Boone, Kristina M. (author) and Conklin, Nikki L. (author)
Format:
Paper
Publication Date:
1995-03-05
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 108 Document Number: C10263
Notes:
Paper presented at the 49th Annual Central Region Research Conference in Agricultural Education, "A Look to the Future," St. Louis, Missouri, March 5, 1995.
13 pages, via Online Journal, This paper contributes to our understanding of farm data value chains with assistance from 54 semi-structured interviews and field notes from participant observations. Methodologically, it includes individuals, such as farmers, who hold well-known positionalities within digital agriculture spaces—platforms that include precision farming techniques, farm equipment built on machine learning architecture and algorithms, and robotics—while also including less visible elements and practices. The actors interviewed and materialities and performances observed thus came from spaces and places inhabited by, for example, farmers, crop scientists, statisticians, programmers, and senior leadership in firms located in the U.S. and Canada. The stability of “the” artifacts followed for this project proved challenging, which led to me rethinking how to approach the subject conceptually. The paper is animated by a posthumanist commitment, drawing heavily from assemblage thinking and critical data scholarship coming out of Science and Technology Studies. The argument’s understanding of “chains” therefore lies on an alternative conceptual plane relative to most commodity chain scholarship. To speak of a data value chain is to foreground an orchestrating set of relations among humans, non-humans, products, spaces, places, and practices. The paper’s principle contribution involves interrogating lock-in tendencies at different “points” along the digital farm platform assemblage while pushing for a varied understanding of governance depending on the roles of the actors and actants involved.
13 pages, via online journal, Purpose: This study examined knowledge sharing mechanisms in coffee IPs and their effect on actor linkages in four districts of Uganda.
Design/methodology/approach: Thirty one respondents from the public and private sector were interviewed using a qualitative approach. Data were analyzed using the Atlas ti qualitative software version 7.5.18 to generate themes for information sources, types and channels. Social network analysis was used to measure the actor centrality positions and influence in the IP network.
Findings: Results revealed seven main categories of actors in the Coffee IPs who shared information on coffee inputs, agronomic practices, processing and markets through three main channels. Level of cohesion was less than 10% which had negative implications on the knowledge flow, trust and collaboration among the actors. Influential positions were occupied by the processors and farmer leaders in IPs in the southern districts of Luwero and Rakai, while nursery operators were most influential in IPs of the western districts of Ntungamo and Bushenyi. Weak linkages within the social networks indicated that initiatives of the actors were fragmented, as each actor acted as an individual detached from the platform activities limiting inter-actor knowledge sharing.
Practical implications: Innovation intermediaries should focus on integrated systemic and innovative approaches to strengthen actor social linkages for knowledge sharing and better platform performance.
Theoretical implications: Actor positions and relationships in innovation networks are critical tenets for fostering knowledge exchange and performance. In an innovation platform, diverse actors are multiple sources for accessing information within a given social and institutional context.
Originality/value: The study contributes to existing debate and knowledge on institutional change in agricultural innovation systems.
Compton, J. Lin (author), Green, Jennifer C. (author), Sappington, Harry W., III. (author), Whitmore, Elizabeth (author), and Assistant Professor, Maritime School of Social Work, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
1988-07
Published:
USA: Medford, MA : Association of Voluntary Action Scholars.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 86 Document Number: C05585
AGRICOLA IND 89051564, This study is part of a larger study which examined the development of leadership knowledge and awareness in rural communities. This part of the study focused on what adults learn through participation in community groups. The subjects of this study were 10 members of community groups located in rural counties. All subjects participated in an open-ended, semi-structured interview. Transcripts were analyzed for statements of learning. A total of 259 learning statements in eight categories were identified. The categories are self, internal knowledge, internal skills, external knowledge, external skills, broader skills, special groups and issues, and learning about the learning process. The authors also discuss factors related to learning, including: social factors, local control, democratic procedures, and satisfaction.
