Analysis of Communication and Dissemination Channels Influencing the Adoption of Integrated Soil Fertility Management in Western Kenya

Abstract

Purpose: The following study was carried out to evaluate the socio-economic factors influencing access to Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) information and knowledge among farmers in western Kenya, and subsequent ISFM uptake with a view to assessing communication gaps.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Structured questionnaires were administered to 120 farmers from Vihiga and Siaya districts. In Vihiga, farmers were sampled in a systematic random manner from farmer groups lists, whereas in Siaya, farmers were selected based on randomly selected diagnostic trial sites of the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) project.

Findings: Community-based and mass media channels were found to be significantly advantageous to farmers. Farmers’ preferred information sources and channels included own experiences, farmer field days and farmer groups, respectively. A probit regression model indicated that off-farm income, education level, distance from nearest information centre, livestock value, and district of residence were the socio-economic variables that significantly influenced farmer access to ISFM information and knowledge, and subsequent uptake. In conclusion, farmer field days and farmer groups should be promoted as vehicles for agricultural information communication and dissemination.

Practical Implications: The study has practical implications for dissemination of agricultural technologies, especially in small-holder farming regions, characterized by high poverty and poor infrastructure.

Originality/Value: The study is original because channels for communication and dissemination of ISFM technologies are poorly documented or non-existent in western Kenya, and in most small-holder farming systems in Africa. The adoption behaviour of ISFM technologies in relation to socio-economic factors by farmers is still poorly understood.     

Questions from afar: the influence of outsideness on web-based conversation

This paper defines the metaphor of outsideness in relation to web-based interaction. Outsideness is conceived of as a key influence in online academic conversation. In particular, through the sharing of cultural perspectives, asking questions to resolve doubt, and collaborative writing and re-writing as a basis for shaping ideas through reasoning. An analytical framework is proposed and applied to a case study of an international wiki-based project. Key findings are that there is a tension between participants’ sense of inside and outside influences, resulting in a complex and challenging working environment. Students require support to develop nuanced questioning and conversational skills, including multi-model forms of representation and communication to enhance language skills.     

Transitioning from Print to Electronic Information Delivery: An Update from the National Research Council Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information

Canada's national science library, the National Research Council Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, is in the process of transforming its traditional document delivery services to meet the emerging needs of users. As such, the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information has developed a suite of Web-based services, partnerships, and collaborations to better serve its users. These components have been brought together to create new service offerings such as Discover, and the National Research Council Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information Standards Store. Quicker, more flexible and convenient access to the world's scientific, technical, and medical information from the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information and from sites where users congregate across the Web is the goal of Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information's new breed of information delivery services.     

2. GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS

William L. Rivers and William T. Slater's Aspen Handbook on the Media: Research, Publications, Organizations (Palo Alto, Calif.: Aspen Program, 770 Welch Rd., Suite 453, 1973— $1.95, paper)

John McHale's The Changing Information Environment: A Selective Topography (Center for Integrative Studies, School of Advanced Technology, SUUT-Binghamton, Binghamton, N.Y. 13901—no price indicated).

Donis A. Dondis' A primer of Visual Literacy (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1973— $9.95)

Anthony Sampson's The Sovereign State of ITT (New York: Stein &; Day, 1973—$10.00)

Z.A.B. Zeman's Nazi Propaganda (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973-.42.95, paper),

Edmund Carpenter's Oh What A blow That Phantom Gave Me! (New York: Holt, Rinehart &; Winston, 1973– $5.95),

Joe Morella, Edward Z. Epstein and Eleanor Clark's The Amazing Careers of Bob Hope: From Gags to Riches (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1973—$8.95)     

Broadcasting

Kas Kalba's City Meets the Cable: A Case Study in Technoloqical Innovation and Community Decision-Making.

Anthony Piepe, Miles Emerson, and Judy Lannon's Television and the Working Class (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books/D.C. Heath, 1975—$14.50).

Lawrence W. Lichty's Broadcast program and Audience Analysis and its related Workbook (American Printing and Publishing Inc., 2909 Syene Road, Madison, Wisc. 53713— about $13.50, paper, two loose-leaf volumes without binders).

Robert L. Hilliard's Writing for Television and Radio (New York: Hastings House, 1976—$16.50 with a paperback text edition available for which no price was given).

Robert L. Hilliard and Hyman H. Field's Television and the Teacher: A Handbook for Classroom Use (New York: Hastings House, 1976—$5.95 paper).

Chuck Anderson's Video Power: Grassroots Television (New York: Praeger, 1975— $7.95).     

Film History

David A. Cook, A History of Narrative Film (New York: W. W. Norton, 1981 -- $15.95 paper)

Gerald Mast, A Short History of the Movies, 3rd edition (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing, 1981 -- $12.95 paper, issued in hardcover by University of Chicago Press for $20.00)

A. R. Fulton, Motion Pictures: The Development of an Art Revised Edition (Norman: The University of Oklahoma Press, 1981 -- $14.95 in hardcover)

Richard Koszarski (ed.), The Rivals of D. W. Griffith: Alternative Auteurs, 1913-18 (First published by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, now available from New York Zoetrope, 31 East Twelfth Street, New York City 10003 for $4.95 in paperback)

Anthony Slide and Edward Wagenkneckt, Fifty Great American Silent Films, 1912- 1920 (New York: Dover, 1980 -- $6.95 paper).

Peter Roffman and Jim Purdy, The Hollywood Social Problem Film: Madness, Despair and Politics from the Depression to the Fifties (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981 -- $25.00 cloth/$12.95 paperback)

I. G. Edmonds and Reiko Mimura, Paramount Pictures and the People Who Made Them (San Diego: A. S. Barnes, 1980 -- $17.50 hardcover)     

What’s in a Word: Coming to Terms With Reference

Information literacy has gained ascendency in the reference world to the detriment of the practice of reference librarianship itself. Libraries seem more interested in having librarians teach with technology than in having them engage in thoughtful reference work. Major library associations seem more interested in touting the benefits of information literacy than in supporting traditional reference work, and they define reference in overly simplistic, tautological terms as the practice of answering reference questions rather than attributing to it the subtlety and expertise that make it so valuable. These associations need to rethink the hierarchy and give reference its due.     

Implementing Service Oriented Architecture at the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information

This article discusses the experience and challenges involved in implementing enterprise and service oriented architecture practice at CISTI, conveys CISTI's progress and plans, and illustrates how architecture could affect how libraries meet their mandate in the future.     

The Relationship Between Counseling Self-Efficacy and Communication Skills of Volunteer Rape Crisis Advocates

This research examines the relationships between communication competence, communication anxiety, and five subdimensions of counseling self-efficacy. The sample consists of volunteers trained at two rape crisis centers (n = 63) over a one-year period. As hypothesized, communication anxiety was negatively related and communication competence positively related to the subdimensions of counseling self-efficacy. Results suggest that training programs need to be aware of how personality characteristics may affect a volunteer's ability to become an efficacious counselor. Implications for how rape crisis centers can integrate these communication issues into their training programs and improve the self-efficacy of their advocates are discussed.