Barton, Elizabeth T. (author), Barton, Emily A. (author), Barton, Susan (author), Boyer, Cheryl R. (author), Brosnan, Jim (author), Hill, Paul (author), Hoyle, Jared (author), Reid, Judson (author), Seger, Jamie (author), Stafne, Eric (author), and University of Delaware
University of Virginia
Kansas State University
University of Tennessee
University of Washington
Cornell University
Ohio State University
Mississippi State University
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2017-04
Published:
United States: American Society for Horticultural Science
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 16 Document Number: D10445
10 pages., Via online journal., We held a technology session at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Horticultural Science in Atlanta, GA, to provide guidance for technology choices in extension education and an opportunity to learn more about engaging new audiences, including the millennial generation (people born between 1982 and 2000). The use of technology is now an integral part of extension-client interaction. Presenters in the session gave examples of when technologies such as blogs, social media accounts, or web conferencing tools allowed extension personnel to increase engagement with online consumers and ultimately help fulfill extension’s mission of extending knowledge and changing lives. Effective engagement requires both educators and learners to be satisfied with the exchange. It is critical to monitor the quality of these digitally facilitated exchanges as compared with traditional face-to-face interactions. Additionally, it is possible to quantify digital engagement with readily available metrics, such as “retweets” (a reposted or forwarded message) or “likes” (indication an item is appreciated). These allow innovative and substantive reporting to further justify continued use of digital technologies for enhancing client-extension relations.
The "market, message, means of communication" framework was tested in a case study, "adoption of rootstocks. It involved growing grapes for the wine industry and researchers found it a useful tool for ensuring that information is collected, analyzed, and used to inform extension program design.
21 pgs., CTs (Communications technologies) have revolutionized agricultural information services at every level in the agricultural sector, thus impacting rural development and catalysing poverty alleviation strategies. This has largely been the case with small-scale farmers in rural areas in developing countries where mobile technologies have penetrated more than most other ICT tools. However, in some of the farming environments, mobile phone use is largely driven by agricultural extension workers. This paper seeks to examine the way mobile phones are used for information access in situations where agricultural extension workers are a critical intermediary in the agricultural information services. Interviews were conducted with 10 randomly selected farmers who were part of the Dzindi irrigation scheme. The findings were that from the variety of information available to the farmers the most important source was the extension officer. The extension officer and the radio were indicated to be the most reliable independent sources of information. The other sources, such as the radio, family members, and friends, suppliers of chemicals, books and magazines, were only considered reliable if the information could be verified or vouched for by the extension officer. Increasing the information handling skills of extension officers, training of farmers to use smart features of their phones and promoting the usual face-to-face communication use of conventional methods, which is what usually gives rise to the mediation of mobile phones, were recommended.
Albrecht, Hartmut (author), Hoffmann, Volker (author), Bergmann, Herbert (author), Diederich, Georg (author), Grober, Eberhard (author), Keller, Peter (author), Payr, Gerhard (author), and Sulzer, Rolf (author)
Bentley, Jeffery W. (author), Van Mele, Paul (author), Harun-Ar-Rashid (author), and Saleque, Mohammad Abu (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2005
Published:
Bangladesh
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C24696
Notes:
Pages 89-102 in Paul Van Mele, Ahmad Salahuddin and Noel P. Magor (eds.), Innovations in rural extension: case studies from Bangladesh. CABI Publishing, Oxfordshire, England. 307 pages.