January 1994 No. 7

ISSN 1071-5223

About INFOBITS

Infobits is an electronic service of the Institute for Academic Technology's Information Resources Group. Each month we monitor and select from a number of information technology and instruction technology sources that come to our attention and provide brief notes for electronic dissemination to educators.

Get By with a Little Help from Your Email Friends
Resources in Academic Economics: NetEc, BibEd, and WoPEc
Visit Kevin's Prairie Dog Town
Award Winners Announced at CAUSE93
Bibliography on Classroom Technology
Happy New Year

GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR EMAIL FRIENDS

If you provide computer and instructional technology support for your institution, don't go it alone. There are several electronic discussion lists where you can share your expertise and find answers.

EDTECH - Educational Technology
To subscribe send mail to:
listserv@msu.edu
with the message:
subscribe edtech your_firstname your_lastname

TECHNET - Technical Support for Education and Research
To subscribe send mail to:
listserv@acadvm1.uottawa.ca
with the message:
subscribe technet your_firstname your_lastname

MEDIA-L - Media in Education
To subscribe send mail to:
listserv@bingvmb.cc.binghamton.edu
with the message:
subscribe media-l your_firstname your_lastname

RESOURCES IN ACADEMIC ECONOMICS: NetEc, BibEc and WoPEc

NetEc is a term that unites a number of projects for networking interaction in academic Economics. Currently, there are two projects called BibEc and WoPEc which aim to improve the communication of new research results in Economics. Traditionally, new research results have been published in paper documents called "working papers" or "discussion papers." BibEc establishes the means to announce the publication of new papers via electronic media, and WoPEc builds a collection of electronic working papers in postscript format, for free retrieval by anybody with Internet access.

To receive the NetEc FAQ (Frequently-Asked Questions) file, which contains more detailed information on the projects and on submitting papers, write to the editor of NetEc at NetEc@netec.mcc.ac.uk. State "NetEc" as the subject of the message.

You can also get the FAQ file and other files from the NetEc Web site at URL http://netec.mcc.ac.uk/NetEc.html. If you do not have a WWW client, but you do have a remote login facility on the internet, you can telnet netec.mcc.ac.uk (130.88.203.18), and login as "netec". The password is "netec".

To receive announcements of new working papers, subscribe to the ECONLIST email list. To subscribe, send email to: listserv@vm1.sara.nl with the message:
subscribe econlist your_firstname your_lastname

VISIT KEVIN'S PRAIRIE DOG TOWN

Check out the gopher server that Kevin Lowry runs out of the University of Saskatchewan. I've been suggesting it to our new gopher users to get them interested in using gophers. Kevin takes a humorous approach to information delivery that doesn't intimidate the gopher novice. To make your visit, point your gopher client to: skynet.usask.ca

[Note: The gopher server was shut down on August 1, 1995.
Kevin now runs his site as "Webville" on a Web server at URL http://www.usask.ca/~lowey/webville/ ].

AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT CAUSE93

Winners in three CAUSE awards programs were announced at the association's conference December 7-10, 1993, in San Diego, California.

Winning the 1993 CAUSE/EFFECT Contributor of the Year award were Polley Ann McClure of the University of Virginia, Susan Stager and Norma Brenner Holland of Indiana University, and Cathy Smith of Carleton College. Their award-winning article, "Administrative Workstation Project at Indiana University," appeared in the summer issue of CAUSE/EFFECT magazine.

Winning the first CAUSE Award for Excellence in Campus Networking was Maricopa Community Colleges. Honorable mention awards were presented to Brown University, Cedarville College, Gettysburg College, MIT, Penn State, and Stevens Institute of Technology. Twenty-five colleges and universities submitted proposals for the 1993 award. Brief descriptions of these institutions' networking plans have been compiled into a 230-page document, Best Practices in Campus Networking, available through the CAUSE Exchange Library (inquire to orders@cause.colorado.edu).

Winning the 1993 CAUSE ELITE Award for Exemplary Leadership and Information Technology Excellence was Albert L. LeDuc of Miami-Dade Community College. A video highlighting LeDuc's accomplishments is available from the CAUSE Exchange Library (inquire to orders@cause.colorado.edu).

CAUSE invites you to submit nominations for these 1994 awards:
--- The CAUSE ELITE Award for Exemplary Leadership and Information Technology Excellence honors individuals who contribute significantly to the success of their institutions through visionary direction and management of information technology (deadline for nominations is March 1, 1994).
--- The CAUSE Award for Excellence in Campus Networking recognizes colleges and universities for exemplary campus-wide network planning, management, and accessibility; and effective use of the network to enhance teaching, learning, research, administration, and community service (deadline for nominations is March 31, 1994).

Print or electronic nomination forms are available on request from CAUSE (tel: 303-449-4430; fax 303-440-0461; email info@cause.colorado.edu).

CAUSE is an association for managing and using information in higher education. Its international membership includes colleges and universities, corporate members, and several higher education associations. CAUSE also works together with EDUCOM and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to form the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI). In addition to CAUSE/EFFECT, the association also publishes a quarterly newsletter, Manage IT (ISSN 1047-7926) which is available electronically. For the latest issue, send email to NEWSLET@CAUSE.COLORADO.EDU with the message: GET MIT934W
[Note: Manage IT ceased publication during summer of 1995.]

You can also access CAUSE information via the CAUSE Web server at URL http://cause-www.colorado.edu/ or the CAUSE Gopher server at URL gopher://cause-gopher.colorado.edu:70/. The servers have information about association services, publications, and activities, plus the text of reports in the HEIRAlliance Executive Strategies Series, CAUSE newsletters, and track papers presented at CAUSE93.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY

In conjunction with the IAT's February satellite broadcast, "Classroom Design with Technology in Mind," we are revising our publication, "Computer Laboratory Design: Bibliography," which includes information on computer laboratories and classrooms. Copies of the bibliography can be obtained from our Web site at URL http://www.unc.edu/cit/guides/irg-03.html

For more information on the February or other satellite broadcasts, send email to barbara_bickell@unc.edu.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thanks to the subscribers all over the world who made a place for Infobits in their networked universe. As of this month Infobits goes out to nearly 1700 subscribers and has been picked up by several gopher sites. Thanks also for all your comments and article suggestions. What started out as a small experiment in information sharing has exceeded all my expectations. I'm looking forward to bringing you more Infobits in 1994. Thanks for your support!
-- Carolyn Kotlas, IAT Infobits Editor