Thanks very much Peter, Stevan, Johnson and others who have given your valuable comments. Let me pose my question in another form:
The new information and communication technologies have tremendous potential to facilitate communication flow among scientists (researchers) and between scientists and their 'clients' (in the case of agricultural research, the clients are the farmers and policymakers). At present, physicists (especially high energy physicists and astronomers) and computer scientists are taking considerable advantage of ICTs. Agricultural scientists are among the poorest users of ICTs. How can we reach the benefits of ICTs to agricultural researchers? How can we make the transition from a 'poor use today' to a ' much better use tomorrow'? If I am able to find the funds, how can I go about actually making the transition to the better tomorrow? It is one thing to say that different subjects/ fields have different cultures, but another to do something about it. I am interested in changing the culture in agriculture. In my opinion, agriculture is a key area today. There is so much needless poverty and hunger in the world. Most developing countries depend on agriculture for their survival. We need to act quickly in that area. Regards. Arun
