NCCE TechTalk

Are you active in your community?

2009-06-30T13:54:00.000-04:00

To be an effective Extension Agent you have to be active in your community. There are many different types of communities. But basically, they boil down to sharing a common location, a common interest or both. With all the social networking tools available today, it is much easier for communities to be created and maintained around a common interest. These tools can also be used to keep people who live and work near each other better connected as well.

One tool I have come across recently that I think has some use in extension programming is Ning.com. Ning has a lot of features similar to Facebook groups, like individual member pages, event calendars, photo and video sharing and discussions. But, it has some features that make it better suited to extension educational programs like forums, blogs and subgroups. If your audience (or you) is new to social media, this would be a great way to get started. It provides a safe place to learn and share without many distractions. It keeps the discussion focused on the topic.

How do I see agents using Ning in their programs? One example would be to continue the learning and teaching away from the face-to-face meeting. When I was a livestock agent I taught a several week long "Beef Cattle 101" course. We met for a couple hours once a week. But, from the end of one class to the beginning of the next class, most of the participants had no communications with the others. Using a tool like Ning would have given us all the ability to continue the discussion and expand it into other areas. The participants could ask questions, answer each other's questions and start to develop a community that would continue past the end of the class.

I could see this being useful for commodity or professional associations, parenting classes, 4-H clubs, master gardeners (if you aren't using the ncsugarden.com site), young farmers clubs, local community clubs, and lots more.

It is real easy to learn and setup. If you need any help, please call on me.

Some good examples of how Ning groups are being used and to let you see the potential are:
NCSU Web Developers
NCSU College of Education
Agricultural Communication
Firefighter Nation
JEMS (Journal of Emergency Medical Services)

Or search Ning.com by clicking on "Find Social Networks" for keywords of groups you'd be interested in. There are lots of currently existing and active Ning groups.

If you are interested in a brief overview of Ning and creating a Ning group, I'll be presenting a "30 minute session" on July 29 at 2:00 ET at: http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn. Sponsored by eXtension - see the Schedule of Professional Development Opportunities for more information.

Information presented here is provided as a general information resource. Any mention of commercial products is for information only; it does not imply recommendation, endorsement nor support by Extension IT.

Time is running out on Symantec at NCSU!

2009-06-05T13:24:00.001-04:00

For the last several months, you've been hearing about the change in the antivirus software that NCSU supports.

The NCSU Office of Information Technology (OIT) will be ending support for Symantec antivirus products on June 22. All NCSU-provided Symantec antivirus products should be uninstalled by that date.

Now is the time to update your remaining computers to Trend Micro OfficeScan for Windows, or Intego VirusBarrier for Mac OS X. After June 22, workstations will increasingly be at risk for virus infection, since their antivirus definitions will cease updating.

Because NCSU's license for Symantec products will expire prior to the end of the fiscal year, OIT will take the campus Symantec parent servers offline on June 22. Existing Symantec clients will begin complaining about virus definitions being out of date 30 days after the last time an antivirus client checks in with the parent server.

We encourage remaining NCSU Symantec users to upgrade to NCSU's new antivirus products: Trend Micro OfficeScan 8 for Windows, and Intego VirusBarrier X5 for Mac OS X.

Client downloads and further details are available on the NCSU Antivirus Resources website: http://www.ncsu.edu/antivirus

ACE/NETC presentations

2009-06-05T11:36:00.003-04:00

By: John Dorner

I'll be attending the ACE/NETC in Iowa this week. Good news! If you won't be able to attend, you can at least catch the keynote speakers and some of the sessions. They will be recorded, so you you can watch them whenever you want.

The broadcast schedule is at:
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/acenetc2009/sessions/broadcast.htm

One of the sessions I'll be co-presenting will be broadcast on Sunday at 1:30 PM - Creating Educational Podcast on a Shoestring Budget. I'm co-presenting this one with my good friend Pete Flores, Texas AgriLIFE Extension. We met at the 1998 NETC and have learned a lot from each other since then.

I'm really looking forward to visiting with a bunch of my colleagues from across the country. I communicate with many of them throughout the year, but this is the one time I get to visit with them face-to-face. This conference gives me lots of ideas and revitalizes me for another year. It's a highlight of my year.

News release for "Ask an Expert" widget

2009-06-02T15:08:00.002-04:00

Have you added the "Ask an Expert" widget to your county website? If so, you might want to use this news release template written by Adrian Gaskins, Extension Agent - Information Management to let your target audience know about this new feature.

This just gives your audience another way to contact you. The nice thing about them asking questions via this widget is that you can answer it in much less time than a phone call or face-to-face visit. For the client, the advantage is they can ask their question at any time of the day or night.

If you have any questions or don't have this widget on your county website yet, contact your Information Management Agent and schedule a date to get everyone in your office ready to take and answer questions.

Using Facebook in Extension

2009-06-02T14:36:00.000-04:00

By: John Dorner and Kyleen Burgess

Thanks to Rachel Monteverdi and Erin Bain, Warren County now has a Facebook page to market their programs.

Sign-up and be a Fan!

If your county or extension program has a Facebook page, add it to the comments of this article.

Last week, I wrote about Catawba County going social on my personal blog.

There are lots of other examples.

Polk County 4-H Club Group - where Helen Clark and several of the Polk County 4-H'ers communicate and promote 4-H activities.

West District 4-H - a great tool (currently underutilized) for communicating with 4-H'ers!

Eat Smart Move More North Carolina (cause page) - this is a cause page on Facebook, basically this site creates supporters for your cause and gives them a chance to make donations.

Eat Smart Move More North Carolina (fan page) - this page lets you know the current happenings for the Eat Smart Move More curriculum. It is newly developed and is in the process of being editied. It has good information and tells readers when new curriculum pieces will become available.

National Association of County Agriculture Agents - For NACAA discussions and announcements. Also, some of the kids that have attended the national annual meetings over the years started their own group - NACAA Sons & Daughters. I really liked the description of their group, " We see/saw each other for one week in the summer almost every year."

Cooperative Extension - a general group for Cooperative Extension - learn about classes and have discussions on topics like "What is research". Or just finding other people in Extension that are using Facebook.

Cooperative Extension Bloggers - not much activity on this one recently, but it could be a great resource and a way to reach other Extension bloggers. This are some good examples of program blogs ran by various folks around the state:

The Eastern 4-H Center "School Groups and Summer Happenings" Blog - a general day to day look into the life of program director at the Eastern 4-H Center, Chase Luker, in Columbia, NC. Chase talks about his life back home in Alabama, daily life living at the 4-H center and of course as the blog title suggests he fills you in on the School Groups and Summer Happenings at Bulls Bay.

Wake County 4-H CloverBlog - the Wake County 4-H program discusses various events and information to bring their blog readers up to date on program happenings. If you check the blog roll of to the right side of her page you can find Wake County 4-H club pages that are on-line as well as numerous other 4-H program blogs through out North Carolina.

Cooperative Extension Second Life - to discuss and learn more about using Second Life in Extension. Find out what eXtension is doing and participate in Second Life activities.

Extension Online IT Training - for finding online IT training for Extension professionals across the country. I've promoted several of my classes here as well as seem some classes offered from Texas on using MS Access and one that I will be attending is on using LinkedIn in Extension later this week from Wyoming.

Kyleen Burgess, Information Management Agent for the Northeast, talked about using Facebook in Extension at the NCCE Virtual IT Conference. If you missed it, you can hear what she had to say in the recording of her presentation.

Facebook can be used in a variety of ways to advertise your programs, display pictures, post notes or articles about your work, or even collect donations for your program. Facebook supports non-profit groups with this article that assist groups in setting up pages like the Warren County Cooperative Extension Group. When people visit your page on Facebook they have an option of becoming a fan your organization/group. Once someone becomes a fan the Facebook system advertises that to all the friends of that person, thus giving your group free advertising.

As always when working with your programs and by bringing them on-line it is important to teach Internet safety to your clientele and your staff members involved in editing these sites. Remember for every person in a photo you MUST have a photo release signed and in your possession. In NC Cooperative Extension it is a routine practice to receive photo releases from youth, however we must encourage you to receive photo releases on all clientele.

To learn more sign up today for a Facebook account today and become friends with John or Kyleen. We'll be happy to show you around.

Vacation Messages

2009-05-29T11:27:00.002-04:00

If you are leaving your email for an extended length of time, you might want to make use of the Vacation feature for your NCSU email.

The solution at: http://help.ncsu.edu/solutions/all/3101.php gives step by step instructions for how to turn it on.

This will make it so that when someone sends a message to you, they will get a response back telling them that you are on vacation (or whatever else you want to tell them). Some messages you might not want to use can be found at: "Some of the Best 'Out of Office' Automatic email Replies"

Other mail servers offer the same feature. In gMail, it is found by clicking on under the "General" tab.

Another email attack on NCSU

2009-05-28T11:12:00.001-04:00

There is another email trojan making it's way around campus.

The email messages have subjects like:

Subject: Your friend invited you to twitter!
Subject: Jessica would like to be your friend on hi5!
Subject: Your friend invited you to twitter!
Subject: You have received A Hallmark E-Card!
Subject: Your friend invited you to twitter!
Subject: Your friend invited you to twitter!

and an attachment named Invitation Card.zip or postcard.zip that spreads the virus if opened.

Delete these messages if you receive them. The campus spam servers and antivirus signatures haven't been detecting this attack yet, so it is still spreading.

My new favorite presentation style

2009-05-14T14:47:00.000-04:00

I just finished watching an excellent presentation -Thinking Creatively Teachers as Designers of Technology, Pedagogy and Content by Matt Koehler and Punya Mishra.

This was the keynote for the 2008 Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference. They have a webpage devoted to this keynote.

The content of what they had to say was worth the time spent watching it, but as an extra bonus, I got to watch a really interesting presentation style that I've never seen before. I've seen Larry Lessig in person and thought his style was interesting, but didn't think it did a whole lot to help me remember what he was talking about. The way these professors took Larry Lessig's style and merged it with Steven Colbert's style of "the Word" to give a very effective presentation.

Since all extension agents (and specialists) are teachers, I would recommend taking some time and watching this.

Thanks to Bethany Smith for sharing this via Twitter (@bethanyvsmith)

What is the "clipboard" thingy?

2009-04-24T08:43:00.004-04:00

Recently, I was asked a question that I've heard asked many times before.

"Where does my 'cut' and 'copy' stuff go?" or "Where's my clipboard?"

I don't know where it is and it just doesn't matter.

Think of the clipboard as an imaginary 'holding' place that the computer stores anything that you 'cut' or 'copy'. The clipboard can hold one 'chunk' of information. It can be a file, a picture, a part of a picture, a block of text or a whole document. Basically, anything you can select can be put on the clipboard. If you put it there with "Cut" (by using Edit -> Cut, the scissors button or [Control]+X on Windows or [Command]+X on a Mac or right-click and select Cut) then whatever is selected is deleted and a copy of it is placed on the clipboard. If you use "Copy" (by using Edit -> Copy, the copy button that usually looks like two pieces of paper or [Control]+C on Windows or [Command]+C on a Mac or right-click and select Copy) whatever is selected stays where it is and a copy is put on the clipboard. With the exception of MS Office, the clipboard holds one item. When you put something on the clipboard, it replaces whatever was there previously.

You can "Paste" whatever is on the clipboard to anyplace where it is appropriate to put that type of data. To paste, position your cursor where you want the to put whatever is on the clipboard and Edit -> Paste, click the Paste button (usually looks like a clipboard) or [Control]+V on Windows or [Command]+V on a Mac or right-click and select Paste. Whatever is on the clipboard stays there until you replace it with something else, so you can paste it in as many places as you like.

Toolkit additions

2009-04-21T09:14:00.002-04:00

If you purchase newsletter letterhead from CALS Communications Services using the Letterhead and Identity / Marketing Materials Order Form you will want to use the new templates "without Graphics" available from the NCCE Toolkit. The graphics this template is missing are the ones that are on the letterhead.

If you are using one of the Publisher templates, you can just delete those graphic elements from the Publisher document if you are using the newsletter letterhead.

Virtual Conference Recordings Available

2009-04-06T12:38:00.004-04:00

Videos from Extension's first statewide virtual conference are now available online at

http://collaborate.extension.org/wiki/NCCE_Virtual_IT_Conference

The information technology conference, held last month and tagged Extension in the Connected Age, featured a full day of sessions about technology resources for enhancing our delivery of information to North Carolina residents.

Over the course of the day, more than 150 Extension employees participated in conference sessions about online collaboration, networking with clients and coworkers, peer-reviewed information sources, and Internet security. eXtension.org was a major focus of many conference sessions. Employees participated in the virtual conference via Elluminate Live!, NC State's web conferencing application.

During the conference, several speakers logged in from their offices in other states to make presentations. Conference presenters included technologists from Alabama, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

The conference recordings can be accessed by session topic. Links to the slides presented during the conference sessions also are available.

Extension in the Connected Age - Statewide Virtual IT Conference

2009-03-10T09:49:00.002-04:00

Register Now!

Sign up today to attend Extension in the Connected Age, NC Cooperative Extension's first statewide virtual information technology conference, set for Tuesday, March 24. All Extension employees are invited!

You now can register for conference sessions and get full details via the Extension Learning Management System. By attending this virtual conference, you'll get up-to-date information to use on the job, augment your professional development record, and enjoy the camaraderie of your coworkers across the state.

On March 24, you can join all sessions by logging in to Elluminate at http://tinyurl.com/itconference. (And, if you haven't yet used Elluminate web conferencing, don't despair! You can get a quick orientation in one of several Introduction to Elluminate sessions being offered before the conference!)

So, be "there" on Tuesday, March 24, for professional development sessions that require no travel funds and no registration fees! Extension in the Connected Age -- don't miss it!

March Professional Development Opportunities From eXtension

2009-03-05T14:55:00.004-05:00

eXtension's professional development opportunities are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. No pre-registration. Please share this announcement with others and encourage them to pick a topic and try it out. We have lots of variety this month from which to choose!

SPECIAL SESSION: Instructional Videos and Screencasting 101
March 25 at 2:00-3:30 ET.

This special session will feature 4 presenters: Emily Rhoades of Ohio State, Janyne Kizer of NC State, Stephen Judd from the University of New Hampshire, and Kevin Gamble from eXtension. Each presenter will take 10-15 minutes to show you how they put together videos for consumption via YouTube and other video sharing sites. Each will show you the tools they use, their workflow, and other tips and tricks.

Each uses different tools so you will get a broad exposure to a variety of techniques. We all know that video has quickly become the preferred format for distributing information with YouTube rocketing to become the 2nd most popular Web site in the world in just four short years. In January alone, YouTube streamed 6.3 billion videos. This special professional development session will give you an opportunity to see how these videos are created, and get you started down the road to producing your own. (for all Extension)

This session will be broadcast and use your computers speakers for audio , not your phone. Audience interaction will be done using the built-in chat capabilities.

30 MINUTE SESSIONS
This month we are offering "30 Minute Sessions" on a several topics including the Ask eXtension Widget basics and also a Q&A session for those using it, MediaWiki Basics for those just getting started in the wikis, Subversion clients, Google Analytics and Facebook. Give us 30 minutes and we'll teach you something useful! These sessions will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 2:00 Eastern Time (1:00p CT, 12:00p MT, 11:00a PT, 10:00a AT; 8:00a HT) unless otherwise noted.

* March 10 at 2:00 ET, a "30 Minute Session" on The Ask eXtension Widget - Aaron Hundley, eXtension Software Engineer. How to use the Ask eXtension widget to receive and answer questions directly from your county Extension web site or Extension-related blog. This widget adds question asking capabilities to your site, but uses the power of the eXtension Ask an Expert and FAQ systems to assist you in answering. Take questions from your clients, and use the 40,000 questions in the FAQ system to assist you in providing a timely and accurate answer. Check out the widget tracking feature that allows you to name the widget and monitor questions coming from your site. Also learn about the widget routing capability that will allow you to have questions routed to you from your widgets. This session will introduce you to the tool, show you the latest features developed, and will discuss what is necessary to begin using it immediately in your own county sites and blogs with helpful tips. (for all Extension)

* March 10 at 2:30 ET, a "30 Minute Session" on Discussion and Q/A of the Ask eXtension Widget - Aaron Hundley, eXtension Software Engineer. If you are currently participating in answering questions that come from any of the Ask eXtension Widgets, this will be a great discussion to be involved in. This session will focus on answering questions that you might have on the Ask eXtension Widget or the Ask an Expert system in general. We'll share tips and recommendations for using the Ask an Expert system and discuss surrounding topics. (for all Extension)

* March 19 at 2:00 ET, a "30 Minute Session" on MediaWiki Bare Essentials. Presented by Beth Raney, eXtension. We'll cover the basics you need to get started working in an eXtension wiki. Whether you're part of a Community of Practice, helping to copy-edit articles in CoP wiki, or working in Collaborate wiki, join us so you can get started! (for all Extension)

* March 26 at 2:00 ET, a "30 Minute Session" on Subversion Clients Roundtable. Presented by Brian Webster, Stephen Judd and Ben MacNeill. A demo and discussion of various client applications/interfaces for subversion, a centralized version control system. (for all Extension)

* March 31 at 2:00 ET, a "30 Minute Session" on Advanced Google Analytics - by Ben MacNeill, eXtension User Interface Designer. Now that you're familiar with the basic features and tools in Google Analytics, it's time to learn more advanced features. Come discover Advanced Segments, Goals and Custom Reports to get the most out of Google Analytics. (for all Extension)

* April 1 at 2:00 ET, a "30 Minute Session" on Using Facebook for Professional Networking by Mark Light, Ohio State Cooperative Extension. Users will explore different features that Facebook has to offer. We will explore how many Extension professionals are utilizing social networking to connect to peers and clients. Also learn how to set your privacy settings to limit the information that others have access to. (for all Extension)

* April 2 at 2:00 ET, a "30 Minute Session" on Texas County Programs Training Strategy by James Segers, Texas AgriLife Extension. An overview of the yearly cycle used to determine IT related training needs, take requests, schedule and deliver training events. (for all Extension) This Professional Development session is offered in partnership with the ACE Information Technology SIG.

OTHER SESSIONS
* March 11 at 2:00-3:30 ET, It’s all about ME! An introduction to personal accountability. Presented by Debra Davis, a professor with the LSU AgCenter. Accountability means different things to different people at different times and often that meaning is negative. What would happen if we began to look at accountability from yet a different point of view? What if we looked at it as a means to controlling our own future? In this session, we will define accountability for this purpose and explore things that keep us from being accountable. We’ll examine our own accountability and see where we fall on the accountability scale. Then we will look at ways we, individually, can begin to develop a more accountable lifestyle. And finally we will look at how we might begin to create a culture of accountability in our respective organizations. Pre-session homework: Please complete this accountability self-assessment in preparation for the session. (for all Extension) This Professional Development session is offered in partnership with the ACE Leadership & Management SIG.

This session will be broadcast and use your computers speakers for audio , not your phone. Audience interaction will be done using the built-in chat capabilities.

* March 18 at 2:00-3:00 ET, Using Podcasts for Instruction. Presented by: Pete Flores, Texas AgriLife Extension, will discuss how he creates and uses podcasts for providing information technology instruction. He will also discuss statistics usage of the podcasts. You can find a listing of his podcasts http://agfacts.tamu.edu/~pflores/lessons/ and lessons on podcasting here:
http://pdc.extension.org/course/category.php?id=3 (for all Extension) This Professional Development session is offered in partnership with the ACE Information Technology SIG.

* March 23, 2009, 2:00-3:00 ET, eXtension Mentor Series: Managing Virtual Teams - (Amy Hays and Jill Heemstra) Working with colleagues from all over the country is one of the exciting things about joining an eXtension Community of Practice but managing people in different locations and timezones who use different platforms and technologies is a challenge. Join us for this 60 minute session and see how a couple of established CoPs are managing their virtual teams by using online tools and other techniques. (http://cop.extension.org/wiki/eXtension_Mentor_Series:_Managing_Virtual_Teams)

SECOND LIFE
Second Life is an immersive 3-D virtual environment, inhabited by over a million users from all over the world. You can learn to use Second Life to meet with colleagues, to create 3-D models that would be too expensive or impossible to make in reality, to provide guest speakers for a real life group, to teach using role play or group problem solving, to make content in your subject area available to a worldwide audience. This is an emerging and transformative technology, much like the early days of the Internet, and is expected to change the way most people experience web content within the next five years.

In Second Life, you will find that eXtension has a virtual fairgrounds, a model county office, projects in development on: food safety, herbicide pollution, financial management, assistive technology, turf grass, pest management, and more. In Teen Second Life, we have Bailey Island available for any 4-H educator to use for programming. Each month eXtension hosts several community events in Second Life. It is best to spend two or three hours orienting yourself to the Second Life environment before attending an event. You should know how to walk, sit, chat, use voice, and teleport.

Instructions for entering Second Life are here: http://collaborate.extension.org/wiki/Cooperative_Extension_Second_Life_Educators

LuAnn Phillips, eXtension Virtual Worlds Coordinator, is available to assist you, and can be reached at luann.phillips@extension.org or by instant message to Thynka Little in Second Life.

Please consider joining the Facebook group "Cooperative Extension Second Life".

March Second Life Events:

* March 9, Avatar Express 9:00-10:00am Second Life Time, 12:00-1:00 ET. Basic orientation for new newbies. Meet at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland/60/46/21

* March 12, Second Life Roundtable 2:30-3:30 ET -- web conference, meet at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn Update on current SL projects (new ones on financial management, herbicide pollution, food safety). Call for any educator wanting to experiment with a 30 minute teaching module in SL on any topic related to frugal lifestyle.

* March 13, Second Life Meetup -- 11:00-12:30 SL time (Pacific), 2:00-3:30 ET. Meet at the Virtual State Fair, Morrill Island, in Second Life http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill/165/136/29 Try the Virtual Health Inspector Game.

* March 18, 12:00 PM Eastern and again at 10:00 PM Eastern, eXtension Virtual Campus presents: "LIVING IN HARD TIMES -- Affordable Lawn Care", with Jeff Fowler, Senior Extension Educator, PSU Cooperative Extension. Meet at the Virtual County Extension building http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill2/181/171/24. Part of an ongoing series of weekly lessons on managing money in tough times, held in the Second Life virtual world, presented by real Extension educators.

* March 23, Avatar Express 9:00-10:00am Second Life Time, 12:00-1:00 ET. Intermediate class: Basic building, make a vendor that gives a url, a notecard, or an item to another avatar. Meet at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland/60/46/21

* March 25, 12:00 PM Eastern and again at 10:00 PM Eastern, eXtension Virtual Campus presents: "LIVING IN HARD TIMES -- Bare Bones Budgeting", with Dr. Peg Shear, Associate Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University. Meet at the Virtual County Extension building http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill2/181/171/24. Part of an ongoing series of weekly lessons on managing money in tough times, held in the Second Life virtual world, presented by real Extension educators.

* March 27, Second Life Meetup -- 11:00-12:30 SL time (Pacific), 2:00-3:30 ET. Meet at the Virtual State Fair, Morrill Island, in Second Life http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill/165/136/29 Demo of the herbicide pollution project, by the University of Nebraska.

Add these dates & topics to your calendar, and plan to join us on for one or more of these sessions in March!!

TO PARTICIPATE in any of the sessions held in our Web Conferencing Center...
1. Five minutes before the start time, go to our Web Conferencing Center meeting room at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn.

2. You will be presented with a login screen that has an "Enter as Guest" option.

3. Enter your first name, your last name, and your institution/university, then click the "Enter Room" button to join the conference.

4. For most sessions, To hear the audio of the workshop and to participate in the Q&A portion of the workshop we will be using a built-in teleconferencing capability of Adobe's Connect Pro conferencing software. Once you log into the meeting you will be presented with the option to enter your call-back number, your phone will automatically be called. After entering your number you will be automatically called and joined into the audio portion of the Web conference on your phone.

The March 11 and March 25 sessions will be broadcast and use the speakers on your computers. Audience interaction will be done using the built-in chat capabilities.

EMAIL LIST:
If you or a colleague would like to get notices about upcoming professional development sessions offered by eXtension, go to https://people.extension.org/communities/learn and Click "Join Community.

RECORDINGS:
Recordings of many past professional development sessions can be found at the main eXtension wiki at http://about.eXtension.org/wiki and scroll down under Professional Development heading and find "Recordings of eXtension Professional Development Sessions", or search on the word Recordings.

Looking forward to having you join us to learn something new in March!!

Bethany N. Raney

beth.raney@eXtension.org
Professional Development Leader, National eXtension Initiative
Information Technologies
College of Ag Sciences, Penn State
405 Agricultural Administration Building
University Park PA 16802
814-863-2525

February Spotlight

2009-02-16T14:11:00.003-05:00

By: John Dorner

In an effort to highlight some of the great work that is being done by Extension using technology around the state, I'm going to shine the spotlight on one or two each month. If you know of someone who deserves being in the spotlight, please let me know.

The Haywood County 4-H page is an example of using technology to keep your audience informed. The most important thing I noticed is that Nick Reynolds is keeping the content on this page current and focused on Haywood County!

36% of the county 4-H pages still have the same 'message and caption' that was put there when the website project started - it reads, "When the Gulf Coast was overwhelmed this fall, first by Hurricane Katrina and later by Rita, North Carolina Cooperative Extension and 4-H’ers joined forces..." Many still talk about how "Through 4-H, more than 187,000 young people in North Carolina learn new skills..."

The Haywood County 4-H 'message' (in the gray box) is localized to Haywood County. They have events that are happening this week and most impressive, they have a blog that is up-to-date! Looking around the state, I noticed several really good 4-H blogs. Here's a list of the other NC 4-H blogs I found (with updates in the last 2 months):

Dairy Steer Project (Cleveland County)
Alleghany County 4-H
Brunswick County 4-H
CloverBlog (Wake County - check out all the club blogs too)
Haywood County 4-H (check out all the club blogs too)
Pitt County 4-H
Randolph County 4-H
Richmond County 4-H
Rowan County 4-H
Surry County 4-H

In the Haywood County 4-H Blog, Nick Reynolds and Dan Manget market their program, highlight the accomplishments of local 4-H'ers and share the calendar of upcoming events. He's currently working on making the calendar easier to keep up-to-date and more useful by using Google Calendar - similar to how Sue Colucci is doing in her WNC Vegetable and Small Fruits News blog.

If you would like to learn more about editing your county web site or blogging, I'll be teaching the following classes via Elluminate Live! Also, contact your regional Information Management Agent or look in LMS to find other classes.

March 4 @ 9:30 - 10:30: Introduction and Editing the county home page and category pages
March 11 @ 9:30 - 10:00: Events
March 11 @ 10:15 - 10:45: Featured Links
March 18 @ 9:30 - 10:30: Content Pages
March 25 @ 9:30 - 10:30: News Stories
April 1 @ 9:30 - 10:00: Staff Page information
April 8 @ 2:00 - 4:00 Starting a Blog

Statewide Virtual IT Conference - March 24

2009-02-04T09:58:00.001-05:00

NC Cooperative Extension's first statewide virtual information technology conference is set for Tuesday, March 24, and all employees are invited!

The event will feature a full day of conference sessions about technology topics, all delivered via Elluminate. Most sessions will run for 20 to 30 minutes. The conference sessions will showcase innovative ways for using technology in Extension work and will provide strategies for managing the increasing volumes of information coming at us. Several guest speakers from other states will share their expertise.

So, set aside Tuesday, March 24, for professional development sessions that will require no travel funds and no registration fees. Full details of the virtual IT conference are coming soon!

Editing the County Websites

2009-02-04T09:15:00.003-05:00

If you have problems editing the county website (especially when editing links or content) try using a different browser. If you are using a Windows PC, Google Chrome seems to work best.

On a Mac, Safari seems to work sometimes when Firefox won't. You can also install Safari on Windows PCs. (http://www.apple.com/safari/download/)

If you would like to learn (or refresh your skills) how to edit and add content to the county websites, I'm teaching a class via Elluminate on February 5 & 12 from 9-11. Register in the LMS program. If this doesn't fit into your schedule, contact your Area Information Management Agent to schedule a class.

New Antivirus Software for NC State Employees

2009-02-02T11:45:00.003-05:00

Last month we announced that the NC State University Office of Information Technology (OIT) is providing free access to new antivirus software called Trend Micro Officescan 8 (for Microsoft Windows) or Intego Virusbarrier X5 (for Mac OS X). The software is available to all NC State employees for office and home use.

The current NC State University Symantec antivirus software licensing will expire in June 2009. If you are using Symantec antivirus software provided by NC State University on your office and home computers, you must replace it with the new software. We encourage you to do that as soon as possible. The remainder of this messages provides specific instructions for the following groups:

Mac users in counties supported by Extension Information Technology
Mac users in PC counties supported by county IT groups
People with Mac computers at home
PC users

1. Mac users in EIT supported counties
If you use a Mac and your office is located in one of counties supported by EIT, your computers will be updated automatically.

In order for the updates to be completed automatically, on the day of the upgrade the Mac minis and Macbooks in must be:

In the office and powered on
Connected to the wired network (using an Ethernet cable connected to an active network port)
Logged off (you must log out of the computer, but do not shut it down)
Connected to the power adapter (for Macbook users)

A notice will be sent about a week prior the update to ensure that all computers are in the office. The notice will contain the date and approximate time that the updates will begin. The update will be completed by the morning following the date when the update begins, barring any unforeseen circumstances (i.e. network outages). Please keep this in mind as you may need to plan to be without the use of your Mac during that time.

The antivirus update requires the Macs to be rebooted several times. If you forget to log off or are logged on and working during this time, your account will be logged off during the update process. For the Macbook users it is VERY important that you schedule to leave your Macbook in the office and connected to both the power supply and the wired network. If you leave the system powered on without connecting to the power supply, the battery may run out prior to or during the update. If any system is not connected to the wired network (using an Ethernet cable connected to an active network port) the update will not be able to be completed on your system. Again, a notice will be sent about a week prior to starting this update to allow for time to plan.

2. Mac users in PC counties supported by county IT groups

If you use a Mac provided by EFNEP and your office is NOT in a county that uses Macs, you will need to contact Dwayne Watson for additional instructions.

3. People who own a Mac computer at home.

If you have a Mac at home and are currently running Symantec antivirus software, you can find instructions on how to uninstall Symantec and install Intego Virusbarrier on the following link:

Instruction for Mac OS X (for home users only)
http://oit.ncsu.edu/antivirus/install-mac-os-x

The Symantec antivirus software must be removed from your system before you install the new software. The instructions have been well tested and will work well if you read and follow them. It is very important that you follow the instructions carefully.

4. PC users

If your work computer is a PC running Windows and you use the NC State Symantec site licensed software, this upgrade should be coordinated by your local/county IT support staff. Give these instructions to your local IT group and do not attempt this upgrade without their approval and assistance.

It is very important that any current antivirus software is removed prior to adding the new antivirus software. If you have installed Symantec antivirus provided by NC State University, a program is available along with instructions to uninstall Symantec from your Windows machine.

VERY IMPORTANT:
The university will no longer provide antivirus software for Windows systems running any of the following versions of Windows:

Windows 95, 98, ME
Windows NT
Windows 2000

Starting in June 2009 Symantec antivirus licensing will expire. This means that if you are running any version of Windows older than Windows XP, you will not have access to antivirus software provided by NC State University. You must be running Windows XP or Windows Vista to run the new software.

Below are links to the information that you should share with your local/county IT support staff for office computers. If you use a PC at home with Symantec antivirus software provided by NC State University and will be upgrading your antivirus software there, be sure to read and follow the instructions carefully.

General information about the Antivirus software upgrade:
http://oit.ncsu.edu/antivirus

Instructions for Windows XP users:
http://oit.ncsu.edu/antivirus/install-windows-xp

Instructions for Windows Vista users:
http://oit.ncsu.edu/antivirus/install-windows-vista

EIT will not be able to assist PC users with the removal of Symantec antivirus and the installation of the new Trend Micro Officescan.

If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact the EIT Help Desk.

Online Classes Scheduled

2009-01-21T17:27:00.000-05:00

By: John Dorner, Information Management Agent
Here's a list of upcoming classes being offered online.
If there are other topics you'd like to see taught or if these dates/times don't work for you, contact one of the Area Information Management Agents.

Presenting with PowerPoint Jan 26, 2009 @ 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm Click here to register

This class starts with some basics of presenting and designing presentations and finishes with an introduction to using PowerPoint, especially for those who have not used PowerPoint at all or very little.

Intro to Excel
Jan 28, 200 @ 9:30 - 11:30 Click here to register

We'll start with the very basics of Excel. This class is designed for someone who has never used Excel before and for those who just want to review or become more proficient. This class will prepare you for the next class (date to be determined by the participants of this class) "Creating Spreadsheets" where we'll go into more depth and you'll start creating your own spreadsheets.

Managing the NCCE County Website
February 5 & 12 (two sessions) @9:00 - 11:00 Click here to register

The county website is a great way to deliver information to your clientele. It is not a static publication. It is a living site that needs to be constantly updated. New events, notices, information needs to be added continuously. Create a page for each class or event going on with registration information, directions, agendas, speakers, notes, links to related information and much more! Create a page to answer the most common questions you get or to share the winners of the most recent 4-H contest. If kept current, the county website can be a great benefit to your clientele.

In this two-session class you will learn how to update every aspect of your NCCE County Website. No experience necessary!

Elluminate Live!
Test Drive - @9:00-10:00 on the 4th Tuesday of each month Click here to register
Moderating Elluminate
January 27 @ 2:00-3:30, February 26 @ 9:00-10:30, March 31 @ 2:00-3:30 Click here to register
Learn more about hosting meetings and classes online. Elluminate is a collaboration tool that you can use to host and attend meetings without leaving your office. Find you what you can do with Elluminate and discover if you can save travel time and conserve your travel budget by hosting your next meeting online.

Also, if you want to try out and get a quick tour of Elluminate, come visit me in the "IM Agents Learning Center". When I'm not teaching a class or otherwise occupied, I try to 'man' this virtual office. Drop by if you have any questions or need any help. You can find the link on my home page (search the Extension Directory for me).

Technology Tools for Collaboration
February 5 @9:00-10:00 Click here to register

In this class, an overview of technology tools that may be of use to Extension agents in our organization. With all of the emerging tools, it's hard to know where to start. This overview will help you out.

Adding news articles to your county web site
February 17 @ 9:00-9:30 Click here to register
March 12 @ 2:00-2:30

This session will demonstrate adding news articles to county web sites and focus specifically on adding news articles.

Google Docs Overview
March 3 @ 9:00-10:00 Click here to register

Google Docs a free suite of applications including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and forms. This class will an overview of this suite and discuss some ways that it can be used with Extension, including collaboration and data gathering.

Introduction to Wikis
March 12 @ 9:00 - 10:30 Click here to register

Travel budgets are tight, and wikis allow project collaborators to work together without having to assemble face-to-face. Our Extension wiki holds much potential for making our jobs easier in other ways, too; for example, the Extension wiki will allow us to more efficiently organize and manage information. Several CEDs have requested training about the Extension wiki for the employees at their county centers.
This class will provide an overview of wikis, using the Extension Intranet wiki as an example. Introduce individuals to navigation and contributing to wikis.

Visit EIT on iTunes U!

2009-01-16T11:39:00.002-05:00

Visit EIT in iTunesU to see screencasts about ERS, Elluminate, and updating your email security settings in Thunderbird. Check back frequently as additional screencasts are being added regularly.

**Thank you to Janyne Kizer, of EIT, for development and production of these screencasts.

Protect Your Projector

2009-01-15T14:40:00.002-05:00

By: Bryan Konsler, Computer System Administrator -MHCR&EC

It's the time of year again when it's cold outside (I think they call it
winter...???). If you are on the road giving presentations, and have
transported an LCD projector in the car's trunk, or if you've left it in the
car overnight when it's cold outside, you run the risk of blowing the very
expensive projector lamp if you don't take a couple precautions.

When you bring the projector into the presentation room, be sure to remove
the LCD projector from its case and let it sit long enough to warm up as
close to ambient temperature as feasible. If it's sitting out on the table,
that probably shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour or so.

But the better option is to never leave the projector in the car overnight,
and to transport it in the passenger compartment of the car when traveling.
That should reduce or eliminate the chance of thermal shock that can cause a
cracked lamp (usually anywhere from $250 to $500 for a replacment).

NC State Campus IT to release new antivirus software

2009-01-09T15:41:00.001-05:00

New antivirus software for office and home use

On January 12, 2009, the NC State University Office of Information Technology (OIT) will begin providing free access to new antivirus software called Trend Micro Officescan 8 (for Microsoft Windows) or Intego Virusbarrier X5 (for Mac OS X). The new software is available to all NC State employees for office and home use. The current Symantec licensing will expire in June 2009.

How do we upgrade?

OIT may be sending out mass emails instructing users to install on their own as soon as possible. Installing antivirus software must be done with care. It is extremely important to correctly uninstall existing antivirus software before installing this new software.

Extension Information Technology (EIT) advises all of you to NOT upgrade until we test the instructions and send further details. We expect to be able to have details to you by the end of January.

Special instructions for:

Mac Users

Please do NOT upgrade to Intego Virusbarrier X5 on your work computers at this time. Extension Information Technology (EIT) is preparing to assist you with the upgrade process.

PC Users

If your PCs are supported by your county IT group, you should share all information related to the upgrade with them. You should rely on their assistance and decisions regarding the installation process.

If you have unsupported PCs in the office, EIT will not be able to do the installation for you, but we may be able to offer additional information that will help you.

Home Users

If you use the current campus license on home computers, you will need to upgrade before June 23, 2009. We will send out another email addressing the installation process for home computers soon.

The bottom line is that because we support you remotely, we want to ensure that the installation process goes smoothly. We advise you to delay installing the software until we have an opportunity to test the instructions. You can expect further information from EIT by the end of January.

Opening MS Office 2007 Files With MS Office 2004

2009-01-09T11:32:00.003-05:00

If you receive MS Office files that were created with MS Office 2007 (docx, pptx, xlsx) and can't open them, you will need to get the "Open XML File Format Converter for Mac". The most recent version (as of 12/9/2008) is available here.

You can find step-by-step instructions for the NCCE supported Macs, on the NCCE Intranet.

Addition: For MS Office 2003 users on MS Windows - get the "Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats" - be sure to read and follow the instructions on the page.

4-H EGG Cam

2009-01-07T17:58:00.003-05:00

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln recently launched their annual 4-H EGG Cam for the upcoming year. Today the staff who operate the EGG cam cleaned it. Their first hatching session for eggs starts in just a couple of weeks! This is a great resource for educators who want to learn more about Embryology and kids will love the site too if they are unable to participate in a classroom where an actual hatch is taking place. The webpage for the 4-H EGG Cam can be found by clicking here .

The group also has a Facebook page dedicated to their cause! To join their page on Facebook simply become a member and search for "4-H Egg Cam" fan page.

This webcam was awarded as a winner of EarthCam's top 10 Cams! To view EarthCam's top ten please click here.

2009-01-07T12:42:00.002-05:00

I recently received an email message from "Brian"

from: Brian
to: announce-real@newton.ces.ncsu.edu
date: Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 8:07 AM
subject: Special Wish for you!

Brian wants to show you a card.
To see your card Just click on the following link: http://greetingcardcalendar.com/?code=4971dc95c5a
(c) 123greetings.com

The links were active (I've removed the links to reduce temptation) and it looked very similar to other greeting card messages I've received from 123greetings.com. However, this one is potentially very dangerous!

When you click on the link it takes you to a page that closely resembles any other greeting card site with a button to 'Open your E-Card'. Everything looked good but there were several tips that this was not legit.

Let me point out the many tips you should look for before opening any of these type messages.

the email message - was not addressed directly to me - it was addressed to a mailing list.
it was not from a Brian that I know - or from 123greetings.com
Brian's return address was coo@ci.com - not anyone I know
the link to get the e-card was not 123greetings.com - but greetingcardcalendar.com
(what looked legit was that the link did go where it purported to go - I could tell that by hovering my pointer over the link and looking at the status bar at the bottom of the window)
the english wasn't quite right. "wants to show me a card" probably should have been "sent me a card" or something like that.

From all of these clues red flags should be waving and bells ringing - and you should NOT click on the link! But, if you did click on the link there were even more red flags!

hovering over the link to "Open your E-Card" button revealed that it was a link to a file named "card.exe" (look at the status bar in the lower left corner of the window) - SIRENS GOING OFF NOW! DO NOT CLICK!!!
all the links on the page point to the same file - "card.exe"
opening the main page (http://greetingcardcalendar.com) shows the exact same page - not the greeting card company's home page.

Good news for Mac users - this virus is not for you. Even if you had clicked on the executable file nothing would have happened - the mac couldn't run it because it was written for a windows operating system. That doesn't mean that this virus couldn't have been written for a Mac - just that this particular one wasn't.

Bad news - the people who are doing this are getting smarter every day. There are ways around every one of the 'tells' I pointed out. Fortunately, this programmer wasn't smart enough to implement them.

Keep your suspicion level high when you get any email with a link or an attachment!

January Professional Development Opportunities from eXtension

2009-01-06T13:03:00.003-05:00

eXtension's professional development opportunities are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. No pre-registration. Please share this announcement with others and encourage them to pick a topic and try it out! You may find both the 30 Minute session topics and the 1 hour sessions useful in your work ... please see below.

If you would like to receive professional development announcements from eXtension via email each month, join the Learn Community at people.extension.org

30 MINUTE SESSIONS

This month They are offering "30 Minute Sessions" on a several topics including SlideShare, Ask an Expert, the Ask eXtension widget, Wikipedia for Extension, and more about Search Engine Optimization. "Give us 30 minutes and we'll teach you something useful!" These sessions will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 2:00 Eastern Time (1:00p CT, 12:00p MT, 11:00a PT, 10:00a AT; 8:00a HT) unless otherwise noted.

* January 13 at 2:00 ET, a "30 Minute Session" on the new Ask eXtension Widget, by Aaron Hundley, eXtension Software Engineer. How to use the new Ask eXtension widget to receive and answer questions directly from your county Extension web site or Extension-related blog. This widget adds question asking capabilities to your site, but uses the power of the eXtension Ask an Expert and FAQ systems to assist you in answering. Take questions from your clients, and use the 40,000 questions in the FAQ system to assist you in providing a timely and accurate answer. Check out the new widget tracking feature that allows you to name the widget and monitor questions coming from your site. Also learn about the new widget routing capability that will allow you to have questions routed to you from your widgets. This session will introduce you to the new tool, show you the latest features developed, and will discuss what is necessary to begin using it immediately in your own county sites and blogs with helpful tips. (for all Extension)

* January 22 at 2:00 ET, a "30 Minute Session" on SlideShare for Collaboration and Online Learning, by Kevin Gamble. Slideshare (slideshare.net) is like a YouTube for the sharing of presentations. Agents and specialists are always looking for ways to share their slide shows, and Slideshare is an easy, powerful, and free solution. It’s also an effective environment for fostering online learning. This session will show you everything you need to know to get started with SlideShare, and discuss how this technology can be used for collaborative work across the Cooperative Extension System. The session will highlight some new capabilities with direct PowerPoint integration and the newly enabled support for Keynote. It will also show you how to use the Extension specific group space. (for all Extension)

* January 27 at 2:00 ET, a "30 Minute Session" Wikipedia, by Kevin Gamble. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit has become the world's preeminent source of information. It's nearly 12 million articles (2.6 million in English) have been collaboratively written by volunteers. The operation of Wikipedia depends on Mediawiki a custom-made, free and open-source software. This session will focus on how this vast knowledge-base came to be, how to work with Mediawiki, and how you can begin editing and contributing to Wikipedia articles. A special focus will be on how to use Wikipedia to enhance Extension educational programming. (for all Extension)

* January 28 at 2:00 ET, a "30 Minute Session" on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Part 2 by Terry Meisenbach, eXtension Communications & Marketing Leader. Content discoverability on the internet is critical today and eXtension is working closely with Fleishman Hillard and several Communities of Practice to make content more visible to search engines like Google and Yahoo. This 30-minute session will continue the discussion on the keyword analysis process, linking strategies, and what can be done to make content more discoverable. (For all Extension).

OTHER SESSIONS

* January 14 at 2:00-3:00 ET, Discussion of the book, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni, led by Terry Meisenbach, eXtension. Terry would like to encourage you to read the book before the session and chime into the discussion. I'll echo Terry's encouragement. I read the book over a recent weekend and recommend it to anyone who would like some ideas for enhancing teamwork. If time doesn't allow you to do this, do join us anyway. (for all Extension) This Professional Development session is offered in partnership with the ACE Leadership & Management SIG.

* January 26 at 2:00-3:00 ET, "Understanding and Using Creative Commons" by Anne Adrian, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, and Deb Coates, Iowa State University Extension. Sharing and obtaining information on the Internet is extremely easy. However, it is confusing to know what products you can use and which are restricted. You may want to share products, such as pictures and presentations, but don't know how to share with appropriate license or copyright. In the past, sharing products meant that you gave away your products with no control or that you restricted control of the distribution of your products by full copyright (all rights reserved). Creative Commons licenses provide options between the extremes of giving your rights away and all rights reserved. This session will describe Creative Commons license options, describe how to use Creative Commons licenses, and how to use products and content that are licensed using Creative Commons. (for all Extension) This Professional Development session is offered in partnership with the ACE Information Technology SIG.