Hi all,
I think another question when considering sourcing content is what type of content? Is it information only, which expects farmers to assimilate that into their knowledge base?  Or is the content knowledge?  Knowledge can be tacit or explicit. Explicit knowledge can be codified and documented, while tacit knowledge is internalized unconsciously in the human mind (Hess 2006). Much of the content work in ICT in agriculture handles explicit knowledge and information, which means it is seen as an ‘object’.  But an important approach is a personalization strategy for sourcing content.  This strategy instead sees knowledge as tacit and therefore closely tied to the person who developed it and is shared mainly through direct person-to-person contacts.  This type of strategy is more time consuming because tacit knowledge has not been codified and relies instead on networks. Mobile phone helplines are a good example of this where the farmer talks directly with an expert, who has tacit knowledge from their experience, as well as perhaps explicit knowledge available through an online database. How can we encourage a balanced content approach between a strategy that shares knowledge through networks as well as having databases of explicit knowledge and information? And then how do we keep this content dynamic spatially and temporally? What incentives are needed? Claire