Social media platforms, open communication and problem solving in the back-office of Ghanaian extension: A substantive, structural and relational analysis

Munthali, Nyamwaya; Paassen, Annemarie van; Leeuwis, C.; Lie, Rico; Lammeren, R.J.A. van; Aguilar-Gallegos, Norman; Oppong-Mensah, Birgitta

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103123

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Where it may be too soon for apps, it may be legitimate to explore alternative digital tools [89]. For example, the Myanmar cases corresponded with findings from a survey with Burmese farmers [34] and illustrated the need for multiple digital and non-digital channels to reach and engage with more farmers, which additionally widens the access to information for more user groups [90][91][92]. To build Southeast Asian farmers' trust in agricultural advisory apps, co-design requires that developers, programmers and software communities gain a better understanding of farmers' interactions on other social media platforms and how they adapt messaging apps and self-managed chatrooms for sharing forecasts, agroadvisories and knowledge [34,38,93], teaching themselves to build up e-literacy.…”

Section: The Passengers-smallholder Farmersmentioning

confidence: 93%

Do Digital Climate Services for Farmers Encourage Resilient Farming Practices? Pinpointing Gaps through the Responsible Research and Innovation Framework

Simelton¹,

McCampbell

2021

Agriculture

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Digital climate services can support agricultural management decisions under uncertain climatological conditions and may contribute to achieving the ambitions of the fourth agricultural revolution. However, do they encourage social and environmental aspects? Our analysis builds on the four dimensions of the Responsible Research and Innovation framework and evaluates, among other things, which production systems are promoted in climate service apps; how the services contribute to or challenge (inter)national targets for sustainable development, ecosystem restoration, and climate resilience. From a longlist of apps, we present the best documented ones as case studies: nine weather-based and two non-weather-based digital services. We target apps of relevance for Southeast Asian smallholder farming systems, where both supply of and demand for such apps have this far been limited in contrast to the access to phones, and where particularly the supply of apps is poorly documented. The key findings point out several gaps. First, digitalization in Southeast Asia’s farming system is driven by foreign investments, while partnerships with public agencies, in particular national Met Offices, were rare. Services were developed for farmers but not necessarily with farmers, thereby overlooking needs and social factors such as (digital) literacy and trust. While some of the weather-based apps included more than one crop, they primarily support single solutions and none of them targeted mixed or integrated farming systems. This calls for developers of digital climate services to innovate applications in an inclusive manner, and to support governments in achieving their commitments to global climate, biodiversity, and sustainability goals. Difficulties in generating comparable information about the reviewed apps regardless of the study’s geographical focus demonstrates a need for more transparent means and protocols for users to assess and compare digital climate services.

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Section: The Passengers-smallholder Farmersmentioning

confidence: 93%

Do Digital Climate Services for Farmers Encourage Resilient Farming Practices? Pinpointing Gaps through the Responsible Research and Innovation Framework

Simelton¹,

McCampbell

2021

Agriculture

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“…On their own initiative plant doctors began to use these chat groups to communicate on a wide range of topics, sharing observations on pest incidence, seeking advice on treating less-common plant pests, discussing logistics, and also socialising with colleagues. A Plantwise survey in Ghana found that plant doctors adapted the use of the chat groups because they were user-friendly, enabled interaction with otherwise busy colleagues, and facilitated immediate two-way communication in large groups (Munthali et al, 2021). Although varying from country to country, Plantwise adopted the practice of adding new trainees to both dedicated small groups of local trainees and larger national chat groups.…”

Section: Plantwise: Ict-enhanced Advisory Services In Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this section, we use scientific literature, the research of Munthali et al (2021) on chat groups in Ghana's agricultural advisory system, and other insights from Plantwise to ref lect on documented Plantwise chat group experiences. These insights are used to consider possible future dynamics and functioning of the Plantwise backstopping chat groups across pluralistic agricultural advisory systems in Africa.…”

Section: The Functioning Of Chat Groups In the Agricultural Advisory Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of Knowledge in Inclusive Development and Innovation

Ludwig¹,

Boogaard²,

Macnaghten³

et al. 2021

Self Cite

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This book develops an integrated perspective on the practices and politics of making knowledge work in inclusive development and innovation.While debates about development and innovation commonly appeal to the authority of academic researchers, many current approaches emphasise the plurality of actors with relevant expertise for addressing livelihood challenges. Adopting an action-oriented and ref lexive approach, this volume explores the variety of ways in which knowledge works, paying particular attention to dilemmas and controversies. The six parts of the book address the complex interplay of knowledge and politics, starting with the need for knowledge integration in the first part and decolonial perspectives on the politics of knowledge integration in the second part. The following three parts focus on the practices of inclusive development and innovation through three major themes of learning for transformative change, evidence, and digitisation. The final part of the book addresses the governance of knowledge and innovation in the light of political struggles about inclusivity.Exploring conceptual and practical themes through case studies from the Global North and South, this book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners researching and working in development studies, epistemology, innovation studies, science and technology studies, and sustainability studies more broadly.

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“…However, as several authors indicate (Chowdhury and Hambly Odame 2013;Stevens et al 2016;Klerkx 2020;Ofori and El-Gayar 2020;Steinke et al 2020), there is still relatively little empirical research on social media in the agri-food domain, particularly on its instrumental use by research, extension and education organisations, and the information networks that are formed as a result. Earlier work has generally studied the information and knowledge diffusion process by focusing on face-to-face interactions in nonvirtual settings (Materia, Giarè, and Klerkx 2015), and there are still limited insights on how this works in social media settings despite that recently more attention is being given to this (Kaushik et al 2018;Mills et al 2019;Klerkx, Jakku and Labarthe 2019;Ofori and El-Gayar 2020;Munthali et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social network analysis of spreading and exchanging information on Twitter: the case of an agricultural research and education centre in Mexico

Aguilar-Gallegos

Klerkx

Romero-García

et al. 2021

The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension

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Purpose -This paper aims to contribute to deepening insights on social media in agricultural research by presenting a case study on how a research and education centre in Mexico connected, communicated, and interacted in a research and education community on Twitter.Design/methodology/approach -By using a Social Network Analysis (SNA) approach, 1585 tweets were analysed. The data was gathered using NodeXL. Afterwards, SNA was performed through the igraph R package.Findings -The dynamic of virtual interaction around an agricultural research and education centre shows that different roles are needed to connect and foster the interaction on Twitter, as well as to spread information broader. While some accounts are functioning as creators of information, others act as consumers and diffusers of it, and a few more accounts play both roles.Practical Implications -To increase the size and strengthen the interaction of a network on Twitter, it is advisable to have the support of other accounts and to promote its use among potential users. This requires capabilities to develop a social media strategy and pro-actively engage new followers.Theoretical Implications -Through a SNA approach, it is possible to understand better the functions of weak and strong ties in virtual settings, i.e. the former to extend the network, and the latter to strengthen it. These ties can enhance information dissemination and enable exchanges on social media.Originality/value -This paper applies SNA as a theoretical and methodological framework to demonstrate that the interactions among users are different when a whole network is analysed, and when it is divided into the mentions and retweets networks. By doing this, hidden patterns are revealed.

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Social media platforms, open communication and problem solving in the back-office of Ghanaian extension: A substantive, structural and relational analysis

Cited by 27 publications

References 35 publications

Do Digital Climate Services for Farmers Encourage Resilient Farming Practices? Pinpointing Gaps through the Responsible Research and Innovation Framework

Do Digital Climate Services for Farmers Encourage Resilient Farming Practices? Pinpointing Gaps through the Responsible Research and Innovation Framework

The Politics of Knowledge in Inclusive Development and Innovation

Social network analysis of spreading and exchanging information on Twitter: the case of an agricultural research and education centre in Mexico

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