At Virginia Tech I am responsible for informing 1500 researchers about
funding opportunities and supporting administrators and staff who assist
efforts to obtain funding.

PAPER NEWSLETTER
For years we had distributed (with copyright permission) the 3 editions of
the commercial ARIS newsletter to individual faculty. Each edition comes
out at 6 week intervals (approx. 8 per year for each).
Reproduction/distribution costs were cut significantly when we began
sending the material to 80 departments and centers rather than to
individuals.

WEB SITE
Charged with re-engineering the information dissemination process by
establishing an electronic bulletin board, I designed and implemented a web
site in November 1994. I built and tested a prototype and, as time went on,
created a comprehensive set of pages with hundreds of links to sponsor and
program information. In addition to posting the commercial newsetter (see
above) to a gopher server and web page, the site also contains a weekly
bulletin and two indices (one to sponsors and information resources, the
other to current bulletin notices arranged by sponsor). With the exception
of posting the commercial newsletter, the design, implementation and
maintenance of the system, including server maintenance, production of the
weekly bulletin and training and user support, is done by one person.

Research Opportunities Office (ROO) Bulletin
The locally produced weekly newsletter consists of notices of funding
opportunities (rfp's from the Federal Register, CBD and NIH Guide, new NSF
announcements, NASA NRA's, etc.), policy and regulatory notices to help
administrators, and local news (e.g. transportation schedule for visiting
agency program managers, announcements concerning university funding
programs, instructions for internal competitions when solicitations limit
the number of applications to one or two institutional submissions). All
notices include deadline and contact information as well as hypertext links
so that interested readers may access full-text announcements and or forms
or application materials.

LISTSERV
In June of 1995, a listserv was established to distribute the weekly
(local) bulletin via automated email. Its purpose was two-fold: to convey
information to readers without web access, and to remind others to access
the web site when something in their area of interest appeared, or that a
new edition of the commercial edition had just been sent to their
department.

Note: the web site, bulletin and listserv are for the exclusive use of
Virginia Tech students, faculty and staff.

ISSUES

1) The need
Clients complained that they didn't have enough time to respond to
solicitations.

2) Timeliness of information
Newsletters issued a few times year don't help potential respondents when
the time from date of solicitation release to deadline can be as little as
4 weeks. Some departments are better than others about redistributing
information. With researchers having direct access to bulletins, they don't
lose time due to the "trickle down" effect. With my system readers receive
information as much as two weeks earlier than they would by traditional
means.

3) Improved access to information
Directing users to the sponsor for program announcements relieves me of
some of the burden of archiving paper files. Secretaries appreciate being
able to download electronic forms as needed, and faculty like being able to
access the system even when the ROO is closed.

4) Different audiences
People have different needs for information at different times. The system
has to be able to support frequent and infrequent users, be varied and
reliable enough to encourage regular use, and be useable by computer
novices as well as "techies". Web sites in and of themselves don't assure
regular access - the combination of web site and listserv is very
effective: over 370 readers receive the email bulletin every week; a few
redistribute portions to their colleagues. In a year's time, only 5
subscribers have "cancelled" their subscriptions.

5) Infrastructure
Almost universal email access is critical to the success and popularity of
the listserv. Although web access is not universal, it is available to
enough of the community to make it a powerful communication device.

6) Feedback
Web statistics software can indicate which files/pages are the most
popular, server logs can show who's using the system, how frequently, etc.
The webmaster can respond accordingly by supporting popular pages,
eliminating less used ones and identifying frequent customers. Reader
response can sometimes be ascertained from inquiries about recently
announced material. User satisfaction re: this system is very high.

7) Support
This project is highly labor-intensive. Time was required for me to learn
how to produce HTML coded pages and maintain the web site. Production of
the bulletin, link repair and related activities can take as much as 2 1/2
- 3 days a week. Users must be instructed and supported to use the system,
download materials, etc. Training is offered in individual consultations,
by phone, and at formal training workshops.

8) Value of newsletters
"If the tree falls in the forest and no one hears it..." If an opportunity
is announced and your researcher doesn't know about it, he/she's less
likely to respond successfully to that solicitation. In a period of reduced
sponsor support and increased competition, it's easy to believe that there
isn't any money "out there." A weekly bulletin dispels that notion by
gently reminding its readers that money is still available for a lot of
projects. The newsletter also serves a filtering function, directing the
reader to information most likely to be of interest, focusing attention on
policy changes, etc. Think of your readers and what's important to them -
what helps you in the newsletters you receive? Content? Format? Ease of use
(brevity, arrangement, indexing)?

Information is critical to the funding process and newsletters, whether
paper or electronic, play a vital role in informing the research community.
They are a means to an end, and should not be considered as an end in
themselves.