Farm Bureau sprouts mobile content
Last week, I helped my daughter move to the state of Maine for a summer internship. Those three days in the car made me realize that young people really don't communicate with the world in the same manner as those of us who can remember when most televisions came without a remote control.
During the journey, I got the task of driving when there might be something interesting to see. I was also scheduled to handle the driving when there were calls to place and text messages to send and receive. The first of these calls were to the local Internet provider.
Securing Internet service was apparently the most important part of the move. The process of having her apartment wired began with a call to the local Internet provider to secure the details of the services available. This was followed by a series of rapid-fire text messages back and forth between my daughter and her roommate.
Then, this process repeated itself several times for about 70 or 80 miles. Eventually, I heard my daughter say the word "awesome."
This was her abbreviated way of saying that wireless Internet had been secured and will be up and running in the apartment upon our arrival.
I should have realized the importance of having constant connections to the Internet when she told me that our trip would only include hotels that provide free Internet access.
When we made it to the apartment, she was thrilled to see the green lights working on the wireless router. As her father, I was much happier to see that her home for the summer comes equipped with a security system.
This system used older technology and was something I knew how to use. It was basically an intercom between the apartment and the main entrance door. Judging by the age of the apartment complex, this security system was probably installed as a reaction to the Watergate break-in.
(Both the Watergate comment and the reference about "Carleton the Doorman" were completely wasted on my daughter and her roommate.)
FarmWeekNow.com
Earlier this week, to better communicate with all these people that like to stay connected, Farm Bureau launched FarmWeekNow.com, a new multimedia Web site. The site uses experienced journalists from Farm Bureau news operations. FarmWeekNow.com will provide Internet users a variety of news with an Illinois and an agricultural focus.
The site also offers multimedia features by Farm Bureau video and photography departments. By involving these departments, the new Web site will provide more opportunity to display multimedia video, audio reports, photo galleries and downloadable files relating to current agricultural stories.
FarmWeekNow.com provides special weather and crop data through an alliance with Storm X, an agricultural weather firm based out of New York. In addition to weather news, Storm X supplies special coverage of Illinois crop conditions for corn and soybeans, along with yield projections throughout the growing season.
A special section of the Web site will allow members to find information about Farm Bureau events and conferences and to connect to other Farm Bureau information through links.
Users will also be able to follow the Web site on both their home computers and iPhones and have the ability to download RFD radio programs on iPods or mp3 players.
Even though I haven't adopted the use of all of these mobile devices to stay connected, most people have. This was made very clear to me on the trip back from Maine when I noticed the sign the pilot of the plane turned on had been changed from "No Smoking" to "No Use of Electronic Devices."
David Treece is manager of the Ford-Iroquois Farm Bureau.