ADOPTION, CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR USE OF WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES BY AGRICULTURAL AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT EXTENSION PROFESSIONALS IN NEW JERSEY
Kluchinski*, D.1; Kinsey, J.2; Komar, S. J.3; McDonnell, J.41County Agent I, Rutgers Cooperative Extension/Agricultural and Resource Management, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901
2County Agent III, Rutgers Cooperative Extension/Family and Community Health Sciences, Mays Landing, NJ, 08330
3County Agent III, Rutgers Cooperative Extension/Agricultural and Resource Management Agent, Newton, NJ, 07860
4County Agent II, Rutgers Cooperative Extension/4-H Youth Development, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901
Abstract:
A 2008 survey of county-based agricultural and resource management personnel was conducted. Respondents were asked about barriers to using Web 2.0 technologies, their previous use of and contributions to internet-based communication, hardware devices used, and their use in programmatic activities. The greatest barriers to use were lack of time to learn/use the technologies (56%), and lack of knowledge about how to use these technologies (47%). The most frequently used technologies were e-mail list serves (93%), on-line purchasing (47%) and product reviews (41%), while respondents reported rarely/never using social bookmarking (94%), instant messaging (65%) or chat rooms (61%). The most frequent contributions were via e-mail list serves (59%), on-line purchases (28%) and social networks (21%), while those rarely/never contributed to were social bookmarking (100%), web feeds (97%) or podcasting (83%). While frequent use of computers at work (100%) and home (87%), and cell phones (100%), is high, the use of Slingbox, TiVo, Gamebox and Smart phones were low indicating a lack of acceptance or availability. Differences across career stages were observed; early career personnel (<10 years) are the highest frequency users of computers at home (100%), while late career employees (>20 years) are lowest (77%). 44% of early career employees reported frequent use of social networking sites compared to 11% of mid-career employees (10-20 years) and 0% of late-career employees. These data suggest a need for training to increase awareness and knowledge of Web 2.0 technologies, and how they may be used to increase efficiency, quality and reach of educational programming.