Analysis of Websites of Indian Agricultural Universities for their adaptation of Web 2.0 Technology

Renu Panwar¹, Ajeet Singh Nain²* and  Sunil Goria³

¹Institute of Library and Information Sc., NIMS University, Shobhanagar, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

²Department of Agrometeorology, College of Agriculture, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar (U. S. Nagar, Uttarakhand), India

³University Library, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (A Central University), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Corresponding Author E-mail: NAIN_AJEET@HOTMAIL.COM

Abstract:

India is an agrarian country where approximately 65% population is still dependent on agriculture. Agricultural Universities in India has been mandated with preparing trained human resources, conducting need-based research and taking the technologies to farmer’s field through extension activities. Website is good source of communication provide crucial information to stakeholders such as students, farmers and a common man. The content on the website and how it has been kept plays a crucial role in fulfilling the objectives of the website. Web 2.0 technology is an important technology of 21^st century, which counts on information sharing through participatory approach, interoperability, design keeping in mind user’s preferences, and Inter-institutional collaboration. The critical analysis of the websites of Indian Agricultural Universities shows that most appeared feature on the agricultural website was webmail followed by Web OPAC and Search Option. The group-wise analysis of the institutional websites shows that there is large intra-group variation as far as Web 2.0 technology is concerned. The adoption of the Web 2.0 technology on the websites of the Agricultural Universities varied from 0 to 33 %, horticultural and veterinary group websites varied from approximately 7 to 27 % and 0 to 40%, respectively, while deemed-to-be universities adopted 13 to 30 % contents of Web 2.0 technology on the institutional websites. The results show that the websites of deemed-to-be University are comparatively better with Web 2.0 technology, while websites of agriculture and veterinary universities are trailing in the list.

Keywords:

Agricultural University; Deemed-to-be University; ICAR; Web 2.0 Technology; Web contents

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