LET'S COMMUNICATE
Agriculture Communication Newsletter
July 2003, No. 91

CONTENTS

WRITE THE RIGHT WORD
INSPIRATION FOR BETTER WRITING
WEB PAGE ACCESSIBILITY
COMPUTER SECURITY STARTS WITH WINDOWS UPDATE BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

WRITE THE RIGHT WORD

A colleague from Purdue asked about the correct way to refer to our universities. It's "land-grant college" with a hyphen and no capital letters. Of course, it's capitalized in the proper name National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

A recent e-mail said, "Please contact myself at...," and I've often seen phrases such as, "Sue, Bob and myself." The Common Errors in English Web site by a Washington State University English professor at http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/ says:

"Myself" is not a sort of all-purpose intensive form of "me" or "I." Use "myself" only when you have used "I" earlier in the same sentence: "I am not particularly fond of goat cheese myself." "I kept half the loot for myself." All this confusion can easily be avoided if you just remove the second party from the sentences where you feel tempted to use "myself" as an object or feel nervous about "me." You wouldn't say, "The IRS sent the refund check to I," so you shouldn't say "The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and I" either. And you shouldn't say "to my wife and myself." The only correct way to say this is, "The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and me." Still sounds too casual? Get over it.

Becky Koch

INSPIRATION FOR BETTER WRITING

There's bad writing and then there's BAD writing. And some writing is SO BAD, it's good, or at least fun to read.

This site, http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/ , highlights the Bulwer- Lytton Fiction Contest, a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels. The contest is named for Victorian novelist Edward George Bulwer-Lytton. His book, "Paul Clifford," opens with a line that has been often-plagarized by a famous beagle. That line? "It was a dark and stormy night."

Let the writing on this site inspire you to write clearly with focus and organization. Remember that one of the best ways to write better is to read more and to learn from the good and the bad.

Tom Jirik

WEB PAGE ACCESSIBILITY

All Web pages should be in compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not specifically cover electronic information transfer. Whether the reference is ADA or Section 508, the bottom line is to make sure your Web pages are accessible to everyone.

Being compliant with the following two requirements will go a long way in making your pages accessible. They are easy to fix and make your site accessible to the millions of people with visual disabilities.

Alt Tags for Graphics

Every graphic (picture, logo, etc.) should have an �Alternative Text� description. Individuals with visual disabilities may not be able to see the graphic. Their screen readers will read the alt tag when they reach the graphic, which is why it is important to have a text description.

The easiest way to add this alt tag is to right click on the graphic when using FrontPage. Select �picture properties� from the dialog box. There you will see a box for alternative representations and an area for entering the text description.

Examples: If you have the NDSU Ext Logo on your page, the alternative text may simply be �NDSU Extension Service Logo.� A digital photo of a plant with a disease problem may have alternative text �Photo of wheat plant in four-leaf stage with brown-tipped leaves.�

Color Combinations

Black text on a white background is recommended. This combination offers the most contrast and is easiest to see by those with visual impairments and/or color blindness. Use of colored text should be limited, and always use a dark color when you use something other than black.

Additional Resources

http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/agcomm/comphelp.htm
http://www.lgta.org/accessibility/index.html

Dave Rice

COMPUTER SECURITY STARTS WITH WINDOWS UPDATE

An up-to-date Windows operating system helps keep your computer running smoothly and securely. We recommend you run Windows Update at least once a month.

First, close all programs since you'll need to restart your computer for these updates to take effect.

Click on Start, then on Windows Update. Scan for updates, then Install. However, updates marked with an asterisk can't be installed with any others. Click on Remove to temporarily remove the updates with asterisks, and Install the others in one process.

After rebooting, run Windows Update again to install the update marked with an asterisk and restart again.

This process will help stop both computer hackers and computer headaches.

Jerry Ranum

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

"Businesses, communities and people as individuals will thrive on the basis of their stories, not just on data and information." Danish futurist Rolf Jensen in "Dream Society"