LET'S COMMUNICATE
Agriculture Communication Newsletter
July 2005, No. 115

Ag Information Center Guidelines - July 2005

The NDSU Agriculture and University Extension Intranet is at http://info.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu

Login

* If you don't know your user ID and password, contact the Ag Communication Computer Services help desk at accs@ndsuext.nodak.edu or 231-9666.

Calendar

* The main purpose of the calendar is to avoid scheduling conflicts rather than to market ongoing programs. That means every event that goes on the calendar must have the dates finalized.

* Series of events must have the individual dates entered separately. For example, don't have one entry that says Marketing Club Meetings May 25 - Oct. 30 when the marketing club actually meets May 25, June 24, July 28, etc. Each day must be entered separately.

* Only events in which NDSU Agriculture and University Extension is a major partner or that involve several staff should be entered.

* If an event (for example, a videoconference) is taking place on one date but with several locations, enter the event once, but list the specific locations in the text.

* National meetings that very few NDSU Agriculture and University Extension staff attend should be listed in other locations (such as the Extension competencies professional development opportunities page) rather than the scheduling calendar.

* Always include a local (not just a national) contact somewhere in the entry. Even if staff should contact another organization to register, have an NDSU person listed in the description so others know who entered the information.

* If the event is open to the public, be sure to check the "Show this event on External Calendar?" box at the bottom of the entry before submitting. If this box is checked, the event will be included in the Calendar link on the Web. Otherwise, the event is only seen by staff when they log in to the Ag Info Center.

* Be sure to enter:

REC field days

Inservice trainings

County fairs

National professional association meetings that affect multiple staff

* Click on the Calendar link in the Ag Info Center to see what's entered as a complete listing in full or brief format or to sort by month, county, region or subject matter area.

Class Enrollment System

* The Class Enrollment System is available to take registration for any internal inservice training. Since staff names are selected from a menu rather than keyed in, only current NDSU Agriculture and University Extension staff can register for inservices using this system.

* To avoid extra keying, class leaders enter the class description once but then may schedule multiple classes. For example, if Nutrition, Youth and Family Science Update or Pesticide Training is happening on a certain date but in several videoconference locations, the description is entered once, but each location is listed separately so you know which staff will be at which location.

Chat

* A live online chat feature is available for internal and external use.

E-mail

* NDSU Agriculture and University Extension staff with @ndsuext.nodak.edu addresses may check their e-mail from any computer with a Web browser using this function. From Web mail:

Attachments cannot be viewed

If you view a message, it will download to your POP3 mailer when you return to it

However, if you delete a message, it's gone forever

* The Ag Info Center Web mail doesn't work with some new browsers, but Ag Com is working on that problem.

Electronic Mailing Lists

* NDSU Agriculture and University Extension's e-mail lists are no longer on a public Web site but are only available to staff on the Ag Info Center. Hopefully this will reduce junk mail. These lists include everything from all-ag@ndsuxet.nodak.edu to hde-chairs@ndsuext.nodak.edu for the College of Human Development and Education chairs/heads.

* Use these lists selectively and sparingly. Don't send to all-ag, all- ext or all-exp unless you truly need for all those people to receive the message.

* Do not send attachments to majordomo lists. Each list has a size limit, so messages with attachments often bounce to the list owner. Our system would be overwhelmed if an attachment was sent to, for example, everyone on the all-ag list. Instead, use the file transfer system to have staff pull off documents.

File Transfer

* Since attachments are limited on majordomo lists, the File Transfer site is available to make it easy for staff to retrieve files.

* Instructions for how to upload a new file are at the bottom of the page. Be sure to have no spaces in the file name. File names are limited to a maximum 32 characters.

* If the file needs to be available to staff for more than 30 days, contact Roger Egeberg at regeberg@ndsuext.nodak.edu to have the file stored in long-term downloads.