originally found at twebinar

Blogs are the workhorses of the knowledge economy. NRM extension is really the business of sharing knowledge and it like most things is evolving, the NRM extension audience is evolving. In the not too distant future every landcare, NRM, or sustainable agriculture project will have a blog, and every extension officer will have one too.

Check out this great video by Common Craft they create a series of cool videos explang complex web stuff simply

Tags: web2.0, eco2oh, e-extension, blog, blogs, blogging, Common Craft, landcare, NRM, Natural Resource Management, Sustainable Agriculture

• banksia awards time (4 enviro-excellence) nominees include carbon offset beer, drink more to save the planet hmmm http://snurl.com/2p21l #
• @larryghuffman not too sure about japanese knotweed. compost tea works on the theory that healthy soil needs a balance of bacteria and fungi #
• @MaThurrell love that you are working with http://epicchange.org/ what a superb concept #

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Caring For Our Country Open Grant rounds were apparently released in last weekend’s Weekend Australian Newspaper, this news comes with a sigh of relief for many NRM workers. As staff of many NHT funded organisations around the nation are preparing for unemployment or know someone who is. The new federal government’s announcement means that many staff who would be leaving work next monday uncertain as to how long it might be before they next have employment. Will spend their final week of employment furiously creating funding applications.

1. Create a profile in the NRM marketplace.

Creating your own NRM blog now, sharing your nrm activity, your projects, the conferences you attend, and your aspirations will give you a presence in NRM online.
At present if a prospective employer / partner / collaborator googled “NRM” in your region would you appear?

Imagine what opportunities might come your way if instead of being reached through your employer or direct contact, propective employers and “would be” collaborators could find you on the web. If you are say a Rural Water Use Efficiency Extension expert imagine if everytime “Rural Water Use Efficiency” is googled or searched your name and blog come up. Before long you will be linked the Rural Water Use Efficiency field and interested parties will be able to find You easily

2. Build an online resume.

If you periodically publish blog posts about the activities that you are undertaking in NRM, you will rapidly build a series of articles which serve as a rich resume of your experience.

Imagine the interview panel when applying a new NRM postion (possibly funded by C4OC) recieves your resume which contains a link to your blog. Then upon visiting your blog the interview panel can not only read in detail about your experience but will see what an informed and proactive operator you are.

Should the selection panel come down to you and one other applicant for one position, both of you with similar qualifications and experience. Let’s say they visit your blog and can get a very rich picture of what you are about and what you can do and the other applicant has a dry old resume. That’s got to give you a competitive advantage.

3. Maintain contact with your blackbook.

Over the course over your NHT2 employment, you will have build goodwill in a network of NRM people (fellow employees, extension officers, funding people, landholders, all sorts of people). By maintaining a blog you can stay at the top of the minds of all those people in your network. Who are they going to turn to when they have opportunities to share?

4. Build your future skill set now!

Blogs, Podcasts, and other web2.0 tools are being adopted rapidly and consumption of web2.0 content is exploding. In the not too distant future every business, every NRM group and every NRM project will be using tools like blogs to communicate. Now is your time to get ahead of the curve. By setting up a blog now you will develop skills that will be considered highly desirable when seeking new employment or promotion.

5. Continue the business of NRM.

Most likely you got into the NRM industry because you believe that we need sustainable agriculture, a healthy environment, or hopefully both in the future. By starting a blog the value of the projects that you have worked on, the workshops that you have held, etc can continue to spread their message 24/7 for as long as have the blog.

6. Leverage past efforts in future projects

Imagine at some stage in the future you are required to run a workshop on say Integrated Pest Management for Tomato Growers and you remember running a similar workshop in the past. How helpful it be for yourself or your colleagues to refer back to your past workshop as documented on your blog.

7. Create value for stakeholders.

Chances are you have been worked on projects or activities that involved many partners and stakeholders. By blogging about your current and past activities, you continue to honor that partnership. So if the Tomato Growers group wants to work with someone in the future, who are they going to want to work with? You, becuase through your blog you will be creating additional value for them above and beyond expectation.

8. It will save you time

Blogging is a good way of keeping information you need to share regularly at your fingertips, rather than typing out a description of a previous activity just direct people to your blog. A blog can act as a sort of online filling system and makes a great resource when writing press realeses, fact sheets, brochures, and belive it or not webpages (just to name a few).

9. It’s fun

Blogging is fun it’s like having your own magazine, and if you choose to add video and audio podcasts it’s like having a TV and Radio show as well. However it’s more than that. Blogging is also about having a conversation. You will meet interesting people, make new conntections and discover new worlds.

10. It’s Easy

With some of the new web2.0 tools that have emerged in the last few motnhs and the way in which they converge and compliement each other, it has never been eaiser to share, slice, and publish information to a blog. For more information about effortless blogging keep reading eco2oh.

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Tags: eco2oh, web2.0, blog, blogging, NRM, NaturalResourceManagement, CaringForOurCountry, C4OC, NHT

• how damm cool is ANIMOTO? #

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As web 2.0 grows (which it does every minute), Natural Resource Managers will have more and more e-extension tools to tell their sustainable agriculture and environment stories. As the general population consumes more and more rich media butcher paper workshops alone are not going to cut the mustard. Does this mean the end of the shed meeting “no way jose”. It may just mean that growers leave a shed meeting (horticultural extension stable) and that night when the fire up their home computer. They may just find an email from the extension officer who was running the meeting. In the email there might be a link to a wiki containing the day’s notes and a slick online presentation of images from the workshop and key points. It might just be that for your next shed meeting or extensioneffort, that you use A N I M O T O to create follow up presentation.

What is A N I M O T O?

ANIMOTO is a very cool web 2.0 application that allows users to effortlessly create an online video. Using Cinematic Artificial Intelligence Technology, A N I M O T O takes images up select from your computer or online photo hosting site e.g. flickr, and automatically edits them into a very cool video. You can select a music track of your own or use one from their online library, 5 minutes later A N I M O T O has created your online video which you can download, export to Youtube, Myspace, Facebook or a load of other sites, or embed in your own website (check out the vid below).

I made this vid in less that 10 mins, best of all it was absolutley free. Like so many web 2.0 applications you can try this baby for free or you can have unlimited access for a year for US$30. May that US$25 is you use my promo code when you sign up or sign up from one of the links in this story. (disclaimer: if you do this I would recieve 3 months premuim membership free).

Check it out, have a play! It is so simple to use and you could be an e-extension guru by using A N I M O T O to create a follow up presentation from your next shed meeting, water quality improvement plan meeting, leading sheep project, paw paw growers workshop, Landcare meeting, …. you get the idea!

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Tags: AN I M O T O, e-extension, web2.0, video, online video

• join the 2008 Queensland Landcare Conference Facebook Group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=32328676416 #
• sorry bad url for the 2008 Queensland Landcare Conference Facebook Group try http://tinyurl.com/55gclh #
• looking forward to Australian Society of Horticultural Science on the Gold Coast in July #
• http://www.aushs.org.au/EventsandIssues/NTHSConference/tabid/2583/Default.aspx for Aust Soc of Horticulture Science #

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At present everyone in Australian Natural Resource Management seems to be crystal balling regarding future funding arrangements and is some cases will they have a job next month.

Senator Rachel Siewert has been asking some questions of the Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport and Standing Committee on Environment, Communications & the Arts to attempt to get some clarity regarding “Caring For Our Country” funding arrangements.

For those interested in NHT funding arrangements in Australia transcripts of Senator Siewert’s discussions can be found via her website.

Senate Estimates - Caring for our Country 27th May 08, Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport.

Senate Estimates - Caring for our Country 28th May 08, Standing Committee on Environment, Communications & the Arts
Senate Estimates - Landcare & NRM 28th May 08, Standing Committee on Environment, Communications & the Arts.
Senate Estimates - Caring for our Country 29th May 08, Standing Committee on Environment, Communications & the Arts.

Also see below a youtube video of Senator Siewert discussing “Caring For Our Country” on the 13th March 2008.

• listening to a cool podacst - dan bricklin interviewing laura fitton re twitter & seesmic peapodcast.com/danbcast/LauraFitton-2007-12-24.mp3 #
• @Pistachio got you via bricklin mp3, enviro/erosion control hmm trying to invent natural resource management 2.0 is there social media angle #
• @Pistachio trying to nut out how to create value for you. need you on a podcast for australian horticultural conference - web 2.0 workshop #
• @gwbstr i can get http://www.anonymouse.org/ no problems how is beijing? #
• @gwbstr no sorry dude in rural australia would love to go sometime soon though, have fun. #
• @Pistachio @kanter right on the $$, @cat_laine quirky/good, but @thurrell is MIA i.e twitter can’t find. thanks, think about the podcast? #

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• In Mount Perry working through NHT reporting of sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and water quality projects #

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• Just finished a Better Burnett Steering Committee meeting, planning multi scenario’s re Caring for Our Country. #
• Planning a weed control treatment using compost tea on Creeping Lantana (lantana montevidensis) #
• @qldlandcareconf the field trips were well reieved by our steering committee today #
• @jcolman can you expand on the branding question? I am very interested in what I think you are talking about. I am about to relaunch #

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