Role of social media for civic participation, drawing on Swedish volunteer initiatives that emerged in the context of the migration crisis in 2015 as a case study.
Via UI Library online subscription., Owner of the Hardwick Gazette community newspaper in Vermont describes his experience in seeking a new owner through an essay contest. His quest included confirmation of the importance of community newspapers in their areas of circulation.
Bowman, Brittany (author), Settle, Quisto (author), North, Elizabeth Gregory (author), Lewis, Kerri Collins (author), and Oklahoma State University
Mississippi State University
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2018
Published:
United States: New Prairie Press
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 152 Document Number: D10159
18 pages, via online journal, Extension is often called the “best-kept secret” having low awareness with the public but high satisfaction with clientele. Extension services nationwide have faced budget cuts, creating a need for the organization to re-evaluate its activities, including how it communicates with its stakeholders. While Extension personnel are the ones who will do most of the communicating, their supervisors impact the personnel’s actions, which means it is important to assess both groups. A survey was conducted with Extension personnel and their supervisors in Mississippi assessing engagement in communications activities and perceptions of those activities, as well as personnel’s preference of professional development activities. Personnel reported higher use, comfort, and importance of more traditional (e.g. making a speech) and written activities (e.g. writing a promotional handout) than media-relations activities (e.g. being interviewed for TV), social media-related activities (e.g. managing a Twitter account), and visual communication activities (e.g. graphic design). Supervisors perceived individual communications activities as less important overall than personnel did, and although supervisor and communication scores for use and comfort/capability were similar for most communication activities, there were noticeable exceptions. Additionally, personnel preferred professional development activities that were hands-on or showing the activities first-hand (e.g. demonstrations and field days). Future research should be expanded to other states, conducted in a case study format to study specific relationships, and involve qualitative components. Extension should ensure clear supervisor-communication dialogue on prioritizing communication activities, provide training on communication activities with low use and comfort, and utilize early innovators who are comfortable using newer communication activities.
13th European Farming Systems Association (IFSA) Symposium, Greece., Provides a narrative review which identifies key functional characteristics that enable learning in demonstration farms.
12 pages., Online via Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). 12 pages., Authors focused on use of mobile phones in accessing agricultural information by farmers in the Punjab province. Major uses involved market information, plus other kinds of agricultural information. Major constraints involved farmers' limited aptitude for use of mobile phones and lack of awareness of information sources.
Available online at www.centmapress.org, Describes the type of information regarding food shared on Twitter and what kind of network is established between Twitter users in those cases when the #food in question is associated to a geographical area. Findings highlighted differences between the two networks surveyed, both with regard to the actors involved and to the way in which they share information on Twitter.
5 pages., Online via publication website., Includes follow-up perspectives about media coverage from several authors who contributed to a climate change report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Author interpreted the responses as indicating that journalists have generally done a thorough job, but have missed "a few major findings."
