The Rural Voice, 1998-11, Page 40TIGER
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36 THE RURAL VOICE
AgriTech
New OATI site offers information on
training programs plus chat rooms
By Janice Recker
Isn't technology wonderful?
It's a phrase often heard, usually
with more than a touch of sarcasm.
However, technological advances
in the sharing,
retrieving and
distributing of
information can
be extremely
useful. Through
this column, I
hope to shed a
little light on the
sometimes
intimidating
world of the
internet,
computers and
CD ROMs
while offering
readers the
opportunity to provide feedback.
Basic equipment is required to go
on- line, though the latest model is
not. With an Pentium 133, 1.7 GB
hard drive, 8x CD ROM drive and a
33,600 modem, my machine is more
than capable of surfing the intemet
and making that connection to
information.
The only thing that can't be
purchased is a little patience, a
necessity at times.
For this inaugural column I
explored a web site just launched
October 1.
The Ontario Agricultural Training
Institute (OATI) has set up
www.oati.com, a site where those
interested agribusiness can obtain
resource information, sign up for
courses, read the organization's
newsletter, leam management tools
and link to other agriculturally -
related sites.
The impetus for the site came
from OATI course participants who
were looking for follow-up assistance
after completing courses. Visitors can
respond to a variety of topics, either
through submissions posted or open
chat rooms.
° Individualized information is
available from peers who may be
dealing with the same issues or have
Experts
moderate talks
in chat rooms
at OATI's
web site
discovered solutions as well as from
experts in the field.
The first step to reaching the
forums or chat line is to go through a
log -in process where a user name and
e-mail address are recorded. Much of
the information requested may be
kept private at the user's discretion.
Registration is free and allows view-
ing of forum discussions, participa-
tion through written responses or
chatting live with others. Unfortun-
ately, on my venture through the site,
there were no participants on-line
with whom I could converse.
For those unacquainted with chat
rooms, when others log onto the site,
visitors can type a statement, wait a
few seconds for a response then add
one's own reply. It is chatting via the
keyboard.
In the Entrepreneurial Exchange
chat room, discussions focus on
planning and marketing on a real-
time format.
Only a few weeks old, there were
limited forum topics posted for
discussion, though ones available
included opinions on University of
Guelph Agrologist-in-Residence Jim
Fischer's lectures and retirement
issues for farmers. ,
Responses can 6e written on any
of the topics and posted for further
discussion. Visitors are welcome to
add items of personal concern,
inviting valuable input from other
agriculturalists.
An interesting feature of the
forums is the availability of experts
moderating the talks. Moderator
Carol Fuerth will be on-line through
October and November when the
topic will be Marketing the Small
Agribusiness.
Editorials, discussion papers and
guest speakers will appear throughout
the months to attract visitors and
educate participants.
Though the OATI site is still in
it's infancy, it has the potential to
open the lines of communication, to
get people inside the business and all
those affected by the issues, talking.
Anything that gets various groups
conversing is destined to have a