Beyond the Rolodex
By Dan Forbush ProfNet System Operator
Reporters throughout the U.S. and around the world have come to increasingly rely upon a unique source of information that allows them to connect to sources on a wide range of topics via the Internet - the State University of New York's Internet Demonstration Project (IDP).
The University at Stony Brook launched the IDP in Fall, 1992 with two goals: 1) to create on the Internet global community of public information officers, linking the world's major educational, scientific and cultural institutions; and 2) to use the Internet to increase the frequency, immediacy and quality of communication between journalists and college and university faculty members. The project has two parts:
ProfNet, a cooperative of public information officers linked via Internet to give journalists and authors quick and convenient access to expert sources;
"PIOs Online," a directory of academic PIOs who can be reached by email.
ProfNet
"ProfNet" ("Professors Network") is centered in Stony Brook's Office of News Services. At ProfNet's core is an e-mail distribution list that enables our news staff to send journalists' queries simultaneously to public information officers throughout North America and overseas. PIOs respond directly to the inquirer by e-mail, fax, phone or hard mail.
As of May, ProfNet's membership included 1,023 PIOs representing 600 colleges, universities, and a wide range of academic, government, and corporate entities oriented to scholarship and research. Most of the Ivy League and Big Ten are represented, as are such institutions as Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, CalTech, Johns Hopkins and University of Chicago.
Also represented are:
Federal entities, such as the National Science Foundation, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, National Research Council, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Office of Naval Research, Smithsonian Institution, Argonne National Laboratory, and others;
Corporate research labs, such as AT&T Bell Labs and IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center and Almaden Research Center;
Medical centers, such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and centers at Stanford, University of Michigan, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Vanderbilt, University of Utah, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, and the University of Texas at Houston;
Schools of business and public policy, including the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School, Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
ProfNet has a rapidly expanding contingent of members in Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia. Among them: Bond University, University of Sydney, Macquarie University, University of New South Wales, Queensland University and Griffith University (Australia); University of Heidelberg and University of Bayreuth (Germany); Lund University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden); University of Bergen (Norway); University of Jyvaeskylae (Finland); Center for Economic Policy Research, University of Southampton, and University of Stirling (United Kingdom); University of St. Gallen (Switzerland); Universite catholique de louvain (Belgium); University of Milan (Italy); Rhodes University (South Africa); and Beijing Agricultural University (China).
Among other ProfNet resources in the U.S. are the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association of American Universities, Brookings Institution, National Opinion Research Center, MacArthur Foundation, Scientists' Institute for Public Information, International Food Policy Research Institute.
PIOs Online
The Stony Brook Guide to PIOs Online provides email addresses and other contact information (phone, fax and hard mail) for 770 public information officers who had joined ProfNet as of December 1, 1993. Any academic PIO with an email address is eligible to be listed in future editions.
To order: Make out check in amount of $20 to Research Foundation of SUNY. Send to: c/o Dan Forbush, Office of University Affairs, University at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-0605.
To Make a ProfNet Query
In submitting queries, please specify your news organization, the nature of your project, the nature of the expertise you seek, your time frame, and the manner in which you wish PIOs to respond. The more detailed your query the more lead time you give us - the more successful your search will be. There is no fee for conducting ProfNet searches, nor is there any limit to the number or frequency of your queries. You may deliver queries as follows: By CompuServe: 73163,1362 or 76550,750 - By Internet: profnet@sunysb.edu - By fax: (516) 632-6313 - By phone: (800) 776-3638. ProfNet queries typically are distributed to the membership within 12 to 24 hours, though you may request a same-day rush query if your deadline demands it. Rush queries should be submitted before 11:30 a.m. Eastern time and are best made by phone. If you have a concern about maintaining exclusivity on an idea, you may cloak your query so as to conceal both your identity and that of your news organization. Cloaked queries are best made by phone.