LET'S COMMUNICATE
Agriculture Communication Newsletter
February 2007, No. 134

Contents

Labor Charges for Graphics and Video Work Now in Effect
Sign Up to Receive News Releases by E-mail
Ag Com Needs Video News Release Ideas
Web Resources for Faculty and Staff
Write the Right Word

Labor Charges for Graphics and Video Work Now in Effect

As of March 1 the Ag Communication graphics and video units are charging an hourly labor rate in addition to materials costs. The change is necessary to comply with federal accounting guidelines.

Services that will be charged $40 per hour include but are not limited to: print layout and design, logo development, illustrations and other graphics, Web design, poster, display and PowerPoint development and production

Services that will be charged $50-$120 per hour include but are not limited to: video and audio production, photography and streaming, videoconference and other technical support

The video and audio hourly rate varies depending on the equipment used.

Initial consultations are still available from graphics and video staff at no charge, and the hourly rates are much less than if you had to hire the work to be completed off campus.

Be sure to include communications costs in your grant proposals. Call for estimates.

All projects must have fund numbers when they arrive in Ag Communication before work can begin.

Extension faculty and staff may request operating funds from your program leader or district director prior to the start of work on a project.

Please contact me if you have questions.

Becky Koch, (701) 231-7875, becky.koch@ndsu.edu

Sign Up to Receive News Releases by E-mail

Sign up today if you would like to receive Agriculture Communication news releases by e-mail. The process is simple. Send an e-mail making the request to Gail Hokenson at gail.hokenson@ndsu.edu . You should begin receiving the e-mail news releases in a week or so. All news releases and columns also are available on the Web at www.ag.ndsu.edu/news/

Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.edu

Ag Com Needs Video News Release Ideas

As you plan spring activities, think about the opportunity to show off your projects. Video news releases get played on stations throughout North Dakota and beyond, and are a wonderful way to let people know about the great things we are doing in research and Extension. Contact the Ag Comm video unit with any ideas you have. We try to coordinate video releases with print releases for even more coverage.

Randy Wald, (701) 231-7086, randy.wald@ndsu.edu  or Bruce Sundeen, (701) 231-7953, bruce.sundeen@ndsu.edu

Web Resources for Faculty and Staff

In recent days Ag Comm Staff have received a few calls from faculty and staff who have not been able to find resources. From the home page at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu  click on "Extension" and then "For Employees."  Both of these links are on the black bar toward the bottom of the page.  The "For Employees" page has a link to the Agriculture Information Center that contains the calendar and a number of other options.

Though the Ag Info Center list is under the Extension For Employees site, the information also is for Ag Experiment Station staff and faculty use.

The Extension "Professional Development" link provides access to the professional associations, conferences, professional development opportunities and other pages

Go to: http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ext-emp/  and surf around a bit to see what all is available.

Dave Rice, (701) 231-7381, david.rice@ndsu.edu

Write the Right Word

Here is an easy way to remember whether to use �among� or �between.� �Among� refers to more than two items or people, while �between� indicates two people or things. For example, The club divided the proceeds from its fundraiser among its reading, community service and transportation programs. Diners chose between roast beef and salmon for their banquet meal.

�Either� is another word that seems to cause problems. Use it to mean �one or the other.� It can�t be used when giving the reader a choice of several people or things. For example, The crop consultant recommended the producer plant either soybeans or canola. The farmers market had a good selection of beans, beets, tomatoes and carrots.

When writing about a range of numbers, you have a couple of options. One needs to include the words �from� and �to.� Estimates of the crowd size ranged from 150 to 200. The other option contains the words �between� and �and.� We estimate the display drew a crowd of between 150 and 200 people. Never combine �between� and �to,� as in �between 150 to 200 people.�
Ellen Crawford, (701) 231-5391, ellen.crawford@ndsu.edu

LET'S COMMUNICATE

If you have questions or comments, or would like to submit information or make a suggestion, contact:

Agriculture Communication
Attn: Becky Koch
7 Morrill Hall
Phone: 231-7875
FAX: 231-7044
e-mail: bkoch@ndsuext.nodak.edu

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