. Commissioner Busquin said the results “show that Europe must invest in knowledge at all levels, and especially in scientific information. . People want to learn and want to have information.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Europeans want right to choose”) for the full citation. Archived (December 19, 2001) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/agnet-archives.htm

Tobacco litter – out of the public eye?

Public relations efforts of the U.S. tobacco industry are under fire for more than the health aspects of tobacco. The Center for Media and Democracy recently examined “a pattern of industry funding and collusion” between the tobacco industry and the “Keep America Beautiful” litter awareness group. Writing in PR Watch, Walter Lamb reported that the industry effort is designed to help downplay the global environmental issue of litter from cigarette butts, “the most prolific form of litter in the world.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Keep America Beautiful”) or author search (Lamb) for the full citation. The report is posted online at: www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2001Q3/kab.html

Consumer views of organic foods.

Research among consumers in England reveals possible changes in attitudes. Research by Mintel during 2001 showed that 18 percent of adults considered organic foods “better for you than their standard equivalent.” This was a decline from 22 percent in 1999.

“Perhaps the real hurdle though is price – 40 percent of people say the cost – often twice that of normal produce – is the most off-putting factor concerning organic food.”

The Soil Association of UK said it “disputes Mintel’s findings,” pointing to nutritional and health benefits of organic foods.

Reference: Use a title search (“Organic turn-off?”) for the Mintel citation. The news report is posted at: www.channel4.co.uk/news/home/20020104/Story02.htm
Use a title search (“Soil Association disputes”) for the Association citation. The Soil Association press statement is posted at:www.soilassociation.org/sa/saweb.nsf/librarytitles/News04012002.html.

Professional activities approaching.

March 29, 2002
Deadline for 1- to 2-page abstracts to be submitted for papers proposed for presentation during Research Special Interest Group sessions of the Agricultural Communicators in Education meeting, Savannah, Georgia USA, during August.
Information: Sherrie Whaley at whaley.3@osu.edu

April 17-19, 2002
“Catch the rhythm,” Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show in Nashville, Tennessee USA. Sponsored by National Agri-Marketing Association.
Information: www.nama.org

April 18, 2002
Public relations sessions and annual member meeting of Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Information www.nama.org/arc

May 18-22, 2002
“Innovation through cooperation,” National Extension TechnologConference (NETC) at Pennsylvania State University USA. For personsinterested in using or supporting technology in extension.
Information: www.NETC2002.psu.edu

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)

ACDC News – Issue 02-01

Posted on January 11, 2002 by Elizabeth Ray

It’s bad. Could it happen? We don’t know that it can’t.

That’s a common format for media coverage of food safety issues, according to a commentary in Meatingplace.com. Writer Dan Murphy said that even in the aftermath of 9/11 the media are still lured “to explore yet more concerns about the alleged dangers Americans face – not on the battlefield, but at the breakfast and dinner tables.” He pointed to speculative media reporting on potential problems about mad cow disease, biotechnology, irradiation, foot-and-mouth disease “and a host of other issues on the horizon.” Examples from Wall Street Journal and the “West Wing” television series came into his line of fire.

Reference: Use a title search (“Media still the fear factor”) or author search (Murphy) for the full citation.Archived (November 30, 2001) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/fsnet-archives.htm.

Europeans say journalists lack appropriate background.

More than one-half (53.3 percent) of those questioned in a recent Eurobarometer said they believe that most journalists dealing with scientific topics do not have the appropriate background or training to do so. Other responses to this survey among 16,029 Europeans in all member states of the European Union indicated that two-thirds feel they are not well informed about science and technology. Findings such as these underscore the importance of professional communicators that understand the complex food/agriculture/natural resource interests of our societies.

Reference: Use a title search (“Europeans, science and technology”) for the full citation. Full report posted at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/press/2001/pr0612en-report.pdf

“Can you tell me exactly what a person that works in ag communication does?”

The question came to us recently from a college student who was preparing to give a presentation for her final examination in a college class. It’s a good question – and one not easy to answer, given the many kinds of work in which agricultural communicators are involved these days. The answer would have been simpler even a few years ago.

We responded to the student’s question, as requested. Our reply included suggestions about how she might use the ACDC web site to gather various kinds of career information.

Do you have suggestions about what to tell this student and others that ask? Do you know of useful descriptions of the work of agricultural communicators?

If so, please forward them to us at docctr@library.uiuc.edu.

A digital gender divide.

A recent article in Development journal examined what the author describes as a digital gender divide. Susanne Hamm wrote that “access by women to the Internet is far less open than access by men.” She cited a 1999 United Nations study showing contrasting levels of Internet access by women in the Arab states (4%), China (7%), Russia (16%), Japan and South Africa (17%) and the United States (38%).

Reference: Use a title search (“Information communications technologies”) or author search (Hamm) for the full citation.

The blind chicken problem: untangling numbers from beliefs.

Last month a National Public Radio (U.S.) program described an animal welfare dilemma. Paul Thompson, philosophy professor at Purdue University, posed it as a “real philosophical conundrum.” He described a strain of chickens that are blind. They don’t mind being crowded, so one could suggest using those birds in confinement systems. “If you think that it’s the welfare of the individual animal that really matters here.then it would be more humane to have these blind chickens. On the other hand, almost everyone that you ask thinks that this is an absolutely horrendous thing to do.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Debate over genetically altered”) or author search (National Public Radio) for the full citation. Archived at:
www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/animalnet-archives.htm

“Of polls and loaded questions.”

A commentary from Americans for Medical Progress (AMP) described differing responses to public surveys about the use of animals for research. Two examples cited:

“56 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to donate to a health charity that had a policy against conducting or paying for animal experiments than they would to a charity that did not have such a policy.”
“When asked ‘Do you believe the use of animals in medical research is necessary for progress in medicine?’ 71% of the respondents in a 1998 poll said ‘yes’.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Of polls and loaded questions”) for the full citation. Posted online at: www.amprogress.org/news/index.htm

Mega-websites – poor models for supporting development?

Researchers Joel Samoff and Nelly P. Stromquist raised this question in their analysis of the role that large research databases can play in national development. They wrote recently in a Development and Change article:

“In practice, distilled digested mini-facts disseminated electronically risk perpetuating rather than reducing dependence. A banking model of knowledge and knowledge sharing stymies learning because it undermines and devalues learners’ initiative and responsibility. . Problem-solvers must be directly involved in generating the knowledge they require.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Managing knowledge and storing wisdom”) or author search (Samoff) for the full citation.

Rethinking action research.

Ruth Beilin and Lucia Boxelaar, University of Melbourne, Australia, recently presented a thoughtful analysis of connections between theory and extension practice. They hypothesized that “action research is popular among extension practitioners because it offers.democratic research opportunities. However, at times this has led to the neglect of theory.” Authors examined ways in which theoretical perspectives such as those offered in cultural studies and critical theory can be tools that strengthen participatory approaches.

Reference: Use a title search (“Rethinking action research”) or author search (Beilin) for the full citation. Posted at www.regional.org.au/au/apen/2001/BeilinR.htm

Development-related books added recently.

Two books identified recently for the ACDC collection may serve those interested in communications aspects of agricultural and rural development.

Subhash Bhatnagar and Robert Schware (eds.), Information and communication technology in development: cases from India. Sage Publications, New Delhi, India. 2000. 230 pages.

Srinivas R. Melkote and Sandhya Rao (eds.), Critical issues in communication: looking inward for answers. Essays in honor of K.E. Eapen. Sage Publications, New Delhi, India. 2001. 491 pages.

Professional meeting approaching.

February 2-6, 2002
Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) convention, Orlando, Florida.
Information: http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas/

Past the 19,000-document mark.

Recent days brought not only a new year, but also a new milestone in the Center. It is a pleasure to report that this collection now includes more than 19,000 documents about the communications aspects of agriculture (broadly defined) throughout the world. All documents can be identified through online searching. All are available. Now we head toward the 20,000 mark — and welcome your help.

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)

ACDC News – Issue 01-24

Posted on January 10, 2001 by Elizabeth Ray

“Whenever possible, we need to be there.”

So concluded the president of North American Agricultural Journalists in a recent thought piece about the drawbacks that confront journalists in this communications age. “We live in an era when technology of communication has never been easier, more cost-effective or profuse,” said Laura Rance of Manitoba Co-operator. Then she asked, “So why do we find it so hard to stay connected with our sources? Why is it getting harder to tell a story?”

“A pitfall of having access to so much information.is that we mistake an exchange of information with true communication. . For us to truly tell the stories of the people we cover, we need to truly communicate with them, not simply exchange information and data. Whenever possible, we need to be there. We need to get out of our offices and into the lives of the people we cover so we can accurately portray who they are, and what they have to say. . We have to create ways to overcome barriers that technology creates.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Communications age has its drawbacks”) or author search (Rance) for the full citation. Posted online at: http://naaj.tamu.edu/naajJul01.htm

Food safety – the environmental issue of this decade?

John Wright, senior vice-president of public affairs for Ipsos-Reid, Canada, put it this way in a recent report on consumer attitudes: “At the outset of the last decade it was rocks, water, lumber and recyclability. Now we’re less concerned about the bottle as what’s in it.” This poll indicated that 74 percent of Canadians worry about the safety of their food.

Reference: Use a title search (“Food safety worries Canadians”) or author search (Foss) for the full citation. Archived (October 10, 2001) at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/fsnet-archives.htm

Neglected stakeholders in biotechnology discussions.

A commentary in Nature Biotechnology suggests that the needs, interests and concerns of primary stakeholders – the “commoners” – have been neglected in the biotechnology arena.

“Biotechnology’s future ultimately relies on governing institutions listening and responding to the public, rather than discounting key stakeholders as irrational, scientifically illiterate, or technophobic.” Authors offer suggestions for doing so.

Reference: Use a title search (“The tragedy of the commoners”) or author search (Sagar) for the full citation. Posted at: http://biotech.nature.com

Scientists “will earn public trust by not betraying it.

We must conduct only those experiments we know to be meaningful and reject those we know aren’t. If an experiment is unlikely to contribute data increasing our understanding of a GMO, then it is not worth doing.” Alan McHughen, University of Saskatchewan, offered this advice to fellow scientists at the close of the 6th International Symposium on the Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms. He asked what will replace scientific analysis in evaluating risk if the public rejects the legitimacy of it. His answer: “Non-science, or nonsense. Witchcraft.”

Reference: Use a title search (“The road ahead”) or author search (McHughen) for the full citation. Posted online at: www.ag.usask.ca/isbr/Symposium/Proceedings/Section11.htm

Extension reports from Australasia Pacific.

Thanks to ACDC Staff Associate Liz Kellaway for alerting us to the proceedings of an interesting recent Extension conference. The 2001 International Conference of Australasia Pacific Extension Network (APEN) took place October 3-5 at the University of South Queensland, Toowoomba. We are entering into the ACDC collection more than 70 refereed papers presented during that conference. A few sample topics:

“Challenges for contemporary extension: the case of biofertilizer in Vietnam”
“Assisting indigenous extension services”
“How to win growers and influence change”
“The role of science communication in natural resource planning”
“Information in extension: a poverty of theory”
“Reflections on the development of Landcare in the Philippines”
“Rethinking action research: theory and extension practice”

Reference: Citations for these and other papers from the conference are being processed into ACDC and will be accessible by subject, author and title. You can see the full proceedings online at: http://www.regional.org.au/au/apen/2001/

Indigenous knowledge: is it scientific?

In Naked Science, anthropologist Laura Nader asks:

“If knowledge is born of experience and reason.and if science is a phenomenon universally characterized (after the insight) by rationality, then are not indigenous systems of knowledge part of the scientific knowledge of mankind?”

You can follow developments in this important field of rural communications through “IK Pages – Gateway to Indigenous Knowledge on the Internet.” http://nuffic.nl/ik-pages/index.html

“The age of the ‘specialist’ in our business is over.”

Barry Jones offered this view recently when he accepted the ACE Professional Award, highest recognition given by the Agricultural Communicators in Education organization. Speaking to communicators who work in colleges and universities, government agencies and development organizations, he said:

“The communicators of tomorrow are coming to the workplace with a set of skills that is far broader than what we have ever demanded before, and they are flexible enough to apply those skills in many ways. I could not have imagined in the 1970s or 80s that I would have writers and publications editors or graphics artists who would become ‘new media specialists’ or ‘Web content developers’ or ‘digital image editors’.”

Reference: Use a title search (“ACE Professional Award”) or author search (Jones) for the full citation.

How to make working from home work.

That is the title of a recent article by agricultural writer Susan K. Davis. She offered six suggestions, based on her 13 years of working from home.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Davis) for the full citation.

Helping you gain online, full-text access.

You may have noticed that, increasingly, we are trying to provide you with online access to full-text documents that we are entering into the ACDC collection. Using the live links that we identify, you can visit web sites on which an increasing amount of literature about agricultural communications is being posted. We hope this service is useful to you and welcome your reactions and suggestions.

For archiving purposes, we collect such materials in paper and/or electronic format so they will be available to you after their often-brief, elusive web life ends. We want to help you gain access to them in the future – 5, 10, 50 years or more from now.

As you tap into more online information

You also will find increasing value in searching the ACDC database to identify the full range of items in the collection that may be relevant to you.

Thanks for your continuing encouragement.

As this year draws to a close, we ACDC team members want you to know how much we appreciate your interest and encouragement. Words of encouragement (such as the following recent comments) mean much to us, as do your suggestions about how ACDC can serve you better:

“Your operation is great..;
“I find it very useful.”
“I really appreciate receiving this information each month.”
“.inevitably there’s something in here I am interested in.”
“Thanks for managing this important service.”

Season’s greetings and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)