Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Blog Use in the Turfgrass Industry


March is officially here which means that another growing season is fast approaching. iaTURF will already be entering its third year in operation! We will continue to bring you timely updates on interesting topics through the blog.

Blogging and the use of social media have really changed the way people communicate. In the academic world, one way we communicate with our peers is by writing papers, or manuscripts. To let people know about the success of blogging as a means to communicate with turfgrass professionals, iaTURF co-authored a paper with the Turf Disease Blog.

The Turf Disease Blog is one I like to follow. Content for this blog is provided by turfgrass pathologists across the U.S. If you’re not familiar with their blog you should definitely check it out.

A summary of our article is below. Click here to read the full article from the Journal of Extension.

Using Blogs to Disseminate Information in the Turfgrass Industry

Jones, Marcus A.; Kaminski, John E.; Christians, Nick E.; Hoffmann, Mark D.

The ability to provide regional information to turfgrass professionals in a timely format can help them avoid potential problems. While traditional, hard-copy based Extension materials can provide a wealth of information, the ability to communicate brief yet current updates can be invaluable. Two Web-based blogs were developed to provide information to turfgrass managers on a local (iaTURF) and international level (Turf Diseases). Data indicated that the blogs reached an average of 34.9 to 148.4 people per day. The use of blogs is an effective means to deliver timely information to a geographically diverse and large number of turfgrass managers.

Marcus Jones
Graduate Research Assistant

1 comment:

Unknown said...

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