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Funded Project |
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Funding Program:
Regional IPM Competitive Grants - Northeastern |
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Project Title:
A Pilot Project for Answering E-Mail Questions via the HGIC Web Site |
Project Directors (PDs):
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Lead State: MD Lead Organization: University of Maryland |
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Cooperating State(s):
Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania |
| Extension Funding: $50,000 |
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Start Date: Jul-01-2000 End Date: Jun-30-2003 |
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Site/Commodity: community |
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Area of Emphasis: education |
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Summary:
The Home and Garden Information Center is committed to assisting Maryland residents in solving their pest, plant and landscape problems. The Center's approach to this mission has been the development of self-help diagnostic tools that are included in web sites, audiotapes, fact sheets and a Master Gardener handbook. The problem we address in this study is not unique to the Northeast Region, but is common throughout the United States. It is the problem of providing high quality information on pest identification and non-chemical control options to a vast urban/suburban audience accustomed to solving pest problems through the application of pesticides. Until recently, a highly suitable method of transferring this type of high quality information was lacking. However, with the advent of electronic information delivery we now have the capability to reach a significant portion of our urban clientele. We intend to deliver IPM information through the World Wide Web that will enable homeowners to identify causal agents of plant and household problems and select management tactics other than pesticides to solve these problems. This in turn, will lead to adoption of alternative practices that will significantly enhance and protect environmental quality and reduce the risk of health and other problems associated with the use of pesticides in densely populated urban settings.
The World Wide Web has created new opportunities for land grant universities to reach vast new audiences with IPM information. HGIC has taken advantage of this new technology through our web site. A previous Northeast IPM grant resulted in the development of a unique plant diagnostic web site with IPM solutions. The success of this site has resulted in hundreds of unsolicited e-mail questions requiring IPM solutions. The proposed pilot project will enable HGIC to extend a widely demanded e-mail question and answer service to the Northeast region. The project represents a cost-effective method for educating the public on IPM principles and practices while answering specific plant problem and pest control questions through a personalized service. HGIC has a solid 10-year track record for meeting the public's demand for accurate, up-to-date information and formulating specific answers to horticulture and pest management questions. We have categorized, through an Access database program, over 250,000 client phone calls where horticulture consultants answered specific client questions. Consumers can now receive gardening information from many sources which vary significantly in quality on the World Wide Web 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The proposed pilot project is an opportunity for land-grant universities to bring our expertise and reputation for objectivity to the electronic marketplace of information to better serve our clientele. THE PROBLEM, BACKGROUND, AND JUSTIFICATION THE PROBLEM The Northeast is the most densely populated region of the United States with an average of more than 300 persons living on each square mile of land. Of the 10 most densely populated states nine, including the District of Columbia, are in the Northeast region (USDC 1996). In these states and the District more than 80% of the population lives in urban areas. Numerous studies have indicated that the amount of pesticide used by homeowners, renters, pest control operators, and landscape mangers in urban settings is significant and high. (Bottrell 1979) summarized studies conducted in the 1970's which found that more than 90% of homeowners applied pesticides in and around the home each year. Rates of insecticides used in major urban centers including Philadelphia, Lansing, and Dallas were about 5 lbs. active ingredient/acre and exceeded those in nearby agricultural areas. Homeowners also used more fungicides and comparable amounts of herbicides to farmers (Bottrell 1979). In a study of more than 400 homeowners in New Brunswick, NJ, Dallas, TX, and Berkeley, CA, (Frankie et al. 1981 ) reported that the average home dweller used chemicals ten times each year for indoor problems and seven times each year for outdoor problems. BACKGROUND - Sources and quality of information for basing management decisions The Home and Garden Information Center was established in 1989 and has served as a unique model nationwide for delivering environmental horticulture and IPM information to the public. As Maryland's urban and suburban population has grown, so has the need to provide these burgeoning audiences with environmental horticulture information they can use in their homes and gardens. The Center provides information and answers to plant and pest questions via a toll free phone number to Maryland residents. Access to Extension information is available 24 hours a day through prerecorded, self-help problem diagnostic tapes. Phone consultants are available to assist the public five days a week through one-on-one personal service. Since 1990 the Center has received 450,000 phone calls. Of these over 250, 000 were assisted by trained phone staff. Center faculty developed a web site in 1996 that included timely "tips" in 22 subject areas, a Master Gardener "page, a Chesapeake Bay "page", and fact sheets converted to a pdf format with color images of pests and damage symptoms. Users can also order publications on-line. In 1998 we received a NEIPM grant to fund construction of our Plant Diagnostic Website. The site provides visual diagnostic keys that employ color photos to aid users in accurately diagnosing problems. Solutions to the problems include detailed technical information on pests, diseases, and environmental problems. Included with the technical information are additional detailed photographic images and the latest IPM strategies and least toxic means of dealing with these problems. The site has been used widely as a teaching tool for the public, university faculty, students, green industry personnel and Master Gardeners. Eighteen individuals from universities and government agencies have contributed resources to the development of the site. In 1999 over 30,000 user sessions were logged on the HGIC's websites, with sessions averaging from 4.7-5 minutes. Sources of Pest Management Information Perhaps one of the most compelling explanations for the excessive use of pesticides in urban environments stems from the inability of homeowners and pest control services to properly identify and diagnose problems caused by insects, diseases, weeds, and cultural problems in and around the home. Homeowners are largely uninformed regarding the use of alternatives to pesticides for controlling pests in and around the home (Raupp 1983). They use sources of information for pest identification and management that are largely unreliable and depend on pesticides as their primary management technique (Raupp et al 1992, Raupp and Davidson, unpublished, Raupp and Shrewsbury, unpublished). . A more recent study by Raupp (unpublished) of homeowners in Maryland revealed that the most commonly used source of pest control information (approximately 30%) was home and garden centers. The second most common source of information was pesticide labels which were used by 25% of those surveyed. Extension ranked a distant fifth out of six possible information sources with only 8% of homeowners using extension as a source. In 1993 Ward et al. surveyed homeowners in Albuquerque and found that the most widely used source of information for pest control was nursery sales people. University and extension sources ranked third at 13% just behind friends and relatives (Ward et al. 1993). A similar survey conducted in California revealed that 22% of those surveyed obtained pest control information from nurseries while only 2% contacted UC Extension for information on home and landscape pest control (Pittinger and Lazaneo 1989). At the 1996 Northeast and North Central Meeting on IPM a series of goals were identified that are pertinent to this proposal. GOALS III. Information Transfer Goal #1: Enhance the general public's awareness and knowledge of IPM e. Develop and use Internet Home Pages, Web sites, other computer-based information resources for the general public (take better advantage of existing channels, link/integrate with horticultural information sources) IV. Information Transfer Goal #6: Make homeowners aware of the potential environmental/health impacts of their own or their contractors' landscape pest management actions a. Extension information needs to be reoriented, targeted to relay such information. V. Information Transfer Goal #10: Improve the efficiency of extension IPM information, transfer technology, methods, approaches c. "Replace the Ortho Book," an attractive, user-friendly source of pest control information provided by the Ortho Company for use at garden centers (This is shorthand for the need for extension materials that have far greater public relations value than at present.) d. There is a need to develop Extension materials that "give answers" to pest management questions. The Phase I working group suggested a variety of approaches to achieve these goals. For the purposes of this grant the following are the most important: VI. Coordination of regional extension materials VII. Computer technology for the various publics such as World Wide Web "Expert system home pages" which provide archival information on pests, ID, IPM, etc., self directed learning programs at home and at garden center booths, and automated telephone numbers for information Importance and Value to the Region All states will benefit by having a web site that provides an individualized electronic question and answer service for pest identification and information on alternative IPM control tactics. As mentioned previously the Northeast Region is the most urbanized of all in the nation. It is estimated that there are 50 million people in the US with access to the World Wide Web (ACNielsen.com). In 1999, the Home and Garden Information Center web pages were accessed by over 30,000 users. The current average user sessions have averaged 4.7 - 8.5 minutes. This average use time indicates that people are using the site to get information. We believe that the web site is the best way to deliver high quality IPM information to the 24 million households in the region. The adoption of non-chemical tactics under an IPM approach has produced reductions in pesticide use of as much as 99% (Raupp et al. 1992). Pesticide reductions can only help to ameliorate problems such as the evolution of resistance in pests and mortality of beneficial insect complexes. In the home landscape, the success that HGIC has had in providing IPM information and solutions has helped reduce unnecessary pesticide applications. A 1994 survey was conducted by HGIC faculty to determine how well people followed advice given over the phone. Of the randomly selected 120 people who responded to the survey, 51% received cultural advice and 49% received IPM advice. Of those who received IPM advice 58% followed the recommendations to use IPM control strategies for their problems and 42% were convinced not to use pesticides for their problems. Results of an automated phone survey conducted in 1995 indicated that 34% of the callers were able to solve their gardening problems without the use of pesticides as a result of contacting the Center. Users of HGIC web sites are taught how to monitor problems, assess the relative importance of different pests, determine whether a problem is abiotic or biotic in cause, prevent common, predictable problems and employ least toxic solutions. Unfortunately, some commercial web sites (ex. www.ortho.com,) first direct users to chemical controls for pests of trees and shrubs, vegetables or indoor nuisance pests with minimal IPM information. Objectives: The overall objective of this pilot project is to create a unique electronic question and answer service to educate the public on IPM principles and practices. This will be accomplished using trained cooperative extension personnel who will provide unbiased research based information to give IPM management solutions to their problems. This will enable HGIC to extend the personalized service currently offered by our 1-800 phone system (available only to Maryland residents) electronically to a wider regional audience 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Specific Objectives 1. Create a new distance learning technique for teaching IPM principles and techniques. 2. Create a database that includes demographic information on user, questions and responses. 3. Extend the HGIC services region-wide in a cost-effective method, compete effectively in the electronic information marketplace and reduce the pressure on land-grant university faculty to answer unsolicited e-mail questions. |
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