Trends and Issues in Extension

Extension professionals working in rural/urban interface, sustainable development, land use, etc. might want to check out the latest issue of the New American City. It has several articles on the topic.

The Observer (from the UK) has a fascinating article about treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease by inserting an electrode into the brain that can be controlled by the "wearer" with a switch. When the symptoms appear, you use the switch to control them. Back to the title of this posting….the research that led to this discovery was done on animals. Hence the focus of the Observer article is on the growing gap and clash between those using animal research and those who view it as inhuman. You can view the article here. While this occured in the UK, it makes me wonder about similar animal welfare issues in the States.

From Research Buzz, information on the new MSN toolbar (click here). This should be of interest to those of you still surfing with Explorer. I made the jump to Mozilla Firefox some time ago and have not looked back. In the near future I will cover some Firefox features that I think puts it head and shoulders above Explorer.

Our Center office has agreed to devote 15 minutes of our monthly office conference to learning new tech related skills. Dubbed the "15 minutes of tech fame" (ala Andy Warhol) our goal is for each of us to demonstrate things we’ve learned about our computers, online work, pda’s, cell phones, etc. Examples include productivity shortcuts, enhancements, etc. I’ll try to add some of these to the blog when I can. My own goal is to learn something new related to technology each week. To try a  new website, etc. I’ll post these as I tackle them.

Since our next office confernce is this Friday, I’m hunting for something quick and dirty to share. I’m aiming for how to use tabs in Firefox/Netscape and windows short cut keys. Here is decent quick list of windows short cut keys from David Allen’s website (the author of Getting Things Done - a good and different time management book).

Go here for an interesting satire of traditional ag by the Organic Trade Association using Star Wars. I’m not sure that its accurate in its criticism, but it is an interesting marketing strategy.

eXtension has posted its Call for Engagement for Commuinities of Practice (CoPs). You can find the posting here. The CoPs will develop programming to help eXtension meet its object of creating a national internet based system of research based information for our clientele. More information on eXtension may be found here.

Emiril is now providing multiple kinds of information via podcasts. To see, click here. What does ths mean for Exension programming and delivery? More on podcasts later. As our clienetele continue to develop new methods for obtaining information, we will need to continue to develop alternative methods to reach them. Some Extension professionals are already placing digital audio media online. Click here for an example from Andy Kleinschmidt, an Extension Educator in Ohio.

Monday marks the start of a three day conference exploring the future of Extension, the Land Grant Institutions and Education in general. I’m not attending the conference, but at least four faculty members from Ohio State Extension will be. I hope to have feedback from them later in the week. The conference site has several good links to publications on anticipating the future. Check it out here.

Welcome to the first post in this blog! This blog is dedicated to discussion and sharing views on trends and issues that affect the Cooperative Extension System. The focus in primarilty on the United States, and on issues, trends, tools, methods, etc. that affect how Extension professionals and organizations can be successful and thrive.

My goal is to offer narrative on subjects, links to useful resources, and hopefully generate new possibilities for Extension Professionals and the communites/clientele that we serve.