Smallholders download and share videos from the Internet to learn about sustainable agriculture

Of 1,211 farmers and their representatives registered on www.accessagriculture.org, 142 participated in an on-line survey in November 2017, designed to learn farmer’s opinions of Access Agriculture, an NGO which hosts a digital platform where anyone can watch or download videos and other information for free. These farmer learning videos all convey practical information on sustainable agricultural innovations, to encourage farmer experiments. Previous experience showed that smallholders liked having their own copy of videos (e.g. on DVD), but this study showed that farmers are now starting to find their own way to the internet to pro-actively search for information. Although some farmers learn about on-line videos by social contacts, most of the farmers found the videos on www.accessagriculture.org by surfing the web. This suggests that limitations of reaching farmers with traditional forms of video distribution (e.g. DVDs and village screenings) will be partly overcome by the Internet. Youth have become the new information brokers for communities, as elders may lack the digital technology skills needed to use the Internet to get agricultural information. To share videos with other community members, youth will benefit from additional tools, such as an app, to allow easy download and sharing with limited data consumption.     

Is an Increase in Organic Consumption Accompanied by A Healthier Diet? A Comparison of Changes in Eating Habits among Danish Consumers

Several studies have shown that consumers with a high organic consumption often have dietary habits that include more fruit and vegetables but less red meat. This paper takes a novel approach by investigating whether changes in consumption of organics and improvements in dietary habits also are related. The results show that many consumers seem to improve their diet while increasing the organic consumption. Further, the study suggests that some households already have a relatively healthy diet in terms of fruit, vegetables, and meat consumption, when they start buying organic food. When organic consumption reaches a certain level, further increases in organic consumption are more likely to take place at the same time as dietary habits are improved. References to health and climate considerations seem to be the most important motivations for reducing meat consumption, while higher availability of organics is the most important reason for increasing organic consumption.     

Consumer Power: Evolution in the Digital Age

The predictions of growing consumer power in the digital age that predated the turn of the century were fueled by the rise of the Internet, then reignited by social media. This article explores the intersection of consumer behavior and digital media by clearly defining consumer power and empowerment in Internet and social media contexts and by presenting a theoretical framework of four distinct consumer power sources: demand-, information-, network-, and crowd-based power. Furthermore, we highlight technology's evolutionary role in the development of these power sources and discuss the nature of shifts in power from marketers to consumers in terms of each source. The framework organizes prior marketing literature on Internet-enabled consumer empowerment and highlights gaps in current research. Specific research questions are elaborated for each source of power outlining the agenda for future research areas.     

Fundamental Determinants of Real Estate Prices: A Panel Study of German Regions

This paper aims at establishing empirical facts on the fundamental determinants of real estate prices. It contributes to the literature by analysing a unique panel dataset covering a wide range of real estate market data and other economic variables for nearly 100 German cities. Several robust fundamental determinants are identified, among them the supply-side factors of construction activity and housing stock as well as the demand-side factors of apartment rents, market size, age structure, local infrastructure and rental prices. Results suggest that these factors are robustly linked to fundamental real estate prices and thus can be used to detect misalignments of market prices.     

The Impact of Information on Consumer Preferences for Different Animal Food Production Methods

The motivation for the present study is to understand food choice in relation to animal food production and to study how preferences are influenced by information. To do this, we carried out a choice experiment. In the analysis, we focus on chickens reared indoors and outdoors and chicken labelled campylobacter-free versus non-labelled chicken. The results suggest that there is a positive willingness to pay (WTP) both for chicken reared outdoors and for campylobacter-free labelled chicken. Information about rearing methods resulted in a higher WTP for chicken reared outdoors, while information about campylobacter had both positive and negative effects on respondents’ WTP. The highest increase in WTP for campylobacter-free labelled chicken was found for one of the high risk groups, individuals with poor kitchen hygiene.     

Swedish technology teachers’ views on assessing student understandings of technological systems

Technology education is a new school subject in comparison with other subjects within the Swedish compulsory school system. Research in technology education shows that technology teachers lack experience of and support for assessment in comparison with the long-term experiences that other teachers use in their subjects. This becomes especially apparent when technology teachers assess students’ knowledge in and about technological systems. This study thematically analysed the assessment views of eleven technology teachers in a Swedish context. Through the use of in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews, their elaborated thoughts on assessing knowledge about technological systems within the technology subject (for ages 13–16) were analysed. The aim was to describe the teachers’ assessment views in terms of types of knowledge, and essential knowledge in relation to a progression from basic to advanced understanding of technological systems. The results showed three main themes that the interviewed teachers said they consider when performing their assessment of technological systems; understanding (a) a system’s structure, (b) its relations outside the system boundary and (c) its historical context and technological change. Each theme included several underlying items that the teachers said they use in a progressive manner when they assess their students’ basic, intermediate and advanced level of understanding technological systems. In conclusion, the results suggest that the analysed themes can provide a basis for further discussion about defining a progression for assessing students’ understanding about technological systems. However, the findings also need to be examined critically as the interviewed teachers’ views on required assessment levels showed an imbalance; few students were said to reach beyond the basic level, but at the same time most assessment items lay on the intermediate and advanced levels.     

Truth claims and explanatory claims—An ontological typology of futures studies

Classifications of futures research are usually based on epistemological differences, but we complete these with ontological considerations. The article presents a typology of forecasts, i.e. statements on future events or states. It has two dimensions, truth claim and explanatory claim; each dimension has two values, making the claim or not making the claim. The four outcomes are: forecasts which make both truth claims and explanatory claims (predictions); forecasts which make truth claims, but not explanatory claims (prognoses); forecasts which make explanatory claims, but not truth claims (science fiction); and forecasts which make neither truth claims nor explanatory claims (utopias or dystopias). We regard each outcome as an ideal type, against which forecasts can be measured. We illustrate the use of the typology by presenting an example of each outcome.