July 27, 2005
Session: Designing with Co-Jones
Presenter: Max Lefeld, Co-Jones, Inc. Notes from Laura Sternweis, Extension communications specialist
Max is Hispanic, has been in advertising for many years, but more recently started his own company, Co-Jones, the English translation, Company Jones. The name is a play on words because in Spanish "cojones" (co - ho – nays) is the word for testicles and is a slang term for brave attitude.
Check his website: http://co-jones.com/
Hispanic design involves more than the traditional approaches and ideology. (He is tired of the stereotypical ads that, to reach the Hispanic market, include a grandmother and somebody playing soccer.) Instead, he deals with culture, mindsets, and motivation. The Hispanic audience is on a spectrum from
Unacculturated ------------------ to ---------------------> Acculturated
Isolation ------------------------ Fusion ---------------- Assimilation
Isolation – Hispanics reject mainstream culture
Fusion – Hispanics merge with mainstream culture
Assimilation – Hispanics are absorbed by mainstream culture
Understanding this process of change is vital to effectively communicating to Hispanics.
Nationalist ----------- Eager Adopter --------- Fusionist -------- Integrator
He says 50 percent of the Hispanic population is in the “Eager Adopter” stage and 20 percent is in the Fusionist stage.
Check it out
Message from Amanda at ACE Headquarters:
Some of the breakout session materials from the ACE conference in San Antonio are now available online at http://www.aceweb.org/meetings/upcoming.html under the 2005 International Meeting header. We weren't provided materials from every session, but we've posted what we have, so feel free to take a look. A special thanks to Technology Advisory Committee Chair Ron Thomas, who collected these materials and worked with Headquarters to post them online.
Communicate Effectively
Session: How to communicate effectively with Hispanic Audiences (Parts 1 and 2)
Featured a panel of speakers
These notes are from Laura Sternweis, Extension communications specialist
Overall notes from panel
• Ask to see TV and radio stations’ “public file” to find out the needs of who they serve and who they’re trying to reach to keep their license.
• Check what publications are available in Mexican restaurants (one way to find out which media reach Hispanic audiences)
• “Free food guarantees a free press.” (Joe Sandoval, Editor of La Prensa)
Notes from Bill Watson’s (Texas A&M) presentation in this session on Extension en Español
• Show respect for the audience, the individual, the language.
• Find a champion who understands the rules of the language, grammar, syntax of Spanish. Show the same respect for, and use the same care with any item in Spanish as you would in English.
• DO NOT use automatic translator programs.
• For marketing stuff – it’s not translation, it’s interpretation, and you need a bilingual/bicultural person to do it.
• His best guess – cost of translation is 10 to 13 cents per word up to 25 cents per word for technical translation.
• He suggests three steps: 1) translator translates the piece, 2) editor edits it, 3) bilingual subject matter specialist reviews it.
• You can include Extension en Español in your grants as principal investigators.
• If you have a major thrust and need long-term assistance, include Extension en Español as a budget item.
• Put Spanish and English together in your publications catalog and website. DO NOT use a separate Spanish section.
• Leave your university name alone in the wordmark (don’t translate it)
• Putting the comma inside the quote marks is WRONG.
• Titles – first word and proper names are capped, the rest are lower case.
• Word division is different (Spanish vs. English hyphenation).
• There is one Spanish standard for print, etc. (Read the section on dialects on the Extension en Español website.
• In a translation, use the first most popular term (and include the second most popular in parentheses). Example – peanut has more than one translation, cacahuate (maní).
• Find community leaders to help you.
July 05, 2005
Site invaded by commenters
This morning I found the ACE/NETC 2005 site invaded by countless comments from skin care companies, gambling resources, and prescription drug information. UGH!
After deleting approximately 150 unwanted comments that accumulated over the July 4th weekend, my question is, what is the best way to keep a blog site free of unintended/uninvited visitors? And how did they find it?
Recommendations? Comments? Am I just being unrealistic to think that these invasive commentors will not infect this blog?
June 20, 2005
Putting the Plan into Action: Marketing Ideas that Work
K-State staffers presented this session.
First step: Identify your purpose. Is it to increase awareness? knowledge? trial? usage? adoption?
Second step: Tactics. Do they accomplish your purpose? Do they target your audience? Build materials around purpose, not purpose around the materials.
Good tactics are marketing ideas that work.
Walk Kansas was the "good" program marketing that worked for KSU. What were the keys to success? Marketing, name recognition; having an advertising budget; using a variety of marketing tactics; having media and community partners; evidence-based program; and meets a perceived need. For many Kansans, it is the only Extension program they have ever participated in.
It is similar to the Lighten up Iowa program, and many of the strategies used in Kansas could be applied here in Iowa.
What do web users want from us
Part 1 notes from Barb Abbott (I didn't stay for part 2)
Kansas State University used feedback from users to build a content management site.
Feedback panels were used. The session was about the methodology and results of the surveys. Although feedback panel information can't be generalized to all web users, it can help with specific sites. Jakob Neilsen said as few as five users can identify 98% of problems with a web site. The Kansas study used 9 groups (different demographics) of 32 users total, 3-4 users per group.
They tested pre/during site development/post. First contacted participants by phone to get permission. Sent survey via email.
Allowed two weeks to respond, with a phone reminder after that to non-responders. Did it three times over nine months. Lost participants over time: 90% responded to first survey, 73% to the second, 50% to the third.
Findings:
The Kansas users prefer substances over glamour. Web development
requires lots of communication with all players (met every week).
Universities must build compelling web sites to attract students.
Their credibility increased. Functionality over visual appeal. Keep
it simple. Menu listings rather than drop down. Wanted identity
with Kansas State. Preferred sans serif fonts. Wanted search engine
and updated information.
June 07, 2005
Write away
Amanda Chambliss and Laura Miller are seated in the shade busily writing their thoughts after completing the tour of the Alamo and the Palace, which is more like a hacienda. The real writing from the workshop is still taking place -- we begin our writing there, then finish the work back at our workplaces, and share them through e-mail afterward. Then we'll have a discussion via e-mail on what we learned about environmental writing. Submitted by Carol Ouverson.
Cascading Style Sheet notes
Barb Abbott attended this session and took these notes at 9 on Wednesday, "The Web: Styles and Accessibility," by Kevin McAbee, Oklahoma State University.
This was a great session for someone like me who has heard of cascading style sheets but has no idea what they are -- CSS 101. The intro paragraph in the program says "Three real problems face today's Web sites: maintainability, accessibility, and printable publications. This session will discuss these issues and the solutions to be found in using casading style sheets with proper html."
CSS separates layout (CSS - text/graphics control) from content (html). Explorer didn't support CSS originally, but now it does (which is a good thing, since 93% of browsers are IE). Maintenance is easier and we can have a consistent look. This presenter's power point was very understandable.. so when it gets up on the conference Web site, we should link to it. Below are random notes...
One thing we maybe should be thinking about is providing at least part of our Web site in cell phone format (will be a growing method of Internet use). CSS easily allows creation of several different formats.. online, printable, cell phone, etc.
Kevin suggests not using rollover images, but using separate pages.
If do use rollovers, give them alt tags. Also, links need to be tab-able and text needs to be scalable. These are all for accessibility. This Web site used to be Bobby... now a handy site check for accessibility http://webxact.watchfire.com.
June 06, 2005
Copyright 101
These are Barb Abbott's notes from the two copyright sessions.
Presenter via videoconference - Peter Vankevich, US Copyright Office; an attorney with the copyright office; and an attorney from Oregon who specializes in copyright law. I didn't get the names of the others besides Peter.
Check out the copyright office Web site, http://www.copyright.gov.
Probably one of the best government sites (according to one of the attorneys)... easy to navigate, etc. Basic info there, plus forms.
They are working on being able to submit forms electronically, but that's not functional yet.
Copyright is one of the intellectual property rights, along with patent and trademark protections. Copyright protects original expression and derivatives that have been fixed in a tangible form.
Any original work on the Internet has been determined to be fixed in a tangible form, so it can be protected. Copyright does not protect ideas, symbols, logos, etc. Those are covered under patent and trademark law, which we didn't cover in this session.
We can search on the copyright office Web site for what's registered.
However, they don't do any monitoring of what's been registered, so multiple people could register the same thing. If there is a fight about that, it must be handled in the courts.
Copyright notice is not required now, so assume that all fixed material is copyrighted. However, it is recommended that the copyright symbol, year of publication, and name of rights holder be put on material.
The registration process is not required to sue, but it is required to recover attorney fees if a case is taken to court. And according to the presenters, federal court proceedings are quite expensive, so registration would be advised if you think you'll end up in court over something. Regular registration is $30 and takes 2-3 months.
This can be expedited (five days) for $580.
There was discussion about the exemptions to copyright protection, including fair use. The four provisions that usually must be present
are: non-profit use, quantity of material used, heart of the work (quantity used may be small, but if it is the heart of the work, then it's considered infringement), and effect on sales for the work...
will the copyright holder be affected economically. There are lots of "it depends" in this area. Situations are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
More on the Internet... links are facts, so are not protected. No need to get permission to link. However, don't use logos as the link... that would be trademark infringement. Also, framing may be infringement.. if it appears to be the other site, if it's confusing to the viewer about which site is being seen.. then that could be copyright infringement.
As a general rule, federal work is in the public domain (they said we could copy anything on their site :-)), and state works are not.
However, this doesn't prevent some federal work from being copyright protected.
The only absolute stated in the whole presentation is that any material published before 1923 is in the public domain. Anything after 1923... it depends.
Second session was "Copyright from the Print and Web Publishers' Point of View"
Judy Winn (Texas) and Kyle McCaskill (Maine) joined the above people.
I'm hoping to get web addresses of their info. Also Tom Knecht info.
If I can't get that.. I have hard copies of Maine's "Copyright and Libel Primer" and Mississippi's "Copyright Checklist."
What follows is Maine's copyright information sent via e-mail. Thanks to Kyle McCaskill for providing it.
Copyright and Libel Primer for Web and Print Publishers
WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Computers and the Internet have changed everything. Publishing used to be limited to a select few who had sufficient resources. Now, technology has made everyone a potential publisher. Copyright law, which has always been complex, has become bewildering in an electronic environment. It has never been easier to copy or incorporate other people’s work. It has never been easier to make yourself and the University vulnerable to a lawsuit.
Copyright Law
Since 1978, copyright protection occurs at the moment of creation, and protects the form of expression (word, images, music) rather than the ideas or facts represented. A copyright notice or registration is not required. Lack of a copyright notice does not mean that something can be freely reproduced.
I. Using Material from the Internet
Technology may result in a loss of control over reproduction of materials for authors in the future. However, copyright law has not yet sufficiently addressed electronic communication. The same laws that were made for printed publications, art, music and film now apply to material on the Internet. Words, images, page design and even HTML code are protected from the moment of creation, regardless of whether or not a copyright notice appears. The majority of information on the World Wide Web is not in the public domain. Theoretically, even text from e-mails and electronic bulletin boards may not be reproduced without permission from the author.
Most Web sites list the e-mail address of a contact person, making it relatively easy to request permission to reproduce images or text.
When in doubt, request permission.
II. Fair Use
Fair Use allows you to reproduce portions of someone else’s work in certain situations. No single factor can determine Fair Use—educational use alone is not enough—there is a lot of gray area. Four factors are considered:
1) Is it educational in nature?
2) Is it not-for-profit?
3) What percent of the original is used?
4) What will the effect of your use be upon the potential market value of the work?
Fair Use is designed to enable people to use small amounts of the work of others for review, critique, or to support their arguments. Depending on the size of the work being copied from, it’s a good idea to avoid quoting more than two paragraphs, or quoting so frequently that the quoted information predominates. It is almost always outside the bounds of Fair Use to reproduce all or most of anything.
There ARE specific prohibitions around making multiple copies of a work to use in an educational setting:
Copies may not be used to create/replace anthologies or collected works.
Consumable publications such as workbooks and standardized tests may not be reproduced without permission.
Unauthorized copying cannot be used in place of the purchase of books and periodicals.
The same teacher cannot copy the same item term after term without permission.
Situations in which copying for academic purposes IS allowed generally share the following characteristics: SPONTANEITY—BREVITY—SINGULARITY. The situation should share all of these characteristics.
Spontaneity: If a teacher is inspired to use something as a teaching tool, and there isn't enough time to request permission.
Brevity: If the excerpt copied is no longer than 1000 words or 10% of the work, whichever is shorter, or if the complete work is less than 2500 words.
Singularity: One course use, one work per author, etc.
When in doubt, request permission.
III. Public Domain
Works and images that are in the public domain may be freely copied. Such works include
works that never had copyright protection;
works whose term of copyright protection has expired;
works created by the U.S. government.
Because of the complicated history of copyright law, it has become extremely hard to ascertain whether or not a work is in the public domain. The fact that the author is deceased or the work is out of print does not guarantee that a work is in the public domain, nor does the lack of a copyright notice.
When in doubt, request permission.
IV. Requesting Permission
The good news is that e-mail has made it faster and easier to request and receive permission from individuals and institutions, if you can find the appropriate person to e-mail. If they have a Web site, chances are they list staff contacts and conduct a lot of business electronically. You can save time by including all of the elements on The University of Texas System’s online sample of a permission request letter, available at http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/permmm.htm.
The Copyright Clearance Center specializes in obtaining permissions, particularly for academic use. They charge a nominal fee, plus whatever royalty the copyright owner charges. The center has a catalog of preauthorized titles, making the permissions process nearly instantaneous. Go to their Web site at http://www.copyright.com/ and select “Academic—Higher Education.”
Libel and Invasion of Privacy
Each state defines and applies laws relating to libel and invasion of privacy differently. Typically publishers were sued for libel and invasion of privacy in the state of publication/distribution. Since the Internet enables material to be published everywhere at once, we are entering murky waters indeed.
The Internet has made it fast, easy and cheap to publish. People post Web pages without the consideration and peer review that typically occurs with print material. And depending on who is publishing the material on what server, with whose equipment, and in what capacity, both the University and the person publishing the Web page could very well be liable.
I. Libel: publishing defamatory material or anything that damages the reputation of a person or entity. Lack of knowledge or intent is not a sufficient defense—for instance, a writer who uses a word without understanding the meaning it may have to a particular audience would still be liable.
The University of Texas has an excellent Libel Checklist that will analyze a situation for you: http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/libelfrm.htm
II. Invasion of privacy:
disclosing intimate or private details about someone;
printing false statements or representing a person in a false light;
appropriating a person's likeness (e.g. photo) or name without permission, particularly for commercial gain;
intruding unreasonably and intentionally upon a person’s seclusion (e.g. trespass, surveillance).
In any case, providing the identity of a private individual, unless in a public setting, is a sensitive matter (less so for a public figure). All of the above are more serious if the material is embarrassing, offensive and/or not inherently of public concern.
Take great care when publishing information in newsletters or on Web pages about volunteers and other individuals. Be mindful of their right to privacy and potential libel issues. To be safe, get permission to publish a name or picture in writing.
Plagiarism
Non-copyrighted material still needs to be credited appropriately. If you use someone else’s ideas, design, graphics, data, or words, even if it is public domain material, without crediting the source, you are representing someone else’s material as your own. This is plagiarism.
Hamilton College has an excellent Web page on avoiding plagiarism: http://www.hamilton.edu/academic/Resource/WC/AvoidingPlagiarism.html
A briefer overview can be found at this Barnard College site: http://www.econ.barnard.columbia.edu/FAQs/plagiarism.html
Citation
Good citation practices
The purpose of citation is to credit the scholarship of others, and to allow the reader to verify, ascertain the credibility of and find out more about the information in question. Any idea, image or expression that is not your original work should be cited. Direct quotations should be enclosed in quotation marks with a footnote or in-text reference. Avoid quoting significant amounts of text without permission.
As the Barnard College Web page on plagiarism points out, good citation not only acknowledges the work of others, but it clarifies and highlights which work is your own. “The point of good citation practice is to direct the reader's attention to where you have advanced the argument.”
About paraphrasing: the author of the Barnard page goes on to explain that “a more subtle form of plagiarism is footnoted paraphrase.” Such a practice, according to Barnard, leaves it unclear which ideas come from the author and which from the cited source. Paraphrased passages should be defined with an introduction such as “Rowling explains that this event is . . .” Alternatively, you can footnote the paraphrased passage and identify it as such in the footnote, e.g. “This sentence/paragraph paraphrases Rowling’s ideas on wizardry, p 231.”
Citation Styles
The citation style you should use depends upon whether you are creating footnotes or a bibliography, whether you are creating a county newsletter, an article for a refereed journal, a fact sheet for low-income families, a workshop handout or a federal report. The appropriate citation style could be AP, APA, CMS, GPO or something else, depending on the document and the audience. Contact the UMCE publications editor for an appropriate citation style for your publication.
When researching and writing, be sure to keep a record of the source of anything that isn’t your own original expression or idea. Include the author’s full name, the name of the work, the name of any larger work in which the work appears, (e.g. the anthology that an story appears in, or the journal that an article appears in), the year published, the publisher, the publisher’s city and state, the total number of pages in the work, and the page(s) from which the information was taken. This will ensure that you have enough information for any citation style.
This handout was prepared by Kyle McCaskill, University of Maine Cooperative Extension publications editor. It is intended for internal use, to raise awareness among UMCE employees about issues in electronic publishing. It is not intended for use outside the organization, nor is it intended to be a definitive treatment of the topics discussed.
Nighttime at the ranch
Night shot from the Texas ranch. Photo contributed by Barb McBreen
June 04, 2005
June 03, 2005
Shoot for the Stars
The Gary Hermance speaker, Dr. Bernard Harris, Jr., wowed conference attendees with his presentation this morning. Titled "Roadmap to the Stars" Harris told us all to do everything possible to accomplish our dreams.
Some of his points and quotes included:
Dreams are the reality of the future. To have a future, you must first have a dream. Harris said it is never too late, or we are never too old to fulfill our dreams.
Value proposition: Education is the key to fulfilling dreams.
Empowerment: Success begins with will. It is a state of mind.
Your way of thinking: All the events in your life are a mirror image of your thoughts (from The Instant Millionaire, by Mark Fisher).
Your hearts desire is the voice of God. That voice must be obeyed sooner or later (from Emmet Fox).
June 02, 2005
Carol sees her exhibits for the first time
Iowa brought several exhibits to the conference...it's so much easier to pack exhibits when you ride on a big bus instead of flying.
Judy Winn, ACE President, with Barb McBreen
Way to go Barb.
Yah, you betcha!
Laura Miller and Bruce Sundeen, NDSU, the North Central Region Pioneer Award winner.
May 31, 2005
Kudos to Laura Miller
Thanks Laura for a job well done as North Centeral Region director...
Laura led the packed meeting of the North Central Region this afternoon...standing room only. If you weren't able to attend and have questions on the meeting, please contact Laura.
May 25, 2005
What's happening
Find out about general conference observations. http://acenetc2005.tamu.edu/