Scraps from Pigg's Pen

New Kids Count publication released

2006-07-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2006 KIDS COUNT Data Book is now available! The 17th annual national and state-by-state study profiles the well-being of America’s children, and seeks to enrich discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all kids. The annual Data Book ranks states on 10 key measures and provides data on child health, education, and the economic condition of families. This year, the Casey Foundation also looks at the critical role that early childhood development plays in preparing millions of American children for success in school and life and discusses ways to support family-based child-care providers. The 2006 KIDS COUNT Data Book materials can be viewed, downloaded, and ordered (at no cost) by visiting www.aecf.org/kidscount/sld/databook.jsp.

The KIDS COUNT website (http://www.kidscount.org/) provides users with more than 100 state-level measures on children and provides easy-to-use tools which allow users to generate custom reports including rankings, graphs, and maps, which can be downloaded. Raw data files are also available.

More Fuss about Public Access to Research

2006-05-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

You may remember the fuss last year when the NIH Director, E. Zehouni suggested that all NIH research results would be posted to a public, free access internet location for public dissemination. Academics and their professional societies were in an uproar over this proposal and the lack of understanding of how important the publications were to association survival (financially). RSS is in the same boat even though not too many of our folks conduct research for NIH.

Now, a new proposal in the Senate is threatening to broaden the access and reduce the financial income to RSS as well as many other publishing organizations (see below). This proposal would apply to all federally-funded research and require that the reports (and journal articles) be released within six months of the initial journal publication for free access.

I have not read the draft legislation so I can't say what the provisions might be for who will bear the cost of "free access." However, I do know that the income of the RSS will be reduced substantially if all the articles we would have published in our journal were to become freely available to the public after RSS had gone to the expense of reviewing, editing, printing and distributing these articles. In most conversations I've heard about, policy makers say that the authors who would benefit most from the review process should bear this cost along with their institutions. However, I think they do not understand the way institutional budgets work and what resources might be available. I can see that future grants would be written in such a way to transfer this cost to the federal sponsor of the research--and, maybe, that is OK and proper. It does not however address the loss to the Society of this income stream of subscriptions to libraries and others nor the subsequent increase in membership fees to support the other things the organization does.

I encourage you to think about this and take action to let your congressperson hear from you as to how you think it would impact you and what you hold dear about the way things work.

A summary of the article published in the NY Times is pasted below.

Ken Pigg

May 8, 2006

Some Publishers of Scholarly Journals Dislike Bill to Require Online Access to Articles

By SARA IVRY <http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=SARA%20IVRY&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=SARA%20IVRY&inline=nyt-per>
Scholarly publishing has never been a big business. But it could take a financial hit if a proposed federal law is enacted, opening taxpayer-financed research to the public, according to some critics in academic institutions.
The Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006, proposed last week by Senators Joseph I. Lieberman <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/joseph_i_lieberman/index.html?inline=nyt-per> , Democrat of Connecticut, and John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, would require 11 government agencies to publish online any articles that contained research financed with federal grants. If enacted, the measure would require that the articles be accessible online without charge within six months of their initial publication in a scholarly journal.
"Not everybody has a library next door. I don't mean to be flippant about it, but this gives access to anybody," said Donald Stewart, a spokesman for Senator Cornyn. "The genesis of this was his interest in open government and finding ways to reform our Freedom of Information laws and taxpayer access to federally funded work."
Some members of the scholarly publishing industry are wary of the legislation. Howard H. Garrison, the director of public affairs at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, an organization whose members collectively publish approximately 60 journals, argued that the legislation would weaken the connection between the journals and their readers and that journals could lose subscribers and ad revenue if articles were available online.
"People won't be able to gauge how many people will be reading the articles and that has ramifications for advertising, promotion," he said. "Does it reach 1,000 scientists, 2,000 or 50? If the articles are on a government Web site, your readership may be halved."
Scientific data is easily misinterpreted, said Joann Boughman, executive vice president of the American Society of Human Genetics, publisher of The American Journal of Human Genetics. "Consumers themselves are saying, 'We have the right to know these things as quickly as we can.' That is not incorrect. However, wherever there is a benefit, there is a risk associated with it."
A year ago, the National Institutes of Health introduced a policy encouraging scientists who had received N.I.H. financing to submit published articles within a year to a central database at the National Library of Medicine. Fewer than 4 percent of researchers have complied.
Catherine McKenna Ribeiro, the deputy press secretary for Senator Lieberman, said mandatory compliance would "foster information sharing, prevent duplication of research efforts, and generate new lines of scientific inquiry." She said in an e-mail message that the bill would, in effect, allow agencies to better monitor what publications were a result of their grants.
Betsy L. Humphreys, the deputy director of the National Library of Medicine, said she was not surprised that researchers had not always complied with N.I.H.'s request. "I think it's like anything else in the lives of busy people who prefer to spend their time doing science," she said.

Integrating Social and Physical Sciences

2006-02-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

Colleagues, this announcement was posted recently to RUSOC-L. I know not all members of RSS participate in this list, so I thought I would use this blog to provide additional notification. It is the kind of communication and discussion I suspect we will see more of as people become more familiar with the capabilities offered by computer-mediated communication via the Internet. Cheers.

Ken

IntSci - Integrated Science for Sustainability

This is an invitation to participate in an electronic discussion (e-conference) on how to help science initiatives to be more focussed on practical problems, integrated across perspectives and sectors, and interdisciplinary. The conference is called "IntSci", and will run from the 1-15 March 2006, and you can subscribe from http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/social/IntSci_sub.asp
This e-conference seeks to bring together researchers, policy makers, funders and others with an interest in looking at how science can contribute to change in sectors such as sustainability, environment and health. Problem solving in these areas requires stakeholders - including scientists - to engage in practices of joint inquiry, collaborative learning and adaptive management. This is a growing area for science and society - and one that is increasingly promoted within research and development (R&D) activities. We are particularly interested in how to broaden science teams beyond those with technical skills (particularly from the hard sciences) to answer problems, to also include social researchers with complementary skills in the management of participation, conflict and learning (soft sciences). This e-conference will focus on this, and the issues that arise from it.
An e-conference is a moderated discussion conducted via the Internet using email. It is different from other electronic "chat" or "discussion" forums in that it builds in a mechanism (the moderators) to ensure that participants follow through an agreed upon agenda, and that the conference observes a strict time-line. Further guidance and background material will be supplied after you are subscribed. Please note that you can subscribe using "digest" options that minimise the e-mails you get to one each day.
This e-conference is part of research undertaken by the Landcare Research Collaborative Learning group ( http://social.landcareresearch.co.nz ). The moderators for this conference will be Margaret Kilvington, Chrys Horn, and Will Allen. The e-conference and promotional software, discussion archiving and technical support for the conference are being provided through the NRM-changelinks http://learningforsustainability.net gateway site.
If you are interested in subscribing to this conference then you can visit the following webpage: http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/social/IntSci_sub.asp Or send a blank e-mail to IntSci-subscribe@learningforsustainability.net. If you have any problems subscribing, or would like to know more please e-mail us directly. We look forward to working with you next month.
best regards
Will Allen Chrys Horn Margaret Kilvington
Landcare Research: Collaborative Learning group http://social.landcareresearch.co.nz/

Country Boys--a Story of Poverty in Appalachia

2006-02-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

Mil Duncan, RSS member, former RUPRI Board member and professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, spoke with Frontline recently about poverty in Appalachia. The interview was part of a PBS Frontline special, Country Boys, featuring a documentary examining the life of two boys growing up in rural America. To read the text of the interview with Mil Duncan, go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/countryboys/readings/duncan.html.

If you have news about yourself or other rural sociologists, please let me know so these can be featured on the RSS Web Site.

BTW, if you have not already seen, the new image RSS site is operating. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Katrina Response by RSS

2005-12-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

With support and participation from USDA/CSREES, the Farm Foundation, the Southern Rural Development Center, the Community Development Society and the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals, RSS has organized a meeting of about forty individuals representing these organizations to develop a plan of action to guide a joint response to the disastrous situation created by hurricanes this summer across the South. This meeting is being held in Nashville, TN next week. I will have a report on the outcome of this meeting in the next TRS, so I hope you will watch for it. I feel certain there will be opportunities forthcoming for many more RSS members to play a role in implementing this plan when it is completed.

This is not to say that individual members of RSS are not already engaged in such recovery work as, indeed, they are. Some could not avoid it! Shirley Laska of the Univ. of New Orleans and Director of the Center for Hazards Assessment has been engaged in research and action efforts and has testified before the House Science Committee's Basic Research Subcommittee last month. In that appearance Shirley described her work with FEMA where she has noted that "... social science research demonstrates that agency assistance should be locally situated, take place over a significant period of time, and develop ongoing working relationships with community officials." Her work at the Center has also discovered that "... repeatedly-flooded structures are found in clusters and thus the response must be spread across local areas, not by individual homes." Shirley has also demonstrated that participatory approaches have proven to build community resiliency, an important factor in recovery activities.

John Green of Delta State University has given leadership to efforts in East Biloxi to build on this participatory approach, convening a meeting of institutional responders in October and building a project that engages citizens in self-recovery efforts. John's website ( see http://ntweb.deltastate.edu/vp_academic/jgreen/Institute_CBR/CBR%20and%20Disasters/CBR_and_Disasters_Main_Page.htm) not only provides a vehicle for disseminating information from a variety of sources, but shares a research agenda developed by participants at the October meeting and describes his own (and Anna Kleiner's) community-based research agenda being implemented in East Biloxi. As you may realize, community-based research is also an action agenda and intended to be empowering for local citizens, further building community resiliency.

Bob Gramling and Bill Freudenburg (along with Laska) have been meeting with Kai Erikson who is leading an ASA-sponsored response effort. Bob reports he is far too busy working with local leaders on a variety of issues to be able to attend the Nashville meeting. "Go get 'um, Bob!"

I suspect there are other RSS members who are similarly engaged and other efforts that I'm not aware of and don't have room to report on here. If you know of someone or some thing you would like to share with RSS members, please send it along or post it in a response on this blog. While the specific aspects of the hurricane disasters in the South are horrendous and tragic in many aspects, there are also general features of sociological importance to learn and to share that may assist recovery efforts in another place and time. It is to that, as well as the immediate needs, to which rural sociologists are so often dedicated.

Your thoughts???

Ken Pigg

Note: Quotes attributed to Laska taken from the Washington Update, November 21, 2005, Vol. 24, No. 21 published by COSSA.

New ERS Report on Rural Labor Force

2005-11-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

Low-Skill Employment and the Changing Economy of Rural America
By Robert Gibbs, Lorin Kusmin, and John Cromartie

This study reports trends in rural low-skill employment in the 1990s and their impact on the rural workforce. The share of rural jobs classified as low-skill fell by 2.2 percentage points between 1990 and 2000, twice the decline of the urban low-skill employment share, but much less than the decline of the 1980s. Employment shifts from low-skill to skilled occupations within industries, rather than changes in industry mix, explain virtually all of the decline in the rural low-skill employment share. The share decline was particularly large for rural Black women, many of whom moved out of low-skill blue-collar work into service occupations, while the share of rural Hispanics who held low-skill jobs increased. Economic Research Report No. (ERR10) 38 pp, October 2005.

For more information contact Robert Gibbs, RGibbs@ers.usda.gov

This report can be downloaded at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ERR10/

Interdisciplinary work?

2005-11-14T13:46:00.000-08:00

Many of us are subject to performance reviews that focus attention on the amount and quality of interdisciplinary work we do. Others may also be subject to situations where interdisciplinary is, more or less, a requirement for success. At the recent COSSA meetings I learned that Robert Axelrod, incoming President of the American Political Science Association, is launching an effort to learn more about what is required to facilitate interdisciplinary research, teaching and analysis of public policy.

Axelrod offered a few examples to illustrate what he thinks are important issues. Among these are:

1. Identify "best practices" for the promotion of interdisciplinarity in universities, institutes, departments, curriculum, professional societies, journals, and foundations.
2. Work through our annual meeting committees or other venues to increase the visibility of interesting people and projects that go beyond a single discipline.
3. Set up a process to select and publicize some of the best current examples of articles and books across the social and behavioral sciences.
4. Given the difficulty of establishing a new peak journal for all of the social sciences, work with Science magazine to expand its coverage of the social sciences. Help Science increase its ability to recruit truly outstanding submissions, and to conduct discerning peer review across the social sciences.
5. Find synergies between the interdisciplinary theme, and other priorities of our Associations such as promoting diversity in our professions, and enhancing the public presence of social science.
6. Build on interdisciplinary initiatives already underway.

Dr. Axelrod asked that I pass along this invitation to RSS members with a request to send comments and suggestions to him at axe@umich.edu, with a copy to the Exec. Dir. of APSA, Michael Brintnall at brintnall@apsanet.org.

Responses to Katrina, and etc.

2005-10-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

I've just received a note from RSS member, John Green at Delta State Univ. regarding some efforts there to organize a response to the Katrina and Rita effects in the Delta region. This effort is captured, and will continue to be featured in a new web-based information site created by John and another RSS member, Anna Kleiner from Louisiana. For more info, see...

Duane Gill at Mississippi State is organizing a summit to assist in developing a broader response by various state agencies and the resource information available via the state information center in the sociology department there is available via the site above if you follow the "more resources" link.

ASA is also sponsoring an effort led by Kai Erickson with some participation by several sociologists and rural sociologists (Bob Gramling and Bill Freudenburg, among others) and this undertaking is just getting underway.

If anyone has further info about these efforts or others that I have not included here but need some visibility, please post them in response to this note.

Plans are continuing--and are nearly complete--for a joint summit of several organizations with leadership by RSS and the SRDC (led by former Pres. Bo Bealieu). This group will be meeting soon and will include representatives of CDS and NACDEP as well as appropriate USDA agency representatives. Funding is being provided by RSS, SRDC and USDA/CSREES to help offset costs of this meeting. More information will be available soon on this event likely to be scheduled for early December. The focus of this event is to determine what needs to be done to assist people to rebuild community in the face of these tragic natural events and the subsequent migration of populations and devastation of social, economic and physical infrastructure. And, while the focus will be less on the physical infrastructure aspects--as other resources appear to be focused here--we know how this factor is related to many others of concern.

Your ideas are certainly welcome and I encourage you to post them in response in this blog.

Ken

The RURAL BLOG

2005-10-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Julie Zimmerman sends this item which is organized by colleagues at the Univ. of Kentucky's School of Journalism. Seems this school has adopted "rural" as a focus and is working to assist rural newspapers in developing a stronger, broader interest in rural affairs and rural policy. You might want to follow along with this reporting activity and see what is happening that journalists find "interesting" and newsworthy. You might even want to submit something to them for distribution from your work. Take a look...

Cheers,

Ken

New Report on Food Stamp Dependence

2005-10-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

I just received a news release from the Carsey Institute at the Univ. of New Hampshire on the important role food stamps play in maintaining food security among the poor. Authored in part by RSS member, Cynthia Duncan, the full report can be found at: http://www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu/documents/Carsey_Brief%20Food%20Stamps.pdf.

From the news release:

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 19, 2005 – People who live in rural America rely more heavily on the federal Food Stamp Program than do residents of urban areas, according to a new analysis by The Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
The Institute’s analysis found that while 22 percent of Americans lived in rural areas in 2001, a full 31 percent of the nation’s food stamp beneficiaries lived there. In all, 4.6 million rural residents received food stamp benefits in 2001, the analysis found.
“Many of America’s rural families struggle to make a living,” said Cynthia M. Duncan, the director of The Carsey Institute. “In these rural communities, as in many of our cities and suburbs, food stamps provide crucial supplements to low income families’ budgets.”
The food stamp analysis, “Rural America Depends on the Food Stamp Program to Make Ends Meet,” is the first of a series of policy briefs from The Carsey Institute.
The policy brief provides a demographic picture of rural food stamp recipients, including information on income, race, age and family size. It also compares data for rural and urban recipients.
Among its findings, the Carsey analysis showed:
· In 2001, 7.5 percent of all rural residents received food stamps, compared to 4.8 percent of residents of urban areas.
· While 10.6 million rural residents were living in poverty, only 4.6 million received food stamps in 2001, suggesting that many people who may be eligible for help are not benefiting from the program.
· In 2001, 91 percent of rural elderly in the food stamp program had household incomes less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level.
· A significant share of food stamp beneficiaries are under 18 years of age. Children accounted for 43 percent of the rural population that depend on food stamps, but only one fourth of rural residents.
· Roughly three-in-five rural residents who receive food stamps live in the South.
In the next few weeks, Congress is expected to consider significant cuts in the federal Food Stamp Program. In all, congressional committees are preparing to make $3 billion in cuts over five years to federal programs that include food stamps, farm subsidies and nutrition assistance.
Major cuts in the food stamp program could lead to smaller benefits or a loss of eligibility for some current recipients. Such cuts are “likely to have significant adverse effects on the lives of poor rural Americans,” the Carsey analysis concludes.
Nationwide, the typical food stamp benefit was $185 in 2003, and the average household receiving the benefit had a gross monthly income of $640, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

RSS response to Hurricane Disasters

2005-09-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

The RSS leadership is holding discussions with several other organizations about organizing a response to the Katrina and Rita disasters in the rural South. This response is intended to bring a focus to community building and regeneration in the face of this natural disaster and the related population movements. As might be expected, USDA's rural development agencies and a number of foundations are also being engaged.

Important leadership in this effort is coming from Past President, Bo Beaulieu from his position at the Southern Rural Development Center and Carolyn Sachs, current RSS President.

Initial expressions of interest in being of assistance is being sought via the RSS Research and Interest Groups, especially those that relate to community, family, population, and natural resources.

Perhaps the kind of effort being conducted in Hawaii is what may be needed in those rural places devastated by the hurricanes. This effort stresses a culturally relevant, systemic and integrated approach that takes into account regional factors as well as those specific to a local place. It might be the sort of example for replication over the next several years in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana as well as a large number of communities now receiving newly displaced families and individuals. See http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/section/735.html for more information.

Does anyone in RSS know anything about this effort, or one in the Continental U.S. that is similar? The RSS leadership would appreciate more information if you wish to share it.

Sustainable Ag Symposium in Northwest Announced as well as initial response by Rural Sociologists to Katrina/Rita disasters.

2005-09-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

RSS colleagues at WSU have just announced the:

Symposium on Sustainable Agriculture, Communities, & Environments
in the Pacific Northwest
Sponsored by the WSU Dept. of Community & Rural Sociology
Washington State University Tri-Cities, Richland, WA
May 18-20, 2006

Call for Papers deadline is October 31, 2005.

In addition, RSS colleagues in the Southern states affected by Katrina and Rita have organized a meeting for October 7, 2005 as explained below.

Informing Redevelopment After Hurricane Katrina: The Role for Community-Based Research

Site: Alumni Center
Southeastern Louisiana University
Hammond, Louisiana
October 7, 2005
10:00 am – 3:00 pm

In addition to the immediate relief of individuals, families and communities impacted by Hurricane Katrina, there are numerous redevelopment issues in need of attention across much of the Gulf South. Arguably, social scientists and community development practitioners have a great deal to offer in this regard, ranging from documenting and analyzing the psycho-social impacts of disaster to exploration of strategies for local and regional community economic development.

Unfortunately, there are many segments of the population – rural, poor, minority – that are often left out and unheard in decision making for development. On this basis, it is important to “amplify” the voices of these neglected and often underserved groups.

You are invited to a strategy meeting of community stakeholders, nongovernmental organizations and researchers interested in informing redevelopment following Hurricane Katrina. The goals of this meeting are to share information and other resources and to coordinate a response to redevelopment in the region. Participants will work to develop a research and action agenda.

Many of you are likely engaged with community-based and other forms of research following this disaster. Please come and share your thoughts and plans with others. Each of us can strategically focus our attention on particular communities, while at the same time coordinating our work.

Please RSVP by Friday, September 30 if you plan to attend this very important meeting to:
John J. Green, Institute for Community-Based Research
Delta State University
Phone: 662-846-4069 / Fax: 662-846-4099
E-mail: jgreen@deltastate.edu

This event is sponsored by the Institute for Community-Based Research at Delta State University and the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Southeastern Louisiana University, in partnership with the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives and Oxfam America.

New Meetings Posted

2005-09-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

The RSS website now contains some new meeting announcements, to wit:

The Appalachian Studies Conference, March17-19, 2006 at Sinclair Community College, Dayton, Ohio (Submission Deadline September 30, 2005) , and

The 5th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences May 31 - June 3, 2006 Waikiki Beach Marriott Hotel, Honolulu Hawaii, USA (Submission Deadline: January 24, 2006).

Check the RSS website (http://www.ruralsociology.org) for more information.

Ken Pigg

Welcome to my Blog

2005-09-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

This is my first post. I am planning to use this vehicle to post my Scraps column as well as the TRS print version--at least for the time being. In this blog you will find info about the RSS and what is happening to YOUR professional association. Perhaps it wll be of some interest to you. One of the nice things about this form of electronic communication is that you can post your own responses or comments about things that are of interest or concern to you and we can all read those as well. The other nice thing is that you can access this at YOUR convenience rather than having me PUSH the information to you. I realize that some people will never take the time to access this info; that's just life as we know it.

I'll also use this vehicle to share with you random snippets of information I gather up from diverse sources about "things rural" that may suggest a thread of conversation or reactions. If you don't find them useful, you can post your own ideas or those of others--as usual, let's give credit if they are not our own words.

So, here goes---

The Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC) prepared and recently delivered maps to the U.S. Department of Labor looking at how Hurricane Katrina will affect workers, businesses and transportation systems in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The mapping project is part of MERIC's involvement in a pilot program funded by the U.S. DOL, now in its second year.

One of the maps shows that, in Louisiana and Mississippi combined, 45 percent of all employers and 46 percent of all employees fell within a 100-mile radius of Katrina as it made landfall near New Orleans. Based on MERIC's calculations, over 70,700 employers and 1.2 million employees were within this 100-mile radius. Read more...