Conservation Information Arrives Faster and Is Easier to Obtain in Missouri

Using human dimensions to learn about human dimensions. A news release this week from the company FusionPR about a survey of journalists and their use of technology information prompted me to consider how conservation knowledge has become much more available and easier to obtain in Missouri.

Their survey results show that for technology journalists:

78 percent read Blogs;
67 percent cite Blogs;
and 35 percent maintain their own Blog.

Blogs did not exist a few years ago. This is a new way that these technology journalists are obtaining and distributing information. The complete survey results are described in the press release as being available later in September.

The results made me think about conservation information and how it is more available and easier to obtain in Missouri. Conservation information is delivered much faster than in the past, both by journalists and by conservation workers. And it's far easier to obtain, through print, radio, television, and the Internet, including Blogs.

In a conservation survey in 2003 (where over 6,000 responded with an adequate return rate of 39 percent), 71 percent of Missourians indicated they could use information about places to enjoy the outdoors close to them. On the other hand, in the same survey, 74 percent indicated they had obtained no information about conservation from the Department's Web site.

There is an incredible amount of information delivered to the news media and individuals through a variety of methods by the Department of Conservation and particularly through Web sources. There is more information about conservation on the Web every day. The Department's Web pages receive high levels of visits and the frequency of use continues to increase. Missourians are obviously using the Web pages, Blogs, and other Internet sources to find and obtain conservation information much more than in the past. I'll be very interested to see how Missourians respond about their use of the Department's Web pages in future Department surveys.

If you want to know more about places to enjoy the outdoors, use the Department's online Conservation Atlas, or visit the Department's Web pages to learn more about conservation, read about interesting items on the new Department Blog, or learn more about places to go and the many Conservation Areas in Missouri.