Reflections on NETC 2012 - Opening Session

I took notes throughout NETC 2012.  These are some of my notes and other thoughts from the conference.  To set the stage, NETC is the National Extension Technology Conference.  I believe this was the third I've attended.  NETC is different than many other conferences since it is not associated with an annual meeting for a related association.  This means a lot more professional development and less meeting time.  This year's conference was hosted by LSU in New Orleans.  The hotel/convention center is on the edge of the French Quarter.  Location and facilities were excellent.  Time was provided after hours to explore the French Quarter and enjoy the amazing cuisine.  In addition, there was plenty of time for networking and discussion of deeper topics as a result of the sessions.  There is a lot happening both with technology and extension, providing opportunity for many strategic discussions about where we need to be as an organization and how we get there. 

Originally, I planned to summarize the conference here, but after thinking about the important messages from the opening session I've decided to break things up a bit.

It was quite impressive to be greeted by not one, but three higher level administrators from the LSU system, each with their unique message connecting technology and extension with practical applications for today's organization.

John Russin, Vice Chancellor and Director of the LSU Experiment Station, challenged the extension and technology professionals assembled to "move real world problems to IT capability."  In addition, push researchers to keep up with the time and develop seemless connections between the field and lab.  He has found weekly meetings with the IT staff in their college to be effective in bridging the connections between research and extension clientele and providing efficiency in solving data collection and delivery challenges.  He supported researchers working graphic designers to communicate with clientele - "Data has to jump from the library shelf."  In addition, researchers need to learn to communicate more effectively.  They need to be able to explain the purpose of their research in a one-sentence headline.  Finally, he expressed his concern that the Land Grant systems are losing their information basis now that we have moved to digital media rather than paper publications.  He spoke of the need to protect earlier data and then provide for connection of historical archives so that extension can provide a "1-stop kiosk for information" that people can use to answer questions, including historical significance and perspectives.  He closed with the statement "Researchers need your help to collect, store, deliver and communicate" their data.

Bill Richardson, Chancellor of the LSU Ag Center spoke of the committment of LSU Ag Center to technology, while cutting budgets.  He spoke of the great advances made at the Ag Center since his arrival there 15 years ago and the importance of remaining current.  His challenge was that we be sure our websites and programs are set up to market to the citizenry, not each other.  That may mean stepping outside our comfort zones and using terminology and approaches that are more effective in reaching our target audiences.

Paul Coreil, Vice Chancellor and Director of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service expressed his belief that today can be the "golden age for Cooperative Extension if we step up to the challenge."  He spoke of the extension, as an "old cultural organization" that needs to be committed to "evolve and change very quickly."  He supports including social media delivery in promotion and tenure processes for faculty along with peer-reviewed journal articles.  Research results need to be delivered in a useable format to our clientelle. The organization needs to identify mechanisms for measuring the impact of electronic information delivery.  Hits aren't enough - they need to answer the question of "So what?  What difference did it [the information] make?  Extension programs cannot eliminate face-to-face interactions with clientele, but can use it with other interactions to obtain maximum impact.  He referred to the Capernicus study which found that Land Grants are still seen as credible, trust-worthy sources of information that will benefit from better branding and access.  He said Land grants have to change by learning to collaborate, working together for application development and obtaining sponsorship.  He supports development of online stores that can meet needs where the people are.  Finally, he spoke of how hurricane Katrina demonstrated the need for emergency back-up plans in a digital environment.  The devastation of Katrina created a great need for residents to have access to information related to food safety, water damage, etc., but electricity wasn't available so online resources were of no use.  The Ag Center was able to work with a publisher in another city to quickly print publications that could be distributed to residents that needed them.  This allowed LSU Cooperative Extension to demonstrate value and provide resources at a time of great need.