The National e-Commerce Extension Initiative
eNews: The National e-Commerce Extension Initiative

Educational Resource Grant Opportunities – Recipients and Important Update


In the coming months, the University of Florida will conduct an evaluation of the National e-Commerce Extension Initiative. Please help us by participating in any surveys or information requests they may have. Please read the follow letter by Dr. Beaulieu, professor and Southern Rural Development Center director, regarding the evaluation effort.

As a reminder, we regret to inform you that during the SRDC Board of Directors meeting last November, a decision was made to stop funding e-commerce related mini-grants and educational resource development grants effective this month. This decision will not impact ongoing projects. The board decided to use the remaining e-commerce funds to evaluate the impact of the initiative overall and to categorize and update the existing curricula.

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Related Information and Resources

Feb. 9 webinar helps small businesses get online

Small business owners of all kinds face the common question, "Do I really need an online presence?" Today, the answer is simple – YES! A free webinar, "Expanding Your Markets! Going Online," offered by the eXtension Entrepreneurs & Their Communities team, will discuss the whys and the hows of building an online presence. Get the details.

e-Commerce Learning Center expands offerings

The e-Government curriculum developed by Brian Whitacre, Dave Shideler, Michael Wilcox and Connie Hancock should be available online in early February. Please visit the SRDC e-Commerce Learning Center in the next few weeks to take advantage of this curriculum.

The updated "Direct Marketing: Food Specialty Products" module is now available in an engaging interactive format. Revised by Connie Hancock, Jay Jenkins, and Jennifer Nixon, University of Nebraska Extension; and Glenn Muske, North Dakota State University Extension, it includes videos, interesting links and a host of additional resources. Check it out now.

Register now for NACDEP pre-conference workshop "E-commerce and More: Community Development through Digital Engagement"

If you are attending the 2012 National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals conference, set for May 20-23, 2012, in Park City, Utah, consider joining us for the National e-Commerce Extension Initiative pre-conference workshop focusing on using digital technology to engage your local community and businesses. Read more about "E-commerce and More: Community Development through Digital Engagement" and SRDC-sponsored scholarships to attend the NACDEP conference here.

Mississippi e-BEAT staff utilizing e-commerce resources

Bill Shuffstall, co-author of the e-Commerce "Connecting Communities" curriculum, recently provided training to the Mississippi Extension Broadband Education and Adoption Team (e-BEAT). Shufstall's curriculum is being used as a strategic planning tool by e-BEAT regional coordinators to develop region-specific plans in an effort to increase broadband adoption across the state. Find out more about e-BEAT.

As smartphones get smarter, you may get healthier

This fascinating article discusses the potential of smartphones apps in the health care sector. Dubbed mHealth, the combination of smartphones, faster Internet connections, and powerful health-related apps has the potential to bring cheaper health care to all. Read more.

The National Broadband Map goes mobile

The FCC and NTIA has released a mobile browser version of the National Broadband Map. This new feature allows more easily searching broadband availability, summarizing and ranking data, and view maps of community anchor institutions – all optimized for mobile devices. Read more.

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Please Share Your Thoughts about SRDC's eNews/e-Commerce Educational Resources: A letter from Dr. Bo Beaulieu

The SRDC has contracted with researchers at the University of Florida to conduct an evaluation of our National e-Commerce Extension Initiative. Our bi-monthly eNews is one of the important products developed and distributed nationally as part of the initiative. As a reader of eNews, you may have been contacted already by the UF research team to share your thoughts about the newsletter and a variety of e-commerce educational products we've released over the past few years. If you have completed the survey sent out to the eNews readership by the UF external evaluation team, let us take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks for your valuable help.

If you get contacted again by the UF team -- this time to secure your insights on the educational resources you may have used to deliver e-commerce training to Extension colleagues or stakeholders in your state or county -- please take time to complete this survey. The SRDC is hoping the survey will help document the value of these products as well as modifications that might be needed to strengthen the quality and usefulness of these resources in the future. Thanks!

Bo Beaulieu
SRDC Director

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eNews is a bimonthly electronic newsletter produced by the Southern Rural Development Center. To unsubscribe from eNews, please e-mail meaghang@srdc.msstate.edu and type "unsubscribe eNews" in the subject line.