MakingExtensioncontentmorediscoverable:Evalua7ngexamplesfromaforestrywebsiteEliSagor1andPhilipPotyondy2.1UniversityofMinnesotaExtensionand2DepartmentofForestResources
Introduc7onOneofExtension’smostimportantrolesistomakecomplex,research‐basedinformationmoreaccessibletoindividualswhocanusethatinformationtobettertheirlives.Increasingly,ouraudiencesareusingdigitalmediato@indandexchangeinformation.TherecentproliferationofnewdigitalcommunicationtoolscreatesnewopportunitiesforExtensionprofessionalstomakeourcontentmorediscoverabletopeoplewhoneedit,whentheyneedit.ThepurposeofthisposteristoofferinsightsfromoneExtensionprogramthathasmadeheavyuseofdigitalcommunicationtechnologiestoincreasecontentdiscoverability.Theposterisdesignedtoillustratesometechniquestoincreasecontentdiscoverabilityonline,andprovideinsightonreturns,foroneExtensionproject.Whilewedonothaveimpactevaluationdataatthispoint,thedatapresentedheredoofferusefulinsightintoreturnsoninvestmentsmadetodeployavarietyofonlinecommunicationtools.
Why“discoverability?”
Whilenotnecessarilyanendinitself,makingcontentmorediscoverablemakesitmorelikelythatthecontentwill@inditswayintothehandsofafocused,interestedlearner.This,inturn,increasesthechancethatresearch‐basedinformationwillbeapplied,andwillmakeadifferenceinrealpeoples’lives.
AboutMyMinnesotaWoods
Http://www.MyMinnesotaWoods.umn.edu(MyMinnesotaWoods)isawebsitedevelopedandmaintainedbytheUniversityofMinnesotaExtensionForestryteam,whichispartofExtension’sCenterforFood,Agricultural,andNaturalResourceSciences.Thesite’spurposeistomakeresearch‐basedinformationonthecareandmanagementofMinnesota’streesandwoodlandsaccessibletotheownersandmanagersofthoseresources.Thesiteisahub,oranindex,tothemanyofferingsofourExtensionforestryteam.Amongotherthings,MyMinnesotaWoodsisasandboxinwhichtotrynewapproachestoonlineoutreach.Thesiteisdesignedtoaddvaluetoourmanyothercontentofferings:workshops,publications,communitybuildingprocesses,andmore.
FlickrphotosWhat:Flickrisafreethird‐partyphotosharingservice.Howitworks:WeuploadphotostoFlickr.Searchengineusers@indthemand,byreadingdescriptions,learntointerpretthem.Why:Wetakealotofphotos.Flickrallowsthepublictosee,andlearnfrom,whatwesee.Evaluation:However,Sagor’sMinnesotaforestryphotoshavebeenviewedabout200,000times.UploadingthephotostoFlickrandaddingtagsrequiredlittleextrawork(photosneedtobeorganizedanyway).Allowingthepublictoseethemmakesthemfarmorediscoverable.OnepossiblegoalwouldbetoincreasethereferralratefromFlickrtooursite.
SocialmediatoolsWhat:AsuiteofcommunicationtoolsincludingTwitter,Flickr,andFacebook.Howitworks:Whenwepublishnewcontent,it’sautomaticallysharedviaTwitter.WemanuallysharecontentviaFacebook.Why:Automationmeansthataftertheinitialsetup,thistakesverylittletimeoreffort.Thebene@itisthatitmakescontentvisiblethroughmorenetworksandchannels.Evaluation:ThesechannelsaccountforonlyafewpercentofreferralstoMyMinnesotaWoods.Becausesofewofourtargetaudienceusesocialmediatoobtainforestryinformation,it’sbecomealowpriorityforus.
MonthlyemailupdateWhat:AnHTML‐formattedemailsenttosubscribersmonthly.Howitworks:Wepayabout$250/yrtoConstantContact.ConstantContactmanagesour1600‐recipientemaildatabaseandprovidesarelativelysimpleinterfaceinwhichtoentercontent.Why:Emailremainsapreferredmodeofcommunicationformanymembersofourtargetaudience.Sendingtheemailremindsinterestedreadersthatoursiteisthere,deliveringcontentratherthanmakingthemcometous.Evaluation:Eachupdateisopenedabout1300timesby1000orsodifferentpeople.Intheweekfollowingdistributionofthemonthlyemailupdate,35‐50%ofsitevisitsarereferralsfromtheemail.Onthedaytheemailissent,thepercentageismuchhigher(Figure1).Inaddition,ConstantContactanalyticstelluswhatcontentouremailrecipientsactuallyread.Wecanusethisdatatoplanfuturecontentonlineaswellasinotherdeliveryformats.Thisprovidesinvaluable,near‐continuouscontent‐relatedfeedbackfromoursubscribers.
DiscussionboardWhat:Anopenforumtopostquestionsandshareexperiences.Howitworks:Afterasimpleregistrationprocess,userscanposttext,photos,andlinkstothediscussionboard.Why:Replyingtoaquestiononthediscussionboardtakesaboutaslongasreplyingtoaquestionbyemail.Butanemailisreadbyoneperson,whilecontentonthediscussionboardisviewedbyhundredsorthousands.Whilewecanalwayschoosetoreplyprivatelytoquestions,thediscussionboardgivesusapopularplatformtoexchangeinformationwithinterestedmembersofouraudienceinapublicsetting.Discussionsaddvaluetothesitebyhelpingusersapplythecontenttotheirsituations.Theregistrationprocessbuildsconnectionswithmotivatedusers.Evaluation:ThediscussionboardisthethirdmostpopularpageonMyMinnesotaWoods,surpassedonlybythehomepageandourpropertytaxcontent.
SlideshareWhat:Afreeplatformtoshareslideshowswithorwithoutaudio.Howitworks:WeuploadcontenttoSlideshare,thenembeditonoursite.Why:Slidesharehastwoimportantbene@itsoverAdobePresenter:Detailedanalyticsandtheabilitytoembedcontentratherthantakingusersawayfromthesitetoviewit.Evaluation:TopSlidesharecontentisviewedover1,000timesperyear.AhighpercentageofthoseviewshappenonSlideshare.com,suggestingthatusersarediscoveringthecontentindependentofMyMinnesotaWoods.Onseveraloccasions,Slidesharecontenthasbeenrequestedbyhighschoolanduniversityinstructorsforuseintheirclasses.
EventscalendarWhat:AGooglecalendarthat’spublicandeasilyembeddedonanywebsite.Howitworks:Weaddeventsandallowselectpartnerstoaddandmanagetheirs.Thecalendarcanbeembeddedonanysite,addingvisibilitytoour(andtheir)events.Why:Googlecalendarisasimplesystem,makingiteasytomanagepermissionsandcontentsharing.Evaluation:Thecalendarisoneofthemostpopularfeaturesonthesite.Weknoweventsaccountforabout15%ofclicksinourmonthlyemailupdates.However,we’reunabletotrackcalendarviews,linksfollowed,ormostothermetrics.
NewsheadlinesWhat:Alistingofrelevantnewsarticlesfromavarietyofmediasources.How:[email protected]“tag”selecteditemswithauniquecode.Taggeditemsthenautomaticallyappearonoursite.TheyarealsoautomaticallypublishedviaourTwitterstream.Why:ThoughwefocusonExtensioncontent,thisfeatureallowsustoeasily“curate”contentfromothersources.OurvisionisforMyMinnesotaWoodstobetheprimarysourceforMinnesotaforestryinformation.Addingnewsfromavarietyofsourceshelpspositionustodothat.Evaluation:OvertwoyearsbeginninginSpring2007,newslinksaccountedforfully20%oftheclicksinourmonthlyemailupdates.Ourreaderslikenews.
Fig.1:MyMinnesotaWoodsdailypageviewdata,March‐July2010.Monthlyspikescorrespondwithemailupdatesenddates.
RSSfeedsWhat:[email protected]:WeuseFeedburner,whichallowssubscriptionviaemailorRSSreader.Feedsalsoallowpartnerstopublishourheadlinesontheirsites.Why:Feedsallowsubscriberstochoosetheirpreferredformatratherthanforcingthemtoconformtoours.Evaluation:Feedscurrentlyaccountforasmallvolumeoftraf@ic:about1%overthepastyear.Weseefeedsasatoolwithgreatgrowthpotential.
OakwiltstatuswidgetWhat:Agraphic“widget”showingthecurrentriskstatusforoakwilt,aseriousdiseaseofMinnesotaoaks.Thewidgetcanbeaddedtoanywebsite.Whenweupdatetheriskstatus,thewidgetinstantlyupdates,whereverit’sdeployed.Howitworks:WeprovideHTMLcodetocallalinkedimageonourserver.Thecodeisinstalledonpartners’sites.Clickingtheimage(“widget”)takestheusertothedetailedoakwiltstatuspageonMyMinnesotaWoods.Why:Thewidgethelpsourpartnersmakeresearch‐basedriskstatusdataavailable.ItalsodrawsnewuserstoExtensioncontent.Evaluation:Thewidgetaccountsfor61%ofallviewsoftheoakwiltstatuspage.Oftheseviewers,45%goontoviewothercontent,suggestingthatthewidgetpromotescontentsite‐wide.
Onlinecontent,discoverability,andbehaviorTransformativelearningrequiresmanythings.InformationofthetypefoundonMyMinnesotaWoodsanditsderivativechannels(e.g.Twitter,Facebook,andRSSfeeds)isbutone.Whilesocialpsychologistswouldpointoutthatinformationaloneisunlikelytofosterbehaviorchange,thesitecannonethelessplayakeyroleinlandownerlearning.Thesitemaypromotepositivelandstewardshipoutcomesintwoimportantways:
1)Bymakinginformationmoreeasilydiscovered,whenit’sneeded,bythosealreadymotivatedtotakeaction.2)ByraisingawarenessofExtensionasavaluable,credibleresourcefortimeswhenlandstewardshipdecisionsneedtobemade.Bydeliveringcontenttointerestedusersonaregularbasis,we’reabletoremindpeoplethatweexist,increasingthelikelihoodthatwhentheyneedinformationorassistance,theywillcomebacktoExtension.3)BypromotingExtensionforestryofferingslikeface‐to‐faceworkshopsthatofferopportunitiesforhigh‐touchlearning,relationshipbuilding,anddeeperlearningtooccur.
Costs
AllofthetoolsdescribedherearefreewiththeexceptionofConstantContact.Wepay$252/yrforaConstantContactsubscriptionwithupto2500subscribers.Thefargreatercostisthetimerequiredtomaintainthesetoolsandthecontentbehindthem.Weestimatethatsiteandcontentmanagementtake15‐25%ofoneExtensioneducator’stime.Anundergraduatestudentputsinanadditional5hoursperweek,primarilyorganizingandformattingcontentinpreparationforpublication.InitialdevelopmentoftheMyMinnesotaWoodssitecostabout$8,000.
Summary
TherecentproliferationofdigitalcommunicationtoolshasgivenExtensionprofessionalsamuchlargertoolkit.Manyoftheselow‐costtoolshavepotentialtomakeExtensioncontentmoreaccessibletotargetaudiences.This,inturn,increasesthechancethatresearch‐basedinformationwillbeapplied,andwillmakeadifference.MyMinnesotaWoodsis,inmanyways,asandboxinwhichinnovativecommunicationtoolsaretested.Returnsonthetimeinvestedhavebeenvariable,butgenerallypositive.Differencesintargetaudience,educationalobjectives,programstructures,andtechnicalpro@iciencywillaffectthevalueofanycommunicationtooltoagivenExtensionteam.
Formoreinforma7on
EliSagor3,[email protected](612)624‐6948UniversityofMinnesotaExtension,StPaulPhilipPotyondy,[email protected],StPaulMyMinnesotaWoods:http://www.MyMinnesotaWoods.umn.edu.Linkstoalltoolsdescribedinthisposterareavailablefromthesite.Downloadthisposter:http://z.umn.edu/MMWposter
3Correspondingauthor
