By participating in an online survey on user needs and interests you can influence the development of Internet communication in organic research

Efficient communication between organic researchers, stakeholders and policy makers is essential to secure awareness and development of the organic food and farming system as a sustainable source of inspiration for farming, food production and rural development in EU. The Internet offers new possibilities to support this communication.

The Internet presents new ways of supporting communication between researchers across organizational and geographic borders as well as between the research world and society in general. Through websites, newsletters, online archives and weblogs organic research results can be communicated in a faster and more comprehensible way. The web enables users with a new access to research publication and information on research when and where they want and need it.

However the development is not without problems. There is e.g. a risk that the trans-national communication in the future grows at the expense of local communication on organic research. At the same time it is often difficult to ensure the quality of the research results and information published online due to the lack of the review procedure used by scientific journals and magazines.

The amount of information and different web sites increases everyday on the net and it often takes a lot of time to find your way to the information you need. Poorly designed web services make this even more difficult. Thus, it is essential, that the development of Internet-based tools and methods be done sensibly in order to support a good and reliable communication and dialogue on organic research.

Therefore we need a better understanding of the potentials and limitations of the Internet media in relation to communication of research in Organic food and farming and especially more knowledge of user’ needs and interests.

Participate in the online survey

You can contribute to the development of best-practice Internet communication in organic food and farming by filling in the questionnaire, which will be circulated by e-mail to subscribers of the CORE Organic newsletter in a couple of days. It is our hope by means of the online survey to get a better understanding of the users and their needs for and interests in information on organic research. This will guide us to develop and improve the Internet media to support science communication between the research world and stakeholders.

The results of the survey will be communicated in a forthcoming issue of the CORE Organic newsletter. The survey is part of the research project “Internet Communication and Organic Research Network” that is conducted by Signe H. Poulsen.