AgWired

You may already know that the first USDA Farm Bill Forum is complete and that several more have been announced. This is very early in the process so it’ll be interesting to see how these go. The first one had about 400 people participate in Nashville, TN. You can download a Word doc transcript of the forum here.

“The interest in the next farm bill shown here today has exceeded my expectations,” Johanns said. “The thoughtful discourse on the direction of future farm policy is very encouraging and I look forward to the same caliber of discussion at future Farm Bill Forums as we continue our nationwide tour.”

The public is also welcome to submit comments via the USDA Farm Bill Forums website.

Through a post on Mediapace I found a link to a study done by Catalyst Group Design titled “Net Rage” A Study of Blogs and Usability At first it sounded like a pretty good document and I suppose you can gain some insight from their study and findings. However, it says they did this study using 9 people. I’m familiar with doing research on small groups of participants but not this small. I wonder what the study would have concluded if they’d used a group of at least 50 or 60 participants.

With this small sample size they came to this conclusion:

Even assuming mainstream interest, current blog design standards – at least in terms of navigation, nomenclature and taxonomy – are a barrier to consumer acceptance. In fact, the design of most blogs can incite “net rage” (in the words of one test participant).

I think this is a stretch but if you read the full document there are some conclusions that I can understand and am not surprised at. For example, “Not a single participant understood the function or significance of trackbacks or trackback pings.” I can relate to that. I’m not sure I even understand trackback eventhough I have this feature enabled on AgWired and use it.

I’m finding that most people can search for and surf around a website, even a blog. They don’t seem to know when they’re on a blog or even particularly care. I don’t care if they know AgWired is a blog as long as they visit and use the RSS site feed to subscribe. I have been somewhat amazed to learn how little people do know about using the internet, especially people in professional marketing positions.

We just need to keep our audience in mind when we create a website, any website, including a blog. It looks like Catalyst Design Group has been very successful in creating websites since they’ve done work for some big companies. Not only do they have their own website but you can find their blog here.

If you have a chance to read the full study let me know what you think. By the way, that link at the bottom of this article that says “Comment/Trackback” is what you click on to write your own online comment to this article! Just in case you didn’t know.

I’m back. After 9 days, 5 of them driving. I thought I could get more posted while on this trip but it just didn’t work out that way. It was a family thing and spending time shooting fireworks with my nephews & nieces in Georgia or at a reception with in-laws in Florida was just more important. The main reason for the trip was to move my oldest daughter to south Florida. She’ll finish her college career at Ave Maria University in Naples. It’s a pretty cool place. They’re in a temporary campus while they build a new college and town nearby. Very amazing place.

So, it’s back to the blogosphere for me. I’m sure I’ll find something to post out of the several hundred emails I’ve saved over the last week!

I thought my 3,000 plus miles in the last 9 days was a lot of travel but our Sec. of Ag Mike Johannes is doing much more. He’s travelling in China and Africa July 9-21 for multilateral and bilateral meetings on agricultural trade and development. Although it doesn’t have frequent postings he is writing a travelogue of sorts. I kind of think a blog would be a better way to do it but then what do I know? Here’s an excerpt from his latest post.

Monday, July 11, 2005 Posted 2:00 AM BEIJING, CHINA

It is important that I travel internationally to raise important issues with our international counterparts. One reason I am in Beijing is to work through some issues related to our ability to export beef into the Chinese market. We had a significant breakthrough. The Chinese agreed to send a technical team that will be in the U.S. this October. That is a very positive development. Full post