| Title of Project: | Developing and Delivering a National Alfalfa Information System | |
| Project Director: | David B. Hannaway | |
| Applicant Organization: | Oregon State University |
| Congressional District Number: | 5 | |
| Period of Proposed Project Dates: | 10/01/1999 to 09/30/2000 |
Near optimal management facilitated by this knowledge resource will increase production efficiency and lead to a more competitive position for US alfalfa producers. Greater standardization of hay-quality testing measures will facilitate international marketing of hay and processed forms of alfalfa (cubes, wafers, meal, etc.). In addition, combining standard quality measures with the use of electronic technologies (email and websites) will allow buyers and sellers to communicate more effectively and efficiently.
Alfalfa is one of the few crops grown in every state of the union. It is the most important hay and pasture plant in North and South America, Asia, and Europe. Alfalfa is high yielding, very palatable and nutritious, and produces more protein per acre than any other livestock feed. It is: grown on over 27 million acres in the US, fed to millions of livestock, used as a part of farming rotations, used for soil improvement and weed control, and used as a health food for its antiscorbutic properties. Alfalfa is utilized as pasture, hay, silage, meal, pellets, cubes, sprouts, fuel, and for carotene and chlorophyll extracts.
Currently there is a great need for a consolidated resource of alfalfa information. Few crops have the uses, range, and importance of alfalfa. But why fund this proposal to develop an alfalfa information system?
#1. The developers have extensive experience in information systems. The Project Director (PD) has successfully developed, implemented, maintained, and revised the Forage Information System (FIS) since the inception of the WWW in 1994. The NAIS will be connected to the FIS, which reaches a large audience of interested users with daily contacts, "hits," of hundreds to thousands. The PD also has experience with CD-ROM development, recently releasing a forage identification CD-ROM and currently developing an Orchardgrass CD-ROM.
#2. The design to develop this NAIS includes the progressive and much needed element of peer-review. Having a website which contains information (about any topic) leads to an accumulation of information, but does not guarantee the quality of the information. Without a screening of the presented material, the source is but a collection, a potpourri of opinion and experiences. This project will implement competent peer review by national experts. Professional review of "scholarly" materials has been a defining component of professional society publications. Passing peer review is the standard for original research. Development of electronic documents has suffered from the lack of a similar process. This project will work with professional societies to create and use a new multi-professional society peer review process, thereby improving the quality of the alfalfa information system product and ensuring professional credit for contributors.
#3. This project will include thorough educational design by instructional design experts. Finding a wealth of material at a website is a welcomed sight to internet users but users become weary and frustrated when material is not presented in a manner that enhances learning and utilization. Good educational design guides and mentors users through the material, which can produce wise applications and better decision-making by those served.
#4. This project will make the best use of the two primary technologies available today for assembling and delivering multimedia electronic information, CD-ROM and WWW. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. CD-ROMs provide the best opportunities for on-site delivery of high quality color images, sound, video, and software. CD-ROMs can also be useful for successful introductions to WWW capabilities when the CD-ROMs are well designed, properly paced, and inherently web-aware. WWW browsers are ideal for obtaining the most current information from anywhere in the world but depend on high speed connections to be usable for high quality images or video segments. Together the WWW and CD-ROMs complement one another in developing and delivering comprehensive information systems for various agricultural applications.
#5. This project already has extensive support and expressed commitment from industry, university personnel, producers, and users. The need for a National Alfalfa Information System has been repeatedly expressed and requested by more than 60 individuals from 50 universities (see Appendix items for cooperators). Recent efforts have focused on prototype development. Funding now would bring about a product that utilizes nationwide cooperative effort to create a world-class resource cleverly utilizing all appropriate media technologies. The NAIS will be comprehensive in scope, iterative in nature, and build over time, so efforts expended will not be lost or grow outdated, but rather built upon. To be useful and effective, the product must be dynamic and current, and trusted because of peer review. It must address the needs of people in a manner that enhances learning and encourages progress. The NAIS will be designed to meet these criteria.
The very nature of this project is to make more efficient use of national and international experts by sharing information resources; accumulating the best information about alfalfa from subject matter experts; designing an eduational tool for the use of that information; and disseminating that information using the most current communication tools. This will bring all valuable information about alfalfa to one source so anyone interested can utilize it effectively and efficiently. The production, marketing, and use of alfalfa influences individuals involved in agribusiness, agricultural communications, education, farm and ranch profitability and sustainability, agronomy, animal science, environmental and natural resources, plant science, veterinary medicine, 4H, and the health food industry.
National and international experts will be utilized from the program areas indicated above. However, simply having these experts contribute information to a web site is not enough because the information must be navigable, meaningful, and accurate. This project will utilize subject matter, educational design, and communication experts to develop and disseminate this world-class informational resource. Peer-review will ensure accuracy and reward participants for their scholarly activity. This combined informational resource will save time and money, and reduce confusion.
The Project Director is familiar with and has served as lead forage editor for the USDA Agricultural Databases for Decision Support (ADDS) project. The NAIS project will develop the first crop-focused, decision support system product, and alfalfa will best complement the current ADDS projects focused on dairy and other livestock. The NAIS will provide an improved system for responding to information needs worldwide by including instructional design and peer review of materials rather than simply collecting existing resources.
The NAIS will develop educational/instructional materials and distribute these via WWW and CD-ROM. Present information system development activities include exploring the use of Folio Views for CD products and Folio Site Director for WWW applications, allowing for a uniform product on both platforms and consistency with USDA ADDS projects. Other current tools will also be evaluated for potential use with the NAIS project.
Objective 2. Improve the competitive position of United States agriculture in international markets.
Alfalfa is a crop grown in every state in the US. Although an important export crop, more than half of its use is in support of local or regional livestock production systems. Alfalfa is unique because of its dual role as the most valuable hay crop and as a soil conserving and improving crop contributing to the sustainability of the land. Alfalfa is used in crop rotations with other agronomic and vegetable crops. Alfalfa improves soil fertility and soil quality from its extensive nitrogen fixing root system and organic matter contributions. This reduces the need for applying supplemental nitrogen from commercial fertilizer. That cannot be said for the main crops: corn, wheat, barley, tobacco, rice, and oats.
The NAIS will facilitate decision making for alfalfa producers and users, thereby improving their competitive position in the global market place. The decision making process includes site and variety selection, establishment (seeding rates, mixtures, seeding depth and form of seeding, reseeding options including autotoxicity concepts, time of reseeding, pre-plant liming, fertilization, weed control, etc.), management of the established crop (fertilization, harvest timing, whether to graze or mechanically harvest, machinery, etc.), and post-harvest activities (ensiling, baling, processing, storage, quality testing, marketing, etc.). In each of these decision areas information is needed concerning experts, vendors, organizations, and publications. The NAIS will assemble these into an accurate resource for decision making.
The PD has experience with expanding US market interests through his activities with the USDA Market Access Program (forage, soil conservation, and turf grass seed educational programs in China). His experience has revealed the readiness of the US and developing countries for WWW and CD-ROM-based information systems leading to increased exports. The NAIS would be among the first tools developed to respond to this global information need and would likely result in increased sales of US alfalfa-related products worldwide.
I. Pre-Award Period Activities
1. Concept development. For the past several years, a group of individuals from many states, institutions, and disciplines (including the PD) have been developing an improved design for collaborative work; "USDA CSREES Global Information Systems for Decision Support: Using Technology to Work Smarter." (URL: http://www.forages.css.orst.edu/Projects/National/GISDS/GISDS_Concept_Paper.html). This concept paper has been presented at national meetings of professional societies and has formed the conceptual basis of this proposal for a NAIS. Alfalfa-specific discussions pertaining to developing a NAIS have been part of recent international, national, and regional alfalfa meetings including the International Grasslands Congress, the North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference, the National Alfalfa Symposium, the California Alfalfa Symposium, and the American Forage and Grassland Council annual meeting. These national, international, and regional meetings and discussions have identified the need for development of the NAIS and a large group of individuals with expertise and interest in participating in its development.
2. Prototype creation. To facilitate further discussions about the project and explore potential sponsorships, several WWW prototypes and a professional meeting poster have been developed (see Appendix items). These have been shared with colleagues, permitting them to make specific suggestions for topics and approaches, thereby refining the concept and intended products. Prototype development has included review and evaluation of the current ADDS design and software used for the CD-ROM and web segments.
3. Pre-proposal development. The ADEC program preproposal was developed and submitted based on the above concept, planned cooperators, and prototypes.
4. Proposal development. Reviewer recommendations were addressed and the full proposal was developed.
Collaborators were organized into three teams: 1) a "Core Development Team," 2) a "Topic Experts Team," and 3) a "Regional Review Team." This approach will ensure multidisciplinary development and subject matter expertise from around the country, minimizing the time commitments necessary from the topics experts (5%), provide specific management recommendations from the regional review team (10%), and provide a consistent, educationally sound and aesthetically pleasing format from the core development team (20%).
Letters of intent to participate and CV materials of cooperators have been assembled as part of the proposal appendix.
A revised prototype was developed and posted to the WWW at the following URL:
http://www.forages.css.orst.edu/Topics/Species/Legumes/Alfalfa/NAIS/index_table.html
This prototype contains an outline of the intended topic areas, resources, and project description, authors, reviewers, index, glossary, and search capabilities. The actual product design will develop in an iterative fashion with the help of the educational and media design professionals. Topic areas will be refined, and a regional management recommendation section will be added. In addition, the format of each section will provide for authorship and reviewer credits.
5. Sponsorship solicitation. Industry sponsorship for continuing development of the NAIS is being pursued. This approach has been implemented on the Forage Information System and alfalfa-related industry representatives have indicated a willingness to participate in this way. This will permit faster development and a greater potential for long-term sustainability than the one time funding provided by ADEC.
II. Award Period Activities
1. System design. The core development team will collectively evaluate the current prototype and develop a system design that provides for: ease of navigation, a mentoring pedagogy, comprehensive subject matter coverage, and a beautiful appearance.
2. Content development. The topics experts will provide available alfalfa information to the core development team for review, selection, and initial draft development. Regional experts will provide specific region (agro-ecozone) management recommendations including monthly activity calendars for the various regions.
3. Revisions and peer-review. Topic drafts will be posted to the WWW and topical experts will review and revise using a password-protected, on-line editing system. Regional experts will review materials and provide region-specific management recommendations, as appropriate for the topic. Final review will be provided by the managing editor. Completed modules will be reviewed by the PD and educational design specialist. Peer review will be provided by a multidisciplinary team from several professional societies (process to be developed as part of this project with the American Society of Agronomy, American Society of Animal Science, American Society for Information Science, Graphic Communications Association, Agricultural Communicators in Education, etc.).
4. End-user review. Target audience representatives will be used to review selected completed and reviewed topic areas to ensure appropriateness of the information provided. This will include county agents, farmers and ranchers, and alfalfa-related industry personnel.
5. CD-ROM development. Parallel to development of the WWW segment, CD-ROM development will be guided by a desire to provide the same content available on the WWW while adding audio, video, and animations that will complement the educational value of the WWW product but which are problematic for WWW delivery (due to slow downloading). CD-ROM development will follow the same sequence of development, revision, and review process. CD-ROM artwork (cover and disc) will be developed by the Media Design expert. The CD-ROM will be pressed and assembled in shrink-wrapped jewel cases.
6. Evaluation/assessment tool development. Parallel to the development of the WWW and CD-ROM products, an evaluation/assessment tool will be developed by the Oregon State University Survey Center. This tool will include WWW, email, and regular mail components to determine the use and impact of the products developed by this project.
III. Post-Award Period Activities
Post-award period activities will include the following:
1. Announcement of the completed WWW segment at various professional meetings and through the Forage Information System.
2. Distribution of CD-ROMs, with sale revenues to be contributed to long-term sustainability of the project.
3. Continued solicitation of industry support for long-term sustainability of the project.
4. Compilation and summarization of results from the evaluation/assessment tools.
5. Development and submission of the Final Grant Report.
6. Development and submission of a journal paper describing the development and impact of the project.
#1. Agricultural producers are faced with ever increasing demands from an economic, environmental, and social standpoint. Complicating matters is the increasing complexity of management systems that require far-ranging expertise and rapid availability of information. Decisions that were once made with confidence by the manager using his or her own expertise now often require information and expertise from other resources. Decisions made in the privacy of the farm operation may now have significant implications beyond the farm gate. Tools for better decision making are needed by farmers and ranchers that bring together the expertise of the land grant university system into a comprehensive knowledge resource.
#2. Agricultural Extension specialists and agents are increasingly being asked to "do more with less." Stretching their capabilities to broader subject matter areas and/or geographical regions of responsibility due to budget constraints, they need tools that bring the best science-based support for decision making to the user community.
#3. Agricultural instructors at land grant universities and community colleges are being asked to teach more classes, reach more students, and expand their expertise areas into subjects they have not taught. They need readily accessible, comprehensive knowledge resources for world-class instruction from anywhere in the nation.
#4. Youth education program leaders also need up-to-date collections of the best information and educational programs in an easy-to-use format that can be used in group or individualized learning projects.
#5. Agricultural consultants, like Extension specialists and agents, need easy access to land-grant university information.
#6. Commercial product vendors, including seed, fertilizer, equipment, feed quality, ration formulation companies, and others, need a comprehensive source of alfalfa information.
#7. Alfalfa product consumers around the world need a ready source of information about alfalfa in all of its forms (bales, cubes, pellets, meal, etc.) and ready access to vendors able to provide them the product they are seeking at a price and quality consistent with their needs.
The PI and many of the Core Development Team have extensive experience in making computer technology useful to those with visual and/or auditory impairments. Experience with auditory supplements, color contrasts, and image descriptions is abundant.
The NAIS will also be helpful to those users with limited English language skills. This is important since alfalfa has an international market and uniformity in standards is essential for any product that is bought and sold globally.
Benefits to the learners, institutions, agencies, states, and nation will vary, but are all based on the improvements derived from this projects collaborative main product; around-the-clock access to up-to-date, easy-to-use, and peer-reviewed alfalfa information.
For faculty, the shared workload and national peer-review process will improve morale, efficiency, and effectiveness. For users, it will make the best information readily available and improve the reputation of the USDA and land-grant university system. For future developers of other agricultural information resources, this project will serve as an improved model for information-system type projects.
The PD for this project has had successful experience with solicting and utilizing the expertise and knowledge of colleagues worldwide and extensive experience in developing networks and systems. The Forage Information System WWW has been functional and progressive for over five years (URL: http://forages.orst.edu). The newly designed system utilizes an up-to-date database structure and dynamic page creation, representing state-of-the-art WWW development and maintenance tools.
Many letters of desire to participate have been received by the PD for this proposed alfalfa information system and are available as part of the proposal Appendix. Participants represent national experts in every phase of alfalfa production, management, and utilization. Industry representation is also strong, with seed, fertilizer, machinery, agrichemical, and other alfalfa-related industries represented as cooperators. Farmers and ranchers (as part of state and regional hay grower associations) also have indicated a desire to contribute to the project with their considerable practical knowledge and experience.
CORE, EXPERT, and REGIONAL TEAMS
As indicated above, the overall design includes a Core Development Team, a Topic Experts Team, and a Regional Review Team. The Core Development Team will design the system, collect information for, contribute to, review, and revise materials. The Topic Experts will provide and review information on specific topic areas. The Regional Review Team will ensure that each region of the US is properly and comprehensively represented in the NAIS and develop a production calendar for each region. This is important for a crop like alfalfa which is grown in diverse areas and climate conditions.
EXTRODINARY GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS
In addition to the organization of the project, the group of individuals who have been assembled to be contributors is a truely exceptional group, including Extension, research, and teaching experience in alfalfa, education, design, and development of media-based educational products. A wide spectrum of abilities and expertise areas has been assembled, representing the very best alfalfa experts in the nation.
WEB-AWARE CD-ROM DEVELOPMENT
This project will incorporate previously gained knowledge and experience with making CD-ROM tools more useful by being "Web-aware." This means the static information of CD-ROMs can be less of a disadvantage since the NAIS CD-ROM will be automatically connected to the WWW. This imbedded WWW connection has shown to encourage CD-ROM users into more fruitful WWW usage.
Water Sustainability:
Alfalfa is a crop criticized for high water use. This accusation is sometimes correct, especially when improper management leads to excessive water use. The NAIS will provide information and resources to improve management practices and decisions so that water use is optimized. Better land and water stewardship will be a focus point of the educational tools provided in the NAIS.
Alfalfa Hay/Silage Quality Testing:
One area of controversy in the marketing of alfalfa centers on quality. Users often ask, "Am I getting a good product for a good price?" This is best answered when the quality of the product is determined using accepted objective standards and when the price reflects those standard measures. There is a great need for uniform standards of quality. The NAIS will provide an excellent forum to present and review the progress in standardizing measures of alfalfa quality.
International Markets:
When alfalfa quality is more uniformly determined, international markets will have an easier time determining what and where to buy. Currently, foreign buyers have to wade through many subjective descriptors of quality. This is difficult for those fluent in English, and much more difficult for those with other native languages.
Variety/Culitvar Testing:
Extension programs throughout the US are involved in variety/cultivar testing trials. Most of this work is utilized locally because there is no central coordination or dissemination of results. The NAIS will serve as a central posting service by supplying a template for variety trial results. This will greatly reduce duplication of effort, provide comparable and more useful results, provide more comprehensive dissemination of scientific knowledge, and save time for those contributing data.
Methods for answering these questions will be as follows:
Accuracy: will be determined by peer review and user comments.
Applicability to decision making: will be determined by a mail-in/email questionaire in the CD-ROM and a user feedback "pop-up boxes" in the WWW.
Utilization by varied audiences: will be determined by periodic response buttons for those with hearing and vision impairments and the 7 target audiences.
Navigability: will be determined by user comments and information systems professionals.
Usage: will be determined by the number of hits, and as technology allows, hits by user group classifications.
Crediting contributors: will be an overt part of the design and contributors will be surveyed as to the effects on promotion and tenure and professional recognition.
Dissemination:
Dissemination of the NAIS will be intitiated quickly by its connection to the Forage Information System (FIS). The FIS will also promote the NAIS with advertisements and updates to its "Whats New" section. The CD-ROM can be highlighted in various sections. The NAIS will be promoted at national and international meetings, and the CD-ROM will be provided to businesses through a sponsorship program already a component of the FIS.
Assessment:
The second objective of the NAIS is to improve the competitive position of the US in international markets. The developers of the NAIS must determine what kind of impact the NAIS makes in agriculture.
Once initiated, the NAIS will solicit and encourage feedback from all the targeted audiences to assess its impact. Feedback, revisions, ideas, and comments will be encouraged informally and formally. Informally, WWW users will have email and feedback boxes for comments. CD-ROM users will receive comment cards to be mailed or emailed into the developers. Formally and more quantitatively, the number of hits will be recorded within the WWW design. The number and types of willing sponsors will also be recorded to provide an assessment of the utility of the NAIS.
To solicit ideas and comments from organizations involved in alfalfa production and/or use but possibly not comfortable with computer technologies, a questionaire will be mailed to alfalfa organizations. Alfalfa-related business statistics will be collected and recorded for the award year and 3 subsequent years to track the impact of the resource on international markets.
The NAIS has the potential and design to to be a model for collaborative work among scholarly and business experts. Few topics can represent as wide an area of utilization as alfalfa. Few topics are as common to the world. Few topics are as important to the sustainability of natural resources. The NAIS can bring people together to work on something valuable, important, and needed but not complicated or controversial. Alfalfa is a good topic to solicit collaborative work.
Peer-reviewed Electronic Publications
The NAIS can also be the first major product for peer-reviewed, scholarly material appearing in a current technology format. The time has come to give credit for and encourage information that is presented in something other than a scientific journal. But credit must be warranted and earned.
Research, Education, and Industry Collaboration
The NAIS is a blend of scientific, business, and educational talents. Often one or two of these components is missing in many computer products. There is extensive information on the WWW, but few sites have represented scientific material in a educationally sound format for positive ecological and business results.
Tapping Talents and Targeting Under-represented Groups
This project will utilize the skills of several women in fields often dominated by men; agriculture and computer science. The lead educational designer, webmaster, information systems expert, media designer, and several topic experts are women. Emphasis will be placed on encouraging contributions from and use by women.
Target audiences who are location bound or who have limited access to Extension education programming will benefit from both CD-ROM and WWW products from this project, allowing them access to the best national experts at a time and location of their choosing. The Regional Review Team will particularly benefit those who are location bound by providing regionally-adapted national information.
This project also will provide many opportunities for student involvement. The NAIS will use current technologies and provide student workers with valuable employment skills. Previous student workers involved in "Web-aware" CD-ROMs and WWW systems have completed the projects with vastly improved computer and collaborative work skills, both very marketable.
2. WWW Prototype creation.
Utilize other project experience.
3. Pre-proposal / full proposal development.
Solicit help from collaborators.
Create core, topic, and review teams.
Create initial content outline.
Solicit industry sponsors.
Revise and expand WWW prototype.
4. CD-ROM development.
Determine capactities of Folio software.
Develop initial instructional design.
Create CD-ROM prototype.
Determine additional CD content potential.
II. Award Period Activities
1. WWW Development
10/01/99 Determine needed material/information.
11/01/99 Distribute duties and responsibilities.
12/01/99-02/28/00 Design activities/teaching materials.
12/01/99-03/31/00 Develop needed components.
04/01/99- Conduct evaluation and assessment.
04/01/99-09/30/00 Revise products / post to WWW / announce.
2. CD-ROM Development
10/01/99 Design template.
11/01/99-05/01/00 Create graphics and artwork.
12/01/99-04/01/00 "Burn" preliminary CDs.
04/01/00-09/30/00 Review initial drafts.
04/01/00-07/31/00 Revise according to reviews.
08/01/00-08/31/00 Press "final" CD-ROM.
09/01/00- Market CDs.
09/01/00- Conduct evaluation/assessment.
3. Evaluation / assessment tool development.
01/01/00-02/29/00 Develop evaluation/assessment tool.
III. Post-award Period Activities
1. Announce availability of the WWW segment and CD-ROM at national professional meetings and through the Forage Information System website.
2. Distribute CD-ROMs.
3. Compile and summarize evaluation and assessment information.
4. Develop final grant report.
5. Prepare journal article.
6. Continue project activities through industry sponsorship and sales of CD-ROM.
Project Director:
David Hannaway 20
(10 percent grant, 10 percent cost sharing)
Educational Design:
Kimberly Hannaway 20
(320 hours, grant)
Media Design:
Patti Sohn 10
(160 hours, grant)
WWW Development:
Sara Griffith 20
(10 percent grant, 10 percent cost sharing)
CD-ROM Development:
Craig Ciaffoni 20
(320 hours, grant)
Information Systems:
Elaine Nowick 20
(10 percent grant, 10 percent contributed)
Managing Editor and Industry Liaison:
Walt Wedin 20
(320 hours, grant)
REGIONAL REVIEW TEAM
Each regional review team member will contribute 5 to 10 percent time to this project.
Northeast:
Les Vough (MD)
Sid Bosworth (VT)
Southeast:
Garry Lacefield (KY)
Don Ball (AL)
North Central:
Dan Undersander (WI)
Neal Martin (WI)
South Central:
John Caddel (OK)
Garry Kilgore (KS)
Intermountain West:
Steve Orloff (CA)
Alan Gray (WY)
Northwest:
Ray Ditterline (MT)
Tom Griggs (WA)
Southwest:
Dan Putnam (CA)
Mike Ottman (AZ)
TOPIC EXPERTS TEAM
Most topic experts will contribute 5 to 10 percent time to this project. This team will be an additional 40 experts. (An initial draft list of topic experts is provided as part of the Appendix, with letters of interest and CVs from many.)