We have decided to interrupt the regular news, tips and tricks that you get from the NDSU Ag Comm Web Services blog with a quick update on what we have been working on in the past month. "Why would we do such a thing?" you ask. Well, there are a couple of reasons.
First, this review can serve as a reminder about topics covered in previous posts that you may have missed or forgotten. Second, it gives us a place to share with you on-going and completed projects that have not been discussed in previous blog posts. Finally, it answers a question we have been hearing from some of our stakeholders, "What exactly is Web Services doing?"
So, without further ado, here is what we've been doing for March 2011.
The month started with our continuing effort to communicate the value of NDSU Extension Service to congressional leaders, our state legislature, our stakeholders and the public. Web Services made significant contributions to North Dakota's part of the national "CES Value" effort. This included posting stories of value and testimonials to the NDSU Extension Service web site and using Facebook and Twitter in a coordinated social media effort to communicate the value of cooperative extension.
Web Services offered 7 online training sessions (13 hours total) in March 2011. There were a total of 55 participants that received training on the Ag Content Management System (Ag CMS), Facebook pages, Twitter, Flickr, personal learning networks and more. You can check out the archived sessions at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/agcomm/training/wimba-archives.
We also got to see many of you in person this month at the NDSU Extension Service Spring Conference. Web Services led 8 conference sessions on subjects including eXtension Ask an Expert, finding and using free image legally, blogging, Ag CMS and more, reaching 65 participants.
So far in 2011, Web Services has delivered more than 38 hours of training.
7 new Ag CMS sites went live in March, including the NDSU Extension "For Employees" site, complex site with a lot of content and links, which was transitioned to the Ag CMS by Web Services. The other sites going live in March were Small Business, FeedList (transitioned by Web Services), Eddy County Extension, Adams County Extension, Master Gardener Program and Traill County Extension. The staff who created these sites in Ag CMS deserve congratulations for moving forward in their efforts to communicate online. Web Services is proud to have assisted them in getting their sites live.
With these new sites, there are now 92 sites live in the Ag CMS, including 31 county extension sites and 7 research extension center sites. You can see the full list of "live" Ag CMS sites at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/AgCMS/live-ag-cms-sites/live-ag-cms-sites
We put out 2 new "Working Differently in Extension" podcasts in March. The first podcast dealt with the release of the iPad2 and with the use of Twitter hashtags to rally support around and issue, specifically the "CES Value" effort mentioned above. The second podcast of the month dealt with ways Extension professionals could you Twitter to listen, promote, participate, publish and build community.
Last month, Web Services continued to work on a number of projects. In the coming months, look for updates on efforts to transition Food and Nutrition content to the Ag CMS, training county extension staff on building their sites in Ag CMS, an easier to use blogging environment, and much more.