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October 5, 2007
Topics in today's issue of Extension Update:
OPERATIONS SUSPENDED AT THE PIERCE COUNTY LEARNING CENTER AT SALISHAN
WSU will be suspending operations at the Pierce County Learning Center at Salishan beginning October 1st. WSU Extension remains committed to Learning Centers and Salishan. Over the next 18 months, while construction on the new Salishan Education Center is completed, we will be re-organizing to better meet the needs of a the new educational facility and take the time to determine how to better serve our distance degree students, the county and the Salishan community.
Please feel free to contact Rob McDaniel, mcdaniel@wsu.edu, or Debra Akhbari, dakhbari@wsu.edu, if you have any questions.
STATE ETHICS LAW VIDEOCONFERENCE PLANNED FOR OCTOBER 10
Heather Lopez, Internal Audit Director, will provide an overview of the State Ethics Law on October 10th. Available across the state via the WECN videoconferencing system, this workshop describes the personal responsibility of each WSU employee in complying with the Ethics in Public Service requirements (RCW 42.52; WAC 292). For complete scheduling details and to register online, use the following link to access the course information page within your WSU Online Learning Account; then click on sessions: http://www.hrs.wsu.edu/skillsoft/viewclass.aspx?c=ilt_wsu_LC_306 .
Source: Karina Barajas, karina_barajas@wsu.edu
INITIATION OF COLLABORATION FUNDING AVAILABLE AGAIN THIS YEAR
The WSU Office of Research is providing competitive funding for “Initiation of Collaboration” projects again this year. This funding line is designed to facilitate interaction among individuals with diverse backgrounds leading develop new collaborative research and graduate education. WSU Extension has received funding from this venue in the past. We encourage you to look at this opportunity if you are interested in developing new collaborative enterprises. The link to the description of this program is http://www.ogrd.wsu.edu/documents/IOC_2008.pdf The deadline for applications is November 30,2007.
EXTENSOIN DIVERSITY MINI-GRANTS AVAILABLE
Extension mini-grants for diversity programming for the 07-08 academic year are now available! Mini-grants of up to $1,000 are intended to support personnel who are seeking to improve language and/or cultural skills in order to work more effectively with diverse audiences or with a specific cultural group.
An application form is available at http://ext.wsu.edu/diversity/professional/index.htm
Applications may be submitted on an annual basis. An individual may only receive one mini-grant per year. Individuals receiving grants will be asked to report on their progress in applying new skills to Extension programs and audiences within six months of completing the training.
Applications will be accepted until funds have been depleted. If you have further questions about this opportunity, please contact TJ Kemball at tjkemball@wsu.edu.
SUSTAINING THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER
The Summer 2007 issue of Sustaining the Pacific Northwest - Food, Farm, & Natural Resource Systems quarterly electronic newsletter, jointly sponsored by the WSU Small Farms Team, WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the WSU Small Farms program, is now available. Sustaining the Pacific Northwest provides a discussion forum for people working towards community-based sustainable food, farm, and natural resource systems using interdisciplinary oriented research and practitioner knowledge.
This issue can be viewed or downloaded from http://csanr.wsu.edu/whatsnew/SPNW-v5-n2.pdf. The current issue is 1.5 MB in size.
For those on dial-up service, it would likely be best to download the file to look at the newsletter. Go to http://csanr.wsu.edu/InfoSources/index.htm#newsletter, put your cursor on this issue, right click, and choose "Save Target As" to a folder on your pc. Then you can open it off your pc.
SARE ANNOUNCES NEW VOICES CONTEST
New Voices Contest Seeks Innovative Vision for Sustainable Agriculture
Win free trip to Sustainable Agriculture RESEARCH and Education (SARE) SARE’s 20th Anniversary New American Farm Conference
visit http://www.sare.org/2008Conference/newvoices.htm
- How can we advance sustainable practices and innovations to the whole of American agriculture?
- What if you had just five minutes to share your vision with the leaders of the sustainable agriculture community?
SARE is proud to announce its New Voices contest, which will give “New Voices” in agriculture the opportunity to share their ideas with the leaders of the sustainable agriculture community at SARE’s 20th Anniversary New American Farm Conference, to be held March 25-27, 2008 in Kansas City, Missouri.
SARE seeks written, audio, and/or video submissions that articulate emerging perspectives and illustrate an inspirational and pioneering vision for the advancement of sustainable agriculture over the next 20 years. The winning entry will be presented at the closing plenary session of the conference. Top finalists will also be invited to participate in leadership sessions at the conference at SARE’s expense.
We particularly encourage submissions from:
- farmers or ranchers
- emerging leaders in the field of advocacy, education or research
- beginning farmers and ranchers students
- minorities and other under-represented audiences
Share your roadmap to a new, sustainable American agriculture. Enter SARE’s New Voices Contest today! Deadline is December 7, 2007. (Source: Andy McGuire, amcguire@wsu.edu)
NEW CHARGES FOR POSTING VIDEOSTREAMING
WSU Academic Media Services (AMS) recently introduced a new set of charges for videostreaming services. This is important since AMS provides all videostreaming services for Extension and CAHNRS. Extension Communications and Educational Support provides them with the video signal from our studio (or other source) for various events and AMS then encodes the signal and hosts it on their streaming server. They also provide storage of our past Extension Engaged, CAHNRS UDPATE and other broadcasts on their server.
The new charges apply to posting videostreams, not viewing.
The good news is that according to their new policy, there will be "No charge for encoding, serving or up-loading for University instructional support (numbered courses). No charge for president and provost events. No charge for educational programs developed by Cooperative Extension."
There will, however, be charges assessed for: "....any other University related activities, including non-instructional activities, i.e., Registrar's Office, Housing and Food Services, non-instructional departmental activities (i.e. student recruitment, corporate or alumni communications, interviewing or departmental meetings), student activities,
University Relations (including News Bureau and Alumni), Cooperative Extension."(Janis, we have not been called "Cooperative Extension" for over three years now. Our name is "WSU Extension.")
So this means that for CAHNRS and WSU Extension departmental meetings, possibly search committee meetings and candidate presentations, and other "administrative" activities, you will now incur charges for videostreaming from AMS.
The primary charges involve the live videostream, with one charge for the primary requested streaming format and an additional charge for any additional formats (i.e, Windows Media, RealPlayer, Quicktime). So for a live videostream made available in both Windows MediaPlayer and RealPlayer, the cost will be $100. If you want the live stream archived, there is an additonal $10/file charge. There may also be additional charges for establishing connectivity between your event location and the Murrow operations center, depending on the location.
In addition, there will be charges applied to non-educational events for all storage over 6 months. There is no charge for the first 300 Mbytes of storage for up to 6 months. Depending on the size of the file, the costs will range from $50/GB for storage beyond the first 300 Mbytes for 6 months to an additional $25/GB for storage for more than 6 months. (150 MB is about 1 hour of video).
Aside from the costs, another requirement of the new policy is that you will now be required to secure release from speakers for special events that you would like to have videostreamed and for which you will not restrict access. So you now are required to have the speaker sign a release form, with their signature on it, which then can be either emailed or faxed to AMS before they will perform the actual streaming.
This form is needed even if the speaker is a WSU affiliate (faculty, staff, student), as long as access to the video is NOT RESTRICTED. You can find the forms on line at:
http://ams.wsu.edu/AMS/VideoRequests/AMSStreamingRequest.aspx
For questions, contact ECES director, Scott V. Fedale, at: fedale@wsu.edu or via phone, 509-335-2952. Source: Gens Johnson, WSU Academic Media Services (AMS) formerly WHETS
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
“Using the WSU Web Template” at the Next All CAHNRS and WSU Extension Marketing Meeting
Oct. 11, 10:30 a.m. – noon, in the Hulbert 409 conference room, we’ll be featuring a demonstration and training on how to use the WSU Web template in Dreamweaver with an eye to minimizing duplicated work and optimizing your work flow. You’ll learn how to quickly and simply create a single-page template solution so that any time you need to make a change to your site, all you need to do is make the change to the template.
The All CAHNRS and WSU Extension Marketing Meetings are held monthly. At each meeting we present a “how-to” session geared toward enhancing your ability to communicate your department, unit or office’s story.
In November we’ll revisit writing news releases and move on to writing for the Web. More details will be available soon!
Distance attendance via WECN is always available; please contact Brian Clark (bcclark@wsu.edu; 5-3551) by October 10 if you’d like to connect from a remote location.
eXtension UPDATE FOR OCTOBER 2007
eXtension PLANS NATIONAL LAUNCH CELEBRATION FOR FEBRUARY 21 & 22, 2008
USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum in Washington, D.C. on February
21 & 22, 2008 will serve as the national launch celebration for eXtension.
The event, sponsored by the Secretary of Agriculture, brings together nearly 1,800 individuals from around the world to discuss issues related to agricultural policy, economics, and current & future trends in agriculture and related disciplines.
eXtension has been invited to use the Ag Outlook Forum as the platform for launching and celebrating http://www.extension.org through a formal
recognition by the Office of the Secretary. A Launch Celebration Working
Group has been formed to coordinate all activities surrounding the event:
- Terry Meisenbach, eXtension, Chair
- Anne Henderson, CSREES, Communications & Marketing Advisory Committee - Ashley Griffin, eXtension € Beth Raney, eXtension € Debb Pankow, CoP, Financial Security for All € Bo Beaulieu, CoP, Entrepreneurs & Their Communities € Karen Hinton, Nevada CES, Directors Council, Governing Committee € Greg Crosby, CSREES, Directors Council, Governing Committee € James Wade, NASULGC, Directors Council, Governing Committee € Dan Cotton, eXtension Director, ex-officio
The group is currently working on plans to provide coordinate this launch throughout all 3,000+ Cooperative Extension Offices and to involve and recognize the many individuals and groups who have been involved in this initiative.
More information on the progress of the launch celebration will follow.
eXtension LAUNCHES INNOVATIVE DAIRY SITE AT NATIONAL INDUSTRY EXPO
eXtension is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new Internet-based information and education tool for dairy producers, allied dairy industry partners, Cooperative Extension employees, and American consumers. This dairy cattle website, DAIReXNET, will launch at the World Dairy Expo October 2-6, 2007 in Madison, WI.
This broad-based Internet resource, the sixth launched as a part of the Cooperative Extension System’s eXtension initiative, puts a wealth of research-based information in an easily accessible 24/7/365 format for anyone interested in dairy production. After October 2, register at http://www.extension.org and choose Dairy Cattle to take full advantage of the site.
The eXtension Dairy Cattle website offers:
**Frequently Asked Questions allows users to submit queries on various aspects of dairy cattle production. If an answer is not already available in the Frequently Asked Questions section, the question is directed to Ask the Expert where dairy professionals and specialists provide the requested information.
**Fact sheets covering various topics in dairy production allowing individuals to gain access to in-depth, current peer-reviewed information.
Information will continually be added to expand on the base of content available.
**State and regional dairy newsletter providing localized news and information
**The latest news releases and highlighted stories from across the country.
**Current events at the local, state, regional, and national levels.
The eXtension Dairy Cattle website has been developed through the collaboration of experts in various aspects of dairy cattle production throughout the United States who came together to form a national, Cooperative Extension-driven, web-based Community of Practice focused on designing a national resource on dairy cattle production.
For up-to-date information on eXtension, go to http://about.extension.org.
For back issues of this UPDATE go to:
http://about.extension.org/wiki/eXtension_Monthly_Updates
eXtension’s 30 MINUTE SESSIONS
This month we are offering "30 Minute Sessions" on some new topics such as as Moodle, Creating Quality Web Content and Google Presentation, as well as a few on topics previously presented. Give us 30 minutes and we'll teach you something useful! These sessions will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at noon Pacific Time (PT) unless otherwise noted.
Oct 9 at noon PT, a "30 Minute Session" on Developing Quality Web Content, by Craig Wood. What should you consider when developing Web content? What are the things that really matter? Should you concentrate on style or format, structure, redundancy, how search engines work, links to other sites, or how people read Web content? What are the critical things that matter? This session will discuss creating high quality and discoverable content.
Oct 11 at noon PT, a "30 Minute Session" on Introduction to Moodle for eXtension by Jennifer Jahedkar. Learn what all the excitement's about regarding Moodle. Hear what Moodle is, learn how eXtension is making it available, and see examples of the types of education you can design, develop and deliver with Moodle.
Oct 18 at noon PT, a "30 Minute Session" on CES Google CSE (custom search engine) by Kevin Gamble. This session will show you how simple it is to use Google search technology to create a free Custom Search Engine that reflects your knowledge and interests. It will also show you the Cooperative Extension CSE, teach you how to place a custom widget on your own site, and show how you can participate in a collaborative environment to further customize and make it better.
Oct 23 at noon PT, a "30 Minute Session" on Developing Quality Web Content, by Craig Wood. What should you consider when developing Web content? What are the things that really matter? Should you concentrate on style or format, structure, redundancy, how search engines work, links to other sites, or how people read Web content? What are the critical things that matter? This session will discuss creating high quality and discoverable content.
Oct 31 at noon PT, a "30 Minute Session" Google Presentation by Kevin Gamble. Google Presentation is a new tool introduced in September for the collaborative development of slideshows. It is cut from the same cloth as Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets and shows great promise as a new collaboration technology. Participants will be given an introduction to the tool's use, discuss its advantages and disadvantages, and see how this tool can be used to facilitate online learning.
Add these dates & topics to your calendar, and plan to join us on for one or more of these sessions in October!!
To Participate in any of the 30 Minute sessions…
1. Five minutes before the start time, go to our Web Conferencing Center meeting room at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn.
2. You will be presented with a login screen that has an "Enter as Guest" option.
3. Enter your first name, your last name, and your institution/university, then click the "Enter Room" button to join the conference.
4. To hear the audio of the workshop and participate in the Q&A portion of the workshop we will be using a built-in teleconferencing capability of Adobe's Connect Pro conferencing software. Once you log into the meeting you will be presented with the option to enter your call-back number, your phone will automatically be called. After entering your number you will be automatically called and joined into the audio portion of the Web conference on your phone.
eXtension EMAIL LIST:
If you or a colleague would like to get notices about upcoming professional development sessions offered by eXtension, go to https://lists.extension.org/mailman/listinfo/learn and subscribe to the "Learn" email list.
RECORDINGS:
Recordings of many past professional development sessions can be found at the main eXtension wiki at http://about.eXtension.org/wiki and scroll down under Professional Development heading and find "Recordings of eXtension Professional Development Sessions", or search on the word Recording.
SCHEDULE
Linda will be in Pullman on Monday and Friday. She will be in Olympia at the Extension Energy Program Office attending the Administrative Team meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
John will be in Pullman on Monday and Friday. He will be in Olympia at the Extension Energy Program Office attending the Administrative Team meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Linda Kirk Fox, PhD
Dean and Director
Washington State University Extension
411 Hulbert Hall, PO Box 646248
Pullman, WA 99164-6248
509-335-2933 Office
509-335-9223 Desk/Voicemail
509-335-2926 FAX
lkfox@wsu.edu
ext.wsu.edu
WSU Extension programs are available to all without discrimination. |
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