ACDC News – Issue 11-09

How new mobile media are fitting into schedules and activities . Results of a recent diary-based study help reveal how U.S. adults are using their mobile communications devices.  Among the findings reported:

  • Newer mobile communications media and traditional news media “occupy different niches within the news domain.”
  • Traditional media exhibit a familiar time-space pattern – newspapers in the morning, radio during morning and afternoon drive time, and television or cable news in the evening.
  • Multimedia mobile and cell phones serve needs of consumers “for news and information when they are on the move in space and time.”

Authors encouraged research involving audiences living in urban and rural areas.

You can read the abstract of this New Media and Society article here .  Check with us at docctr@library.illinois.edu for help in gaining full-text access.


What?  Buy advertising to announce Extension programming? Tight budgets make that idea sound unworkable.  However, a team of extension educators in Idaho tested the approach and found that paid advertising can be a good value for increasing a return to their invested time and effort.  Among the findings of their research, using comparison pairs:

  • Enrollments in programs that were promoted using free outlets only: 4.5 persons
  • Enrollments in programs promoted by paid advertising: 31.8 persons

“A particularly striking contrast was a program on osteoporosis, which was canceled for lack of enrollment without paid advertising, but drew 64 attendees when it was advertised in the newspaper.” More .


India tackles language challenges in using the Internet. Access to the Internet often falls far short of serving rural residents.  A recent research report, “Role of ICTs in India rural communities,” emphasized that most people in developing countries cannot read and understand most of the English-centric Internet content. Author Siriginidi Subba Rao reported that the adult literacy rate in India is about 59 percent, with the female literacy rate at about 47 percent.  India officially recognizes 18 languages, each having a different character set.  About two-thirds of India residents speak Hindi and less than 5 percent understand English. Lack of standardization of software code for major Indian languages creates interoperability problems between programs involving distinct codes.

You can read about challenges and current efforts to address them in this 2009 report.


Signs of “general confusion” about functional foods. In a survey reported recently, young adults in southern Italy revealed what researchers described as general confusion about the term “functional food.” One-third of the sampled young consumers said they had never heard the term used.  After researchers explained what functional food was, 12 percent of the respondents with science backgrounds were enthusiastic about the capabilities of such foods, 78 percent were trusting and 10 percent mistrustful.  Among those with humanities backgrounds, 2 percent were enthusiastic, 38 percent were trusting, 46 percent mistrustful and 10 percent incredulous.

Findings also revealed how the channels through which these young consumers learned about functional foods appeared to influence willingness to accept them.


Two routes – two outcomes – in constructing rural identity. Two case studies in rural Queensland, Australia, examined efforts to use rural mythologies (“The Outback,” in this case) for economic or social benefit.

  • One project involved an online discussion group, welink , for rural women.  It grew on the basis of grassroots interaction and shared stories (somewhat along the line of the party-line telephone system) and proactive solutions to isolation.
  • The “Bushlink Internet Café” involved a small community in remote western Queensland. It was launched with high visibility as a collaboration of state government, private enterprise and a proactive, energetic community. However, within two years the café had closed, “mired in controversy and argument.”

Check with us at docctr@library.illinois.edu if you are interested in gaining access to this conference paper.


Why consumers hesitate to buy meat and poultry at farmers markets. Researchers Lauren Gwin and Larry Lev used Rapid Market Assessment “dot” surveys among more than 1,100 consumers in Oregon to address this matter.  They found that 49 percent of all respondents had never purchased any meat or poultry at any farmers market.  Responses identified seven main reasons, topped by “price” (28 percent), “don’t eat it” (19 percent) and “inconvenient” (17 percent).  They also revealed the price premium those shoppers would pay for meat and poultry at the market versus “non-local” meat and poultry at the supermarket.  Authors of the report suggested four ways to encourage more meat and poultry sales at farmers markets.


Communicator activities approaching

  • June 10-14, 2011
    Joint meeting of the National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) and the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE) in Denver, Colorado USA. Information: http://www.aceweb.org
  • June 19-22, 2011
    “Caliente!  Hot ideas for cooperative communicators.”  Cooperative Communicators Association Institute in San Antonio, Texas USA. Information: http://communicators.coop
  • July 3-7, 2011
    “Sustainable value chain agriculture for food security and economic development.”  2011 World Conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education (AIAEE) in Windhoek, Namibia. Information: http://www.aiaee.org
  • July 23-27, 2011
    “Jazz it up!”  Agricultural Media Summit involving the American Agricultural Editors’ Association, Livestock Publications Council, Agri Council of American Business Media and Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow in New Orleans, Louisiana USA. Information: http://www.agmediasummit.com
  • August 30-September 3, 2011
    20th European Seminar on Extension Education in Helsinki, Finland. Information: http://esee-2011.blogspot.com/
  • September 14-18, 2011
    “Experience new world agriculture.”  2011 Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists in Guelph, Canada, and Niagara Falls. Information: http://www.ifaj2011.com

Always a close call. We end this issue of ACDC News with a Spanish proverb that came to our attention recently. It helps express the mission of communicators in agriculture:

“Civilization and anarchy are only seven meals apart.”


Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. 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.illinois.edu .

ACDC News – Issue 11-08

Urgent need to match research and information delivery – dollar for dollar. Julian Cribb offered this recommendation in his 2010 book, The coming famine: the global food crisis and what we can do to avoid it , that we added recently to the ACDC collection:

“One of the vices of the present global research and development system is that it values, and invests in, knowledge creation much more highly than knowledge sharing.  As a result, the communication of knowledge with farmers continues to lag far behind and if the world is serious about solving the food crisis it will need to match every scientific research dollar with a dollar to deliver that knowledge to farmers and consumers.

You can learn more about the book and author here .

View a PowerPoint presentation of highlights from the book by visiting the Mallee Sustainable Farming Inc. website here .


Spider plots take us to new heights .  We’re pleased to report that the ACDC collection recently passed the 36,000-document mark. Honors went to a 2010 journal article about using spider plots for extension learning.  We might note that spider plots are not outlines for creepy mystery novels. Instead, they are handy tools that communicators and educators can use to involve learners in assessing the performance of organizations, programs and other entities that have multiple functions and stages.


Keys to staging large agricultural field events. A recent article in the Journal of Extension featured methods behind a successful series of theme-based expos in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa during the past decade.  The expo format includes four components, each focused on the production management theme of that expo:

  • Side-by-side field demonstrations of equipment and practices
  • Static displays of equipment and information booths
  • Presentations by researchers and other specialists
  • Panels of farmers experienced in the area or practice addressed by the expo

Beyond the boosted attendance, authors of the report noted how these expos strengthen relationships among Extension, researchers, farmers, agri-marketers and crop consultants.


Lots of “cause marketing” in the food sector.  How do consumers view it?

Marketers are ramping up the use of campaigns through which product purchases lead to donations for worthy causes. Food marketers seem especially active on this front. Recent analysis in Germany, for example, showed that the food industry was accounting for 35 percent of all cause-related promotions there.

A 2009 survey that we added recently to the ACDC collection revealed considerable question in the minds of German consumers about the “cause” value of those campaigns.  More than half (54 percent) said they believe that a maximum of 6 percent of the price premium reaches the cause.  Authors concluded that consumers want more transparency and efficiency from food marketers that use this tool.


Kinds and sources of corruption facing farm households. We seldom see research about rural corruption, even though it is widely recognized as a nagging barrier for development in any country.  So we have added to the ACDC collection, with special interest, a paper presented during September at an international conference in Switzerland. Researchers A. R. Anik, G. Breustedt and S. Bauer analyzed corruption facing farm households in six districts of Bangladesh as they interact with public service delivery organizations.  Among the findings of this survey research among farm households:

  • Seventy percent of the farm households reported having experienced corruption.
  • Land administration (92.5 percent), law enforcement (90.9 percent), judiciary (90 percent) and local government (60.5 percent) were sectors in which the households experienced most corruption.
  • Bribery (61.8 percent) was the most common form of corruption the households faced, followed by negligence of duties (21.5 percent) and nepotism/favoritism (10.7 percent).
  • Relatively wealthy farm households faced greater amounts of bribery.

Strong research agenda in the history of rural radio. Professor Steve Craig of the University of North Texas has developed a strong research agenda in media history, including an emphasis in rural radio.  For example, his 2009 book, Out of the dark: a history of radio and rural America , reflects the most thorough, definitive research effort we have seen in this important field.

The ACDC collection contains more than 2,200 journal articles, books, reports and other documents involving agricultural/rural radio, internationally. We can recall seeing none so historically and analytically rigorous as Out of the dark .  You can gain full-text access here to other papers and journal articles he has written on the history of rural broadcasting.


Unusual way to understand how rural youths view their media worlds .  Researchers at the University of Westminster, UK, used identity boxes to learn how 14- and 15-year-olds in Alston Moor, Cumbria, view media in their lives. In their 2010 conference paper , Fatimah Awan and David Gauntlett reported on their methods and their findings. Insights touched on views about television, cinema, magazine and book reading, music, new media, internet/computers and rural culture.  You can read the paper here.


ACDC Open-House: Connecting with the Community.

Staff

(L-R: Gemma Petrie, Robert S. (Pat) Allen, Joyce Wright, Jim Evans)

The ACDC recently held an open house for the University of Illinois and the greater Champaign-Urbana community. The ACDC received a mini grant from the Library Strategic Communications and Marketing Committee to produce a promotional materials and the ACES Advancement Office provided funds for refreshment for the event. The well-attended event served as an opportunity to unveil our new website and our new online database system. Feel free to look around and send us your feedback. The old database will be gradually phased-out over the next few weeks. (Please note: We are putting the finishing touches on the new database and we anticipate that users may experience slow load-times over the next few weeks as we work on it.  This will not be a lasting issue.) We look forward to sharing more information on the new database in future issues of the newsletter.


Communicator activities approaching

  • June 10-14, 2011
    Joint meeting of the National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) and the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE) in Denver, Colorado USA. Information: http://www.aceweb.org
  • June 19-22, 2011
    “Caliente!  Hot ideas for cooperative communicators.”  Cooperative Communicators Association Institute in San Antonio, Texas USA. Information: http://communicators.coop
  • July 3-7, 2011
    “Sustainable value chain agriculture for food security and economic development.”  2011 World Conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education (AIAEE) in Windhoek, Namibia. Information: http://www.aiaee.org
  • July 23-27, 2011
    “Jazz it up!”  Agricultural Media Summit involving the American Agricultural Editors’ Association, Livestock Publications Council, Agri Council of American Business Media and Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow in New Orleans, Louisiana USA. Information: http://www.agmediasummit.com
  • August 30-September 3, 2011
    20th European Seminar on Extension Education in Helsinki, Finland. Information: http://esee-2011.blogspot.com/
  • September 14-18, 2011
    “Experience new world agriculture.”  2011 Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists in Guelph, Canada, and Niagara Falls. Information: http://www.ifaj2011.com

Framing a persistent enemy .  We close this issue of ACDC News with an expression reported by Clarence Poe, a 50-year editor of The Progressive Farmer during the early 1900s.  He explained how some farmers described their battle with Bermuda grass, usually called wiregrass at that time:

“Even when you try to burn it, wherever the smoke hits the ground, another crop of wiregrass is started!”

We can relate to that image, on many fronts.


Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. 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.illinois.edu .