LET'S COMMUNICATE
Agriculture Communication Newsletter
January 2005, No. 109

Contents

     Technology Support -- Who Ya Gonna Call?
     Reminders from Ag Communication
     New Grant Writing Training Online
     Write the Right Word
     10 Steps to Improve Your Computer Performance
     Save that Original Photo
     The Core Rules of Netiquette

Technology Support -- Who Ya Gonna Call?

Different offices under the Vice President for Agriculture utilize different technology support. Some use Ag Communication Computer Services; some NDSU Information Technology Services; some a contracted provider, such as the N.D. Association of Counties; and some an expert in their office or department.

The Agriculture technology services survey will help improve the service you receive hopefully no matter who your computer service provider is.

If you haven't completed the survey yet, please do so by the end of the day, Friday, Feb. 4. The deadline has been extended just a few days since the Group Decision Center server was down one day and a few people were having trouble submitting. Please let me know if you've had trouble.

The survey is at http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/gdc/Surveys/gdc263/welcome.htm  .

If Ag Com Computer Services is your primary support provider, please remember to contact the help desk at 231-9666 or accs@ndsuext.nodak.edu  with all questions rather than individual staff. This is especially important now that Harvey Vreugdenhil has returned to full-time work with the Ag Budget Office and Sue Hendrickson is devoting half of her time to 4-H Youth Development work.

Reminders from Ag Communication

* When bringing in your computer notebook (laptop), be sure to include the power adapter and the cord that goes with it, plus any floppy and CD-ROM devices. ACCS does not carry spare drives needed for software installation and does not have power adapters for a/c usage. The absence of these parts will delay repair of the computer.

* When you place any order with Ag Com, be sure to include the correct fund and department number, the current department or office name, and the complete address, including building and room number on campus.

* Each department is now responsible for generating its own purchase requisition for publications printed off campus. Monte Kelly will collect bids then forward the bids to each department to complete the purchase requisition.

New Grant Writing Training Online

A new Web site can help you prepare grant proposals. The Effective Grant Writing information is at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/staffres/GrantDev/ .

Before Linda Narum retired as the Extension grant development specialist, she recorded her training. This Web site includes her PowerPoints with narration and video, a summary of each module, a grant checklist, a link to county Extension grant policies, a link to NDSU Sponsored Programs Administration and additional resources.

The modules are:

1. Developing a Successful Grant
2. Deadly Sins
3. Building Boilerplate Materials
4. Logic Model
5. Compression Planning (Story Board)
6. Proposal and Budget Building
7. Competitive Edge
8. Write to Edge
9. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Use this Web site as you begin developing a proposal and as you work through it. You can go through the modules for learning when you're not working on a specific proposal and also as you develop one.

If you have suggestions to make this online training even more useful, please forward them to Trina Spaeth at tspaeth@ndsuext.nodak.edu .

Write the Right Word

He/she, his/her � When faced with cumbersome sentences such as, Each teacher will develop his or her own curriculum, and Each student will be able to take the test when he or she is ready, rewrite. Instead say, The teachers will develop their own curriculum, and Students will be able to take the test when they are ready. Making everything plural eliminates some words and avoids using the newly coined contraction s/he or plural pronouns (their) to refer to singular nouns (student, teacher).

Regard � If you are trying to draw attention to something using the word regard, do not add an �s.� The proper term is in regard to or with regard to. Better yet, use regarding or in relation to. The only time you can use the �s� on the end of the word is when regard is used to express a sentiment, as in, Give my regards to your family.

Weather/whether � The weather is the climate conditions outside. Whether is used when indicating a choice, such as, Bonnie couldn�t decide whether to buy the blue or green sweater.

It�s/its � Its is the possessive form for a pronoun. For example, The company sold all of its assets. It�s is a contraction for it is or it has, as in, It�s been a long time since we�ve had lunch, or It�s up to you to finish this project. Ellen Crawford, ecrawfor@ndsuext.nodak.edu  231-5391

10 Steps to Improve Your Computer Performance

If you haven't yet carried out these 10 steps that were detailed in the last Let's Communicate, go to http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/agcomm/accs/  and do them today. 

Save that Original Photo

Digital cameras are easy to use and great for electronically saving photos. Most use the JPEG format -- a .jpg or .jpeg file type.

JPEG is great for color photos because it can save a high-resolution picture in a fairly small file size. However, it is a lossy format, meaning it recompresses the photo every time it is saved. Thus, you should always save the original photo in a safe place on your computer and edit a copy of it.

For example, you take a picture of your dog. After you copy the photo to your computer, rename it from Img_4538.jpg or whatever the camera named it, to spot-original.jpg. Then make a copy of it and call the copy spot.jpg. Now you can resize, edit, crop, brighten or whatever you need to do with the photo. If you want to used it for a different purpose or if you really messed it up, you can always go back to the original, make another copy of it and start over.

You can always make a photo smaller and save it in a lower resolution, but you can never take a small, low-resolution photo and make it larger with higher resolution. Save your original high- resolution photo in a safe place and work with copies of it, not the original. Dave Rice, drice@ndsuext.nodak.edu  231-7381

The Core Rules of Netiquette

In her book Netiquette, Virginia Shea lists 10 core rules. Rule 8 is Respect other people's privacy.

You wouldn't go through your colleagues' desk drawers. So you shouldn't read their e-mail, either.

The Ag IT Advisory Group software baseline at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/policy/it/baseline.htm  recommends all computers operate with Windows 2000 or XP Pro to provide for password protection. Any time you leave, lock your computer so others aren't tempted to get into your e-mail or other files.

If you forward a message, be sure to delete the e-mail addresses of those who received it originally. This not only protects their privacy, but also helps cut down on spam.

We�ll cover the remaining rules in future issues of Let�s Communicate. However, if you can�t wait, see www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.htm.