In response to
|Date:    Thu, 16 May 1996 09:49:22 -0600
|From:    "Jane E. Prudhomme" <xxxxxx@JAZZ.UCC.UNO.EDU>
|Subject: FEDIX (& other such automated mail systems)

|instance, 200 faculty receiving approx. 10 announcements daily
|(*very* conservative estimate), results in an additional burden of half a
| million messages annually.

Have you experimented yourself with the FEDIX system? It is not a sponsor
database search, but a filter of basically two daily government
publications: the Federal Register and Commerce Business Daily. As such, it
will alert the user to announcements that match her profile, not providing
full text, but title and direction to (link) to more information (a digest
format?) When I manually scan the FR and CBD, I average fewer than 10
messages a week - I believe your estimate to be way too high. You can
telephone/access millions of other phone users around the globe - but
having that capability doesn't mean you take advantage of it to its maximum
potential.

I had assumed that, having provided a web site chock full of information,
my server would be overrun with users. That's not been the case. Not ever
faculty member is a researcher, and not even the researchers demonstrate
constant activity (many are overloaded with current awards/work and aren't
currently seeking more opportunities).

I lose patience with information systems administrators who force the
community to migrate to email and client/server models of information
dissemination, and then complain that use of the system is too high. The
infrastructure will have to expand and grow more robust to meet the demands
of its users, whether it's your local system, or the Internet as a whole.

|2. Think about your own ability to monitor *this* listserve.  Do you check it
|on an immediate basis every day?  Do you have the available time to read each
|message with the same degree of attention?  Do you have a great deal of other
|e-mail mixed in with your listserve messages?

Yes to all of the above - I take advantage of the "digest" feature of the
listserver which lumps several postings together into one message that I
receive only a few times a week. The summary at the top of the message
helps me decide to read further or trash that particular piece of mail. I
monitor at least a dozen listservs, and receive up to 40 other mail messags
a day and don't have any trouble prioritizing my reading. I don't subscribe
to listservs that aren't of value to me, and I use the delete button
judiciously. I also can handle the phone mail and junk mail that piles up.
You're absolutely right:  that's an organizational/time management issue.
I'd much rather have the option of sifting through too much info and
ignoring it as I choose, as opposed to not having that luxury.

 YOur faculty have the same
|problems with time management and the tremendous increase in distribution
|of electronic information.  With so much mail coming to them, it might
|be easy for something really important (like one of the major federal
|initiatives!) to be "buried" among a dozen messages of lesser importance.

Job security for me - I feel it's my responsibility to focus attention on
those major initiatives via my weekly bulletin or special announcements to
my readers. That's our role vis a vis the massive volume of information
(doubling every five years! I understand) confronting us - to filter it and
provide filters to it for our clients. FEDIX has very kindly provided us
with yet another filter to assist us, to use or not, as we see fit. On our
campus, as much as I've advertised the service, there has been no
overwhelming rush to use that particular tool.

|3. What would be the Research Office role in such a system?  Receiving
|automatic "copies" of everything sent to every faculty is indeed
|impractical.  So when they follow up with you regarding one of these
|announcements, what will be your method of securing more information in
|order to help them follow through?

Being copied is a feature of the InfoEd (SPIN) service, but not part of
FEDIX. Being an information specialist, I can find anything my clients ask
about, whether they're notified electronically, by regular mail, or a hot
tip from a colleague. And I'm thrilled if and when they do inquire ...
shows interest.

|4.  What about all the agencies & private sponsors not included in the
|FEDIX Alert?  Wouldn't you essentially have "two" methods of disseminating
|information if you used FEDIX for some, and one of the commercial services
|for others?

I see this as an adjunct to, not a replacement for other information
services. We have two ways to access the CBD, to search for specific
information, yet faculty demand a regular automated filter that will find
things specific to their interests. Serving as many engineeering faculty as
I do, I don't do as good a job filtering the CBD as FEDIX can. It certainly
doesn't replace the other services we use (e.g. IRIS).

|5. Finally, does your Research Office have a WWW homepage?  If so, is there
|a way that such a service could be modified in order to make your Web page
|the central place for faculty to seek this type of information?

Yes, my office has a comprehensive set of links to sponsor/program
information and information resource tools,  but I can't make folks access
that site on a regular basis. The advantage of automated mail delivery is
that it obviates the need to go to a site - the information comes to you,
reminding you orprompting you to seek more info if necessary. I could go to
the NSF web site weekly, to check for new program announcements, but it's a
real convenience to be able to receive that information automatically by
virtue of subscribing to their xxxxxx@nsf.gov list.

Univ of Tennesse still wins my vote for having the best system of
integrating opportunities info and faculty expertise databases, generating
daily, customized web pages for each user. But few of us can afford the
$250k it took to develop that system. I applaud the Federal Information
Exchange (FIE) for providing the Federal Opportunity Alert service. Time
will tell about its effectiveness. If it's more trouble than it's worth, it
won't be used.

==============================

Wendy Farkas
Director, Research Opportunities Office
Virginia Tech
311 Burruss Hall
Blacksburg,VA 24061-0244
540-231-9353 - phone
540-231-4384 - fax