Expressions of Social Presence in Agricultural Conversations on Twitter: Implications for Agricultural Communications

Computer-mediated environments such as social media create new social climates that impact communication interactions in un-mediated environments. As computer-mediated communication (CMC) stimulates more social communities, many communication behaviors will evolve and adapt to the unique social environment created by CMC. This study examined social variables during two different synchronous conversations on Twitter through a qualitative document analysis that coded messages into affective, interactive, and cohesive categories. Categories were determined by indicators within each message such as emoticons, direct responses, and the use of individuals’ names. The researcher concluded that most social variables in the Twitter conversations fit into the interactive social presence category but that affective and cohesive responses supported personal connection and structure within the conversations. It was also found that the same category of responses could function differently in each conversation. However, both conversations in this study appeared to be successful. Therefore, agricultural communicators should feel comfortable using CMC that contains social presence dimensions to circulate agricultural information among populations across the globe. Additional research should be conducted to examine social presence among new topics, populations, and other forms of CMC

Participant Satisfaction Related to Social Presence in Agricultural Conversations using Twitter: Implications for Agricultural Communications

Communication has evolved from predominantly face-to-face environments to include greater use of computer-mediated environments such as social networking sites for sharing information, meeting new people, and learning. Aspects of computer-mediated communication related to perceptions of social presence impact the way communication occurs in un-mediated environments. This study examined perceived social presence, participant satisfaction, and relationships between social presence and satisfaction among Twitter users during streaming conversations. Data were collected through an online questionnaire that was created using qualtrics.com and made available to respondents over a one-week period. Two groups of survey respondents agreed with 10 of 21 and 13 of 21 statements about social presence and 10 of 13 and 12 of 13 statements about satisfaction. Findings indicated that positive and negative relationships exist between social presence and satisfaction. Participants felt they were in close virtual proximity with other participants, and social presence can be fostered through text-based variables, such as emoticons, to compensate for lack of nonverbal or face-to-face cues. Therefore, agricultural communicators should use techniques that foster social presence to support virtual relationships and circulate agricultural information through chatting, messaging, and blogging

Investigating Students’ Career-Readiness in the Agricultural Sciences: A Phenomenological Case Study

The agricultural industry lacks qualified workers, suggesting students may not participate in opportunities that effectively develop their employability skills. We used a phenomenological case study approach to investigate Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences students’ career-readiness and factors influencing career-readiness. We conducted interviews with 19 juniors and seniors. Open coding procedures revealed five emergent themes—Career Advice-Seeking Behavior,Employability Skills Development, Network Establishment, Relevant Experiences, and Personal Growth. Findings indicate that students do not take advantage of University resources to help them with career preparation. Findings also revealed a lack of employability skills development, especially relating to students’ communication and science communication skills. Students identified high-impact experiences they believed improved their employability skills. We recommend strategies for educators to improve agriculture students’ career- readiness and offer research recommendations to examine career-readiness factors that may help prepare students to meet 21st century agricultural workforce demands

Landowner Adoption of Water Quality Best Management Practices: Motivations and Barriers

To assist Extension professionals working in Texas\u27s Little River Watershed with efforts to educate landowners about reducing amounts of bacteria there, we assessed motivations for and barriers to landowners\u27 adopting best management practices (BMPs). We surveyed 275 landowners in the watershed. Respondents were at least somewhat familiar with nine of 11 identified BMPs. Additionally, they agreed that 10 of 13 listed factors were motivators for adopting BMPs and that six of 14 listed factors were barriers to adopting BMPs. Extension professionals can help landowners move through the innovation-decision process by targeting educational programming and materials to motivations for and barriers to adoption of such practices

Evaluating Agricultural Extension Agent’s Sustainable Cotton Land Production Competencies: Subject Matter Discrepancies Restricting Farmers’ Information Adoption

Cotton is more chemically intensive than many other commodities, which negatively impacts rural livelihoods at higher rates. Improvement in environmental stewardship of cotton would substantially impact the long-term sustainability of agriculture in cotton producing regions globally. Extension personnel provide producer education to improve these issues that ultimately impact economic growth and quality of life in rural areas, but their proficiency to foster innovation and diffusion of crop-specific content is unknown. A 48-item survey was administered to agricultural extension personnel in five U.S. states to develop an understanding of extension professionals’ current knowledge in sustainable cotton production and sustainability, identify pertinent training needs to address in future professional development curricula, and to discern the value of crop-specific competency evaluation in organizational needs assessment. A ranked discrepancy model and an exploratory factor analysis of survey results indicated a glaring need for training in all evaluated competency areas to improve sustainability in cotton producing regions. Synchronous or asynchronous trainings could be developed for change agents to better serve the needs of rural cotton producers. Knowledge transfer or adoption diffusion of rural land sustainability recommendations to farmers will be challenging to achieve in the study’s region until change agent’s proficiency of sustainable cotton production practices improves