Comments on Scouting Around: Ask the Expert

Thank you all for commenting. I hope more people ...

2008-06-09T21:59:00.000-04:00

Thank you all for commenting. I hope more people add their thoughts and the discussion continues...

Hi John,Good post. Thanks for raising these types ...

2008-06-09T21:12:00.000-04:00

Hi John,

Good post. Thanks for raising these types of questions. I think Extension is a grass-roots type of organization. And while the landscape may be changing, core to our success is engagement and relevance. I agree with your analogy, we would certainly attend any face-to-face local meeting where we could make an impact. Participation is key. Successful staff are those who engage with relevant information. I've been thinking lately that we need to shift our online strategy from content-first (or only), to one of engagement (staff)supported by information and programs. A cultural change is needed. In the meantime, I've wondered if we should treat the Internet as just another region... investing in staff and resources.

Even though we argue that we need to stay focused ...

2008-06-06T08:21:00.000-04:00

Even though we argue that we need to stay focused on helping the local constituents, we find that local funding is drying up--so contributing on sites such as Wikipedia, Wikihowto, and others may not have as much of a negative impact on our budgets as we think because the money is already at risk. In fact, making those virtual contributions (with appropriate connections back to Extension), should increase our exposure and result in additional or differerent funding streams.

John,I'd go so far as to say that if Extension fol...

2008-06-05T16:53:00.000-04:00

John,

I'd go so far as to say that if Extension folks don't participate in and contribute to these types of site they will become irrelevant. Expecting people to come to us to get information isn't a viable long-term strategy. eXtension or any of the many local extension sites are unlikely to become destination sites and will only matter if they rank high in search results. I (and I'd guess most folks) don't try to figure out which site(s) has/have the information I want and then go search that site, I just Google it. I'm not sure how to deal with the funder issue, but since the information is still available to their constituents, maybe there's some justification for time spent.