LET'S COMMUNICATE
Agriculture Communication Newsletter
February 2008, No. 146

Contents

Web Contact Change with Rice Retirement
Print and Copy Services Provides One-stop Shopping
News Releases: A Style All Their Own
Write the Right Word
Videoconference Scheduling
Usage Guidelines for NDSU Logos
Technology Reminders

Web Contact Change with Rice Retirement

Ag Webmaster and IT Trainer Dave Rice retired Feb. 29 after 30 years with NDSU. As we develop an updated position description and search for a staff member, Dave Haasser will be the Ag Communication contact for Agriculture and University Extension Web work. If you need a new Web site or want to move your current Web site to the www.ag.ndsu.edu server (which we highly recommend), contact Dave Haasser at david.haasser@ndsu.edu or 231-8620. This server has shorter URLs, has automatic headers and footers, and gives you immediate update/delete access. Dave H. also will work with Roger Egeberg to answer Web questions and solve problems as quickly as possible. Contact Roger at roger.egeberg@ndsu.edu or 231-7382 to check out the computer training bank. Ag Communication has 20 notebook computers available for your use, but they must be reserved in advance.

Please contact me if you have any ideas, questions or concerns as we continue to move forward with Ag and University Extension Web work.

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

News Releases: A Style All Their Own

Dissertations are written following a prescribed style, and journals require articles to be written in a certain style. News releases to the media also need to be written in a specific style. Nearly all print and broadcast media follow Associated Press style. Sending information to the media in AP style greatly increases the chance of it being used.

Here are a few basic news release guidelines:

*   Have a news peg. Why should the media want to use this story now? Start with that most important or timely information first.
*   Use quotes. Have the people tell the story.
*   Cite sources, but credit the source conversationally in the text rather than in parentheses or in a footnote or citation.
*   Make the NDSU connection but also identify partners. A news release from an educational institution shouldn't be an advertisement for a     commercial product or another organization.
*   Don't refer to faculty with Ph.D. degrees as Dr. so-and-so. Use full name on first reference and last name only in later references.
*   Capitalize the first letter of words only when it's part of an official full title. For example, job titles without the person's name aren't capitalized.
*   Don't use a comma before the and in a series unless there's an and or in the phrase before or after the and.

The Ag Communication writers/editors are professional communicators with education in how to write news releases that will get used. Data from a new survey show that the media who receive Ag Com's news releases appreciate the professionalism so are apt to use the articles. So the last bullet is:

*   Work with Rich Mattern (231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.edu) and Ellen Crawford (231-5391, ellen.crawford@ndsu.edu) when you have     research results to distribute, helpful information to share with the public, new faculty or national awards to announce, and other information that     might be newsworthy through the media. They can write a news release from your information or edit a draft you provide. They will send it to the     500+ media contacts and NDSU faculty and staff on the Ag Com news release e-mail list and work with you to target your news release to     additional specific media.

Ag Com news releases and columns are at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/news/.

E-mail Gail Hokenson at gail.hokenson@ndsu.edu if you'd like to be added to the news release e-mail list to automatically receive the news releases and columns.

Write the Right Word

No ifs, ands or buts about it -- pronouns need to match the subject (the person or people) of your sentence. Using the catchall word "their" when referring to one person without a specific gender, as in "Each child needs to turn their homework in on time," is easy but incorrect. "Child" is a singular noun, so it requires a singular pronoun. If you know the children in this particular instance are boys, you could say, "Each child needs to turn his homework in on time." In the case of an all-girls group, you could say, "Each child needs to turn her homework in on time."Which pronoun to use becomes a bit trickier if you are talking about a group with boys and girls. You could say, "Each child needs to turn his/her homework in on time."Better yet, rewrite the sentence to avoid the somewhat awkward his/her construction. If you make the subject plural, you can use the "their " pronoun. For example, you could say, "The students need to turn their homework in on time."

Ellen Crawford, (701) 231-5391, ellen.crawford@ndsu.edu

Videoconference Scheduling

When planning a videoconference, secure the physical sites before you submit the Ag Consortium Scheduling Form. Ag Consortium rooms are used for office and public meetings in addition to videoconferences. You must make sure the room is available before scheduling the videoconference.even if the scheduling software doesn't show another videoconference, the room may be being used for another purpose. See http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/agcomm/videoconf/videoconferencing.html for a list of sites in the Ag Consortium and throughout the N.D. Interactive Video Network, the scheduling and change forms, and resources on how to carry out a quality videoconference.

Usage Guidelines for NDSU Logos

University Relations has posted guidelines for NDSU logo use at http://vpur.ndsu.edu/ndsu_logo_usage/. Note that the NDSU is a graphic, not simply typed letters. Downloadable options for the graphic are on the Web page. Don't use the old NDSU letters in a circle or the old snorting bison. The NDSU seal is to be used only by the President's office. The new bison logos are the property of the Athletics department and may be used only with their permission. Downloadable options for the Ag Experiment Station and Extension logos are at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/policy/. Please use all these logos appropriately and widely to market NDSU.

Technology Reminders

Always include a subject line with e-mails. The more specific the better. With so much e-mail, people are more apt to simply hit delete if there's no subject or if it's so generic they think the content may not be relevant. Carry out steps to improve your computer performance regularly. The explanations at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/agcomm/accs/announcements/cleanup.htm tell how to clean temp files, organize your computer, check your disk for errors, update Windows, backup files, update spyware and more. Just do it!

Let's Communicate
Past issues and topics from Let's Communicate are at www.ag.ndsu.edu/agcomm/letscomm/letscomm.htm. If you have questions or comments, or would like to submit information or make a suggestion for Let's Communicate, please contact me.