Progress 03/15/17 to 03/14/18
Outputs
Target Audience:Dissemination of findings is designed for four user groups: beekeepers who will participate in future extension programs mirroring the most efficient of our 3 formats; other beekeepers accessing the information online; the general public; and extension specialists willing to duplicate the extension activity using our web application. The BIP representatives participate in over a dozen extension and extension events per year on average through state association meetings, stakeholder or scientific national meetings or other beekeeping events. We directly implemented the most efficient format of extension to stakeholder meetings while disseminating the methods used to extension-specialists meetings. The interactive web application tool is now accessible to other beekeepers, or anyone with an internet connection, to gain understanding of our findings on management and colony loss. These interactive tools are included with our existing state loss exploration map at http://bip2.beeinformed.org/geo/. The various visualization figures developed in this project are now posted on the Bee Informed website at http://beeinformed.org/. We also will include them on the eXtension.org Bee Health CoP at http://www.extension.org/bee_health. These easily found and actively promoted sites will also include links to BIP's other research and extension programs. We actively promote these sites, and their content, through advertisements and articles in trade journals such as the American Bee Journal and Bee Culture, the two most popular U.S. beekeeping trade journals. Changes/Problems:In the coming year, our efforts will focus on field-testing our developed visualization tools and incorporating them in a comprehensive extension program which will be deployed to our participating beekeeping groups. Although this has begun, we were not able to complete the full scope. Now with the survey on the website, we are easily able to do outreach and eduction using this tool any many bee groups aroudn the country will be able to utilize it remotely. We will determine which is the most effective way to communicate BMPs to small scale beekeepers in order to increase BMP adoption (Research objectives 1 and 2). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This is the first time we have taken many years of management survey data and distilled the resulting BMPs into an easy to use, online application available to all beekeeper operation types. The training and professional developement provided by this project to our lead IT staff and undergraduate software designers has enabled them the unique experience to take a large dataset and create a fully functional extension tool from design to product, working with the customer along the way. That experience has been invaluable as it was necessary to redo part of the code to ensure that survey truncations and correct results were being displayed. We also added visual functionality to help the beekeeper assess his/her progress and highlight which management decisions would provide the best chance of reduced colony losses. The statician and software developers had to work very closely and use a software development platform called Github to effectively communicate and documenttheir changes. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The web based application "Bee Your Best" is now available to the public online at https://bip2.beeinformed.org/bee-your-best/. We also plan to post a blog announcing the release of the app, and to start testing the effectiveness of the app with beekeeping groups this year. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Although this grant has ended, in the coming year, our efforts will focus on field-testing our developed visualization tools and incorporating them in a comprehensive extension program which will be deployed to our participating beekeeping groups. Our lab makes many regional and national presentations and we plan to make this available at all our extension talks. The site is also mobile friendly so participants can take the survey during our presentations, get immediate results and ask questions about their recommendations.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In the past year, our efforts were concentrated on the development of the extension tools that are now used to disseminate personalized recommendations on Best Management Practices to small-scale beekeepers (which correspond to Extension objective #1, 2 and 3). After identifying the subset of questions from the Bee Informed Partnership Annual Loss and Management Survey to be the focus of the web application, we focused on composing the wording of the questions to be used in the app. The wording of questions and responses used in the survey did not always translate well into the app, so several iterations of questions were reviewed. The end result was the "Bee Your Best" Survey, which is now available online at https://bip2.beeinformed.org/bee-your-best/. The application walks beekeepers through a short series of questions, then evaluates how well they are performing best management practices and how they could improve. It took several months of testing and tweaking the wording so that the results are clear and indicative of the modeling results. In practice, the Best Management Practices web application consists of two components. A Django web application and database stores the questions, answers, and suggestions; and a web-based JavaScript application powers the user interface. The interface is built with jQuery and the Zurb Foundation responsive front-end framework so the survey works on all devices both mobile and desktop. The development of the application is in the process of being finalized, with the remaining modifications concerning specific wordings and aesthetics. Any beekeeper can now test her/his management practices against "expert" recommendations developed from the annual loss and management survey for reduced colony losses.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
BIP Surveys and Management Recommendations , guest presentation as part of the Eastern Apicultural Society Short Course, Newark, DE.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Expert-based best management practices for US beekeepers Bowie-Upper Marlboro Beekeepers Association (BUMBA), MD.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Reducing the risk of colony loss through Best Management Practices , Delaware Beekeeping Association Annual Meeting, Dover, DE.
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Progress 03/15/16 to 03/14/18
Outputs
Target Audience:As discussed in the last progress report for this year, we have 3 methods or formats for dissemination of findings for our four user groups: beekeepers who will participate in future extension programs; other beekeepers accessing the information online; the general public; and extension specialists willing to duplicate the extension activity using our web application. The BIP representatives and technical transfer teams participate in over a dozen extension and extension events per year on average through state association meetings, stakeholder or scientific national meetings or other beekeeping events. We have directly implemented the most efficient format of extension to stakeholder meetings with the interactive web application tool available online, for mobile or PC/Mac use, to gain understanding of our findings on management and colony loss. These interactive tools are included with our existing state loss exploration map at http://bip2.beeinformed.org/geo/. The various visualization figures developed in this project is now posted on the Bee Informed website at https://bip2.beeinformed.org/bee-your-best/.We also will include them on the eXtension.org Bee Health CoP at http://www.extension.org/bee_health. These easily found and actively promoted sites will also include links to BIP's other research and extension programs. We actively promote these sites, and their content, through advertisements and articles in trade journals such as the American Bee Journal and Bee Culture, the two most popular U.S. beekeeping trade journals. The BIP website alone reaches over 500,000 page views a year. Changes/Problems:As previously mentioned, continuingefforts will focus on field-testing our developed visualization tools and incorporating them in a comprehensive extension program which will be deployed to our participating beekeeping groups. Although this has begun, we were not able to complete the full scope. Now with the survey on the website, we are easily able to do outreach and eduction using this tool any many bee groups aroudn the country will be able to utilize it remotely. We will determine which is the most effectiveway to communicate BMPs to small scale beekeepers in order to increase BMP adoption (Research objectives 1 and 2). Since the tool is completed, no further funding is necessary for us to roll out this application for dissemination and validation as we can incorporate this directly in any outreach/extension talk or event we conduct. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The training provided was ideal for those computer programming undergaduate and professional technologists. They were able to correctly apply the model developed by the statistical grad student and work directly with beekeepers to make the tool intuitive and the results compelling. The opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to work directly with a customer throughout the development and deployment of this application was truly invaluable and a great learning experience. The training and professional development provided by this project to our lead IT staff and undergraduate software designers has given them the novel experience of takinga large dataset and create a fully functional extension tool from design to product. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The web based application "Bee Your Best" is now available to the public online at https://bip2.beeinformed.org/bee-your-best/. We also plan to post a blog announcing the release of the app, and to start testing the effectiveness of the app with beekeeping groups this year. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In the final months of this project, we have mainly focused on Extension objective #4 to complete the effort. All other objectives in this category have been accomplished with much success. The end result of all these efforts was the "Bee Your Best" Survey, which is now available online at https://bip2.beeinformed.org/bee-your-best/. The application walks beekeepers through a short series of questions, then evaluates how well they are performing best management practices and how they could improve. This app can be used in real time, for discussion in local bee groups, by Extension agents for educational and outreach purpose and for teaching/training new small scale beekeepers. The analysis leading up to the modeling and programming of the app was statistically intensive but the results are incredibly useful. The software developed can be quickly adapted to other regional BMPs and for larger scale (sideliner and commercial) beekeepers. The last step is to learn more about how to best disseminate this information via the research goals outlined in the proposal.We aim to do this by comparing 3 types of extension talks focusing on BMP: (1) Traditional presentation of data derived BMPs at population-level; (2) Traditional extension, enhanced with specifically designed data visualizations; (3) Visualization-enhanced presentation, with personalized recommendations from the web application. Although this was not feasible to do under the life of the grant, it will be conducted in presentation to stakeholders this year. Research goal #2 will then be documentedby participants this year who use the tool and take our annual loss and management survey.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
https://bip2.beeinformed.org/bee-your-best/
- Type:
Other
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Reducing the risk of colony loss through Best Management Practices , Delaware Beekeeping Association Annual Meeting, Dover, DE.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Expert-based best management practices for US beekeepers Bowie-Upper Marlboro Beekeepers Association (BUMBA), MD.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
BIP Surveys and Management Recommendations , guest presentation as part of the Eastern Apicultural Society Short Course, Newark, DE.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Steinhauer, N., Saegerman C. & D. vanEngelsdorp (2017) Expert-based Best Management Practices for US Beekeepers. American Bee Research Conference, Galveston, TX, Jan 2017.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Steinhauer, N. & D. vanEngelsdorp (2016) The Bee Informed Partnership Survey Results on honey bee health. Long Island Beekeeping Association, NY, Feb 2017.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Steinhauer, N. & D. vanEngelsdorp (2017) Expert-based Best Management Practices for US Beekeepers. Bee Culture Kim & Jim Show, webinar, Feb 2017.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Steinhauer, N. & D. vanEngelsdorp (2016) The Bee Informed Partnership Survey Results on honey bee health. Maryland State Beekeepers Association, MD, Feb 2017.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Steinhauer, N., Saegerman C. & D. vanEngelsdorp (2016) Expert-based Best Management Practices for US Beekeepers. Poster presented at the Honey Bee Health Coalition Meeting, College Park, MD, Oct 2016.
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Progress 03/15/16 to 03/14/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Dissemination of findings is designed for four user groups: beekeepers who will participate in future extension programs mirroring the most efficient of our 3 formats; other beekeepers accessing the information online; the general public; and extension specialists willing to duplicate the extension activity using our web application. The BIP representatives participate in over a dozen extension and extension events per year on average through state association meetings, stakeholder or scientific national meetings or other beekeeping events. We will directly implement the most efficient format of extension to stakeholder meetings while disseminating the methods used to extension-specialists meetings. The interactive web application tool will be accessible to other beekeepers, or anyone with an internet connection, to gain understanding of our findings on management and colony loss. These interactive tools will be included with our existing state loss exploration map at http://bip2.beeinformed.org/geo/. The various visualization figures developed in this project will be posted on the Bee Informed website at http://beeinformed.org/. We also will include them on the eXtension.org Bee Health CoP at http://www.extension.org/bee_health. These easily found and actively promoted sites will also include links to BIP's other research and extension programs. We actively promote these sites, and their content, through advertisements and articles in trade journals such as the American Bee Journal and Bee Culture, the two most popular U.S. beekeeping trade journals. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This is the first time we have taken years of management survey data and distilled the resulting BMPs into an easy to use, online application available to all beekeeper operation types. The training and professional developement provided by this project to our lead IT staff and undergraduate software designers has enabled them the unique experience to take a large dataset and create a fully functional extension tool from design to product, working with the customer along the way. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the coming year, our efforts will focus on finalizing the data visualizations (1) and the web application tool (2) based on stakeholders' recommendations, field-testing them and incorporate them in a comprehensive extension program which will be deployed to our participating beekeeping groups. Extension activities will be setup, of each of the 3 extension approaches according to the methodology provided in the project narrative, to determine the most effective way to communicate BMPs to small scale beekeepers in order to increase BMP adoption (Research objectives 1 and 2).
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In the past year, our efforts were concentrated on the development of the extension tools that will be used to disseminate personalized recommendations on Best Management Practices to small-scale beekeepers (which correspond to Extension objective #1, 2 and 3). We identified the subset of questions from the Bee Informed Partnership Annual Loss and Management Survey that will be the focus of the web application. The selection was based on the ranking of management criteria for which behavior change would be associated with the highest decrease in colony mortality risk, for each subset of beekeepers based on their region and operation type. Our project aims to compare 3 types of extension talks focusing on BMP: (1) Traditional presentation of data derived BMPs at population-level; (2) Traditional extension, enhanced with specifically designed data visualizations; (3) Visualization-enhanced presentation, with personalized recommendations from the web application. The main differences between methods (1/2) and (3) being whether the recommendations are based on generalization at population-level (regionally and by operation type) or personalized to the respondent's own practices. The first innovative approach to communicate BMPs - compared to traditional approach - planned on using visualizations based on population-level data (2). Significant progress has been made to make summary data available for important management practices on the BIP platform in a clear and compelling way. Field-testing of those data tools will be initiated this summer and contrasted to traditional static data presentation. In order to provide personalized recommendation in a scalable way, we proposed to develop a web application (3) which would record the beekeeper's current circumstances and management choices and propose recommendations based on those. The analytic component of the application contrasts the respondent's answers to the identified BMPs for its specific type of operation, and provides recommendations based on which management change would be most beneficial to reduce the risk of colony mortality in similar operations. In practice, the Best Management Practices web application consists of two components. A Django web application and database stores the questions, answers, and suggestions; and a web-based JavaScript application powers the user interface. The interface is built with jQuery and the Zurb Foundation responsive front-end framework so the survey works on all devices both mobile and desktop. The development of the application is in the process of being finalized, with the remaining modifications concerning specific wordings and aesthetics. The web application is currently being tested by a panel of researchers and beekeepers. In particular, we are interested in comments on the flow of the survey section of the application, the understandability of the questions and recommendations, the perception of the recommendations and their applicability to particular cases. Field-testing with beekeeping groups will be initiated this summer.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Steinhauer, N., Saegerman C. & D. vanEngelsdorp (2017) Expert-based Best Management Practices for US Beekeepers. American Bee Research Conference, Galveston, TX, Jan 2017.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Steinhauer, N., Saegerman C. & D. vanEngelsdorp (2016) Expert-based Best Management Practices for US Beekeepers. Poster presented at the Honey Bee Health Coalition Meeting, College Park, MD, Oct 2016.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Steinhauer, N. & D. vanEngelsdorp (2016) The Bee Informed Partnership Survey Results on honey bee health. Long Island Beekeeping Association, NY, Feb 2017.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Steinhauer, N. & D. vanEngelsdorp (2017) Expert-based Best Management Practices for US Beekeepers. Bee Culture Kim & Jim Show, webinar, Feb 2017.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Steinhauer, N. & D. vanEngelsdorp (2016) The Bee Informed Partnership Survey Results on honey bee health. Maryland State Beekeepers Association, MD, Feb 2017.
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