3 pages., via online journal., We often wonder why many a time our policies defy logic and our engineering designs lack a human element. There is no dearth of advances in scientific research and technologies. However, the large‐scale implementation of this knowledge and capacity on the field lags behind several decades in some regions. Unfortunately, the farmers not always benefit from these, least on the large‐scale. Well, the mystery may lie in the underlying communication processes that are supposed to be part of designing policies, institutions, engineering infrastructure, machines, products or any man‐made thing or rule. Or, sometimes it may be just due to a complete lack of any such processes during the design phase. Obviously, agricultural water management (AWM) for food production, particularly in many developing countries, is no exception to this phenomenon.
8 pages., Via online journal., With growing interest in food system solutions to address poor health outcomes related to preventable chronic diseases, organizations and researchers are examining the value of community gardens as interventions to promote individual and community health. Research suggests that participation in community gardens improves access to fresh, healthy foods and increases fruit and vegetable consumption. In addition to these physical benefits, research also documents a variety of social and communal benefits, by expanding social capital, stabilizing neighborhoods, and cultivating relationships. Unfortunately, most of these studies focus on a specific case, cross case, or intervention studies within a geographically specific locale. Learning lessons from successful community garden programs can be difficult because community gardens often rely on the synergy of a complex network of support agencies that assist in various technical and educational capacities. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate the use of a framework for program development and evaluation that stakeholders, including extension, can adopt to show program outcomes. The framework used a Delphi approach with a diverse panel of community garden stakeholders to reach consensus about program outcomes. The study demonstrated that the panel could reach consensus on a variety of short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes.
Glass, Sara (author), Fanzo, Jessica (author), and Berman Institute of Bioethics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
Berman Institute of Bioethics, Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University, 1809 Ashland Avenue, Deering Hall, Baltimore, MD, United States
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2017-04
Published:
USA: Elsevier
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D08099
Specht, Kathrin (author), Sanyé-Mengual, Esther (author), and Institute of Socio-Economics, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374, Müncheberg, Germany
Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Research Center in Urban Environment for Agriculture and Biodiversity (Rescue-AB), Department of Agricultural Sciences (DIPSA), Università di Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2017-03
Published:
International: Elsevier Ltd.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 163 Document Number: D08151
Butler, James R.A. (author), Darbas, Toni (author), Addison, Jane (author), Bohensky, Erin L. (author), Carter, Lucy (author), Cosijn, Michaela (author), Maru, Yiheyis T. (author), Stone-Jovicich, Samantha (author), Williams, Liana J. (author), and Rodriguez, Luis C. (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2017
Published:
International: CSIRO Publishing, Clayton South, Victoria, Australia
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10513
Notes:
217 pages., Pages 109-129 in Heinz Schandl and Lain Walker (eds.), Social science and sustainability. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton South, Victoria,Australia. 2017. 217 pages.
Jayasinghe, J.A.S.S. (author), Hewagamage, K.P. (author), and Department of Information Technology, CINEC Campus, IT Park, Malabe, Sri Lanka
University of Colombo School of Computing, 35, Reid Avenue, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
2017
Published:
Sri Lanka: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D08141
Notes:
article number 7829901, pp. 72-79, 16th International Conference on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions, ICTer 2016; Jetwing BlueNegombo; Sri Lanka; 1 September 2016 through 3 September 2016; Category numberCFP1686L-ART; Code 126111
Cullen-Knox, Coco (author), Eccleston, Richard (author), Haward, Marcus (author), Lester, Elizabeth (author), Vince, Joanna (author), and Centre for Marine Socioecology, School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS, Australia
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2017
Published:
Australia: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D08105
9 pages., Via online journal., In a world where the notion of ‘sharing of knowledge’ has been gained much prominence in the recent past, the importance of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to promote sustainable agriculture, especially when combined with mobile and open source software technologies is discussed critically. On this rationale, this study was carried out to explore the applicability of the concept of converging ‘Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)’ to promote sustainable knowledge sharing amongst the agricultural communities in Sri Lanka. A multi-stage community consultative process with a set of designated officials (“Sponsors”) and a series of semi-structured questionnaire survey with a cross section of smallholder agriculture farmers (n=246), were carried out in the Batticaloa, Kurunegala and Puttalam districts to gather the baseline data. This was followed by a number of field experiments (“Campaigns”) with the farmers (n=340) from same geographical areas. The two FOSS, namely: (1) “FrontlineSMS” for ‘Text Messaging’ and (2) “FreedomFone” for ‘Interactive Voice Responses’, were applied to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge sharing within the farming communities. It was found that FOSS intervention increases the ‘Text messaging’ and ‘Voice Call’ usage in day-to-day agricultural communication by 26 and 8 percent, respectively. The demographic factors like age and income level of the farmers has positively influence on the knowledge sharing process. And also the ‘Mobile Telephony’ was the most extensive mode of communication within the communities. The outcome of analysis, as a whole, implies that, with a fitting mechanism in place, this approach can be promoted as a “drive for positive changes” in agriculture-based rural communities in developing countries like Sri Lanka, and those in South and East Asia with similar socio-economic and cultural perspectives.
