I thought graduate students might be interested in this--
 
Steve
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Date:         Tue, 15 Sep 92 16:34 EDT
To:           "Steve Carr" <Carr@UTXVM>
From:         SUPPORT@RPIECS (Comserve Support Staff)
Reply-To:     SUPPORT@RPIECS (Comserve Support Staff)
Subject:      A message from Glenn Getz ...
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
Welcome to COMGRADS, the newest Comserve hotline designed specifically
for students in communication studies.  The general purpose of COMGRADS
is to provide an open forum for members to discuss important student
issues, get feedback on ideas, and network with other students across
the world.  Unlike other Comserve hotlines which revolve around topic
areas, COMGRADS serves the specific needs of students on the network,
whatever those needs might be.
 
The COMGRADS Steering Committee developed a purpose statement during
several recent electronic conferences that may better inform you of
the nature of this hotline:  "COMGRADS is an electronic forum for the
open exchange of ideas of interest to graduate and undergraduate
students in communication studies.  The resources available to COMGRADS
participants include information on various graduate programs and
departments, news of conferences and other opportunities for student
contribution, discussions on theoretical, empirical, critical, and
methodological topics, and interaction with selected faculty regarding
student issues."  The committee expressed concerns that COMGRADS not
duplicate the services of other hotlines.  This directs us to be
creative in organizing projects through the hotline.  Incidentally,
one of the advantages of COMGRADS is that it provides a more risk-free
forum for research ideas than other hotlines.
 
We developed a few ideas for COMGRADS projects during our discussions:
 
1.  We will create an electronic "yellow pages" with students names and
computer addresses organized according to institution so that students
looking for graduate programs or interviewing for jobs can interact with
other students in specific programs.
 
2.  We will organize national and international discussions of
significant student issues.
 
3.  We will invite important scholars and editors to take part in an
electronic panel discussion in which students inquire about publishing,
teaching, career decisions, whatever.
 
Obviously there are other possibilities--including everyday inquiries
about this or that citation, research idea, teaching tidbit, or
conference/publication invitation.  Please make your suggestions and
concerns known on the hotline or e-mail your ideas to a member of the
steering committee.  Until we really get moving, discussions on COMGRADS
will not be edited.  However, special panel discussions with invited
guests (journal editors, scholars, students) may be edited for practical
reasons (so questions can be compiled efficiently without redundancies).
 
Please tell other students about COMGRADS.  The more students we involve
in this project the more successfuul it will become.  Currently we are
sending letters to student members of the Speech Communication Assoc.
--an organization which provides some funding for the hotline--but if
you have other advertising ideas please let us know.  And again, welcome
to COMGRADS.  I hope you can find something useful in the resources
this hotline provides.
 
Sincerely
 
Glenn Getz, Chairperson
 
COMGRADS Steering Committee:
 
Glenn Getz, University of Iowa, <ASTGCGWY@UIAMVS>
Marshall Rosenstein, University of Connecticut, <MARSHALL@UCONNVM>
Robert Terrill, University of Arkansas, <RTERRILL@UAFSYSB>
Steve Peake, University of North Carolina, <PEAKE@UNCA>
Melanie Barnes, University of Iowa, <BLAMKBWY@UIAMVS>.
 
      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Update:  August 31, 1992 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 
 
    Welcome to Comgrads!  The new school year is just beginning and we
have at least two projects in the works for the student hotline.
 
    The first project, collecting student names and e-mail addresses for
personal and professional networking purposes, requires some simple
actions on your part.  Comserve already has in place a sub-service,
called the WhitePages, which will make this task almost effortless.  The
WhitePages is an electronic index of names, interests, institutions, and
e-mail addresses for individuals in the communication field.  It allows
one to record one's own information and request information about
others.  For example, if I were interested in contacting someone at
Purdue University through the network I would send a Search command to
Comserve specifying that I was interested in receiving a list of all
individuals who have enrolled in the WhitePages and who have included
the text "Purdue" somewhere in their entry.  I could do the same with
student members in the directory, or colleagues interested in Mass
Communication Theory.  The WhitePages will allow students greater
contact with each other, and with faculty, and provide networking
resources that could prove invaluable.
 
    To participate in this project, you should first request the
WhitePages instructional file.  Send an e-mail message to
Comserve@Rpiecs (Bitnet) or [log in to unmask] (Internet) that
contains only the text:
 
                         Help Topics WhitePages
 
This text should be placed in the body of the e-mail on a line by
itself. Don't include any other text or signatures, just the command as
you see it above.  When Comserve receives this message, it will send you
a file that provides detailed information about how to use the
WhitePages to build an entry for your self or to search for others.
 
    Second, send your own WhitePages entry for inclusion.  Send a
message to Comserve with the word NEWENTRY at the top of the message.
It should look something like mine:
 
NEWENTRY
Glenn Getz
Rhetorical Theory
Student Issues
Mass Communication Theory
Rhetorical Criticism
Work Address:  Department of Rhetoric
               University of Iowa
               Iowa City, IA  52242
Work Phone:    319-335-0178
 
    You should NOT leave any blank lines between items in the new entry,
and your message should not contain any additional notes or
inquiries -- just NEWENTRY followed by your information.  Please be sure
to include Student Issues as one of the items, so other students can
contact you.  Now try searching the WhitePages.  Simply send a Search
command to Comserve and you will receive a file from the directory.  For
example, you might send the command:
 
                             Search student
 
to receive the names and addresses of any students in the WhitePages.
 
    The second project, an electronic panel discussion on the topic of
research and publishing, is underway.  George Gerbner, Robert Ivie, Tom
Benson, and Bill Eadie are just a few of the seven or so panelists I
have invited to partipate in this our first online discussion.  You will
have the opportunity, in early February, to question these panelists on
the subject of publishing.  I'm sure it will be a successful and useful
interaction for us all.  I hope you will encourage student friends and
colleagues to join our hotline before that event.  If it goes well,
future panel topics may cover other topics, such as quality teaching.
 
     Let me know if you have any questions about activities of Comgrads!
At this point, I am the only one doing any planning.  If you would like
to contribute some of your time to future projects, please let me know.
 
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Glenn C. Getz
COMGRADS Chairperson
University of Iowa