1. Organic Information for the 21st Century
Jim Riddle
Organic Outreach Coordinator
University of Minnesota

2. funded by CSREES Integrated Organic Program and eXtension
the web community for
organic agriculture
funded by CSREES Integrated Organic Program and eXtension
eOrganic, your community workspace for organic and sustainable agriculture. eOrganic is funded by CSREES Integrated Organic Program and eXtension, with management provided by Oregon State University’s Department of Horticulture.

3. How we got here…
Ecofarm, 2006 – Michelle Wander, U of IL, said “We should do an organic eXtension site!”
Conference calls with LGU faculty, ATTRA and OAI
eXtension Full proposal, June 2006
Notified, summer 2006
CSREES Integrated Organic Program proposal, November 2006 (4 universities,125 pages incl. supporting docs)
eOrganic Visioning Meeting, February (45 diverse participants)
eOrganic IOP funding initiated: September 2007
New workspace initiated: August, 2007
Demo of content and workspace at National SARE: March 2008
Public launch – EcoFarm Conference, January 2009

4. eOrganic.info
A web community where organic agriculture practitioners, researchers, and educators network; exchange objective, research- and experience-based information; learn together; and communicate nationally.
As a member, you can create a personal workpage, join workgroups, work on projects, and learn from other members.

5. .org
.info
One of eOrganic’s missions is to develop organic agriculture content for eXtension, the new national Extension web initiative (eXtension.org).
eOrganic will publicly launch outreach material on eXtension.org in January 2009.
eXtension is a searchable collection of articles, videos, presentation, interactive materials, news, and ask-the-expert.

6. is about… You… Create your personal page
let others know who you are and what you do
become nationally recognized for your expertise
Get trained on and use free tools
collaborative authorship and review
communication (streaming audio and video, narrated powerpoint, webconferencing)
project management
eOrganic is about you. As a member of eOrganic you maintain a page dedicated to you and your interests. You can be found through the user search. Other members can search for your name and/or expertise and learn more about you and your experience and projects.

7. The pages in eOrganic can go through many revisions, and all these revisions are saved in the database. One benefit of using this type of system for work is that your documents are stored in one location always displaying the latest version. This can eliminate the need to around files that are being collectively authored. All authors will have access to the document at all times.

9. is about…
Community and collaboration …join and form Interest-based Groups
Find and network with people with similar interests
Discuss research, outreach and participatory experiences
Find the images you need
Work on personal and group projects, including eXtension content, proposals, articles, presentations, problem-solving
eOrganic is a web community. The eOrganic community consists of Groups. You,as a member, can form a group on any topic, or join existing groups. Groups can be interest-focused (e.g. cover cropping, vegetable farmers, veterinarians, organic student farm coordinators), or project focused (our systems trial, our outreach project).
A primary function of Groups is networking and community building.
Join this group to meet and discuss ideas with other systems trial researchers,
Join this group to meet and discuss ideas with other dairy farmers in the North East.

10. is about…
Community and collaboration …join and form Project-based Groups
Manage, document and report on your project in one location.
Discuss research results, outreach ideas, and experiences
Store all images, reports, and presentations for 24-7 access
Discuss pressing questions. Stay on top of what your group members are thinking. Make decisions.
Work on group projects, including eXtension content, proposals, articles, presentations, problem-solving
eOrganic is a web community. The eOrganic community consists of Groups. You,as a member, can form a group on any topic, or join existing groups. Groups can be interest-focused (e.g. cover cropping, vegetable farmers, veterinarians, organic student farm coordinators), or project focused (our systems trial, our outreach project).
A primary function of Groups is networking and community building.
Join this group to meet and discuss ideas with other systems trial researchers,
Join this group to meet and discuss ideas with other dairy farmers in the North East.

11. What is ?
eOrganic also provides Forums. You can start a new forum topic, leave comments, discuss topics relevant to content development, project decisions, or whatever you like.

12. Useful Links http://organicecology.umn.edu/ http://eorganic.info/

13. More Links http://www.tritrainingcenter.org/course/