FCN News 8 Dec 1998

Don't read this by e-mail! Instead, read the hypertext version of this newsletter: <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/fcn/news/current.html>. Contents:

Upcoming Events On Campus Seen on and about the Net How To -- Choosing fonts for web pages The Lighter Side -- Anagrams Administrativa
	Do you have UO colleagues who would find this newsletter useful? Call their attention to the html version, or they can subscribe by sending email to jqj@darkwing.uoregon.edu.

Upcoming Events

Local and online events of particular interest to FCN members (see also On Campus below):

• Advanced HTML PPMG, Dec 8, 3pm, Knight 235. An informal group that discusses web publishing topics of mutual interest, with a particular focus on faculty/staff publishing issues. <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/ppmg/> for more information..
• Managing a Majordomo List, Jan 19, 3-3:20pm, Knight 144. IT Curriculum workshop of particular interest to any faculty member using or thinking of using a listserver. <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~llynch/majordomo>.

On Campus

IT CURRICULUM. The winter workshop schedule is ready, and may reach your mailbox before you read this. See it on line at <http://libweb.uoregon.edu/it/>. Of particular note for FCN members are the intermediate web publishing sequence and the classes on managing majordomo mailing lists. If you require your students to publish on the web or to use electronic library resources, consider arranging a special library-taught workshop for your class. Contact your library subject specialist or JQ Johnson <mailto:jqj@darkwing>.

VIDEOTAPES. If you missed the fall videoconference series in educational technology you can still view a tape of the program. Tapes are available for loan from JQ Johnson, <mailto:jqj@darkwing>:

• Creating Tomorrow's Learner-Centered Environments -- Today
• Teaching at a Distance: A Workshop with Tom Cyrs
• Developing Courses for Web-based Delivery
• Show Me the Money! Funding for Educational Technology
• New Media Technologies Across the Curriculum

CCMAIL IS GOING AWAY. Network Services has announced a schedule for phasing out the gateway it maintains connecting cc:Mail to the rest of the e-mail world, with a target of summer, 1999. Most cc:Mail users already have accounts on oregon or darkwing, and it's time to start using them as primary mailboxes. If you manage a mailing list or have cc:Mail addresses in your personal address book, start converting to the new addresses!

CONVERTING VIDEO FORMATS. Jeff Magoto reports: "One of our most frequently requested tech services here at Yamada is converting video formats from NTSC--N.America and elsewhere-- to PAL--W. Europe (except France), SE Asia, and elsewhere. We now have a workstation set up in Pacific120 for them to do their own (should they choose to do so.) We'll contiue to do high quality video tape conversions and dupes (now in stereo and now including SECAM)". <http://babel.uoregon.edu>.

WEB-BASED TOOLS FOR MAJORDOMO LIST MANAGEMENT. Check out MajorCool, <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~majordom/cgi-bin/end-user.cgi> (for end users), or <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~majordom/cgi-bin/owners.cgi> (for list owners).

Seen on and about the Net

COLLEGES HIRING INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGISTS. A story in this week's Chronicle of Higher Ed highlights a growing trend -- the need to hire instructional-technology experts to assist faculty with applying new technology in their teaching. <http://chronicle.com/free/v45/i16/16a03501.htm>. Technology support people who also understand pedagogy are in short supply.

TEACHING DISTANCE ED VIA DISTANCE ED. Interested in experiencing a web based course first hand? Consider taking an online course offered by UBC as part of its Post-Graduate Certificate In Technology-Based Distributed Learning. Courses include "Social and Policy Issues in Technology-Based Distributed Learning" and "Selecting and Using Technologies for Distributed Learning." <http://itesm.cstudies.ubc.ca/info/>. Of particular note is the fact that this program was developed by University of British Columbia in collaboration with the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM), Mexico. The web IS breaking down the barriers of distance in education!

WEBCASTS FROM EDUCAUSE. If you missed general session speakers Alan Kay and Ben Shneiderman at the recent EDUCOM'98 conference in Orlando, you can still catch them online. Also, stay tuned for Webcasts from the upcoming CAUSE98 conference in Seattle December 8-11, 1998. <http://www.educause.edu/conference/e98/webcast98.html>.

SEARCH: AN EZINE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS. Call this one to your GTF's attention! <http://www.problemfinder.com/search.htm>.

ROBOTIC TELESCOPE GOES ONLINE FOR PUBLIC USE. The 0.9-meter telescope at Nassau Astronomical Station of Case Western Reserve University will go online by December 15 as the country's first Earth-bound robotic telescope becomes accessible for general public use. Amateur and professional astronomers alike can access the telescope by filing a viewing request through <http://astrwww.astr.cwru.edu/Nassau>.

How To -- Choosing fonts for web pages

Both Netscape and MSIE web browsers allow web page authors to change the font on web pages. To change a range of characters, use cascading style sheets or enclose your text in a FONT container, e.g.

  <FONT FACE="list of fonts"> ... </FONT>

The "list of fonts" is a comma-separated list of font names; a browser will use the first font the list that it has installed. This list feature is important, since different computers have different fonts installed. You'll typically have a list containing a Windows font, a Mac font with a similar visual appearance, and a "generic" font (either "serif", "sans-serif", or "monospace") that all browsers are supposed to understand.

It's very hard to find font lists that look similar on all platforms, especially if you want two lists, one for body text and one for display (heading) text, that work together. A good rule of thumb is to use a serifed font for body text and sans-serif for display or vice versa. Many people find that they get best results with just:

  FACE="Times New Roman,Times,serif"
  FACE="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"

Note, though, that most fonts are designed for printing, and look ugly on-screen at small sizes. If you need maximum on-screen readability but are willing to give up cross-platform (and maybe body-display) compatibility, consider for your body text font using:

  FACE="Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif"
  FACE="Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"

Don't use too many different fonts on your pages! Unless you're sure you know what you're doing, it easy to create amateurish pages with clashing fonts.

Conferences and Workshops, Real and Virtual

The conference list now has its own web page, at <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/fcn/conferences.html>. We'll continue to use this space to highlight new conferences of particular interest to UO faculty interested in educational technology:

• ICLS-98, Dec 16-18, Atlanta, GA. Third International Conference on the Learning Sciences.<http://www.cc.gatech.edu/conferences/icls98>.
• Institutional Opportunities for Advanced Networking, Jan 7-9, 1999, Austin TX. <http://www.educasue.edu/metadata/contents/events/jan99/>.
• National Learning Infrastructure Initiative, Jan 31-Feb 2, 1999, New Orleans, LA. <http://www.educause.edu/nlii/>.
• Educause Institute Management Program, Feb 7-11, 1999, Palm Springs, CA. <http://www.educause.edu/inst/inst.html>.
• New Challenges for Scholarly Communication in the Digital Era: Changing Roles and Expectations in the Academic Community, March 26-27, 1999, Washington, DC.<http://www.arl.org/scomm/conf.html>.
• Tech-Ed 99, Apr 21-24, 1999, Ontario CA. <http://www.communitycollege.org>.

The Lighter Side -- Anagrams

An Anagram, as we all know, is a word or phrase made by transposing or rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. Here are some examples:

• Dormitory == Dirty Room
• The Morse Code == Here Come Dots
• Slot Machines == Cash Lost in 'em
• Animosity == Is No Amity
• Mother-in-law == Woman Hitler
• Snooze Alarms == Alas! No More Z's
• Alec Guinness == Genuine Class
• The Public Art Galleries == Large Picture Halls, I Bet
• A Decimal Point == I'm a Dot in Place
• The Earthquakes == That Queer Shake
• Eleven plus two == Twelve plus one
• Contradiction == Accord not in it

And this one's amazing: [from Hamlet]

• To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. == In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent Hamlet queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.

Administrativa

The UO Faculty Consultants Network Newsletter is published (approximately) twice a month. If you have materials for inclusion in the newsletter you can send them to <mailto:jqj@darkwing>. This newsletter (as well as other FCN-related material) is available on line in <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/fcn/news/>.