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2. Can anyone hear us? An exploration of echo chambers at a land-grant university
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ruth, Taylor K. (author), Rumble, Joy N. (author), Galindo-Gonzalez, Sebastian (author), Lundy, Lisa K. (author), Carter, Hannah S. (author), Folta, Kevin M. (author), and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The Ohio State University University of Florida Association for Communication Excellence
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- United States: New Prairie Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 15 Document Number: D10430
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- 103(2)
- Notes:
- 24 pages., Via online journal., Faculty at land-grant universities are expected to engage in some form of Extension, or science communication, as part of the land-grant mission. However, critics have claimed these institutions are out of touch with their stakeholders’ needs and faculty mainly communicate with others in academia. This engagement with a homogenous group reflects the concepts of echo chambers, where people are only exposed to information that aligns with their beliefs and current knowledge and discredit opposing information. An explanatory mixed-methods design was used to understand land-grant faculty’s engagement in echo chambers. A survey was distributed to a census of tenure-track faculty in the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences to understand respondents’ engagement in echo chambers. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 13 of the survey respondents to further explore their audiences and channels used in science communication to understand their engagement in echo chambers. Survey results indicated faculty did not necessarily participate in echo chambers, but they also did not contribute to an open communication network. However, the interviews found participants were interested in reaching new audiences yet struggled to communicate with stakeholders. The participants also reported wanting to find alternative channels to peer reviewed journals to help disseminate their work. The findings from this study indicated faculty contributed to a type of echo chamber, but rather than viewing their stakeholders’ opinions as false, they simply did not hear the opinions. Agricultural communicators should work with land-grant faculty administrators to identify appropriate audiences and channels for science communication.
3. Comparison of extension personnel and supervisor perceptions of communications activities
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- 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
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- 102(4)
- Notes:
- 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.
4. Cooperative extension can better frame its value by emphasizing policy relationships
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Gupta, Clare (author), Campbell, David (author), and Cole-Weiss, Alexandra (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-02-01
- Published:
- USA: University of California
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 12 Document Number: D10387
- Journal Title:
- California Agriculture
- Journal Title Details:
- 73(1) : 11-18
- Notes:
- 13 pages., Via online journal., Based on research-to-policy narratives provided by UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) academics, we argue that current, effective Cooperative Extension (Extension) practices support a broader, more convincing account of Extension's public value than its leaders often articulate. This proposed account incorporates the familiar Extension narrative in which technical expertise and objectivity are emphasized. It also incorporates the insight, derived from our data, that Extension can achieve its greatest relevance in policy circles when it weaves together its ability to provide trustworthy technical knowledge with its capacity to influence policy dialogue, debate and practice across multiple settings and over the long term. In a policy world often marked by short-term thinking and polarization, Extension's ability to foster deliberative, context-sensitive and future-oriented policymaking is a critical contribution to society. Interview data reveals three approaches to effective policy-oriented relationship building: community-government partnership building; stakeholder-oriented experimental research; and community empowerment. Understanding these approaches can help reframe the story that we in the Extension system tell ourselves and the public about the public value we create.
5. Evaluation and impact of a reflective training process for rural extension agents
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Landini, Fernando (author), Brites, Walter (author), and University of La Cuenca del Plata
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-07-18
- Published:
- Argentina: Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 106 Document Number: D10931
- Journal Title:
- The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 25(5) : 457-472
- Notes:
- 15 pages, via online journal, Purpose: This article assesses a non-traditional training methodology for extension agents, focused on the exchange of experiences among peers and the reflection on practice, with the aim of exploring its potential as a training strategy. Design/Methodology/approach: A quali-quantitative investigation was conducted, which included interviews with extension agents, the use of different questionnaires, and recordings of the evaluation sessions carried out during each workshop. Findings: This research allowed us to understand the importance of effective group coordination, a participatory climate, working in small groups, and the feedback loop between theory and practice for processes of experience sharing and reflection on practice. Some of the positive effects of the training observed were that extension agents acquired new knowledge and methodologies, reflected critically upon their practice, and put into question their own extension approach. Practical Implications: Given its potentialities, implementing training processes focused on experience sharing and reflection on practice for rural extension workers, seems advisable. Theoretical Implications: This article contributes to the understanding of how experience sharing and reflection on practice can generate transformations in rural extension agents’ approaches and positioning. Originality/Value: This study systematically assesses the impacts that training has on extension workers, as well as the underlying processes that made it possible to generate them.
6. Extension investing resources for the millennial generation: an exploratory study
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Kristen Sumpter (author) and Joan Koonce (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-02
- Published:
- USA: Extension Journal, Inc.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 4 Document Number: D10190
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 57(1) : 1-9
- Notes:
- 9 pages., Article # 1RIB10, Via online journal., Millennials have different investing knowledge and behaviors than generations in the past. Moreover, as compared to baby boomers, millennials have more debt and less wealth to invest. We used current literature and information collected from Extension educators to explore the values, investing behaviors, learning styles, and loyalty attitudes of millennials. We also examined and evaluated investment resources that had been created or adapted by four Extension faculty members across the nation. A proposed framework with suggestions for future research is provided.
7. Georgia's new college of ag dean Bullish on state's farm industry
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Haire, Brad (author)
- Format:
- Interview
- Publication Date:
- 2016-06-01
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 158 Document Number: D07563
- Journal Title:
- Southeast Farm Press
- Journal Title Details:
- 43 (14): 1-2
8. How have smallholder farmers used digital extension tools? Developer and user voices from Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Coggins, Sam (author), McCampbell, Mariette (author), Sharma, Akriti (author), Sharma, Rama (author), Haefele, Stephen (author), Karki, Emma (author), Hetherington, Jack (author), Smith, Jeremy (author), and Brown, Brendan (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-03-01
- Published:
- United States: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12486
- Journal Title:
- Global Food Security
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 32
- Notes:
- 10 pages, Digital extension tools (DETs) include phone calls, WhatsApp groups and specialised smartphone applications used for agricultural knowledge brokering. We researched processes through which DETs have (and have not) been used by farmers and other extension actors in low- and middle-income countries. We interviewed 40 DET developers across 21 countries and 101 DET users in Bihar, India. We found DET use is commonly constrained by fifteen pitfalls (unawareness of DET, inaccessible device, inaccessible electricity, inaccessible mobile network, insensitive to digital illiteracy, insensitive to illiteracy, unfamiliar language, slow to access, hard to interpret, unengaging, insensitive to user's knowledge, insensitive to priorities, insensitive to socio-economic constraints, irrelevant to farm, distrust). These pitfalls partially explain why women, less educated and less wealthy farmers often use DETs less, as well as why user-driven DETs (e.g. phone calls and chat apps) are often used more than externally-driven DETs (e.g. specialised smartphone apps). Our second key finding was that users often made - not just found - DETs useful for themselves and others. This suggests the word ‘appropriation’ conceptualises DET use more accurately and helpfully than the word ‘adoption’. Our final key finding was that developers and users advocated almost ubiquitously for involving desired users in DET provision. We synthesise these findings in a one-page framework to help funders and developers facilitate more useable, useful and positively impactful DETs. Overall, we conclude developers increase DET use by recognizing users as fellow developers – either through collaborative design or by designing adaptable DETs that create room for user innovation.
9. How to be a good rural extensionist. Reflections and contributions of Argentine practitioners
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Landini, Fernando (author) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnicas (National Council of Scientific and Technological Research), Argentina University of La Cuenca del Plata, Argentina University of Moron, Argentina
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015-04-15
- Published:
- Argentina: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D10882
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Rural Studies
- Journal Title Details:
- 43 : 193-202
- Notes:
- 9 pages, online journal article, Quality rural extension is of utmost importance for generating food security and sustainable rural development. In this paper, Argentine rural extensionists' point of view on how to be a good practitioner is described, as well as compared to good practices proposed by scholars and international development organizations. Forty rural extensionists from the Northeastern Argentine provinces were interviewed (29men, 11 women). Interviews were recorded and transcribed, texts were categorized and contents analyzed. Scholars and extensionists, despite agreeing to most of the same principles, frame their recommendations for good extension practices in different ways. The former's recommendations tend to be supported by multiple case studies and focused on best practices on the level of extension projects or policies, while the latter's tend to draw upon their own experience and develop proposals more concerned with interpersonal interactions and with overcoming practical problems in real (and not ideal)settings. Best extension practices depend on environmental, institutional, political and cultural contexts, this implying there is no best extension practice in general. Training extensionists in interpersonal skills and in social sciences is key for reaching good extension results. Horizontal communication between farmers and extensionists, negotiation over best technologies, and helping farmers reflect on their production practices are extension strategies with great potential.
10. Improving Biosecurity through Instructional Crisis Communication: Lessons Learned from the PEDv Outbreak
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Sellnow, Timothy L. (author), Parker, Jason S. (author), Sellnow, Deanna D. (author), Littlefield, Robert (author), Helsel, Emily M. (author), Getchell, Morgan C. (author), Smith, Julia M. (author), Merrill, Scott C. (author), and University of Central Florida The Ohio State University Morehead State University University of Vermont
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2017
- Published:
- United States: New Prairie Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 4 Document Number: D10178
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- 101(4)
- Notes:
- 17 pages., Via online journal article., Crises, by their nature, demand effectively designed and quickly delivered instructional messages that compel stakeholders to take appropriate actions to protect themselves and their assets. The challenges of crisis communication are intensified in crises involving unanticipated and relatively unknown disease outbreaks with the potential to spread exponentially. This study assesses the communication challenges and opportunities in such volatile crises through an analysis of the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) outbreak that severely threatened the United States pork industry in 2013 and 2014. Interviews were conducted with 13 individuals directly involved in developing and distributing risk and crisis biosecurity messages during the PEDv outbreak. Participants were selected based on affiliation with the National Pork Board, American Association of Swine Veterinarians, university extension, or their swine industry expertise. Four generalizable implications emerged: 1) the advantage of maintaining flexibility in crisis communication planning; 2) the value of audience analysis and message adaptation; 3) the importance of understanding not only what to do, but also why the recommended actions are essential; and 4) the utility of risk/crisis communication and education both prior to and during a crisis event.