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Better Use of Technological Advances in Communication of Information  

Elijah Mukhala (Regional Agrometeorologist, SADC Regional Remote Sensing Unit. Harare, Zimbavwe)
Malgorzata, Keinska-Kasprzak (Director Agrnmeteorology)
Publication Information
Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology / v.6, no.2, 2004 , pp. 85-93 More about this Journal
Abstract
In recent years, technology has advanced so much, especially in the developed world, such that its application in development activities may be lagging behind. The lag between technological advances and its application affects agrometeorological science as well. This paper discusses technological advances that may be better used to communicate agrometeorological information. It is important to bear in mind that technological advances are only channels of communication that may be used to speed up the transference of information from the source to the user. The paper begins with a review of the definitions of 'communication' to put the discussion into context. After reviewing several papers, in simple terms, communication can be defined as the sharing of meaning. The paper also looks at operational communications channels and comes to a conclusion that operational communications channels are pretty much universal irrespective of the development level of a country, although some are more easily accessible in some parts of the world than others. The common communications channels include: newspapers, farming papers, radio, television, fax, email, mobile phones (SMS) and Internet web sites. As part of technological advances, mobile phones are becoming increasingly useful all over the world. In order to make better use of this technology, it is important far those that will use this technology to understand how the technology works, not necessarily in detail, but to be able to operate the technology and obtain the data they need. When it comes to constraints, communication of agrometeorological information requires a substantial amount of resources and it is generally expensive especially when sophisticated models must be operated.
Keywords
information communication; agrometeorological information; communication channel; technology advance;
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