ACDC News – Issue 09-19

“Effective communication with wide cross sections of society is probably more important now than it’s ever been.” This statement came recently from Dietram Scheufele, a life sciences communication faculty member at the University of Wisconsin. He expressed it in a conversation involving his research on communications about nanotechnology.

“The tricky part,” he added, “is that, while scientists generally realize how important it is to connect with the public, many people have taken the approach that it will be enough if we just put sound science out there. But unfortunately that’s not really supported by our research.”

Note: Many documents in the ACDC collection reinforce his point – that in the public arena, “sound science” is not enough.

Citation: Professor provides analysis of work on nanotechnology research
Posted at http://www.news.wisc.edu/16060


Five tips for helping groups approach complex, value-laden issues. We have added to the ACDC collection a “how to” article in which Extension professionals describe five simple communications techniques for approaching tough issues in group sessions. These techniques are designed to reduce tensions, define real issues, address underlying values, break out of the usual brain patterns, involve different learning styles and discover unanticipated opportunities.

Citation: Communication techniques for initiating discussion
Posted at http://www.joe.org/joe/2009february/tt1.php


Who is responsible for ensuring basic food needs? The government should be responsible, according to results of a recent worldwide poll in 21 nations. This survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes, University of Maryland, indicated:

  • Majorities of 70-97 percent in all 21 countries said government should be responsible for meeting their basic need for food. The average was 87 percent.
  • The most universal support for government responsibility was found in eight nations: Indonesia (97 percent), China (96 percent), Jordan (96 percent), Kenya (96 percent), Argentina (94 percent), Azerbaijan (93 percent), Germany (93 percent) and Italy (92 percent).
  • Respondents in the following nations expressed least inclination toward that view: India (70 percent), U. S. (74 percent) and Russia (77 percent).

Posted at http://www.worldpublicopinion.org


Miscommunicating with pets . So you think you can recognize when your dog has misbehaved? You think you see a “guilty look?” If so, findings of a study reported recently in Behavioural Processes might prompt you to reconsider. Experimentation by researcher Alexandra Horowitz revealed that the human tendency to attribute a “guilty look” to a dog was not due to whether the dog was indeed guilty.

“Instead, people see ‘guilt’ in a dog’s body language when they believe the dog has done something it shouldn’t have – even if the dog is in fact completely innocent of any offense.”

Citation: What really prompts the guilty look
News release posted at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/e-wrp061109.php


Impact of classic rural photography . A new documentary focuses on perhaps the most influential rural photography effort in U. S. history. “Documenting the face of America: Roy Stryker and the FSA/OWI Photographers” is the title of this film which premiered during August on national public television. It “brings to life the remarkable stories behind the legendary group of New Deal-sponsored photographers who traversed the country in the 1930s and early 1940s to capture some of the most iconic images in history,” explained an announcement. Experiences and photos of Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks and other respected photographers are featured through their work with the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information.

You can learn more about the documentary and the work of those featured in it at:

http://www.documentingamerica.org/Home.html
http://www.kcet.org/programs/online-magazine/index.php?pid=3


ICT – more than computers and the internet. Kimberly Clarke emphasized that point about information and communications technologies in an article we added recently to the ACDC collection.

She noted an international report that mentioned only Morse code, the telephone, wireless transmission, television, and satellite, mobile and fiber optic telecommunications in a timeline of ITC milestones. “There was no mention of the invention or evolution of papermaking, the printing press, or basic writing instruments such as pens and pencils. Relatively cheap technologies such as cameras, typewriters, tape records, VCRs and fax machines are ignored, as are the services and transport technologies that have revolutionized communications: the postal system, bicycles, cars, trains and aeroplanes, to name a few.” She argued that “for the vast majority of poor people in developing countries, the best solutions will continue to be the ones that they are already relying on now: other people in their social network, radio, and in some cases printed materials. There is huge room for improvement in many of these ‘old’ ICTs.”

Citation: ICT – what does it all mean?


Communicator activities approaching

October 30, 2009
Deadline for research and professional papers to be presented in the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) conference on February 6-9, 2010, in Orlando, Florida.
Information: http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas > “Call for Papers for 2010 Meeting”

November 11-13, 2009
“Connecting: 2010 and beyond.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA.
Information: www.nafb.com

April 26-29, 2010
XIIIth World Congress of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD) in Montpellier, France. Organized by Agropolis International.
Information: http://iaald2010.agropolis.fr


Tapping into livestock courting skills . We close with a limerick that sheds important light on communications skills of pigs.

There once was a pig called Norton,
Who attracted his wife by snortin’.
You may think this crude,
But to a pig it’s not rude.
‘Cause that’s how pigs go a-courtin’.

“I wrote this in my 11th grade English class at Pennridge High School, Perkasie, Pa. back when I was an FFA student,” Jim Phillips explained to us recently. Do you suppose his early signs of creative rural writing help account for his becoming a senior editor of Progressive Farmer magazine?

Thanks to Jim for this contribution. Do we have other writers or collectors of limericks that touch on the communications aspects of agriculture? If so, please send them to us by return e-note.


Best regards and good searching. Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 510 LIAC, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.uiuc.edu .

Get in touch with us when you see interesting items in the ACDC collection and can’t gain full-text access through information in the citation, or through online searching. We will help you gain access.





ACDC News – Issue 09-18

Sharp pains – and how health words matter in the public mind. Producers in the U. S. pork industry feel a sharp pain from this insight that is supported by research from the United Kingdom. A team of researchers in the Economic and Social Research Council has been examining the public interpretation of terminology used in policy documents and media coverage of health issues such as the bird flu scare and the foot and mouth outbreak.

“We found that the way people communicate about a threat largely determines how they understand it and behave towards it,” said lead researcher Brigitte Nerlich. Some terms can make people sit up and listen, she reported, but they can also lead to panic or cynicism. She did not report research about how terminology may affect buying behavior.

“Recent advice on [H1N1] flu has centred on basic hygiene, which makes people feel they can do something practical, instead of being mere victims of so-called ‘superbugs’ or ‘killer viruses.’ But obviously this is easier to do when a disease is relatively benign.”

Citation: Words matter in public health
Posted at http://www.esrc.ac.uk > conduct a site search on the document title


We extend anniversary congratulations to the University of the Philippines at Los Baños and the College of Development Communication within it. This month marks the Centennial observance of the founding of UPLB. Also, this year marks the 55th anniversary of the College, which was formed in 1954 as the Office of Extension and Publications within what was then the UP College of Agriculture.

Today the UPLB College of Development Communication is the only academic institution in the world that offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy programs in Development Communication. Faculty members within it have pioneered in teaching, research and outreach related to this field.

Visit the UPLB College of Development Communication web site at: http://www.devcom.edu.ph


Rural economies benefit from broadband access . Digital divide remains. Evidence of economic benefit is available in an August 2009 report from the Economic Research Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Researchers cited relatively higher growth in employment and nonfarm private earnings in counties that had broadband access by 2000.

Rural-urban differences continue at the household level, researchers found. “By 2007, most households (82 percent) with in-home Internet access had a broadband connection. A marked difference exists, however, between urban and rural broadband use – only 70 percent of rural households with in-home Internet access had a broadband connection in 2007, compared with 84 percent of urban households.”

Citation: Broadband value for rural America
Posted at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err78


Where livestock producers turn for animal and herd health information. A survey reported in a recent issue of the Journal of Extension tracked the information sources of more than 1,700 Tennessee livestock producers. Among the findings:

  • The most commonly used source of animal or herd health information was the local veterinarian, followed by media sources, such as magazines, and the Extension Service.
  • About one in four used information from animal health companies.
  • One in 14 used the College of Veterinary Medicine.
  • About one in five used the Internet for such information.
  • More than 60 percent used more than one information source.
  • Multiple livestock enterprises seemed to invite use of more sources.

Citation: Use of animal or herd health information sources
Posted at http://www.joe.org/joe/2009february/a7.php


Pop radio program makes donkeys more productive, boys more attractive. Creative media selection has provided greater productivity and better lives for some working donkeys in Kenya. It also has added self-esteem and popularity among the teenage boys who handle them.

A report we have added to the ACDC collection explains how several health and animal protection agencies teamed up with an FM radio station. The station aired a series of programs aimed to change how the teenage donkey handlers saw themselves and how to care for and manage their donkeys. Helpful information, soap-style dramas, prize T-shirts and presence on a pop music channel at a specific time of day proved a winning combination – for the boys and their donkeys.

Citation: Communications success stories
Posted at http://www.developments.org.uk/articles/the-donkeys-tale


Seeking directions in the global biotech adventure. Lori Weaver, publisher and editor of Feeding the Globe , has revealed some recent discussion about the need for, and value of, genetically modified crops. A commentary we added recently to the ACDC collection presented some of the recent dialogue among scientists and interest groups about the role of biotechnology in global food security.

“Maybe the solution means we don’t necessarily choose one way at the exclusion of all others,” she observed.

Citation: Stopping for directions
Posted at http://www.agnewscenter.com/archives.cfm?news=4087


Communicator activities approaching

October 18-25, 2009
“The state of forestry information worldwide.” Special session at the XIII World Forestry Congress 2009 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Information: http://www.fao.org/forestry/53818/en/

October 30, 2009
Deadline for research and professional papers to be presented in the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) conference on February 6-9, 2010, in Orlando, Florida.
Information: http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas > “Call for Papers for 2010 Meeting”

November 11-13, 2009
“Connecting: 2010 and beyond.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA.
Information: www.nafb.com


Fire away, Smedley. Do you champion coordinated approaches to agricultural communicating? Are you impatient with piecemeal approaches? If so, you may appreciate this image from veteran communicator Bob Kern. A long-time advocate of the “consulting communicator” role, Bob recalls attending the first regional meeting of the American Association of Agricultural College Editors (AAACE) in 1951 or 1952.

After a discussion that ranged widely and lacked much significance, one of the editors stood up and recalled a cartoon set on the bridge of a weathered-in Coast Guard cutter, shrouded in thick fog. The caption could be a motto for communicators who remain satisfied with fragmented, blind and short-cut approaches to agricultural communicating:

“Fire into the fog, Smedley. There may be a rum-runner there.”


Best regards and good searching. Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 510 LIAC, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.uiuc.edu .

Get in touch with us when you see interesting items in the ACDC collection and can’t gain full-text access through information in the citation, or through online searching. We will help you gain access.



ACDC News – Issue 09-17

How U. S. crop growers are using social media . A new document in the ACDC collection summarizes results of telephone survey research during early 2009 by Nicholson Kovac, Inc., among large-acreage corn and soybean growers in U.S. Some of the highlights:

  • Sixty-two percent said they have sent or received text messages during the past year.
  • Forty-eight percent of those texting said they send five or more texts per day and 63 percent said they have taken photos with their mobile phones.
  • Forty-seven percent said they spend five hours or more per week online.
  • For their business/farm interests, growers said they use Internet most for e-mail and weather and market information.
  • Eighty-five percent said they visit Web sites related to their farm operations and 76 percent check manufacturers’ Web sites.

Posted at http://www.prweb.com/releases/Nicholson-Kovac/agmedia-study/prweb2767974.htm


“My writing style is indeed idiosyncratic,” says agricultural writer Sue Edmonds of New Zealand. This “late blooming” journalist in the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators is featured on the web site of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ). She shares some thoughts about her career, how she gets story ideas and how she approaches agricultural writing. She also provides several samples of her writing.

Posted at http://www.ifaj.org/professional-development/professional-features/a-late-blooming-farming-writer.html


Touch-screen learning breaks literacy barriers. “Livestock Guru” is the name of an interactive computer program proving helpful to livestock producers, even those unable to read. Created by researchers at the University of Reading, UK, it teaches farmers how to diagnose, prevent and treat specific animal diseases. Experiences in Bolivia revealed that producers using Guru showed up to 44 percent increase in basic knowledge. This response was 10 percent better than that from conventional media such as videos or written materials. Guru had also been used with success in India and Kenya at the time of this 2006 report we have added to the ACDC collection.

Posted at http://www.developments.org.uk/articles/livestock-guru-cures-cows


Greater transparency – greater public uncertainty – then what? Researcher Lynn Frewer examined that matter in a Toxicology Letters article we added recently to the ACDC collection. “Increasing …pressure has been directed toward maximizing transparency in risk management practices,” Frewer noted. “As a result the uncertainties associated with technical risk assessments…will increasingly be subject to public and stakeholder scrutiny. It is therefore important to communicate this uncertainty in an explicit and understandable way that is focused on the information needs of target audiences.”

Is the public able to understand and deal with uncertainty about complex risks? Frewer examines research about this question (answering “yes”), calls for more research and urges institutions to “learn how to internalize public views and societal values into the process of risk analysis.”

Abstract and full-text purchase information at www.sciencedirect.com


“Masses have sense.” Lynn Frewer’s thoughts about abilities of the lay public to understand complex risks remind us of a 1960 document in the ACDC collection by Samuel Lubell. He spent a career analyzing opinion trends (including research among farmers and others in rural areas). His observations prompted him to emphasize several points:

  • It is not true that the masses of people are less able than the more educated to master complicated detail. “I have done surveys of attitudes on automobiles and lawn-growing and have been astonished at the amount of complex, technical information the average man possessed on things that interest him .”
  • In voting, professors are as emotional and irrational as ditch-diggers.
  • “In the light of this, it is difficult to believe that the general public is inherently incapable of understanding complex public issues.”

This document is not in digital format. Check with us docctr@library.illinois.edu if you are interested.


Students learning rural journalism, hands-on . Using a two-part video series, students in a community radio class at West Virginia University documented their experience in learning how to help local residents tell their own stories. Class members teamed with teachers and students of Monroe County Vocational Technical Center to create a local news program, “News at noon.” It was aired daily on an FM station based at the Center. Class members mentored and otherwise helped the high school students and local residents learn how to cover and report news of local interest. Beyond the skills involved, college and high school students alike said they learned about the value of community radio.

View the video at http://www.youtube.com > Search on “grassroots journalism”


Communicator activities approaching

October 15, 2009
Deadline for submission of abstracts of papers and posters to be presented at the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD) XIIIth World Congress, Montpellier, France, April 26-29, 2010. Theme: “Scientific and technical information and rural development: highlights of innovative practices.”
Information: http://iaald2010.agropolis.fr

October 15-18, 2009
Annual conference of the Association of Food Journalists in Houston, Texas USA.
Information: http://www.afjonline.com

October 18-25, 2009
“The state of forestry information worldwide.” Special session at the XIII World Forestry Congress 2009 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Information: http://www.fao.org/forestry/53818/en/

October 30, 2009
Deadline for research and professional papers to be presented in the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) conference on February 6-9, 2010, in Orlando, Florida.
Information: http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas > “Call for Papers for 2010 Meeting”

November 11-13, 2009
“Connecting: 2010 and beyond.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA.
Information: www.nafb.com


Closing with a farm limerick . We close this issue of ACDC News with a limerick that caught our eye recently (yes, really) in the February 1, 1912, issue of Prairie Farmer .

A town chap who played in the band
Felt a call to go back to the land.
When he raises big corn
He can blow his own horn,
An advantage you’ll all understand.


Best regards and good searching. Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas for the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 510 LIAC, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.uiuc.edu .

Get in touch with us when you see interesting items in the ACDC collection and can’t gain full-text access through information in the citation, or through online searching. We will help you gain access.