Agricultural information dissemination using ICTs: a review and analysis of information dissemination models in China

Open Access funded by China Agricultural UniversityOver the last three decades, China’s agriculture sector has been transformed from the traditional to modern practice through the effective deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Information processing and dissemination have played a critical role in this transformation process. Many studies in relation to agriculture information services have been conducted in China, but few of them have attempted to provide a comprehensive review and analysis of different information dissemination models and their applications. This paper aims to review and identify the ICT based information dissemination models in China and to share the knowledge and experience in applying emerging ICTs in disseminating agriculture information to farmers and farm communities to improve productivity and economic, social and environmental sustainability. The paper reviews and analyzes the development stages of China’s agricultural information dissemination systems and different mechanisms for agricultural information service development and operations. Seven ICT-based information dissemination models are identified and discussed. Success cases are presented. The findings provide a useful direction for researchers and practitioners in developing future ICT based information dissemination systems. It is hoped that this paper will also help other developing countries to learn from China’s experience and best practice in their endeavor of applying emerging ICTs in agriculture information dissemination and knowledge transfer

An Assessment of the Quality of the Romanian Urban Web Sites

The local authorities are giving increasing prominence to provision of information online through websites. Seen in a wider perspective, the urban web sites play a key role in allowing every citizen to achieve their full potential and to participate fully in society. Conversely, citizens' awareness and expectations of Internet based online public services have also increased. Although the numbers of the different urban web portals have increased rapidly in the last years, the success of these sites will largely depend on their accessibility and quality. The purpose of this report is to present the results from a comprehensive assessment of the urban web sites across Romania. An instrument has been developed for evaluating the quality of the websites. It is based upon approaches to evaluation that have been documented in the published literature, interviews of people responsible for websites, and testing of websites at different levels of local government. Results show that not only are there wide variations in the spectrum of information and services provided by these urban web sites, but that significant work still needs to be undertaken in order to make these sites examples of "best practice" e-Government services. The overall picture shows that there is still much work to be done, but the study identifies key areas of concern which, if dealt with, would lead to the situation improving significantly.urban web sites, e-government, quality

Employment and skills in Newark and Sherwood

In this report we present the findings of a survey of businesses located in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire. The survey focuses on growth, employment, skills, training and business advice and includes businesses across a wider range of sectors, from sole traders to large employers and from recent start-ups to long established businesses. The majority of firms have fewer than five employees. When recruiting, smaller firms tend to prefer local advertising and word of mouth rather than more formal channels. Almost 60% of businesses are seeking growth, with just 5.6% expecting to downsize. Low confidence in the economy is the main restraint on growth, with the cost of staff and a lack of finance for investment also cited by over a third of respondents. Over half of the business owners who responded had moved into the district during their adult lives and they are more likely to be looking for growth in the next 2 years compared to indigenous business owners. These in-migrants conduct the majority of their trade within the local area but also have higher levels of export and nationwide trade compared to locally owned businesses. Therefore local development policy must take into account wider business dynamics and networks. A lack of motivation in the workforce is seen as a problem when recruiting staff across most business sectors, although not in manufacturing. The most difficult skills to find when recruiting are identified as customer service skills, technical skills and written communication

Bots, Seeds and People: Web Archives as Infrastructure

The field of web archiving provides a unique mix of human and automated agents collaborating to achieve the preservation of the web. Centuries old theories of archival appraisal are being transplanted into the sociotechnical environment of the World Wide Web with varying degrees of success. The work of the archivist and bots in contact with the material of the web present a distinctive and understudied CSCW shaped problem. To investigate this space we conducted semi-structured interviews with archivists and technologists who were directly involved in the selection of content from the web for archives. These semi-structured interviews identified thematic areas that inform the appraisal process in web archives, some of which are encoded in heuristics and algorithms. Making the infrastructure of web archives legible to the archivist, the automated agents and the future researcher is presented as a challenge to the CSCW and archival community

A Question of Empowerment: Information Technology and Civic Engagement in New Haven, Connecticut

Extravagant claims have been made for the capacity of IT (information technology) to empower citizens and to enhance the capacity of civic organizations. This study of IT use by organizations and agencies in New Haven, Connecticut, 1998-2004, tests these claims, finding that the use of IT by nonprofits is selective, tending to serve agencies patronized by community elites rather than populations in need. In addition, the study finds that single interest groups are far more effective in using IT than more diverse civic and neighborhood groups.This publication is Hauser Center Working Paper No. 30. The Hauser Center Working Paper Series was launched during the summer of 2000. The Series enables the Hauser Center to share with a broad audience important works-in-progress written by Hauser Center scholars and researchers

Electronic administration in Spain: from its beginnings to the present

This study presents the basic lines of electronic administration in Spain. The complexity of the Spanish political-administrative system makes such a study challenging, in view of the considerable degree of autonomy and competences of the regional administrative bodies and local agencies with respect to the central government, the former being more visible in the 17 regions of Spain. Nonetheless, the central government maintains a series of legal instruments that allow a certain common framework of action to be imposed, aside from what is put into effect through diverse programs aimed precisely to develop common tools for the regions and municipalities of Spain. After an introduction that provides some necessary background, this study describes the legislative framework in which Spain's electronic administrative system has developed. The data included in the study refer to investment in information and communication technologies (ICT) and the services offered by the different Administrations on the internet; internet access by citizens, homes, businesses, and employees, as well as the interactivity existing with administrations by means of the internet; the origins and rise of various political initiatives of the Central Government involving electronic administration; and finally, the situation of civil service personnel, as catalysts of the success of Information Society in the Public Administration within Spain