Engaging with the Research Community

2010 Conference

Debra Heleba

Alexandra Stone

Engaging with the Research Community

We’ll Address:

• Including researchers as CoP leaders

• Working with NIFA programs

• Partnering with research/ outreach funding agencies

• Coordinating webinar series

• Providing research/outreach groups with workspace tools

• Group discussion!

Photo Credit: Micaela Colley, Organic Seed Alliance

About

• eXtension’s organic agriculture CoP(launched January 2009)

• Funded by USDA CSREES Integrated Organic Program (now NIFA OREI), eXtension, others

• 700+ membersExtension educators, researchers, farmers, NGOs, certifiers, USDA

• Use Drupal for Online Workspace– Wiki– Blog, Forum and Tasks– Image Galleries

About

• Systems Groups– Dairy– Vegetables

• Discipline Groups– 18 disciplines including

certification, economics, soils, pest management, marketing, etc.

• Research and Outreach Groups (ROGs)– 38+ work groups focusing on

particular research, outreach, and/or education project. Some funded by USDA OREI.

• Administrative Groups– 14 admin groups provide

functionality. Include Leadership Team, staff group, membership, outreach, fundraising, eXtension publishing team, etc.

Organized into 4 Group Types:

Photo Credits: Lisa McCrory, Thomas Hawk, and Mark Schonbeck

Including Researchers as CoP leaders

• xx• xx• xx

• xx

Photo Credit: Jim Riddle, University of Minnesota

Working with NIFA programs

• Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI)

• Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)

• [AFRI??]

Photo Credit: Lisa McCrory, Earthwise Farm and Forest

Partnerships with Other Funding Agencies

• Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF)

• …

Photo Credit: Danielle Treadwell, Universityof Florida

Webinar Series• Research/outreach

webinar series to develop R/O community networking and collaboration

• Public webinar series featuring researchers and researcher/practitioner partners as presenters

Photo Credit: Karen and Frank Morton, Wild Garden Seed

Example of Research Webinar

Example of Public Webinar

Providing ROGs with Workspace Tools

• Documentation space• File sharing• Threaded Forum• Tasks / To-do lists• Image gallery• Member list• Email list

Photo Credit: Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, University of Illinois Extension

XX

• XX

Photo Credit: Debra Heleba, University of Vermont

XX

• xx

Photo Credit: Karen and Frank Morton, Wild Garden Seed

Discussion and Q&A

Thank you!