Now Offering New "Ask An Expert" Gardening Tool
Source: Steve Gabriel, Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, 607.342.2825, sfg53@cornell.edu
Cornell Cooperative Extension offices around New York State are launching a trial evaluation of a new tool to help answer lawn and garden questions for residents of New York State.
The program, part of the “Ask an Expert” system designed by the national eXtension Initiative (www.extension.org), aims to make it easier for consumers to ask gardening questions and get timely and accurate answers.
The following counties are participating in the trial, which will be conducted from April through July of 2011:
Clinton, Lewis, Chenango, Onondaga, Saratoga, Wyoming, Livingston, Chautauqua, Rockland, Suffolk, Ulster, and Westchester
In addition, any New York State resident can access a New York State lawn, garden, and landscape widget by visiting: http://blogs.cornell.edu/garden/find-gardening-information.
Visitors to the websites of participating counties can simply type a question into the question box located on the website of participating counties. They can expect to receive a response from extension staff or volunteers within 48 hours on weekdays.
Every question is entered into a national database that staff and volunteers can access to help them better answer questions. The system automatically reminds the person if they haven’t answered a question and allows questions to be passed to other experts in the system who can better offer answers.
“Our goal is to help Cornell Cooperative Extension educators efficiently provide quality research-based information to NY residents with lawn and garden questions,” says project manager Steve Gabriel, who works for Garden Based Learning at Cornell University.
The widget tool will supplement the current hotlines and office visits avenues available to NYS residents seeking information to help them address lawn, garden and landscape issues. Results of the trial evaluation will be published in August and, if feedback positive, Cornell Garden Based Learning will work to encourage more counties to adopt the tool. Find the contact information of your local county Cornell Cooperative Extension office at: http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/counties.html
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