LET�S COMMUNICATE
Agriculture Communication Newsletter
August 2004, No. 104

CONTENTS

    Computer Use -- and Misuse
    Windows XP Service Pack Update
    Web Design Elements
    Write the Right Word
    The Core Rules of Netiquette
    Answers to Write the Right Word
    New in the Staff Resource Library

Computer Use -- and Misuse

Remember, NDSU owns our computers and the network and dial-in lines we may connect with from our personal computers. Obviously, pornography, political messages, sales and copyright violations are off limits. But so are any other uses that may interfere with our work performance, such as sending or receiving too many personal messages, playing games during work and carrying out excessive personal Web searches. Review NDSU's computer use policy at http://www.ndsu.edu/policy/710.htm .

Windows XP Service Pack Update

Should you install via Windows Update the new service pack

(sp2) for Windows XP?

For most of our users, there should be no problems. However, for those who receive support from the Association of Counties, please be aware your anti-virus software may cause conflicts. If you are running Norton Anti-virus, contact your NDACo technician before upgrading. If you are using McAfee anti-virus 7.1, there are no known issues with service pack 2.

Warning: the upgrade can take up to an hour to install. Once installed, the Windows XP firewall will be enabled by default. If you experience problems with file or print sharing, you will need to disable this.

Ag Communication Computer Services will be releasing a detailed e-mail in the next few days to help with this transition. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/agcomm/accs 

Web Design Elements

Find yourself designing a Web site? Remember that most Web users skim text and will not read your content word for word. Therefore, keep these basic design elements in mind: 

• content - break your information into small, easy-to-read pieces
• navigation - make it simple and consistent
• text - make it readable, with good contrast and the bigger the better
• graphics - let them help communicate your content, not distract from it.

For Web design help, contact Dave Haasser at 231-8620 or dhaasser@ndsuext.nodak.edu .

Write the Right Word

This summer�s Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) international meeting had a breakout session titled �Grammar is for Lovers � of the Language.� Participants took a quiz before the session. See how you do. Answers are below.

1. He felt ______.

•    a. real bad
•    b. really bad
•    c. real badly
•    d. really badly

2. I wish I ___ a movie star.

•     a. was
•     b. were

3. Bring a collection of summer ____ such as peaches, plums and grapes.

•     a. fruits
•     b. fruits,

4. Brown�s Furniture is a ____ business.

•     a. family owned
•     b. family-owned

5. Her job is ___.

•     a. part time
•     b. part-time

6. Which of these sentences is clearer?

•     a. Studying for the exam, time passed slowly.
•     b. Studying for the exam, we thought time passed slowly.

7. Sybil wrote the ___ but did not send it.

•     a. memo
•     b. memo,

8. Michael joined the baseball team last ___ and he won the MVP award.

•     a. year
•     b. year,

9. If I buy ____ my son will eat them.

•     a. grapes,
•     b. grapes, then

10. It smells ___ you baked brownies.

•      a. as if
•      b. like

The Core Rules of Netiquette

Virginia Shea lists 10 core rules of e-mail in her book Netiquette. The first two were in previous issues of Let�s Communicate. Rule 3 is: Know where you are in cyberspace.

Netiquette varies from domain to domain. What's perfectly acceptable in one area may be dreadfully rude in another. For example, in most TV discussion groups, passing on idle gossip is perfectly permissible. But throwing around unsubstantiated rumors in a journalists' mailing list will make you very unpopular there.

And because Netiquette is different in different places, it's important to know where you are. Thus the next corollary: Lurk before you leap. When you enter a domain of cyberspace that's new to you, take a look around. Spend awhile listening to the chat or reading the archives. Get a sense of how the people who are already there act. Then go ahead and participate.

We�ll cover rules four through 10 in future issues of Let�s Communicate, but if you can�t wait, see http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Answers to Write the Right Word

If you don�t agree with the answers, please don�t complain to me. Even the professional writers at the session had different opinions, but the presenters went with the majority of several references.

1. He felt really bad.

b. Sense verbs such as feel, smell and taste require adjectives, in this case bad. Really is an adverb modifying bad.

2. I wish I were a movie star.

b. Use the subjective mood to express any condition contrary to fact, such as a wish, desire, dream, hope or doubt. The subjunctive mood often follows if. (Hey, I don't know what it means, either!)

3. Bring a collection of summer fruits, such as peaches, plums and grapes.

b. Use a comma before such as when those words introduce nonessential information, which are words the sentence could do without and still make sense.

4. Brown�s Furniture is a family-owned business.

b. When a compound modifier � two or more words that express a single concept � comes before a noun, use hyphens to link all the words in the compound modifier.

5. Her job is part time.

a. Hyphenate only when used as a compound modifier, such as She has a part-time job.

6. b. Studying for the exam, we thought time passed slowly.

The phrase studying for the exam modifies we. A noun or pronoun such as we, I, they, he or she has to be added to make it clear what the phrase is modifying.

7. Sybil wrote the memo but did not send it.

a. Don't use a comma when the subject of the two clauses is the same and is not repeated in the second clause.

8. Michael joined the baseball team last year, and he won the MVP award.

b. Use a coordinating conjunction and a comma between equal clauses (when both have a subject and can stand alone).

9. If I buy grapes, then my son will eat them.

b. Be sure to use both parts of a correlative conjunction. Correlative conjunctions are pairs of words that join equal words, phrases or clauses, such as neither � nor, either � or, both � and, if ... then.

10. It smells as if you baked brownies.

a. Don�t use the preposition like as a substitute for the subordinating conjunctions as or as if.

New in the Staff Resource Library

Eats, Shoots & Leave: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss is a perfect example of why writers must use punctuation, and in the right places. Here�s the story: A panda walks into a restaurant, orders a sandwich, eats it, and then draws a gun and fires two shots into the air. When the confused waiter wants to know why, the panda tosses him a badly punctuated wildlife manual. The manual describes a panda as a �black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.� The Staff Resource Library has both the book and audio CD.

Accountability: Freedom and Responsibility without Control, a 245- page book by Rob Lebow and Randy Spitzer, blends economics, psychology, sociology and management theory. The authors provide practical guidelines for transforming control-based operations into freedom-based work environments where managers take on the new role of wise counselors and employees design and fully own their jobs. Worksheets, research and resources are provided.

These and many other resources are in the Staff Resource Library at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/staffres/library/contents.htm . You're welcome to stop by the Distribution Center in Morrill 10 to browse the shelves. Contact the Distribution Center at dctr@ndsuext.nodak.edu or call (701) 231-7882 to check out materials.