Performing Department
Entomology
Non Technical Summary
This is an extension project for $27,987 to be used over 3 years. It will leverage many of the tools and resources from the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health including the Bugwood Image Database and Bugwood Wiki as well as the technical expertice of its staff. This project will provide a reuseable smart phone app framework that can be used to deliver IPM information to clientele. It will also provide real-time alerts to users of the app as the extension specialist for the commodity determiines there is a need to provide additional information. The framework will be designed and refined through the process of creating apps for disease management in cucurbit, solanaceous, and brasiccaceous vegetables. Producing both iPhone and Android versions will result in six apps. As they are released, the PIs wil use their existing rapport with stakeholders to encourage adoption of the app. Throughout the project, growers, extension agents, and crop consultants will be surveyed to better understand their use of the app and how it can be improved to better meet their needs and expectations. This approach will result in a robust framework that can be expanded to include other pests, better reflect the management practices in other portions of the region and reused in other commodities or other regions to rapidly deliver and update the IPM information needed by practitioners. This will provide tool for extension directly engage their clientele and foster the adoption of IPM practices.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
50%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
Objective I: Development of a smart phone application for identification and management of diseases on cucurbit crops, including watermelon, cucumber, cantaloupe, squash, and pumpkin. Anticipated Impacts: *The smart phone app will be downloaded by growers, consultants, and Extension agents that are involved with production of cucurbit crops. *Use of the smart phone app will aid in identification of diseases of cucurbits. *The use of existing Extension publications will increase due to links provided in the smart phone app. *The smart phone app will resulting better communication regarding disease occurrence, issues with development of fungicide resistance, or other information pertinent to disease management. Objective II: Development of a smart phone application for identification and management of diseases on solanaceous crops, including pepper, tomato, and eggplant. Anticipated Impacts: *The smart phone app will be downloaded by growers, consultants, and Extension agents that are involved with production of solanaceous crops. *Use of the smart phone app will aid in identification of diseases of cucurbits. *The use of existing Extension publications will increase due to links provided in the smart phone app. *The smart phone app will resulting better communication regarding disease occurrence, issues with development of fungicide resistance, or other information pertinent to disease management.
Project Methods
Objective I: PI Brock will provide digital copies of the information needed for the cucurbit disease app. PI Bargeron and PI LaForest will work with the information to setup a reusable framework to support the content and prepare it for delivery via the app. The scheduled release for the app will be just prior to the 2013 field season. PIs Brock and Langston will present the app to growers to encourage use and gather feedback on its utility and function. They will also use the alert feature of the app to push information to users in an effort to give timely updates of disease concerns. The app will be updated during the remainder of the project as feedback is received or information becomes outdated. Objective II: PI Bargeron and PI LaForest will make changes to the app framework to reflect lessons learned during the creation of the cucurbit app. PI Brock will provide digital copies of the information needed for the solanaceous disease app. The scheduled release for the app will be just prior to the 2014 field season. As with the previous app, PIs Brock and Langston will present the app to growers and extension agents throughout the region to promote use and gather suggestions for improvement. They will use the alert functions of the apps to provide current information to farmers, agents, and consultants. Updates to the app will be delivered as the information is updated or functionality is changed based on feedback from users. Evaluation Plans. The evaluation of the outcomes and impacts of this project will be accomplished through three main tools: Website Metrics, App Usage Metrics and Surveys. App Usage Metrics: *Downloads of the apps from both the Apple Store and Android Market Place **This metric helps us determine the number of people willing to try the app. *Updates of the app **This metric helps us determine the number of people who continued use of the app. Survey Results: *Online Survey Results **After each season, online surveys will be developed to find out how effective the apps have been for different groups of clientele. Questions will focus on utility of the app, usefulness of the information, ease of use, applicability of in season recommendations/alerts, economic impact of following recommendations, useful components of the app, potential improvements to the app, management decisions influenced by use of the app, and usefulness of disease management guides. *In-person survey results **Since not all clientele have smartphones at the start of the project, in-person surveys will be used to determine their willingness to adopt technology, indicate what devices they are considering using, and how they currently use information technology as a farming tool. *App based survey results **At various points in the app, simple questions will be provided to assess the utility of a certain page or feature. Questions such as "Was this helpful" can begin to provide insight regarding what pages or features are most valued and which ones need improvement.