Re: Grantsmanship Library and Workroom follow-up Charles E. Graham, Ph.D. 08 Aug 1995 15:28 EST

On Tue, 8 Aug 1995 14:34:07 -0400 (EDT, Carol Davis wrote:

Carol: I think a campus listserv is a very good idea. We have not
tried it. Sign-on is always a problem. We can't even get some faculty to
open computer accounts and learn to use e-mail. One of the problems with
overworked faculty is just getting their attention. To actually get them to
do something that requires effort is a larger hurdle.

I think if I was going to implement a listserv I would promise to restrict
messages to those that affect almost everyone, and not put funding
announcements up that are of interest to limited disciplines. E-mail users
(if they are like me) soon grow wary of listservs that inundate them in
mostly irrelevant information. Listserv would be a great tool for getting
out important information like the new, looming financial disclosure
requirements.

An extension to your idea might be to have several listservs, each
dedicated to a broard disciplinary area. Has anyone tried this variation?

I have found that one of the keys to faculty participation is extremely
clear instructions, delivered through several different media (flyers,
memos to depts, newsletter, workshops). My experience of listserv has been
that newbies suffer from extreme confusion (gnet-l has been a recent
example), and every time we create a new electronic service we make sure we
have good assistance available on-line, in print and by phone. It helps a
little.

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 * Charles E. Graham, PhD.                  xxxxxx@UNIX1.SNCC.LSU.EDU *
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