From GALE-SINEX@AE.AGECON.WISC.EDUFri Mar 17 00:09:18 1995 Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 17:56:57 GMT -0600 From: Michele Gale-Sinex/CIAS Reply to: SAED-SHARE-L@cornell.edu To: saed-share-l@cornell.edu Subject: Norm's question and Nancy's reply Norm wrote: > I am interested in hearing, particularly from organic producers, > as to what techniques a student could benefit from.... Nancy replied: > Any practical ways of getting farmers on-line with us? Howdy, all-- A few quick thoughts on Nancy's question. CIAS here at UW-Madison has had a pilot project to get sustainable animal farmers (management intensive rotational graziers and seasonal dairy operators) on the Internet, and while I haven't yet had a chance to write anything up, we have some tips and observations for people trying to diversify the Net community, arising out of what we've learned from that pilot project. Coupla quicks: An easy way is to get some accounts thru your institution for key farmers to use and then support them in using e-mail and other tools in return for using and contributing to the listserv. Another easy thing to do is start asking around through your various human networks and through farmer-to-farmer networks about who the computer wizards are, then let them know about the listserv. But be ready to tell them why they should spend time using it. In other words, those of us in academic institutions, nonprofits, and Extension have our own ideas about why this information is important, yet we may have a very different information economy than farmers do. So subscribing to a listserv has to have very concrete benefits for the farmers. What we've watched as co-founders of the listserv GRAZE-L is how farmers will have plenty to say when the conversation is clearly about issues of interest to them. Sometimes if we want farmer input, the best thing we can do is serve them in technical facilitation of things they want to talk about...and perhaps piggyback onto that with our own questions and needs, but without dominating their conversation. I agree with Nancy's observation about newsletters. After twenty years in educational communications I've concluded that if the goal is to change the world (as is the goal of sustag), we can often get much more punch by facilitating farmer-to-farmer communication (that is, rather than by producing one-way media like newsletters) and then standing ready to serve them as they need us to. Newsletters have their place...but are just one tool to record and impart information. Of course, in an academic context--where print is the currency by which power is negotiated--it can be a challenge to focus scarce resources on these other kinds of communication, like face-to-face, informal, and embodied communications. This is all quite oversimplified in the interest of length. We have ideas on how to facilitate and enourage such involvement as Nancy discusses...but maybe she'd like to e-mail me directly. Peace, all-- Michele <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Michele Gale-Sinex Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems Agricultural Technology and Family Farm Institute UW-Madison--Voice: (608) 262-8018 FAX: (608) 265-3020 The Hall of Fame is for baseball people. Heaven is for good people. --Jim Dwyer (Twins DH, late 80s)