Category: ACDC Newsletter

Agricultural journalists share thoughts following September 11.

Members of the North American Agricultural Journalists (NAAJ) organization are using their web site to share thoughts following the terrorist activities of September 11. The collection begins with a special posting by NAAJ President Laura Rance of Canada.

Reference: http://naaj.tamu.edu

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Remarkable materials contributed by the Donald S. Watson family.

Users of ACDC and the University of Illinois Library will benefit greatly from the efforts of a U.S. agricultural journalist who had a special sense of history. The family of Donald S. Watson recently contributed a remarkable research collection that includes:

• Samples (including some bound volumes) of more than 65 farm journals, dating back as early as 1823.
• Dozens of books, including some notable histories of various cattle breeds. These books were published as early as 1853. Most are new to the UI Library.
• Detailed information about more than 9,600 farm periodicals published in the U.S. during the past 200 years.

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A unique view of agricultural journalism.

Donald Watson’s career began at one of the nation’s pioneer farm periodicals, the New England Homestead published at Springfield, Massachusetts. After completing undergraduate studies in agricultural journalism at Iowa State University in 1949, he joined New England Homestead as associate editor. In 1956 he became editor/publisher, a position that he held until late 1963. He served as president of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association during 1959. His career also included experience in agricultural advertising, public relations and organization management. He died in 1996 at the age of 74.

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How (and why) did he collect all of that information about farm periodicals? 

He wanted to update the widely used Stuntz List of Agricultural Periodicals of the United States and Canada Published During the Century July 1810 to July 1910. So he carefully gathered details about all U.S. farm periodicals that he could identify, with emphasis on the period between 1910 and 1993. Communication researchers at Iowa State University now have these research materials with the intent to create (in database) the kind of useful, comprehensive bibliography that Donald Watson envisioned. We are pleased to help preserve and extend his effort, through the generosity of his family.

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Three lessons on impacts of telecommunications for rural areas.

Editors of the recent book, Having all the right connections, say they identified several lessons from their research involving differential impacts of telecommunications for rural areas. They noted:

• Unequal access to technological infrastructure, hardware and software to deliver or access needed services.
• Patterns of negative as well as positive, intended as well as unintended, consequences of technologies when they can be accessed.
• Dominance of vertical influences driving local telecommunications development, adoption and use.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Abbott) for the full citation.

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How will the poor get access to new information technologies?

The International Food Policy Research Institute examined this question in a September 2000 review entitled, “Bridging the Digital Divide.” The report cites a recent World Bank Study indicating that “The digital divide is not only enormous – dwarfing even the per capita income gap ratio between high- and low-income countries – but it is increasing.” The report also includes examples of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for rural development in India, Jamaica, Bangladesh and other nations. It closes with a summary of some ways to overcome barriers to universal access.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Mohan) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Biases of extension communication.

A 1984 doctoral dissertation that we identified recently for the ACDC collection echoes the lessons mentioned above. In a development setting, Srinivas R. Melkote analyzed extension messages and attitudes of extension workers. The messages and attitudes “exhibited pro-literacy, source-orientation, top-down message flow, and pro-innovation biases.”

What would an analysis today reveal in varied extension settings?

Reference: Use a title search (“The biases of extension communication”) or author search (Melkote) for the full citation, including reference to Dissertation Abstracts International.

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People – “right bang in the centre.”

These themes remind us of a need expressed more than 15 years ago by Nora C. Quebral:

“We badly need a development communication model that puts people not at one end as sources or at the other end as receivers, but right bang in the centre where the media channels are… With such a model perhaps the media will cease to seem larger than life…”

Reference: Use a title search (“People, not media, communicate”) or author search (Quebral) for the full citation.

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Digital age raises legal questions for agricultural freelance journalists.

Are electronic rights included in “first rights” for which writers and photographers are paid? Can a publication that buys a story for print also use it in electronic form or sell it for online use without the freelancer’s additional permission? A recent article in American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA) ByLine newsletter explores this matter, including recent legal action by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reference: Use a title search (“All for Tasini”) or author search (Sapp) for the full citation.

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Some other quandries for U.S. agricultural reporters.

Several types of potential bias are on the minds of U.S. farm broadcasters these days. Here are bias-related challenges raised in a recent issue of National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) Chats newsletter:

• Providing equitable coverage of various rural interest groups.
• Avoiding limited, static pools of information sources.
• Interpreting agriculture-related issues to urban listeners.
• Reporting on activities and perspectives of protest groups.
• Dealing with pressures between reporting roles and advocacy roles.

Reference: Use a title search (“Your bias”) or author search (McRee-DeSha) for the full citation.

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Thanks and best wishes to Hui Liu

Who leaves the Center this month to take a new position with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications here at the University of Illinois. Hui served the Center most ably during the past 2 1/2 years as graduate research assistant and Center coordinator. This summer he completed his master’s degree in library and information science. He has been instrumental in redesigning the ACDC web site, managing the database and collection, strengthening information services and building the collection to a current level of more than 18,000 documents.

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Professional activities approaching:

November 2, 2001
Deadline for abstracts of research presentations proposed for the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) to meet February 2-6, 2002, in Orlando, Florida.
Information: Edith Chenault at e-chenault1@tamu.edu

November 14-18, 2001
“Every day is game day: there is NO off season.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters at Westin Crown Center, Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.nafb.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, University of Illinois, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu. Thank you.

Small Town U.S.A. – a destination of choice.

“Sixty-two percent of U.S. adults, or 87 million, have taken a trip to a small town or village within the past three years,” according to the Travel Industry Association of America. This recent report in American Demographicsmagazine described why adults visit rural America and how they vary in age.

Reference: Use a title search (“The Mayberry effect”) or author search (Gallop-Goodman) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Media pitfalls and shortfalls.

Following are several recent books that explore challenges facing mass media in communicating about rural topics. Use author or title searches in the ACDC collection to get full citations.

• David Murray, Joel Schwartz and S. Robert Lichter, It ain’t necessarily so: how media make and unmake the scientific picture of reality. 2001. Features critical analysis and case reports of media coverage of selected public issues, including meat safety and irradiation.
• Michael Meadows, Voices in the wilderness: images of aboriginal people in the Australian media. 2001. Touches on indigenous knowledge, media bias and other information issues.
• Kirk Johnson, Media and social change in rural India. 2000. Traces effects of television in the context of rural community life and complex social structures.

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“Working together, creating knowledge.” 

That is the title of a recently published study sponsored by the American Council on Education and the National Alliance of Business. It “is intended to help clarify the issues involved with such collaborations and to provide thoughtful, balanced, and useful guidance that will increase the number and quality of research collaborations.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Report examines challenges facing research collaborations”) for the full citation of a news release, including URL for online access to the release and more information about the full report.

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Research bias and conflicts of interest: concerns on the flip side.

An analysis reported in the August issue of Nature Biotechnology summarizes concerns about research bias and conflicts of interest as industry-supported research is “skyrocketing.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Industry-academia study lacking, say critics”) or author search (Niiler) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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“Under siege in the ivory tower”

Is the title of a Canadian newspaper article that we added recently about university-industry relations with regard to agricultural research. This article explored what critics call “the Trojan-horse effect of corporate largesse.” It cited, as an example, recent experiences and controversy at a Canadian university about the effects of financial support for biotechnology research.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Mcilroy) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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When do new electronic technologies work best in grassroots communicating?

Parallel responses to that question come from two recent books added to the ACDC collection.

1. “Telecommunications-based development is most successful when it builds on existing organization, experience, expertise, and leadership.”

Reference: Page 290 in Peter F. Korsching, Patricia C. Hipple and Eric A. Abbott (eds.), Having all the right connections: telecommunications and rural viability. 2000. Use a title or author search.

1. “If an organization, or the organizations within a community, are not already functioning with participatory management styles, there may be little value in introducing a communication tool that can optimize communication flow. This is an important factor for facilitators of Internet initiatives to understand.”

Reference: Pages 263-264 in Shirley A. White (ed.), The art of facilitating participation: releasing the power of grassroots communication. 1999. Use a title or author search.

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“Centuries behind.”

This observation caught our eye in a newly added book chapter published nearly 20 years ago. In it, Jose A. Mayobre Machado commented on the big gap between information technology and the uses of it for human communication:

“Communication science is already in the space age as regards technology, and the instruments placed at our disposal are potentially limitless in their use. But conceptually and philosophically, communication sciences are centuries behind.”

Your thoughts?

Reference: Use a title search (“Is development news?”) or author search (Machado) for the full citation.

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Financial return from an agricultural information service.

Users of FarmLine, an agricultural information and referral service in Australia, “make more informed decisions and benefit by an increase in knowledge.” Thirteen percent of surveyed farmer users indicated that their business gained between $500 and $1,000 from the service and 27% indicated between a $1 and $500 gain. Eighty-five percent of all inquirers surveyed indicated they were able to make more informed business decisions as a result of receiving information from the service.

Reference: Use a title search (“Developing an information and referral service”) or author search (MacKenzie) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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How U.S. farm journals covered social issues during the 1920s.

Here’s a research report of possible interest to those who track the editorial content of rural media. Frank J. Morgan, Jr., a doctoral candidate at New York University, analyzed the treatment of 10 social problems by six leading rural magazines of that period: Country Gentleman, Farm Journal, Farm and Fireside, Farm Life, Farmer’s Wife and Successful Farming.

The author concluded: “This study gives evidence that the farm journals were decidedly more than mere trade journals for farmers.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Treatment of social problems”) or author search (Morgan) for the full citation.

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Early agricultural writing (5,000 BC).

“With the master of the field, our friend, we triumph,
may he bestow upon his cattle, horse, nourishment,
for by such (gifts) he makes us happy.”

According to a report by R. D. Sharma, “These are hymns quoted from the most ancient scripture of India called the ‘Rigveda’ (5,000 BC). These are examples of earliest writings on agriculture, which was regarded as a holy and dignified occupation.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Agricultural journalism for rural development”) or author search (Sharma) for the full citation.

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Professional activities approaching:

November 14-18, 2001
“Every day is game day: there is NO off season.” Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters at Westin Crown Center, Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.nafb.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, University of Illinois, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu. Thank you.

How Americans view the animal rights movement.

Results of Gallup’s Earth Day 2000 poll showed that 72% of Americans agreed somewhat or strongly with the goals of the animal rights movement. This level of agreement compared with other highly ranked social movements as follows: civil rights (86%), women’s rights (85%), environment (83%) and consumer rights (82%).

Reference: Use a title search (“Americans have positive image”) or author search (Dunlap) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Advice to marketers: visit “the outer edges of society today.”

In an interview added this month to ACDC, futurist Lee Shupp said: “If you really want to know what’s next in consumer behavior, don’t spend time watching mainstream consumers. . The best way to understand what most consumers will be buying tomorrow is to visit the outer edges of society today.” As an example, he said he thinks the animal rights movement will transfer into the mainstream – through the kinds of foods eaten and the treatment given to pets and livestock.

Reference: Use a title search (“Animal kingdom”) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Information sources of Australian wheat producers.

Trade magazines were mentioned most often (37%) as non-personal information sources for producers, according to the Kleffmann Australia 2000 Broadacre Study. These results, reported recently in Agri-Marketing magazine, showed fewer mentions of sources such as department of agriculture publications, field days, brochures, trade literature and mailings.

Reference: Use a title search (“Marketing Australian wheat”) for the full citation.

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Internet – a competitor for farm broadcasting?

“No,” says Steve Pearson, executive director of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, “In fact, broadcast and Internet make a strong team.” His commentary in the April issue of NAFB Chats urged farm broadcasters to take advantage of the Internet and make it work to their advantage.

Reference: Use a title search (“The future of farm broadcasting”) or author search (Pearson) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Serious gaps in media coverage of agriculture.

Recently we added an interesting master’s thesis about the state of agricultural reporting in three global regions: North America, the former Soviet Bloc and Africa. Thomas F. Pawlick prepared the thesis for his Master of Journalism degree at Carleton University, Ontario, Canada. Results of his analysis suggested that, while agriculture is crucial to human wellbeing, farm coverage is “inadequate – in some cases, grossly inadequate.”

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Agricultural journalism training -another blind spot.

Pawlick also examined resources available for training farm journalists in the three global regions. He found a “lack of available training for journalists interested in covering the farm beat, as well as.the absence in general journalism education of efforts to alert students to the importance of agriculture to allreaders.”

Reference: Use a title search (“The invisible farm”) or author search (Pawlick) for the full citation.

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And a similar gap seen in India.

“There are no training facilities in farm journalism

except ill-planned, understaffed graduate and post-graduate courses at a few agricultural universities,” reported R. D. Sharma in 1994 after his review of agricultural journalism in India. According to his analysis, “Out of the 129 editors of farm-journals surveyed only 13 (10.1 per cent) had training in journalism. 62 per cent of the editors in government-owned farm periodicals had no rural background.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Agricultural journalism for rural development”) or author search (Sharma) for the full citation.

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Small also is necessary.

A 1986 document that we added this month speaks to our current era when consolidation and bigness are powerful themes for firms and organizations around the world. At a development communication seminar, Sean Cooney reviewed three models of development:

• “Big” theory of economic development and social progress
• “Small” theory of the small, largely self sufficient local economy
• “Multiple” theory of synthesis between the Big and Small economies

“We need to reconcile the big and small and not have them in conflict with each other,” Cooney argued, so the scope of development can broaden. He identified two special features of communication in the Multiple Economy. (1) It will be horizontal as well as vertical. (2) It will take place from south to north as well as north to south.

Reference: Use a title search (“Small is necessary”) or author search (Cooney) for the full citation.

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Agricultural biotechnology: public attitudes in Mexico and the Philippines.

We hear regularly about how the European or U.S. publics view agricultural biotechnology. A recent research report from the Center for International Development, Harvard University, helps reveal public attitudes in other countries that “often find themselves in an uncomfortable position in the middle.”

Survey findings in Mexico and the Philippines indicated public respect for the potential of biotechnology to address problems in agriculture, nutrition and the environment. Findings also showed concern “about corporate control of the technology, and the potential impact of such crops on their countries’ rich biological diversity.” Furthermore, “the surveys indicated that existing expectations and concerns.differ significantly from those expressed in the transatlantic debate.” And perceptions differed between these two countries.

Reference: Use a title search (“Public attitudes towards agricultural biotechnology”) or author search (Aerni) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Digital super-trails to rural areas?

A new report from Net Action describes some of the alternative Internet access technologies that might serve rural areas of the U.S. Examples: spread spectrum technology, digital radios, low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, stratospheric telecommunications services. Will Internet access technologies really “trickle down” to all Americans who want them? Not by the network economy itself, according to this report – which identifies some public incentives that might be helpful.

Reference: Use a title search (“Will technology trickle down to rural America?”) or author search (Manohar) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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“Let go” in e-communications planning. “Let the process unfold.” 

A recently added document offers that advice to corporate public relations professionals. Ross S. Irvine of ePublic Relations Ltd. describes how social activists use e-mail, Internet and other electronic resources to create special interest networks involving biotechnology and other topics.

“Broad distribution of both the information and the tools means that no one can control the communications process,” Irvine says. “The recipients are free to undertake any communications activity at any time. Once this uncontrollable communications process has been unleashed, it cannot be corralled. While it is uncontrollable, and unpredictable, it has been effective for social activists.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Information, training and trust”) or author search (Irvine) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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And a reminder about cultural factors.

“Cultural baggage is as relevant in cyberspace as it is on paper and ink,” notes F. Cutitta, a global communications professional writing in Open communications in the 21^st Century. “The age-old question of ‘How do I keep global advertising interesting without offending anyone?’ does not go away.” (p. 158)

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Professional activities approaching:

October 8-10, 2001
“Agribusiness Forum” in Washington, D.C. Senior agribusiness management, association, government and academia representatives “engaging in a cross-industry dialogue on issues facing our industry.” Communications aspects include discussion of media coverage and activist efforts.
Information: www.nama.org/forum

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, University of Illinois, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu. Thank you.

Congratulations to Farm Journal magazine on its 125^th birthday.

This is a remarkable achievement – a vivid testimony to valued service provided since the first issue appeared during March 1877. More than 9,600 agricultural periodicals of many types have been published in the U.S during the past 200 years. Very few have matched the vigor, service and longevity of Farm Journal.

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Interested in learning more about it?

The Agricultural Communications Documentation Center and University of Illinois Library contain a wealth of historical information about this magazine and the people associated with it. Examples:

• Bound volumes of issues dating back to Volume 1, Number 1
• Books about it, including the autobiography of founder Wilmer Atkinson
• A doctoral dissertation
• Articles, readership reports, content analyses and other information featuring Farm Journal

You can identify such information in the ACDC collection through:

• Title searches on terms such as: <“Farm Journal”>
• Author searches on terms such as: <Atkinson>, <Quebral>, <Palmer> or <Harvey>
• Subject searches on terms such as: <history “farm journals”>

In addition, feel free to check with us. We will help you identify information of interest and gain access to it.

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On the importance of agricultural journalism.

Members of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists recently gained a thoughtful perspective on the importance of their work and their shared interests. Writing in IFAJ News from Moldova, Patricia Orlowitz emphasized the importance of agricultural journalism and effective agricultural journalists in a struggling democracy. She challenged members from the 29 nations represented in IFAJ toward:

• providing examples of good agricultural journalism
• developing the standards and ethics of good journalists
• demonstrating how professional organizations such as IFAJ can serve members.

Reference: Use a title search (“IFAJ influences opening”) or author search (Orlowitz) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Negative information outweighs positive in food safety controversies, according to a research report added recently to ACDC.

A study by three economists used an auction-type design to monitor how perceptions of 87 food shoppers changed as they gained new information about irradiated meat. Some of the information in this experiment was positive, some negative. Results “suggest that when advocacy groups indicate that new food technologies are unsafe, consumers avoid these foods even if scientific bodies say the technologies are safe.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Negative information outweighs positive”) or author search (Hayes) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Most Americans aware of (and concerned about) mad cow and foot-and-mouth diseases.

Results of a March 2001 Gallup Poll showed that 77% of Americans had heard a moderate amount or great deal about foot-and-mouth disease in livestock. And 88% about mad cow disease. Of those who had heard about either disease, three-fourths said they were somewhat or very concerned. About one-fourth of those interviewed said they have cut back or stopped eating certain types of meat.

Reference: Use a title search (“Foot-and-mouth and mad cow disease”) or author search (Moore) for the full citation.

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Finding nuggets off the beaten path.

We often are surprised where our searches for information about agriculture-related communicating take us. You may be interested in several unlikely periodicals in which we have found articles recently for the ACDC collection:

• Public Roads
• Civil Rights Journal
• Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report
• Journal of Hazardous Materials
• Geographical Review
• Fire Management Today

Please let us know whenever you find agricultural communications information “off the beaten path.” We appreciate your company along the way in helping bring together this widely scattered body of important literature.

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Slippage in environmental reporting?

That question arises from a recently added article from Newspaper Research Journal. The article described results of a survey involving more than 500 U.S. environmental reporters. What researchers found: “Many environmental reporters have reduced their own commitment to the [environment] beat, and see their news organizations as doing likewise.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Changing work environment of environmental reporters”) or author search (Detjen) for the full citation.

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“Kicking Extension up a notch.”

Extension communicators at the University of Hawaii are using the Internet to provide an innovative Food Network. It features video streaming to show more than 50 Video Cooking Techniques. Jim Hollyer reported on this service in the May 2001 issue of the Information Technology Special Interest Group newsletter of Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE). “The clips are presented in Quicktime and RealVideo. They have the text next to the video clip and also have a non-video write-up with still images for those with slow connections.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Bam! The Food Network is kicking Extension up a notch”) or author search (Hollyer) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

Food Network is at http://www.foodtv.com.

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New agricultural telecommunications projects funded.

The American Distance Education Consortium (A*DEC) recently announced seven newly funded projects. They involve varied applications of agriculture-related telecommunications.

• “Dairy beef: maximizing quality and profits”
• “RadioSource.NET”
• “Internet-delivery of context-specific food safety modules”
• “International food law distance education program”
• “Internet2 applications to enhance the management of natural and agro-ecosystems”
• “Weed science electronic library modules”
• “Using advanced Internet technology to promote soil health information exchange”

Reference: Use a title search (“Agricultural telecommunications program projects funded 07/01”) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Professional activities approaching:

September 13-16, 2001
“CFWF 2001: An Atlantic Odyssey.” Meeting of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation at Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Information: farmfocus@klis.com

October 8-10, 2001
“Agribusiness Forum” in Washington, D.C. Senior agribusiness management, association, government and academia representatives “engaging in a cross-industry dialogue on issues facing our industry.” Communications aspects include discussion of media coverage and activist efforts.
Information: www.nama.org/forum

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, University of Illinois, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu. Thank you.

New – Francis C. Byrnes Memorial Collection.

It is a special pleasure to announce that nearly 800 new documents entered the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center collection recently through the generosity of Francis C. Byrnes and his family. Following the death in 1999 of this pioneering agricultural communicator, the family contributed his personal library of professional information to the Center.

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How it may help you. 

The Byrnes Memorial Collection adds a wealth of useful information about planning, producing, and managing communication and training programs in agricultural research, extension, education, and development. You are likely to benefit from this collection whenever you search the ACDC collection using subject terms such as:

• agricultural communication
• development communication
• rural development
• consultants
• training programs
• communicators
• extension communication
• intercultural communication
• management communication
• research organizations
• and many others

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A career of global service and impact.

Frank Byrnes contributed for more than 60 years by applying communication as a behavioral science to agricultural research, extension, education, and development programs implemented by various development assistance organizations. Raised in rural Iowa, he earned an undergraduate degree in agricultural and technical journalism (Iowa State University, 1938) and Doctor of Philosophy degree in communication arts (Michigan State University, 1963).

His leadership in educational communicating traces back to the National Project in Agricultural Communications (NPAC), for which he served as associate director (1953-1960). In 1963, he began a 20-year affiliation with the Rockefeller Foundation. As a field staff member, he carried out communication, training, and management responsibilities at the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines; the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Colombia; and the International Agricultural Development Service, New York and Arlington, Virginia. After retiring from the Foundation in 1983 he continued as an active international consultant and as a senior associate of the Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development. Responsibilities throughout his career involved teaching, consulting, and other development-related activities in dozens of countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Early in his career he also edited a weekly newspaper, served in the U.S. Signal Corps and U.S. Air Force during World War II, and worked as an agricultural editor at Ohio State University.

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Recognized for excellence. 

In 1986, he received the first Award of Excellence in International Affairs ever presented by the International Association of Agricultural Communicators in Education. Among numerous other honors: Fellow in the Society for Applied Anthropology; Outstanding Alumnus in Communication, Michigan State University; and Honorary Founder of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia. From Iowa State University he received the Henry A. Wallace Award for Outstanding Contribution in Writing, Teaching, Research, and Leadership, and the James W. Schwartz Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism. In 1997 he received the Outstanding Service Award from the Association for International Agricultural Education and Extension.

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We are pleased to help make his resources available

During the years ahead to other scientists, scholars, and practitioners through the Francis C. Byrnes Memorial Collection of ACDC. Among these resources you will find the professional papers Byrnes wrote while working or consulting with the Ohio State University, Michigan State University, International Rice Research Institute, International Center for Tropical Agriculture, International Agricultural Development Service, Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development, and other international organizations.

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What about the nontraditional materials in such a collection?

What about the notes, teaching materials and correspondence, for example? What will find use and value in the future? An insight struck us this week as we read Rising from the Plains. It is John McPhee’s biography of David Love. Love, whom Pulitzer Prize-winning author McPhee calls one of America’s most influential geologists, spent his career studying the Rocky Mountains for the U.S. Geological Survey. This biography highlighted the geologist’s scientific rigor, intellectual power, and creativity. But its greatest liveliness and sharpest focus emerged through insights that came from personal journals kept by Love’s mother and from McPhee’s travels with Love.

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A first for farm television.

Farm broadcaster Dan Wilkinson, WRAL-TV, Raleigh, North Carolina, recently helped pioneer newscasting in high definition (HD) video. The June issue of NAFB Chats from the National Association of Farm Broadcasters reports that Wilkinson produced a segment of the world’s first complete newscast in HD. Reporting from the North Carolina State Fair, he used this new technology to help “move the viewer one step closer to your story and one step closer to being on the farm with you.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Technology in broadcasting”) or author search (Frenz) for the full citation.

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A new Rural Programming Initiative.

An update in Community Radio News describes progress on a new Rural Programming Initiative by the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (U.S.). This three-year initiative is designed to help rural radio stations not effectively measured by Arbitron improve their public service. It will involve 20 stations, a group buy of audience research, a new manual for rural program directors and an online rural programming center.

Reference: Use a title search (“Rural programming initiative”) for the full citation.

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New research papers from ACE conference.

Thanks to Joan Thomson, chair of the Research Special Interest Group of Agricultural Communicators in Education. She has provided the Center with the following nine research papers presented during the late-July ACE conference in Toronto, Canada. We are pleased to help announce them and make them available.

• Lulu Rodriguez, “Food safety vs. food security: how the African media shape the GMO debate”
• Susan Grantham and Tracy Irani, “Off the radar screen: examining the effect of critical thinking on perception of low level environmental risk”
• Daniel H. Henroid, Jr. and James J. Huss, “Educating consumers on food safety via the World Wide Web”
• Tracy Irani and Ricky Telg, “Building it so they will come: assessing universities’ distance education faculty training and development programs”
• Stan Ernst and Mark Tucker, “Perceptions and adoption of information technologies: implications for Ohio’s produce industry in the New Economy”
• Sharon B. Stringer and Joan Thomson, “The importance of agricultural news sources in framing the news”
• Kristina M. Boone, Mark Tucker and Jackie M. McClaskey, “Reaching opinion leaders on the Hill: results from a mixed-methods study”
• Randy Weckman and Deborah Witham, “What Kentuckians believe about genetically engineered foods”
• Kristina M. Boone, Karen Penner and Becky Zenger, “Communicating with Latino immigrants on safe food handling”

Reference: Use title or author searches (above) for the full citations. All are available in electronic or paper formats.

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A livestock behaviorist: 

Someone who pulls habits out of rabbits.

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Professional activities approaching:

September 8-12, 2001
2001 Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists at Savonlinna, Finland.
Information: www.ifaj.org

September 13-16, 2001
“CFWF 2001: An Atlantic Odyssey.” Meeting of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation at Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Information: farmfocus@klis.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, University of Illinois, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu. Thank you.

Breathing new life into tired topics.

Ann Wylie, speaker at the 2001 Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) Institute, offers advice for communicators suffering from the “same-old, same-old” syndrome. Her article, entered recently into the ACDC collection, offered six tips for opening the creativity toolbox. Among them: “Reverse it.” For example, “Educators tell us that people learn more from ‘how NOT to’ stories than from ‘how to’ stories – and they certainly have more fun reading them.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Breathe new life into tired topics”) or author search (Wylie) for the full citation.

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How are consumers reacting to organic foods?

Following are some of the documents that we have added recently to the ACDC collection concerning consumer reactions to organic foods:

• “Shoppers ‘flocking to organic products'”
• “The survey says: consumers want your kind of pork”
• “Big vote for organic food”
• “Organic foods offer peace of mind – at a price”
• “Organic food seasoned with fear”
• “The concept of natural: implications for biotechnology regulation”
• “Taste for organic food is growing”

Reference: You can use title searches on the “Real Search” page to see the full citations of documents that may interest you. Also, a subject search on the term “organic” may identify other related documents of interest.

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Radio’s secret weapons. 

David Whitman, an award-winning advertising writer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, says radio offers four secret weapons: Dialog. Monologue. Music. Sound effects. In the May issue of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters newsletter, NAFB Chats, he offers advice about how to use these special strengths to create “a great radio spot.”

Reference: Use a title search (“You want what by when?”) or an author search (Whitman) to see the full citation.

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50 case stories about participatory communication.

Thanks to the Rockefeller Foundation for contributing a valuable new resource to ACDC. It’s what Denise Gray-Felder describes in the foreword as “a fascinating account of 50 experiments in empowering people – living in poor communities across the world – to seize control of their own life stories and begin to change their circumstances of poverty, discrimination and exclusion.” The author, Alfonso Gumucio Dagron, spent nearly a year gathering information for Making waves: stories of participatory communication for social change. Stories in this book come from more than 30 countries and involve projects that range from street theatres to telecenters.

Reference: Use a title search (“Making waves”) or author search (Gumucio) for the full citation.

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A grassroots principle of rural development.

“The only way to start is to start, and the place to start is right here with what little we have and with even a minus quantity. In every case we did not wait for experts to come, or for money to be appropriated, or for certain things to be done. Had we waited, we would still be waiting.”

Pedro T. Orata offered these thoughts nearly 50 years ago as he summarized a community education program with which he was associated in the rural Philippines. His advice continues to echo, globally, in calls for greater local participation and local control in development efforts.

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Case report of an award-winning public relations campaign.

The April/May issue of the Agricultural Relations Council newsletter, ARCLight, described a recent campaign by a U.S. farmer cooperative, Farmland Industries. The campaign encouraged Farmland farmer-owners and employees to support international trade. Audience research before and after the campaign revealed substantial increases in awareness, involvement and support. This effort earned Farmland the 2001 Best of NAMA/Golden Arc Best of Show in Public Relations Award.

Reference: Use a title search (“support trade campaign”) or author search (Schmidt) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Fire in the eyes of small-town reporters.

A research report added recently to the ACDC collection from American Journalism described “standards of courage among small town investigative reporters in the 1950s and 1960s.” Researcher Stephen Banning examined the work of reporters that had received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award between 1956 and 1966. This annual award from the International Conference of Weekly Newspaper Editors recognizes journalistic courage. Results showed how these small town reporters endured economic hardship, physical threats and attacks as they approached local issues such as race, election fraud and political machinery.

Reference: Use a title search (“Courageous performance”) or author search (Banning) for the full citation.

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Liquid truth? A communicator’s thought stimulator. T

he following point of view from a public relations practitioner caught our eye recently in a reference about biotech communications:

“The truth is often, you know.not necessarily a solid. It can be liquid. . What seems to be true is not necessarily the case when we look at it and we dissect it and take it apart, and we turn it around and we look at it from a different perspective.Whose truth are we talking about, your truth or my truth?”

Reference: Use a title search (“Trust us – we’re experts”) or author search (Rampton) for the full citation.

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“Uninformed public opinion remains volatile.” 

Susanna Hornig Priest offers that perspective in her new book added recently to the ACDC collection: A grain of truth: the media, the public, and biotechnology. This is “an issue-focused study of the character and influence of U.S. news, understood by reference to the way it is produced and its relationship to public opinion.” Her analysis deals with agricultural biotechnology. For example, one chapter involves reactions of the dairy industry, media and public to bovine somatotropin (BST), a growth hormone that stimulates milk production in dairy cows.

Reference: Use a title search (“A grain of truth”) or author search (Priest) for the full citation.

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Adoption of BST: far short of predictions.

A study reported recently in AgBioForum traced producers’ adoption of recombinant bovine somatotropin on Wisconsin dairy farms. Researchers found that “over the first five years of its commercial availability, rBST adoption has been rather modest.far short of the robust adoption predictions made when the technology was originally released.” Among the reasons identified: farm-level concerns, such as size, associated technologies, and alternative productions systems that do not match well with the technology.

Reference: Use a title search (“Adoption of rBST”) or author search (Barham) for the full citation, including URL for online access..

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Professional activities approaching:

July 28-August 1, 2001
Joint meeting of Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) and the National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) in Toronto, Canada.
Information: www.ifas.ufl.edu/~conferweb/acenetc/August 1-4, 2001

Agricultural Publications Summit in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Joint meeting of American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA), Livestock Publications Council (LPC) and APA: the Association of Leading Ag Media Companies.
Information: www.livestockpublications.com

September 8-12, 2001
2001 Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists at Savonlinna, Finland.
Information: www.ifaj.org

September 13-16, 2001
“CFWF 2001: An Atlantic Odyssey.” Meeting of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation at Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Information: farmfocus@klis.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, University of Illinois, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu. Thank you.

“Food safety a growing concern in most of the world.”

That is the title of a survey report added recently to the ACDC collection. Majorities of respondents in 19 of 34 countries surveyed by international market research firm Ipsos-Reid said they feel that their food is less safe than it was 10 years ago. Women in every country surveyed were substantially more likely than men to hold that feeling.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Ipsos-Reid) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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How to not say what you’re not going to not say and not say it.

Confusion in the biotechnology “debate” may arise not only from differing perspectives, logic, clarity or grammar. A paper presented at the 2001 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science illustrates “how organization, style, and diction convey values and emotions that can undermine intended meaning.” Researcher Steven Katz used rhetorical analysis to study a speech offered by former Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman about biotechnology. Findings revealed that a presentation intended to be optimistic about biotechnology actually conveyed strong elements of pessimism.

Reference: Use a title search (“A rhetorical analysis of language”) or author search (Katz) for the full citation.

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Dirty Dining series in Canada earns recognition.

An “eye-opening series which exposed major problems with food safety in [Toronto’s] eating establishments” recently won an award from the Canadian Association of Journalists. The award for computer-assisted reporting went to Robert Cribb, Toronto Star. His coverage led to “an improved inspection and grading system and the closing down of eateries that didn’t meet stiff standards.”

Reference: Use a title search (‘Dirty Dining series wins”) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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How broadcasters use farm advisory panels.

A recent article in the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Chats newsletter described how farm advisory panels can help broadcasters deal with fast changing environments. Don Wick of WCCO Radio, Minneapolis, Minnesota, said he has used advisory panels for nearly 20 years and found they have made him a better farm broadcaster. He explained the operations of the station’s current 12-member panel and offered suggestions for using this form of “homegrown market research.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Farm advisory panels”) or author search (Wick) for the full citation.

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Two expanding issues for U.S. agricultural communicators.

Recent news reports in Successful Farming magazine highlighted two communications-related issues of growing concern to producers:

1. Quality and usefulness of market price information. An article describes the April 1 start of mandatory price reporting as a “fiasco.” Features of the new price reporting policy prompted one university agricultural economist to comment that under the new system “we know less about hog prices than at any time in at least 20 years.”
2. Efforts of producer bargaining groups. Effective communications strategies become vital as more bargaining groups form to negotiate with processors and other buyers for improved prices. All parties to such negotiations can benefit from the insights and experiences of professional communicators. For example, as one cited source put it: “The idea of an adversarial relationship is a poor way to do business.”

Reference: Use title searches (“Repairing shattered price transparency” and “As markets turn a cold shoulder to farmers”) for the full citations.

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Recent additions about market price reporting.

Following are the titles of some documents added recently to the ACDC collection involving this subject:

• “Beef underreported”
• “Beef snafu: USDA ‘probably not liable'”
• “Perversion of mandatory price reporting shows extent of packer power”
• “Repairing shattered price transparency in livestock”
• “Mandatory price reporting: the matrix begins”
• “Potential benefits of mandatory price reporting”
• “Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act”
• “Meat packers object to some price reporting”

Reference: Use title searches or a subject search on terms such as “market information” to see citations of these and other documents.

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On target? Agenda for U.S. extension services and agriculture colleges.

More than 35 years ago Paul A. Miller, president of West Virginia University, offered seven suggestions that “should become the grist for policymaking and planning” by colleges of agriculture and their extension services.

• “The old categories of rural and urban no longer are useful in planning the future of the agricultural colleges.”
• “.the intellectual fiber of the colleges must move to the conceptual level of relating the natural and social sciences at the point of man in his environmental setting.”
• “The colleges must be willing to become innovators with reference to their own institutional reform.”
• “The historic inclusion of agricultural extension within the agricultural framework must be terminated in favor of giving strength to radically new conceptions of the public university.”
• “Similarly, the field of home economics, where it continues as an adjunct of the colleges, must be encouraged to seek a more stimulating climate for the significantly different route it must take.”
• “National planning must assume a division of labor among the colleges of agriculture.”
• “The support base for the colleges” needs to widen.

Any reactions today, especially in terms of the communications aspects?

Reference: Use a title search (“The rural lag”) or author search (Miller) for the full citation.

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Broadband access in rural areas – in order to survive. 

Small businesses “will require broadband access not only to be more competitive, but also in order to survive.” That was the message of Michael Cook, Hughes Network Systems, during a U.S. House of Representatives hearing during May. And he added: “For those located in rural areas – something like 50% to 70% of the land area of this country – there will often be only one solution – satellite delivered broadband service.” He offered policy recommendations for development of interactive broadband satellite technology as a way to “eliminate the digital divide.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Eliminating the digital divide”) or author search (Cook) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Americans not enthusiastic about cloned livestock.

A national survey during April among U.S. registered voters showed that two-thirds find it not acceptable to use cloning to reproduce livestock. Opinion Dynamics conducted this survey.

Reference: Use a title search (“Do you think it is acceptable”) or author search (Opinion Dynamics) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Professional activities approaching:

July 28-August 1, 2001
Joint meeting of Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) and the National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) in Toronto, Canada.
Information: www.ifas.ufl.edu/~conferweb/acenetc/August 1-4, 2001

Agricultural Publications Summit in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Joint meeting of American Agricultural Editors’ Association, Livestock Publications Council and APA: the Association of Leading Ag Media Companies.
Information: www.livestockpublications.com

September 8-12, 2001
2001 Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists at Savonlinna, Finland.
Information: www.ifaj.org

September 13-16, 2001
“CFWF 2001: An Atlantic Odyssey.” Meeting of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation at Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Information: farmfocus@klis.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, University of Illinois, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu. Thank you.

Concerns about water quality at an all time high.

The 2001 National Consumer Water Quality Survey shows that 86% of Americans express concern about their home water supplies. And they want more government-led protection against drinking water contaminants. This high level of public concern holds special meaning for communicators involved in helping keep fertilizers, pesticides, livestock waste and other materials out of water supplies.

Reference: Use a title search (“86% of Americans have concerns”) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Big differences in how agricultural scientists view biotechnology.

A recently-reported survey of more than 1,000 land grant scientists revealed distinct patterns of opinions among the disciplines. Researcher Thomas Lyson found that, “in general, social scientists and natural resource scientists express the most reservations about developing and promoting these technologies. They also share a concern about how tightly universities and corporations should be linked. On the other hand, biological scientists are the most favorably disposed toward moving forward rapidly with a biotechnology agenda.”

Reference: Use a title search (“How do agricultural scientists view advanced biotechnology?”) or author search (Lyson) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Communications dilemma of scientists.

Communications researcher Napoleon Juanillo, Jr., recently called attention to a dilemma that confronts scientists in the biotechnology “debate.” He notes: “Not surprisingly, science is presented to the public as universal truth or certainty. Scientists downplay the uncertainties produced through experimental and data generation processes to appeal their perception of science as a definitive and objective source of information.” At the same time, scientists are “duty-bound among peers to proffer the caveats, limitations, and uncertainties inherent in laboratory-controlled experiments.” He calls for greater understanding of how science speaks.

Reference: Use a title search (“Understanding how science speaks”) or author search (Juanillo) for the full citation.

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Remembering the centrality of communicators’ efforts.

Recently we added to the ACDC collection the Nobel Lecture that Theodore W. Schultz presented on December 8, 1979, in Stockholm, Sweden. While it dealt with the economics of poverty throughout the world it was a ringing cry for improved knowledge.

“Knowledge is the most powerful engine of production,” he insisted, citing Alfred Marshall. And, we note, communicators are central to this complex process of generating and processing knowledge, and helping it move to those who can use it.

Reference: Use a title search (“The economics of being poor”) or an author search (Schultz) for the full citation.

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Challenging tests of communication strategies.

How can communicators evaluate whether their efforts help improve the lives of people on the issues that most affect them? In a reference added recently to the ACDC collection Warren Feek, director of The Communication Initiative, offers an important and challenging list of “evaluation indicators.” Among the most challenging:

• Do the people most affected have an increasing “voice” in the communication interventions and hold more decision-making roles?
• Is there increased interpersonal dialogue among families and friends?
• Is there increased public debate?
• Is there increased accuracy in the information shared?
• Is there an increase in the number and scale of social and organizational networks focussing on the issues in question?
• Is there increased sensitivity to differing perspectives?

Reference: Use a title search (“Communication strategy”) or author search (Feek) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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“Gosh, he must be smart. I can’t understand a word he says.”

At a seminar more than 20 years ago, Arthur J. Snider of the Chicago Daily News cautioned agricultural science communicators about the dangers of professional jargon. He conceded that using incomprehensible language may give scientists professional security, but argued that it doesn’t fly with the media. And keeping the public confused creates greater problems. Has the problem eased since then? He offered suggestions that still seem relevant today.

Reference: Use a title search (“How the media make decisions”) or an author search (Snider) for the full citation.

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Helping agricultural scientists communicate their value to society.

They are being urged to define and communicate the value of their professional contributions more clearly by moving beyond the curriculum vitae – to the professional portfolio. A task force of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) recently developed a report that describes the need for this new approach and offers a framework for creating professional portfolios. “The portfolio tells the story of the professional’s educational process, his or her accomplishments, and the impact on society of those accomplishments.” It provides a definition of achievements “beyond peer-reviewed articles and society memberships” and “embraces a broader definition of scholarship.”

Reference: Use a title search (“The professional portfolio”) or author search (Fischer) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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“Well, I thought it was funny.”

That’s the title of an interesting recent article about writing humor for people who live on farms. Award-winning writer John Phipps prepared the piece for the American Agricultural Editors’ Association ByLine newsletter. He offered nine humor-writing tips that have helped him. An example: Use humor to link, not isolate.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Phipps) for the full citation.

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Heartening growth.

We are gratified and encouraged by continuing growth in online use of Agricultural Communications Documentation Center resources. This unique collection recently passed the 18,000-document level. And online usage statistics for March and April show an average of more than 16,000 successful requests a month, up substantially from a year ago. The ACDC web site served an average of 820 host sites during each of those recent months, with users located in an average of 40 countries.

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And heartening feedback from users.

Comments such as the following help make our efforts enjoyable:

• “Thank you very much. Your service is outstanding!”
• “I so appreciate the time and research you gave to my question.”
• “Thank you. I found it right away.”
• “Another excellent review of new materials in your center.”
• “Wow! This issue of the newsletter strikes me as particularly relevant to some very high priority issues.”
• “exactly what I wanted. It hit the nail on the head.”

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Thanks to all

For your interest, support and encouragement. We will do our best to keep the collection growing in size, quality and usefulness.

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Professional activities approaching:

July 28-August 1, 2001
Joint meeting of Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) and the National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) in Toronto, Canada.
Information: www.ifas.ufl.edu/~conferweb/acenetc/August 1-4, 2001

Agricultural Publications Summit in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Joint meeting of American Agricultural Editors’ Association, Livestock Publications Council and APA: the Association of Leading Ag Media Companies.
Information: www.livestockpublications.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, University of Illinois, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu. Thank you.

How reliable is biotechnology information on the web?

Open to caution, according to a study reported in Science magazine during late 1999. Using a general search engine, researchers reviewed 120 websites containing information pertinent to GMO. They found 46 percent of those sites “informative.” And of the informative sites, 10 percent were judged “inaccurate,” more than 30 percent “misleading” and more than 80 percent “unreferenced.” Authors concluded that “science-related websites have serious liabilities.”

Reference: Use a title search (“How reliable is science information”) or author search (Burke) for the full citation.

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A problem “uncannily similar” to that of 500 years ago.

By the 1500s readers of scientific information “faced a problem not just of quantity but of quality – one uncannily similar to that confronting today’s users of the Internet.” So reported Adrian Johns of the California Institute of Technology in an article published early this year in Nature. A “burgeoning crowd of self-appointed authors” furnished a “new stock of proclaimed facts – from the medicinal powers of tobacco to the alleged origin of syphilis.” Out of this explosion of printed information came new, shared processes and social structures for evaluating quality of scientific information.

Reference: Use a title search (“The birth of scientific reading”) or author search (Johns) for the full citation.

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Surveying the Internet market in developing countries.

“Under the right conditions, entrepreneurs in developing nations can launch locally viable Internet ventures with real value,” suggests M. Rao in OnTheInternet. However, he notes that much discourse about the Internet economy in developing nations seems to be heading toward increasing polarization — between the “e-uphoric” enthusiasts and the e-skeptics. His report describes some Asia regions to be tapped and local niches to be explored in emerging economies.

Reference: Use a title search (“How real is the Internet market”) or author search (Rao) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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On asking the right questions in surveys.

Beef and poultry interests in the U.S. sparred recently over claims made about meats that consumers prefer. Part of the argument centered on survey methodology. Poultry interests announced consumer survey results showing that chicken outscored beef on versatility, taste, ease of preparation, price and health value. Beef interests questioned the selective release of numbers and groupings of product categories in the poultry survey: “We challenge the poultry industry to show consumer attitude data comparing ground beef to chicken breast in versatility or price.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Cattlemen smell a rat”) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Teaming radio and Internet for rural access in Africa.

A recent report from the Internet Society describes how the African country of Niger is building a network of 160 self-managed, solar-powered, rural radio broadcasting stations to provide access to information and communication for social and economic development. They integrate telecenters and rural radio broadcasting to provide a “cost-effective, full-service, two-way communications system to communities.” Local teams produce, translate and transmit the local programming.

Reference: Use a title search (“Rural access by radio and Internet”) or author search (Gallagher) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Media tips for the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Thanks to Brian Baxter of Baxter Communications, Indianapolis, Indiana, for providing a copy of his remarks during March to a USDA advisory board. An experienced agricultural reporter, Baxter offered several suggestions about working with the media:

• The media are not the enemy – misinformation is the enemy
• Recognize your news opportunities
• Identify, train and equip your spokespersons
• Keep the pipeline filled with information about food, agriculture and science
• Stay committed to communicating

Reference: Use a title search (“Communicating about agricultural research, education and extension”) or author search (Baxter) for the full citation.

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Advice to young agricultural communicators.

Orion Samuelson of WGN Radio/Tribune Radio Network, Chicago, Illinois, shared nearly 50 years of insights about farm broadcasting when he visited with students at the University of Illinois on April 17. Among his key points:

• There is “a thirst for information” about food, farming and other topics that farm broadcasters know and can address. Provide information that listeners and viewers — rural and urban — find interesting and useful.
• Communicate honestly. “You can’t compromise on credibility and honesty.”
• Good farm broadcasters are important, in part, because they “bring personality” and they “talk with people the computer people don’t see.” New media won’t put present ones out of business, although present ones must change.
• It is not as important to be first as to be right.
• If you follow a story it will take you to its conclusion. Don’t prejudge or shape it.
• The biggest change he has seen during his years as a farm broadcaster? Globalization. He said it has greatly influenced the programming he airs and has taken him to 43 countries for news and information to report.

Reference: Use a title search (“Communicating with and selling to agricultural people”) or author search (Samuelson) for the full citation.

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Ensuring safe food: where consumers turn.

Most consumers surveyed in Quebec, Canada, during February expressed “little confidence in government regulators when it comes to ensuring the safety of the food we eat.” Only 6% of the respondents said they had the most confidence in government regulators. Instead, they placed most confidence in consumer groups (32%), health professionals (23%) and associations that represent food producers (14%).

Reference: Use a title search (“Big vote for organic food”) or author search (Beaudin) for the full citation, including URL for online access.

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Claron Burnett and the teacher’s impact.

Thousands of learners throughout the world improved their agricultural writing and reporting skills through the teaching of Professor Claron Burnett, University of Wisconsin-Madison, even though they may not have met him. He died on April 17 at the age of 82. His workbook text, Agricultural news writing, with co-authors Richard Powers and John Ross served students and practitioners for decades, beginning as early as 1959. Readers found it concise, readable, easy to use and sound in principle and method. It continues, in revised form, as Writing for agriculture: a new approach using tested ideas, by Burnett and Mark Tucker.

We join others in recognizing these and other important contributions that Claron Burnett made in journalism education, research and extension during his career.

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Professional activities approaching:

June 28-July 1, 2001
East Region Meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) in Leamington, Ontario, Canada.
Information: agradio@ciaccess.com

July 28-August 1, 2001
Joint meeting of Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) and the National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) in Toronto, Canada.
Information: www.ifas.ufl.edu/~conferweb/acenetc/August 1-4, 2001

Agricultural Publications Summit in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Joint meeting of American Agricultural Editors’ Association, Livestock Publications Council and APA: the Association of Leading Ag Media Companies.
Information: www.livestockpublications.com

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Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, University of Illinois, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu. Thank you.