CyberGuide

Dr. Tim Rhodus
Department of Horticulture and Crop Science
The Ohio State University
e-mail: Rhodus.1@osu.edu

Communication, something that our department is constantly dealing with but never quite satisfied that we have it "right." Whether the discussion concerns increasing opportunities for communicating or making sure that everyone receives the same message, we are constantly looking for ways to communicate more effectively and efficiently among ourselves and with others outside our organization. Typically, for sharing ideas and making decisions, we rely on face-to-face conversation. However, this is only feasible when people are physically located close together. When that is not the case, we usually turn to the telephone or the FAX. While both of these technologies are great inventions, they do create special problems in some situations. How often have you ended up playing "telephone tag" with someone who's schedule seemed to be just the opposite of yours? Or how often have you wanted to send the same message to a number of people but didn't want to go through the extra effort of FAXing to all those different numbers. In our case, the answer to these questions was "Too often to be tolerated." As a result, we are now in the process of implementing a 100% participation in electronic communications. In other words, all interdepartmental memos, announcements, meeting agendas, meeting minutes, purchase requests, and even our budget reports will be transferred via electronic mail or email. While for some, this technology has been the norm for over five years. For others, this represents a completely new way of doing business. Basically, email is alot like typing a letter or a memo. The first part is just the same. You begin by typing the address of the party you are sending the message to and then write down what you want to say. After that, it gets a lot simpler. To send a letter through snail-mail (computer slang for the postal service), you have to print it out, address an envelope, affix postage, deliver it to a post office or mail room, and then wait two to ten days for a response.

With email, you are ready to send the message just as soon as you are finished typing your thoughts. With most email programs, you simply choose a menu item or click your mouse on an icon named "Send Mail." Within seconds, your letter can be transferred half way around the world or across the continent. If your party is regularly checking their email account, they can conceivably read and respond to the message within a matter of minutes. Generally, a half hour or hour is the norm during the course of normal business. On a busy day, I might defer answering my email until the end of the day or when I get a few hours work in after getting our three boys into bed; but all-in-all there is no comparison to regular mail. For me, this has become the standard way to communicate among other professionals. Just as the FAX was the new technology to evaluate a few years ago, email is now the new kid on the block. For those of you who are considering this technology, one way to start is by signing up with an online service such as Compuserve, America Online, or Prodigy. While the basic monthly service fee of these firms is pretty reasonable, your fee will quickly increase if you do a lot of email messages to people on different services from your own or if you frequently utilize the Internet for accessing information on the World Wide Web. (This topic will be fully explained in next month's article.) A more affordable route may be to sign up with an Internet access provider. These firms specialize in providing Internet access and avoid all the other built-in services that are offered by the three online services listed above. However, with the tremendous explosion of interest in electronic communications, monthly fees are coming down and local call access is going up. This competitive environment is definitely resulting in cost savings for the consumer of these services. However, in addition to the monthly access fee be sure to check on the availability of technical support, number of access ports, fastest supported speed for modem connections, and initial setup fees. In closing, I would like to announce the initiation of a new service from Ohio State University for anyone with access to email. I recently configured one of my computers to serve as a mailing list server. This list, called GreenNet, is designed for anyone interested in sharing ideas, questions, and discussion on topics related to computers and computerization for the green industry. While I will personally respond to some of the inquiries, I hope that the experiences of other subscribers will be shared with those asking the question. To learn more about this list, you can send an inquiry to my email address listed above. To subscribe to the list, send email to the following address: hortlist@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message enter your real name after the words subscribe greennet. For example, Joe Smith would enter: subscribe greennet joe smith

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