LET'S COMMUNICATE 
Ag Communication Newsletter May 2001, No. 65

CONTENTS: 

WRITE THE RIGHT WORD 
AG INFORMATION CENTER 

WRITE THE RIGHT WORD

The Trained Professional Watch encourages others to take up the hobby (?) of media watching to find slipups by communication professionals. A good place to get started is in headlines and photo captions. You can find lots of fun mistakes there without much effort. For example, a recent newspaper feature on bird watching included a photo of a bird identified as a "leased sandpiper." No doubt it came from the Acme Bird Rental Company. Or maybe it was a "least" sandpiper.

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A Let's Communicate reader, doing a little Trained Professional watching of his own, questioned usage from last month where a sentence was opened with an abbreviation ("KB is computer geek speak for..."). He didn't feel this is proper, and he is correct. But I defended the usage in context, because the tone was casual, it would not have made sense in that case to spell out the term (we were defining the abbreviation), and casting the sentence to avoid the questionable usage might have been awkward. But I pass on the useful rule: Do not open a sentence with an abbreviation.

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I'm sure we all get annoyed when the news media doesn't get identification of NDSU agriculture units or programs quite right. But before we throw stones, let's check for glass houses and make sure we get things right ourselves. Two examples: The proper name is NDSU Extension Service (in news style, on first usage the "NDSU" should be spelled out). It is not North Dakota Extension, NDSU Extension, ND Cooperative Extension, et al. Also, those NDSU entities scattered around the state are Research Extension Centers. Notice: it is not Research AND Extension Center (or even worse, Research & Extension Center). After the first complete usage, reference to "extension" or "the center" is acceptable.

AG INFORMATION CENTER

The Ag Information Center on the Web is ready for you to use. This new intranet site is for internal use by faculty and staff under the VP for Agriculture.

Go to http://info.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/ (note: the www in our normal URL is replaced with info). There, enter your User ID and Password, and click on Log In. If you have an @ndsuext.nodak.edu or @ndsu.nodak.edu e-mail account, your User ID and Password are the same as for your e-mail. If you have e-mail on a different system or have trouble logging in to the Information Center, contact the Ag Communication Computer Services Help Desk at accs@ndsuext.nodak.edu or 231-9666.

Using the calendar at this site will help avoid overlapping events for multiple people. This calendar isn't a personal scheduling tool for individuals, but it can help avoid conflicts for groups of people.

Please enter field days, county and multicounty meetings, professional development meetings and similar events. It's simple. Just click on "Calendar," then "Create a new calendar entry." The section headings on the left explain how to fill in an entry. Fill in as many details as possible, and avoid acronyms since we don't all speak the same "language."

You might develop a Web page with a more complete agenda and supporting materials, then enter the URL in the calendar. Individuals viewing the event can then click on the URL and go to your information page.

Make sure you indicate if this information should be made available to the public. Check the box "Show this event on the External Calendar?" at the bottom of the input screen if the public can attend. Do not check this box when entering in- service training and similar events only for NDSU faculty and staff.

Under "Display calendar listings," you can sort to see events that are entered.

For any questions about using the Ag Info Center calendar, contact the ACCS Help Desk.