LET'S COMMUNICATE 
Agriculture Communication Newsletter 
January 2002, No. 73

CONTENTS 

WRITE THE RIGHT 
WORD ORPHAN WEB PAGES 
AVOID COMPUTER INFECTIONS 
NEW IN THE STAFF RESOURCE LIBRARY

WRITE THE RIGHT 

"I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out."--Katherine Dunn

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The Trained Professional Watch has detected several word use and grammar glitches in the media of late. Among them:

• In a "where are they now" item in Sports Illustrated, "He now oversees a young crop of more than 260,000 trees, most of them the red pines used to make telephone POLLS." We are all familiar with telephone polls and usually find them only slightly less annoying than telemarketers. But obviously the writer was referring to telephone POLES. 
• In a local newspaper, "A cop crunch in Fargo and Grand Forks HAVE top police brass looking for a long-term solution." A common error, but not one a Trained Professional should make. The subject of the sentence is the singular "cop crunch," not the plural "Fargo and Grand Forks," so the verb should be HAS. 
• And in an op-ed column in the Washington Post, "Never mind that Andersen has been involved with two other corporate meltdowns that somehow ALLUDED its green-eyeshade staff." To allude to something is to make reference to it. The financial shenanigans in question ELUDED the bean counters.

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"That" or "which"? They're interchangeable, right? Not really, though from a practical standpoint sometimes it doesn't make much difference. But to be most clear and accurate, "that" should be used to introduce an essential clause, as in, "The figures that I gave you are accurate." "Which" should always be used with nonessential clauses, such as, "The figures, which came from the business office, are accurate." And, the nonessential clause should be set off with commas. Using "which" rather than "that" with an essential clause is the less serious error. Some would say it's not an error at all.

ORPHAN WEB PAGES

Internet search engines can locate and bring you to Web pages that contain the key words you specified. Never assume everyone has accessed your Web pages by using one of your menus. Users who came to your page via a search engine will return to the search engine when they hit their 'back' button, and you have lost them. You need to provide links on every Web page you develop.

For example, assume you have an article on growing strawberries on one of your Web pages. You more than likely have other articles and a menu that lists those articles. In this case you should provide a link to that menu on the bottom of that strawberry article. You could also provide a link to your main page, perhaps under the link to the article menu, on that strawberry page.

This is what we call providing a link(s) to the most logical higher menu. Assume that if your Web customers were interested in growing strawberries they may be interested in growing other fruits or want additional information on strawberries. Provide links to the most logical higher menu on every one of your Web pages. It may take several clicks, but eventually users should be able to back their way up to one of our main five subject matter menus and from there get to our home page at www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu .

You can see an example of orphan Web pages and other Web development help documents on the Computer Support Page at: http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/agcomm/comphelp.htm 

Dave Rice, NDSU Ag Webmaster

AVOID COMPUTER INFECTIONS

With e-mail viruses, worms and other nasties out there, your motto should be, "Better safe than sorry." Here are a few tips to help you avoid a computer infection.

* Don't open attachments if they're from someone you don't know, especially if they end in .bat, .com, .scr, .exe, or .vbs

* Even if the message is from someone you know, if the message sounds suspicious, check with the sender before opening it. Viruses can send messages automatically without the sender knowing it.

* Don't send messages without a subject. This helps your receivers determine if the message is legitimate. Some offices are being very cautious and not opening any messages without a subject line or with a cutesy title in the subject line.

* Personalize your messages. Be sure to include the name of the addressee at the top of the message and your name at the end of the message. This will help people determine if the message is legitimate. Most messages generated by viruses are very vague and do not include either name.

* Keep your anti-virus software up to date and use it. Set the program to update and scan automatically once a week.

Questions? Contact the Ag Com Computer Services help desk at 231-9666 or accs@ndsuext.nodak.edu  .

Jerry Ranum, Computer Services

NEW IN THE STAFF RESOURCE LIBRARY

Love and Profit: The Art of Caring Leadership James A. Autry 1991 219-page Book This book explodes the myth that "nice guys finish last." Love and Profit offers clear, direct and compassionate guidance, dealing situation by situation with the most difficult decisions every manager must inevitably face. The ideas will enable you to manage brilliantly during the day... and sleep well at night. Autry was a keynote speaker at the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents conference Oct. 21-25, 2001, in Bismarck, N.D.

Real Power: Business Lessons from the Tao Te Ching James A. Autry & Stephen Mitchell 1998 217-page Book Real empowerment is not about taking power from the top and spreading it through the company. It is power with your people, not power over your people. Autry shared these concepts as a keynote speaker at the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents conference October 21-25, 2001, in Bismarck, N.D.

These and many other audio cassettes, books and videos are in the Staff Resource Library listing on the Web at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/staffres/library/contents.htm  . You're also welcome to stop by the Distribution Center in Morrill 10 to browse the shelves. Books may be checked out for one month, audio and video tapes for two weeks. Contact the Distribution Center at dctr@ndsuext.nodak.edu  or call 231-7882 to check out materials.