8/23/2012 1 Using GRC Funding Information in Campus Publications Grants Resource Center External Funding Conference August 19-22, 2012 J. Syd Conner Information Specialist The University of Southern Mississippi Information Specialist? Information Specialist? Or: Why I’m theoretically qualified to give this presentation Odd Job (are there any other Information Specialists here?) What is it? Why is it? Re active Re active Pro active (about institutional “climate change”) Faculty don’t have the time or the funding knowledge Other SPO staff may not have the time or the depth of knowledge about funding programs INFORMATION : The Big Picture INFORMATION : The Big Picture Receiving Information Distributing Information
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Using GRC Funding Information in Campus Publications
Grants Resource Center
External Funding Conference
August 19-22, 2012
J. Syd Conner
Information Specialist
The University of Southern Mississippi
Information Specialist?Information Specialist?Or: Why I’m theoretically qualified to give this presentation
Odd Job (are there any other Information Specialists here?)
What is it?
Why is it? Re active Re active Pro active (about institutional “climate change”) Faculty don’t have the time or the funding knowledge Other SPO staff may not have the time or the depth of
knowledge about funding programs
INFORMATION : The Big PictureINFORMATION : The Big Picture
Receiving Information
Distributing Information
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InformationInformation FlowFlow
RFPs Trends
IS/SPO
Compliance
AgenciesAgencies GRC GRC ServicesServices
IS/SPO
Compliance
RFPsTrends
PIPI PIPI PIPI
InformationInformation FlowFlow
AgenciesAgencies GRCGRC Services Services
PIPI PIPI PIPI
InformationInformation FlowFlow
Some ways to learn what PIs need (even if they don’t know it): The usual channels Surveys
PIPI PIPI PIPI
Surveys Emailed (I get better response from emailing requests to individuals) Inside newsletter On website
Search your institution’s website using keywords
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Receiving InformationReceiving Information
Ways of Receiving InformationWays of Receiving Information
Websites Sponsors GRC — Look for links to these and other resources in
GRC’s Resource Library (coming next month, at GRC s Resource Library (coming next month, at www.aascu.org/grc/resources/ — courtesy of GRC )
E-mailed Resources
Funding Databases
Social Media
Emailed ResourcesEmailed Resources
GRC Publications GRC Publications Bulletin — summaries of current funding opportunities, emailed
twice weekly & sorted into 4 topical categories Arts, Humanities, & International Education , Community & Economic Development Health & Mental Health Science & Technology
Deadlines — a month’s worth of the same funding opportunities, gathered into one package and emailed monthly
GrantWeek — news about policy & compliance, new grant programs, academic trends, etc.
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EE--mailed Resourcesmailed Resources
GRC’s Faculty Alert System: sends faculty monthly notices tuned to their individual needs. Alerts may include federal and private funding opportunities with application deadlines extending three months out. Search criteria can be based on curriculum or funding type, e.g., education, humanities, g yp , g , , ,fellowships or research grants. Search criteria can be revised at any time.
EE--mailed Resourcesmailed Resources Government E-mail Subscriptions
Grants.gov Subscriptions — Federal Grants Notification Services (E-mail and RSS)
Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) (E-mail) RSS Twitter
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) (RSS) National Institutes of Health (NIH) (E-mail) National Science Foundation (NSF) (E-mail)
U.S. Department of Education (ED) Newsletters and Journals (E-mail and RSS)
NGO E-mail Subscriptions Foundation Center’s RFP Bulletin (Look for "Subscribe" on the vertical
menu at left.) Miner and Associates, Inc. Newsletter — Subscribe at
http://www.minerandassociates.com/.
Funding DatabasesFunding Databases
Foundation Center — Private foundations; basic information is free, full information requires paid subscription
GRC GrantSearch — Funding opportunities are prescreened for relevance to IHEs; GrantSearch QuckGuide
Grants.gov — Grants.gov lists all current discretionary funding opportunities from 26 agencies of the United States government, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and many others — in other words, all the most important public funders of research in the United States
GuideStar — Nonprofits database; basic information is free, full information requires paid subscription
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Funding DatabasesFunding Databases National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Extramural
Research
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Social Media is now playing a huge role in cross‐media. Across all generations, more people than ever are using social
Social Media Social Media
gNetworks.
Social MediaSocial MediaA potential snag: It’s easy to become overloaded with funding
information, especially if you receive the same information from several sources. If information overload is a problem for you, you might want to stick to the media that work best for you.
Facebook — Facebook usage is growing quickly, and some sponsors are using it for funding announcements (among many other items). Facebook may make funding news more readily available to frequent Facebook users but for others it makes the available to frequent Facebook users, but for others it makes the information a step or two less readily available.
Twitter — A number of federal agencies and some other types of sponsors distribute information via Twitter. By one measure, however, fewer than 1% of private foundations currently Twitter (source: LinkedIn / Foundation Center). Twitter delivers information in real time and can deliver it to your cell phone wherever you are (if you have a compatible phone). Twitter also allows you to receive information only from certain sources.
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Social MediaSocial MediaGRC uses social media, including: Twitter
Distributing Information Distributing Information
Distributing Information Distributing Information Principle: Use Multiple MediaPrinciple: Use Multiple Media
Email Mass audience Groups IndividualsIndividuals
Blogs
Newsletters
Paper fliers
Social media
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BlogsBlogs
GRC member Ball State University’s Sponsored Programs Office offers a good example of a blog.
Some advantages of posting funding information in a blog on your institution’s website: A blog can have a URL that doesn’t change, offering easy
access for investigators. A blog doesn’t have to involve a lot of formatting. A number of other resources can be linked on the same page
with the blog.
BlogsBlogs
Some possible disadvantages of blogs: Investigators and potential investigators have to take the
initiative — i.e., you can’t send it to them. You could send them a link, but if material is added daily, that could get old fast.
Limited formatting might hamper a blog’s capacity for drawing g g p g p y greaders in.
Repeatedly uploading material to a website can be time consuming.
NewslettersNewsletters
Evolution of the sponsored programs newsletter at The University of Southern Mississippi
B a c k i n ’ 0 0 B a c k i n ’ 0 0
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2 0 0 6 2 0 0 6 —— C o l o rC o l o r !!
Current formatCurrent format
Why take time for a fancier newsletter?Why take time for a fancier newsletter?
A brilliant English professor I know says: “The scholarship in your book may be great, but your colleagues are secretly more impressed if the book looks good.”
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Even scholars Even scholars like pictures…like pictures…
Why take time for a fancier newsletter?Why take time for a fancier newsletter?Goal: a more attractive newsletter — to attract more readers
Some Features of the Some Features of the SPA ReporterSPA Reporter Aims for the feel of a digest-style magazine
Interesting front page article Local, campus interest, or Compelling articles of general interest Attractive/interesting images
Readability Two- or three-columns of text (for eye tracking) Half-sheet page fits computer screens (no more scrolling)
News briefs section — many topics, quick reads, with links to “the rest of the story,” for those who are interested
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About the Digest FormatAbout the Digest Format Editor does very little writing
A fair amount of material can be copied with little or no editing, for example: GRC publications Other subscriptions your university might have for example Other subscriptions your university might have, for example,
Inside Higher Ed (paid version allows copying, with links) Most of the federal information you need is not copyrighted
Use of GRC “Deadlines” Use of GRC “Deadlines”
Same categories & headings
Headings are links to the summaries
Articles from GRC’s Articles from GRC’s GrantWeekGrantWeek
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GRC’s “Deadlines” Funding SummariesGRC’s “Deadlines” Funding Summaries
SomeSome BestBest PracticesPractices Disseminate funding information via multiple conveyors.
Different delivery methods reach different people, and an individual reached by e-mail on one occasion might on another occasion be reached by a flyer, a newsletter, or a webpage. However, while redundant means of delivery can p g , ybe helpful, redundant iterations of delivering the same information risks annoying recipients.
Because multi-channel dissemination is time-consuming for the research administrator, s/he might want to use only those delivery methods that work best on his/her campus.
SomeSome BestBest PracticesPractices What works best? Ask your “clients.” Periodic surveys of PIs
and potential PIs are a good, precise way to determine both what your clients need and the effectiveness of particular methods of information delivery. Online survey programs like Survey Monkey and QuestionPro offer free limited-length y y Q gsurvey development and execution. Less formally, you can make a habit of encouraging feedback through all the ways you connect with clients.
Compare your practices to those at other institutions.
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SomeSome BestBest PracticesPractices Conveniently, GRC member institutions’ names in GRC’s
online membership list (www.aascu.org/grc/aboutgrc/) are links to those schools’ SPO websites. So…
Make use of GRC’s array of tools and assistance.
And look forward to that PI feedback…And look forward to that PI feedback…
www.usm.edu/spa
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