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In many places, we are also facilitating local coop)erative ventures among higher 

 education, K-12, community colleges, small businesses, and medical and health services 

 that allow for cost-effective and efficient networking of local communities as well as new 

 joint programming efforts. In areas such as Oregon, North Carolina, Indiana, New 

 York, and Pennsylvania, Extension is working closely with mid-level networks as well 

 as with statewide telecommunications networks and projects on the cutting edge. 



The complete penetration of the internet throughout the land-grant system and the 70% 

 complete penetration of the internet to county offices has greatly improved connectivity 

 and timely data collection and delivery on a nationwide basis. The CES approach is 

 based on open systems, use of internationally accepted standards, and collaborative work 

 through networking. ES works very closely with the National Science Foundation and 

 is coordinating all efforts with the Federal Networking Council. Information 

 management decisionmaking today is far easier given that the global internet is the 

 infrastructure for communicating not only with state and local entities, but many other 

 countries as well. 



A concrete example of the tremendous capacity of this system was Extension's ability to 

 respond from county level to a request for possible youth service projects in less than 24 

 hours. Extension Service-USDA received some 1,000 responses— 800 by electronic mail 

 and 200 by FAX in that time period, regarding more than 3,000 possible youth service 

 projects. 



Through the AG*SAT Corporation consortium of 43 land-grant institutions. Extension 

 Service-USDA, and the Cooperative State Research Service, we have the capacity to 

 deliver interactive, issue-based education at a distance. We are increasingly sharing not 

 simply our infrastructure but our quality programmatic expertise in multi-media with 

 other organizations and agencies. Recent examples include cooperative work with the 

 National Association of Counties (NACo) to conduct interactive, nationwide 

 videoconferences on "Aging Population and Aging Infrastructure" and "Watershed '93" 

 produced cooperatively with other USDA agencies and the U.S. Environmental 

 Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Administration, National Park Service, and the National Water Research Institute. More 

 than 25 interesting and iimovative projects have been financed through the AG 

 Telecommunications project, and Extension is currently cooperating closely with REA 

 to implement the Distance Learning and Medical Link program. 



We are excited about our increasing ability to connect, communicate, and manage in a 

 dynamic and collaborative, rather than static, sense. Extension can gain access to nearly 

 any database that is open in USDA, the land-grant community, other countries, and other 

 government agencies virtually instantaneously. Software has been developed that enables 

 end users to access and retrieve electronic documents via electronic mail. Developed by 

 one of our land-grant partners, this software (ALMANAC) is being deployed throughout 

 Extension, USDA, and other agencies and organizations. NSF is exploring it as an 

 addition to its growing software infrastructure. 



