ACDC Newsletter – Page 21 – Funk Library

ACDC News – Issue 10-03

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

“Why hyperlocal journalism is easier – and harder – in rural areas.” That is the title of a blog by Mark Coddington, reporter for the Grand Island Independent (Nebraska USA). He noted that such coverage is easier in rural areas because you are starting off with a clearly defined community that already identifies itself as such. However, coverage is more difficult because in most cases “you don’t own the conversation around your news, and people aren’t used to going online to talk about it.”

ACDC News – Issue 10-02

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Big lovers of fast food. The first 2010 issue of British Food Journal included an article that sheds light on the dramatic increase in fast food consumption in the U. S. during the 1990s. Authors used government survey data to analyze demographic and socioeconomic factors that influenced this growth. Findings revealed that fast food consumption:

Increased until consumers reached age 20-30, then decreased
Increased as household income grew to about $50,000-60,000, then decreased
Decreased as household size grew
Was highest among males living outside central cities of the Midwest and South

Presentations at the 2009 ACE/NETC conference . We are adding to the ACDC collection about 30 presentations from the recent conference of these two partnering organizations: ACE (Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences) and NETC (National Extension Technology Conference). Sessions ranged across international communications, leadership and management, marketing, media relations, photography, publishing, research, video, web content and design, and writing. A few samples of presentations you can review online:

Issue management
Media usage by farmers and ranchers
Wrangling scientific writing
Trends in agricultural communication research
Creative commons licenses
Writing and editing effective web content
How a web page is seen
Three options for sharing presentations online

View sessions online here .

You can now read the Journal of Applied Communications online . It is available in full text from ACE. Until now, only the abstracts have been available online. Articles in the latest issue feature:

Case study on use of blended e-learning tools
An educational partnership for genetics outreach
Voter confidence in the agricultural industry
Educational efforts to serve producers with disabilities
Organizational learning in response to an anthrax outbreak
Readership of extension publications in digital and printed formats

Read them here .

A research review: information needs and seeking patterns in developing countries. A recent article in the International Information and Library Review reported results of a literature review of studies done on the information needs and information-seeking behavior of rural and urban residents of eight developing countries. Among the findings and conclusions:

“Basic human needs make up the majority of information needs across all countries investigated.”
“Lack of education remains the primary obstacle to meeting the information needs of the working poor in developing countries.”
“The disparity in information needs between urban educated and non-educated citizens compared to those who live in rural areas in developing countries is staggering.”
“Informal information networks are by far the most preferred means of gathering information that individuals feel is reliable and authentic.”
“While extension workers and rural libraries are considered to be good options for finding good-quality information, they are not as heavily relied on.”
“A digital divide continues to exist in an increasingly digital information world.”
“In rural communities, the public library could become an important resource center because it is through the library that citizens will be able to take control of their lives and careers by becoming more knowledgeable.”

Citation: Information needs and information-seeking behavior
Author contact: Renee Dutta at rd2397@gmail.com

Media guidelines from Chuck Zimmerman . We have added to the ACDC collection a summary of five useful guidelines that Chuck Zimmerman of ZimmComm New Media offered in AgWired early in 2009. He noted there has been a lot of talk about how the media room of today should be configured and managed. “I just thought I’d throw out some ideas to help move the conversation along.”

Citation: Media room guidelines
View his suggestions here .

“Makeover” TV concept not always for home building and decorating . A Kenyan television series introduced recently uses the makeover principle to show smallholders how to improve their livelihoods. Writing in the February 2008 issue of Developments , Louise Tickle described how “Shamba Shape-Up!” explores “some of the typical problems encountered by smallholder families on the outskirts of Kenya’s towns and cities,” then “brings in a crack team of experts to sort them out smartish.” The word “shamba” means “smallholding.” By the end of the third series, five million viewers had watched the half-hour program.

Citation: 30 minute makeover
View this report online here .

Communicator activities approaching

February 6-9, 2010
Research and professional development meeting of the Agricultural Communications Section, Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists in Orlando, Florida.
Information: http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas

April 21-23, 2010
“Celebrating success in America’s heartland” 2010 Agri-Marketing Conference sponsored by the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) in Kansas City, Missouri USA
Information: www.nama.org

Ah, to be a tech rep . We close this issue of ACDC News with an agricultural example of why we should tip our hats to the “customer care representatives” who field questions from computer users. This is a real exchange, as reported on citeHR.com:

Tech rep: What’s on your screen right now?”

Caller: “A stuffed animal my boyfriend got me at the grocery store.”

ACDC News – Issue 10-01

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Two new studies of computer and Internet use among U. S. producers . You may be interested in these reports we added recently to the ACDC collection:

1. “Farm computer usage and ownership.” Survey conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. August 2009.

View the 28-page report here .

2. “NAFB Internet usage study.” Telephone survey by Ag Media Research during August and September 2009. Developed and funded by the National Association of Farm Broadcasting.

View the summary presentation here .

Read a summary news release here .

Telling agriculture’s (or someone’s) story. A new feature from the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) highlights 40 examples of rural-urban communications approaches used by organizations to advance their interests and views. Authors Jim Evans and Owen Roberts explore “how point-of-view communicators can contribute in the complex maze of rural-urban issues and relations.” This fifth feature in their series examines techniques such as these used around the world:

Events and occasions
Media-based efforts
Action groups
Educational approaches
Partnering with media
Local farm initiatives

You can read this feature on the IFAJ web site.

How a small newspaper uses social media in a rural area. Mark Coddington and Stephanie Romanski of the Grand Island Independent (Nebraska USA) recently used a podcast to discuss creative uses of the Web and social media. The Independent (20,000 circulation) serves a city of 45,000, along with 16 rural counties around Grand Island. Presenters described their experiences with tools such as Twitter and CoveritLive to get news faster, extend their presence, humanize the paper and build trust. One example involved live reporting from a “Rural Harvest Days” event.

Listen to their podcast here .

“Enormous gaps in technological achievement remain” among nations of the world, according to a recent World Bank report: Global economic prospects 2008: technology diffusion in the developing world . Authors of the 224-page volume noted the promise of diffusion through new information technologies such as mobile phones and, to some extent, computers. However:

“Even upper-middle-income countries have less than one-third of the level of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) of high-income OECD countries, and low-income countries have only 7 percent. The gap in TFP levels between high-income countries and Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa has widened since 1990. Moreover, the gap between major centers and lesser cities and rural economics remains large even in the most successful countries.”

View the document online here .

Winning with a shot in the dark. Jason Jenkins of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives earned national “Photographer of the Year” honors recently for a shot in the dark. His photo, “Gigging by Firelight,” was recognized by the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA). He had joined a small group of fishermen for an evening of following a fishing tradition of the Missouri Ozarks culture, using all-traditional equipment.

View the photo and description online here .

“Americans oppose most farm subsidies.” That is the title of a research summary we added recently from the Program on International Policy Attitudes, University of Maryland. A nationwide survey during March-April 2009 revealed that 61 percent of citizen respondents said they oppose U. S. subsidies going to large farming businesses. Only 36 percent said they favor such subsidies. This pattern was similar among Republicans, Democrats and Independents.

However, 77 percent said they favor subsidies to small farming businesses (those under 500 acres). They expressed support for such subsidies in farm states (79 percent) as well as non-farm states (75 percent).

View the citation here .
View a summary of findings online here .

Communicator activities approaching

January 25, 2010
Deadline for submitting research papers, research proposals and theses/dissertations for the 2010 Conference of the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE). The conference takes place June 14-17 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Information: Emily Rhoades at rhoades.100@cfaes.osu.edu

“Would you and your beautiful daughter like some mountain oysters?” This may not be the ideal way to improve rural-urban relations, columnist Lee Pitts confided in a Farm World column we read recently. He has been urged out of the PR circuit, it seems, after the response he got to this question from a visitor named Reginald – and after his wife’s efforts failed to undo the public relations damage he had done. “…I do miss serving the townies fresh fried mountain oysters and then watching them turn green when I tell them what they are,” Pitts admitted.

Citation: Playing nice with the “townies”
Search here on “mountain oysters” to learn about them.

ACDC News – Issue 09-22

Posted on December 15, 2009 by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

H1N1 flu off the Top Ten news story list again. After being on the Top Ten list of news stories in U. S. media during parts of 2009, H1N1 flu dropped off it during November and early December. We are referring here to the News Coverage Index of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, supported by the Pew Research Center.

H1N1 (identified as swine flu in these reports) ranked first in the Top Ten list during late April and early May, accounting for as much as 31 percent of the newshole.
It appeared again during October – ranking fourth or fifth – and accounting for five percent of the newshole.
It was not among the Top Ten topics for news coverage during November or early December.

View these lists and trends online here

A pioneer in getting information to small-scale farmers around the world. George Atkins, founder of Farm Radio International, died November 30 in Ontario, Canada, in his 93rd year. A farm and gardening host on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during the 1950s and 1960s, he established the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network in 1979. An obituary we are adding to the ACDC collection explains that this service collects advice from farmers and farming experts, produces radio scripts based on the information and distributes them to other broadcasters who reach millions of Third World farmers every month.

You can learn more at the FRI home page here .
Also, from that site you can view a You Tube video (8:53) in which he reflects on his 30 years of experience in developing the network.

“Twittering from the tractor” was the title of a CNN article we have added to the ACDC collection. Internet-enabled phones are making their way into rural America slowly, reporter John Sutter explained, “because it’s difficult to send Internet data over cellular networks in some sparsely populated areas where wireless service is spotty.” Even so, his article highlighted the growth of smart phones on the farm and some ways producers are using them.

Citation: Twittering from the tractor
View the article online here .

Listeners turn up in droves when this radio soap opera hits the road. “The crowd is quiet in the town of Masaka [ Rwanda] as hundreds of faces peer up at a scene unfolding on the stage in front of them.” That statement introduced a feature posted on allAfrica.com about what happened earlier this year when a health-oriented radio drama, “Urunana,” was aired out of studio. Many of those watching this edu-tainment program had arrived hours earlier, hoping to see their favorite actors.

Patterned after the popular “The Archers” program in the United Kingdom, “Urunana” has been aired on BBC and Radio Rwanda for 10 years. By 2004, an estimated 60 percent of Rwanda’s population tuned in. Two documents we have added to the ACDC collection describe this program, including how producers use continuing feedback from listeners to guide program content.

Citation: Urunana goes to the village and people turn up in droves
View this report online here .

Citation: Health soap opera: country life
View this report online here .

How Europeans view animal cloning. We have added to the ACDC collection an October 2008 report of research conducted among more than 25,000 citizens in the 27 European Union Member States. Among the findings:

Nearly all (93 percent) had heard of animal cloning and most (81 percent) knew the meaning of the term.
Faced with several statements regarding the ethics of animal cloning, most respondents agreed that animal cloning was morally wrong (61 percent), the long-term effects of animal cloning on nature were unknown (81 percent), animal cloning might lead to human cloning (77 percent) and cloning might decrease the genetic diversity within livestock populations (63 percent).
Fifty-eight percent said that animal cloning for food production purposes should never be justified.
Most (86 percent) felt that the food industry would benefit from animal cloning for food production purposes. They were more in doubt about the possible benefit for farmers and consumers.
Most (70 percent) doubted that using cloning for food production would improve efficiency in the long run and lower the cost of food products for consumers.

View this report online here .

Communicator activities approaching

On communicator trust . We close this issue of ACDC News – and our reports for 2009 – with a comment by Jeff Jarvis in What would Google do?

“Trust is earned with difficulty and lost with ease.”

ACDC News – Issue 09-21

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

When producers consider growing biofuel crops . Recent research among crop growers in Oklahoma identified two barriers to energy crop production, in the minds of producers:

Lack of markets (biorefineries)
Information about producing biofuel crops

Most growers (75 percent) were familiar with the biofuel industry, mainly through two information sources: television news and newspapers. Also, most (75 percent) said they were interested in converting cropland for biofuel production. Authors of the research report recommended an educational campaign focused on biofuel crop production practices and marketing.

Citation: Stake in the bioeconomy
Posted at http://www.joe.org/joe/2009february/rb5.php

New strategic plan for communicating about food risks . The Food and Drug Administration recently released a 46-page strategic plan that defines risk communication for the future, identifies underlying principles of risk communication and sets strategic goals.

During the year ahead, the organization intends to:

Enhance the science that supports effective risk communication
Expand FDA capacity to generate, disseminate and oversee effective risk communication
Optimize FDA policies on communicating risks and benefits

Posted at www.fda.gov/downloads/AboutFDA/ReportsManualsForms/Reports/ucm183683.pdf

Covering rural health issues high in the Andes. “…just as Garfinkel learned the power of silence with the monks, so did I among the Peruvian women.” Journalist Rebecca Rivas offered that observation after her experience in producing a documentary during 2004-2006 examining the interface of maternity traditions and institutional medicine in rural Peru. “Listening and simply being present became my most helpful tool in reporting in rural Andean communities.”

“It is a wise journalist who can flow like water through the world’s inner workings. One day, I hope to be that journalist.”

You can read a report of her experiences in an article, “Capturing life at 12,000 feet,” that she wrote for the Global Journalist. Also, you can view her video on YouTube.

Citation: Capturing life at 12,000 feet
Posted at: http://www.globaljournalist.org/stories/2006/04/01/capturing-life-at-12000-feet

A new dimension of agricultural narrowcasting. Specialized, topic-centered agricultural broadcast services (such as the Tobacco Radio Network) have been on the scene for decades. Now the podcasting technologies are creating businesses for some innovative agricultural broadcasting entrepreneurs. Chuck Zimmerman of ZimmComm New Media interviewed one of them recently – Glenn Hebert, owner of the Horse Radio Network, based at Jefferson City, Missouri. Hebert produces and airs 10 podcasts a week about various sectors and interests of the horse industry. His business model involves selling advertising and voicing commercials for sponsors.

During the interview he emphasized a unique feature of podcasts. Unlike broadcasts, podcasts can be archived and retrieved for easy future access. Like agricultural broadcasts, podcasts require effort. “It takes time,” Hebert explained.

You can hear the interview at: http://agwired.com/2009/11/02/the-horse-radio-network

“Where do you find this information?” We often get that question from those who use resources in the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. And there is no easy answer because the sources of it are so scattered. Here are some of the unlikely periodicals in which we have found information about agricultural communications during recent months:

Men’s Health
Toxicology Letters
Acta Tropica
Entrepreneur
Environmental Hazards
Foodborne Pathogens and Disease
Weed Technology
Structural Safety

Please keep an eye open for literature about this field of interest. We will appreciate learning of it, wherever it originates. Your alert can come to us at: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

Communicator activities approaching

Agricultural “Word of the Week.” Recently we came across this term – ECOBUAGE – in the digital repository of the State Library of Pennsylvania. It was used in an 1848 book by Campbell Morfitt, Manures, their composition, preparation, and action upon soils. Ecobuage is described as the process of “burning organic matters of the soil upon their own locality, especially when they are poor in nitrogenous principles.” Farmers practice(d) it by setting fire to fields when the grass is dry enough to burn. The object: “…set at liberty, by a slow decomposition, the principles contained in the vegetable matters and thus render them available to the soil.”

You can view this document online at http://accesspadr.org > Search on the title. The description of ecobuage is on pages 59-60.

What agriculture-related term might you nominate as Word of the Week? Send it to us at docctr@library.uiuc.edu

ACDC News – Issue 09-20

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Tracking public perceptions about H1N1 and pork . Here are some of the research results we are seeing around the world about public perceptions regarding H1N1 flu, especially regarding concerns of the pork industry through identification as “swine flu.” Most research studies being reported to date have tracked the early stages.

“Initial psychological responses to Influenza A, H1N1 (‘Swine flu’)”
Findings from a May 2009 survey among European residents indicated that only 7 percent had stopped eating pork.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/9/166

“Widespread public misconception in the early phase of the H1N1 influenza epidemic”
A June 2009 article in the Journal of Infection reported that only 6.9 percent of sampled Chinese residents of Hong Kong said they believe the H1N1 influenza is transmitted by eating well-cooked pork.
http://download.thelancet.com/flatcontentassets/H1N1-flu/preparedness/preparedness-51.pdf

“H1N1/swine flu update”
A May 2009 article from the Tempert Report cited a SupermarketGuru quick poll indicating that 93 percent of sampled U. S. consumers said they feel it is safe to eat pork products.
http://www.foodnutritionscience.com/index.cfm/do/monsanto.article/articleId/305.cfm

“Public perceptions, anxiety and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey”
A research article in BMJ reported results of a telephone survey during May among adults in England, Scotland and Wales. Findings showed that at that early stage of the outbreak relatively few people made recommended changes in their behavior, despite widespread advertising and media coverage.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/339/jul02_3/b2651

Students learning rural journalism, hands-on . Using a two-part video series, students in a community radio class at West Virginia University documented their experience in learning how to help local residents tell their own stories. Class members teamed with teachers and students of Monroe County Vocational Technical Center to create a local news program, “News at noon.” It was aired daily on an FM station based at the Center. Class members mentored and otherwise helped the high school students and local residents learn how to cover and report news of local interest. Beyond the skills involved, college and high school students alike said they learned about the value of community radio.

View the video at http://www.youtube.com > Search on “grassroots journalism”

Communication? Communications? Based on spellings and rationales used by the thousands of authors represented in this ACDC collection, it seems you can argue your case for either spelling. Take your pick. Spellings vary even within documents, we find. Staff associate Jim Evans observed recently:

“Corresponding about this recently with a friend in the academic community, I ventured: ‘Would I be wrong in observing that researchers tend to adopt the spellings used, by tradition, in their home colleges/units? It seems we kind of inherit our spelling practices, based on rationales established early in the development of our academic units. I was influenced by the views of Dean Ted Peterson and others in the College of Communications here. They used communications to refer to means and activities – and used communication to refer to the process.'”

Here in the Center we let the spellings flow as they will. Fortunately, people seem accustomed to seeing and hearing an inscrutable variety.” We welcome any thoughts you have on this front. Reply to docctr@library.uiuc.edu

Use computer mapping to boost agri-tourism, sell produce and… Writing in the Journal of Extension , Ohio extension educator David Marrison described how he used a computer program to map local farms for rapid response to agricultural emergencies. He explained that educators can also employ this technology for many other uses, ranging from promoting local products and custom services to tracking weed infestations and mapping shortfalls in group membership.

“Educators are only limited by their imaginations for developing mapping programs,” he concluded.

Citation: Using computer technology to map local farms
Posted at http://www.joe.org/joe/2009february/tt7.php

The future of African development is mobile. Or is it? Are you interested in some of the conversation about harnessing wireless technology to spur rural development, internationally? If so, here are two reports we added recently to the ACDC collection from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada:

1. A case study in Uganda describes how many rural villages lack power, but have cellular coverage. PDAs were used in testing a new health network to improve access to medical information.

Citation: The future of Africa is mobile
Posted at http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-93967-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

2. Alison Gillwald of Research ICT Africa identifies four challenges to extending the use of cheap and portable devices like mobile phones and PDAs.

Citation: Reality check: Will cellphones really solve Africa’s problems?
Posted at http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-135108-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

“Sow the wounds” is the eye-catching headline of a recent news report from Farms.com. It introduced current price information in the hog market, with a side note about losses that producers are sustaining.

“Looking like 1998 all over again, there seems to be no news of a Government aid plan coming, and producers are losing a lot of money. It’s time to look at sewing the wounds, or in this case sowing the wounds!”

Thanks to John Otte of Farm Progress for alerting us to it.

Communicator activities approaching

Ain’t nature grand? A reader asked that question in the January 30, 1937, issue of Prairie Farmer . Why such awe, we might wonder, during those desperate years of the Depression?

“A million years ago she didn’t know we would be wearing goggles some day, yet look at the way she placed our ears.”

ACDC News – Issue 09-19

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

“Effective communication with wide cross sections of society is probably more important now than it’s ever been.” This statement came recently from Dietram Scheufele, a life sciences communication faculty member at the University of Wisconsin. He expressed it in a conversation involving his research on communications about nanotechnology.

“The tricky part,” he added, “is that, while scientists generally realize how important it is to connect with the public, many people have taken the approach that it will be enough if we just put sound science out there. But unfortunately that’s not really supported by our research.”

Note: Many documents in the ACDC collection reinforce his point – that in the public arena, “sound science” is not enough.

Citation: Professor provides analysis of work on nanotechnology research
Posted at http://www.news.wisc.edu/16060

Five tips for helping groups approach complex, value-laden issues. We have added to the ACDC collection a “how to” article in which Extension professionals describe five simple communications techniques for approaching tough issues in group sessions. These techniques are designed to reduce tensions, define real issues, address underlying values, break out of the usual brain patterns, involve different learning styles and discover unanticipated opportunities.

Citation: Communication techniques for initiating discussion
Posted at http://www.joe.org/joe/2009february/tt1.php

Who is responsible for ensuring basic food needs? The government should be responsible, according to results of a recent worldwide poll in 21 nations. This survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes, University of Maryland, indicated:

Majorities of 70-97 percent in all 21 countries said government should be responsible for meeting their basic need for food. The average was 87 percent.
The most universal support for government responsibility was found in eight nations: Indonesia (97 percent), China (96 percent), Jordan (96 percent), Kenya (96 percent), Argentina (94 percent), Azerbaijan (93 percent), Germany (93 percent) and Italy (92 percent).
Respondents in the following nations expressed least inclination toward that view: India (70 percent), U. S. (74 percent) and Russia (77 percent).

Posted at http://www.worldpublicopinion.org

Miscommunicating with pets . So you think you can recognize when your dog has misbehaved? You think you see a “guilty look?” If so, findings of a study reported recently in Behavioural Processes might prompt you to reconsider. Experimentation by researcher Alexandra Horowitz revealed that the human tendency to attribute a “guilty look” to a dog was not due to whether the dog was indeed guilty.

“Instead, people see ‘guilt’ in a dog’s body language when they believe the dog has done something it shouldn’t have – even if the dog is in fact completely innocent of any offense.”

Citation: What really prompts the guilty look
News release posted at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/e-wrp061109.php

Impact of classic rural photography . A new documentary focuses on perhaps the most influential rural photography effort in U. S. history. “Documenting the face of America: Roy Stryker and the FSA/OWI Photographers” is the title of this film which premiered during August on national public television. It “brings to life the remarkable stories behind the legendary group of New Deal-sponsored photographers who traversed the country in the 1930s and early 1940s to capture some of the most iconic images in history,” explained an announcement. Experiences and photos of Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks and other respected photographers are featured through their work with the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information.

You can learn more about the documentary and the work of those featured in it at:

http://www.documentingamerica.org/Home.html
http://www.kcet.org/programs/online-magazine/index.php?pid=3

ICT – more than computers and the internet. Kimberly Clarke emphasized that point about information and communications technologies in an article we added recently to the ACDC collection.

She noted an international report that mentioned only Morse code, the telephone, wireless transmission, television, and satellite, mobile and fiber optic telecommunications in a timeline of ITC milestones. “There was no mention of the invention or evolution of papermaking, the printing press, or basic writing instruments such as pens and pencils. Relatively cheap technologies such as cameras, typewriters, tape records, VCRs and fax machines are ignored, as are the services and transport technologies that have revolutionized communications: the postal system, bicycles, cars, trains and aeroplanes, to name a few.” She argued that “for the vast majority of poor people in developing countries, the best solutions will continue to be the ones that they are already relying on now: other people in their social network, radio, and in some cases printed materials. There is huge room for improvement in many of these ‘old’ ICTs.”

Citation: ICT – what does it all mean?

Communicator activities approaching

October 30, 2009
Deadline for research and professional papers to be presented in the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) conference on February 6-9, 2010, in Orlando, Florida.
Information: http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas > “Call for Papers for 2010 Meeting”

November 11-13, 2009
“Connecting: 2010 and beyond.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA.
Information: www.nafb.com

Tapping into livestock courting skills . We close with a limerick that sheds important light on communications skills of pigs.

There once was a pig called Norton,
Who attracted his wife by snortin’.
You may think this crude,
But to a pig it’s not rude.
‘Cause that’s how pigs go a-courtin’.

“I wrote this in my 11th grade English class at Pennridge High School, Perkasie, Pa. back when I was an FFA student,” Jim Phillips explained to us recently. Do you suppose his early signs of creative rural writing help account for his becoming a senior editor of Progressive Farmer magazine?

Thanks to Jim for this contribution. Do we have other writers or collectors of limericks that touch on the communications aspects of agriculture? If so, please send them to us by return e-note.

ACDC News – Issue 09-18

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Sharp pains – and how health words matter in the public mind. Producers in the U. S. pork industry feel a sharp pain from this insight that is supported by research from the United Kingdom. A team of researchers in the Economic and Social Research Council has been examining the public interpretation of terminology used in policy documents and media coverage of health issues such as the bird flu scare and the foot and mouth outbreak.

“We found that the way people communicate about a threat largely determines how they understand it and behave towards it,” said lead researcher Brigitte Nerlich. Some terms can make people sit up and listen, she reported, but they can also lead to panic or cynicism. She did not report research about how terminology may affect buying behavior.

“Recent advice on [H1N1] flu has centred on basic hygiene, which makes people feel they can do something practical, instead of being mere victims of so-called ‘superbugs’ or ‘killer viruses.’ But obviously this is easier to do when a disease is relatively benign.”

Citation: Words matter in public health
Posted at http://www.esrc.ac.uk > conduct a site search on the document title

We extend anniversary congratulations to the University of the Philippines at Los Baños and the College of Development Communication within it. This month marks the Centennial observance of the founding of UPLB. Also, this year marks the 55th anniversary of the College, which was formed in 1954 as the Office of Extension and Publications within what was then the UP College of Agriculture.

Today the UPLB College of Development Communication is the only academic institution in the world that offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy programs in Development Communication. Faculty members within it have pioneered in teaching, research and outreach related to this field.

Visit the UPLB College of Development Communication web site at: http://www.devcom.edu.ph

Rural economies benefit from broadband access . Digital divide remains. Evidence of economic benefit is available in an August 2009 report from the Economic Research Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Researchers cited relatively higher growth in employment and nonfarm private earnings in counties that had broadband access by 2000.

Rural-urban differences continue at the household level, researchers found. “By 2007, most households (82 percent) with in-home Internet access had a broadband connection. A marked difference exists, however, between urban and rural broadband use – only 70 percent of rural households with in-home Internet access had a broadband connection in 2007, compared with 84 percent of urban households.”

Citation: Broadband value for rural America
Posted at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err78

Where livestock producers turn for animal and herd health information. A survey reported in a recent issue of the Journal of Extension tracked the information sources of more than 1,700 Tennessee livestock producers. Among the findings:

The most commonly used source of animal or herd health information was the local veterinarian, followed by media sources, such as magazines, and the Extension Service.
About one in four used information from animal health companies.
One in 14 used the College of Veterinary Medicine.
About one in five used the Internet for such information.
More than 60 percent used more than one information source.
Multiple livestock enterprises seemed to invite use of more sources.

Citation: Use of animal or herd health information sources
Posted at http://www.joe.org/joe/2009february/a7.php

Pop radio program makes donkeys more productive, boys more attractive. Creative media selection has provided greater productivity and better lives for some working donkeys in Kenya. It also has added self-esteem and popularity among the teenage boys who handle them.

A report we have added to the ACDC collection explains how several health and animal protection agencies teamed up with an FM radio station. The station aired a series of programs aimed to change how the teenage donkey handlers saw themselves and how to care for and manage their donkeys. Helpful information, soap-style dramas, prize T-shirts and presence on a pop music channel at a specific time of day proved a winning combination – for the boys and their donkeys.

Citation: Communications success stories
Posted at http://www.developments.org.uk/articles/the-donkeys-tale

Seeking directions in the global biotech adventure. Lori Weaver, publisher and editor of Feeding the Globe , has revealed some recent discussion about the need for, and value of, genetically modified crops. A commentary we added recently to the ACDC collection presented some of the recent dialogue among scientists and interest groups about the role of biotechnology in global food security.

“Maybe the solution means we don’t necessarily choose one way at the exclusion of all others,” she observed.

Citation: Stopping for directions
Posted at http://www.agnewscenter.com/archives.cfm?news=4087

Communicator activities approaching

October 18-25, 2009
“The state of forestry information worldwide.” Special session at the XIII World Forestry Congress 2009 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Information: http://www.fao.org/forestry/53818/en/

November 11-13, 2009
“Connecting: 2010 and beyond.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA.
Information: www.nafb.com

Fire away, Smedley. Do you champion coordinated approaches to agricultural communicating? Are you impatient with piecemeal approaches? If so, you may appreciate this image from veteran communicator Bob Kern. A long-time advocate of the “consulting communicator” role, Bob recalls attending the first regional meeting of the American Association of Agricultural College Editors (AAACE) in 1951 or 1952.

After a discussion that ranged widely and lacked much significance, one of the editors stood up and recalled a cartoon set on the bridge of a weathered-in Coast Guard cutter, shrouded in thick fog. The caption could be a motto for communicators who remain satisfied with fragmented, blind and short-cut approaches to agricultural communicating:

“Fire into the fog, Smedley. There may be a rum-runner there.”

ACDC News – Issue 09-17

Posted on October 1, 2009 by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

How U. S. crop growers are using social media . A new document in the ACDC collection summarizes results of telephone survey research during early 2009 by Nicholson Kovac, Inc., among large-acreage corn and soybean growers in U.S. Some of the highlights:

Sixty-two percent said they have sent or received text messages during the past year.
Forty-eight percent of those texting said they send five or more texts per day and 63 percent said they have taken photos with their mobile phones.
Forty-seven percent said they spend five hours or more per week online.
For their business/farm interests, growers said they use Internet most for e-mail and weather and market information.
Eighty-five percent said they visit Web sites related to their farm operations and 76 percent check manufacturers’ Web sites.

Posted at http://www.prweb.com/releases/Nicholson-Kovac/agmedia-study/prweb2767974.htm

“My writing style is indeed idiosyncratic,” says agricultural writer Sue Edmonds of New Zealand. This “late blooming” journalist in the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators is featured on the web site of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ). She shares some thoughts about her career, how she gets story ideas and how she approaches agricultural writing. She also provides several samples of her writing.

Posted at http://www.ifaj.org/professional-development/professional-features/a-late-blooming-farming-writer.html

Touch-screen learning breaks literacy barriers. “Livestock Guru” is the name of an interactive computer program proving helpful to livestock producers, even those unable to read. Created by researchers at the University of Reading, UK, it teaches farmers how to diagnose, prevent and treat specific animal diseases. Experiences in Bolivia revealed that producers using Guru showed up to 44 percent increase in basic knowledge. This response was 10 percent better than that from conventional media such as videos or written materials. Guru had also been used with success in India and Kenya at the time of this 2006 report we have added to the ACDC collection.

Posted at http://www.developments.org.uk/articles/livestock-guru-cures-cows

Greater transparency – greater public uncertainty – then what? Researcher Lynn Frewer examined that matter in a Toxicology Letters article we added recently to the ACDC collection. “Increasing …pressure has been directed toward maximizing transparency in risk management practices,” Frewer noted. “As a result the uncertainties associated with technical risk assessments…will increasingly be subject to public and stakeholder scrutiny. It is therefore important to communicate this uncertainty in an explicit and understandable way that is focused on the information needs of target audiences.”

Is the public able to understand and deal with uncertainty about complex risks? Frewer examines research about this question (answering “yes”), calls for more research and urges institutions to “learn how to internalize public views and societal values into the process of risk analysis.”

Abstract and full-text purchase information at www.sciencedirect.com

“Masses have sense.” Lynn Frewer’s thoughts about abilities of the lay public to understand complex risks remind us of a 1960 document in the ACDC collection by Samuel Lubell. He spent a career analyzing opinion trends (including research among farmers and others in rural areas). His observations prompted him to emphasize several points:

It is not true that the masses of people are less able than the more educated to master complicated detail. “I have done surveys of attitudes on automobiles and lawn-growing and have been astonished at the amount of complex, technical information the average man possessed on things that interest him .”
In voting, professors are as emotional and irrational as ditch-diggers.
“In the light of this, it is difficult to believe that the general public is inherently incapable of understanding complex public issues.”

This document is not in digital format. Check with us docctr@library.illinois.edu if you are interested.

View the video at http://www.youtube.com > Search on “grassroots journalism”

Communicator activities approaching

October 15, 2009
Deadline for submission of abstracts of papers and posters to be presented at the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD) XIIIth World Congress, Montpellier, France, April 26-29, 2010. Theme: “Scientific and technical information and rural development: highlights of innovative practices.”
Information: http://iaald2010.agropolis.fr

October 15-18, 2009
Annual conference of the Association of Food Journalists in Houston, Texas USA.
Information: http://www.afjonline.com

November 11-13, 2009
“Connecting: 2010 and beyond.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA.
Information: www.nafb.com

Closing with a farm limerick . We close this issue of ACDC News with a limerick that caught our eye recently (yes, really) in the February 1, 1912, issue of Prairie Farmer .

A town chap who played in the band
Felt a call to go back to the land.
When he raises big corn
He can blow his own horn,
An advantage you’ll all understand.

ACDC News – Issue 09-16

Posted on September 15, 2009 by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Time magazine as “a part of a conversation.” The role of news media jumped front-and-center during August when Time magazine devoted cover emphasis to a commentary critical of the agrifood system and practices in the U.S. “Getting real about the high price of cheap food” is the title of this piece by Bryan Walsh. AgriTalk host Mike Adams asked the author in a phone interview if that isn’t one-sided – and if readers of a news vehicle wouldn’t get the perception of such an article as a news story rather than an opinion piece.

“We’re getting a lot of stories that are more angled toward the point of view of the writer,” Walsh replied, referring to recent changes in the editorial approach at Time , “and there’s pluses and minuses to that in many ways. On the one hand, we’ve found that we want to be part of a conversation and to be in front of the conversation means not just recording one perspective and another, just going back and forth like that, but saying this is what we can bring to the story and this is what we think and then we start off this conversation that hopefully goes forward.”

You can read text of the phone interview at:
http://www.drovers.com/news_editorial.asp?pgID=675&ed_id=6029

Some of the early and varied responses in this media-coverage issue have been added already to the ACDC collection. Here are a few samples:

” Ag groups riled by Time article: call for letters to the editor ”

” Time trashes American agriculture ”

” Sustainable ag meets MSM (mainstream media) – and wins ”

” Time brings the debate over food reform to the living room ”

Ag journalists are paying more attention to ethics, according to a research summary in the August/September issue of ByLine , newsletter of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA). The report highlights 20 years of research among AAEA members about their experiences and views concerning the relationship between advertising and editorial coverage.

Findings suggest that AAEA members, their publications and advertisers are showing signs of strengthening the role of editorial independence in today’s commercial environment. However, these agricultural journalists continue to have significant ethical concerns. Researchers Karen Simon, Owen Roberts and Jim Evans reported findings during the recent Agricultural Media Summit and International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress in Fort Worth, Texas.

Posted at http://www.ageditors.com > August/September 2009 issue of ByLine

Bringing juice-taste marketing to mass media . That’s the idea behind efforts of an ink marketer, US Ink, to encourage newspapers to stick flavored strips on pages to allow readers to taste the product advertised. The patented product, Taste-It Notes, was introduced earlier this year, according to a report from NorthJersey.com. The flavored strip is sealed inside a pouch to keep it fresh and hygienic until the package is broken open and tasted. The report we have added to the ACDC collection described positive results from a peel-and-taste strip placed in a grape juice advertisement in People magazine.

Beware the varied faces of “indigenous.” “To most readers, listeners or viewers, the word ‘indigenous’ would seem harmless enough as a description of an exotic group in a far away place,” wrote Christina Tercero in the Global Journalist magazine of the International Press Institute. “But actually the writer using it generally does so out of a laziness or need for over-simplification. In fact, its use is controversial, leaving a large gap between reality and what the word conveys to readers.”

Tercero based these observations on an analysis of how reporters at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and CNN determined when, how and to whom to apply the term “indigenous.”

Citation: Defining indigenous in international news
Posted at http://www.globaljournalist.org/stories/2007/01/01/defining-indigenous-in-international-news/

Continuing concerns about cloning animals . A Gallup Poll during May 2009 revealed that U. S. citizens are still concerned about cloning of animals. Sixty-three percent of respondents in this national survey considered the cloning of animals as morally wrong. About one-third considered cloning of animals as morally acceptable. Less than two percent said they don’t know.

Citation: Gallup Poll: whether cloning of animals is morally acceptable or morally wrong
Posted at http://institution.gallup.com

Using social media in Extension: a beginner’s guide. A new resource we have added to the ACDC collection offers insights and tips in plain language for Extension educators who wish to consider using social media. This brief guide identifies some social media applications in Extension programming and provides tips such as:

Using a newsreader
Commenting on others’ work
Sharing content, knowledge, ideas and products openly
Writing for the Web
Taking part in online communities
Using Creative Commons licenses

Posted at http://collaborate.extension.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide_to_Social_Media_in_Extension

Communicator activities approaching

October 15-18, 2009
Annual conference of the Association of Food Journalists in Houston, Texas USA.
Information: http://www.afjonline.com

November 11-13, 2009
“Connecting: 2010 and beyond.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA.
Information: www.nafb.com

We’re still fertilizing the agri-vocabulary. Last month we explained how “pellucid” is among the words MSN Encarta insists everyone simply should know. It describes expression that is easy to understand, clear in meaning or transparent. We asked what fresh term(s) we might use to describe the opposite kind of writing.

Thanks to Brian Meyer at Iowa State University for this suggestion:

“The opposite might be…putrid?”

News Archive