PAD 3712, Computers in Public Administration
Sequence Number 13488, BU 401, Friday 12:30PM-03:20PM

Spring 2006
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Campus

How to reach me. 

I'm Jay S. Mendell, professor of nonprofit management in the School of Public Administration. My office is room 470 in the so-called Liberal Arts building in Davie. Never mind my phone number there: use my home phone (954 597-0574) or (for short calls) cell phone (954 895-6364).

Course objective.

I want you to wow your professors in the B. P. M. and later the M. N. M. or M. P. A., programs. I want you to be the "go-to" person when your fellow students in other courses need Internet research help and other computer assistance, and I want them to owe you big favors.

 

Surprise!

Whenever I feel like it (and I will feel like it often) I will administer a short quiz. My quizzes cover anything I have told you to read, anything in the syllabus, and anything I have said in class. Favorite times for quizzing are one minute after the start of class and right after a break and before I let the class go. You may use your notes and printouts, but you may not borrow. So bring all your material to every class, And please pay close attention and ask questions.

Your grade for a missed quiz will, of course, be a zero. So don't get lost during a break or on the way in from the parking lot.
 

Attendance and promptness.

You are required to attend every class from the beginning to the end, since you are responsible for every lecture, discussion, comment, and verbal or non-verbal nuance.

If you come up to me and say, "I have got to skip class next week to [insert your lame excuse here]," and I reply, "Okay," this does not mean I have excused you. It just means I have decided to fume quietly. So, if you think that I have promised you an excused absence, see if you can get it in writing or it doesn't count. On the other hand, if you don't discuss your absences with me, I may be more annoyed than if you do.

 

Limits to compassion.

Various bad things may happen to you if you are absent or late. Late homework will possibly be misplaced. If you are not here to pick it up, already graded homework, it will be trashed.


The importance of visiting this Web page frequently.

Often I will direct important material to you by adding it to this Web page. So you please need to check in here at least twice a week and look carefully for changes. It's a course requirement.

About e-mail.

If you need to send me e-mail, please use mendell@bellsouth. net. And when you send me e-mail, be sure to include your name and maybe your phone numbers, not just your e-mail address.

When you send me e-mail, be sure to use the subject line "I am [your name], a student in CAPM." E-mail from "Hot Lady" or "Super Hacker," about "Easy Dollars" or "You'll never believe this one," goes straight to my delete file, unopened and unread.

Not waiting until the last minute.

Some of the assignments may send you scurrying into the FAU computer labs or hastily calling the wish-I-could-help line or a friend. Don't wait until the last minute to do your assignments

 

Written work.

I want your written work to look terrific.

For original work, please use Arial or Times Roman fonts, in 10-pt or 12- pt. Don't turn in anything you would not wish to have tacked to the wall, posted on the Web, or duplicated for fellow students to study as a good or bad example. No strange colored, strange sized paper, please: this is HW, not a party invitation. Also, write your name lightly in the upper right every sheet you turn in and identify which assignment it is.

HW that is brought to me on time will be graded 100>, 75>,  50>, or (rarely) 0>. The ">" means the HW may be resubmitted. Late HW will be graded 75, 50, 25 or 0.

 

What about lunch?

We will meet in a computer lab, so eating is out of the question. Eat before class, during the break, or after class.

 

My teaching style.

I am who I am, and I don't plan to change. If you don't like my style, that's tough. This is an elective course, so go find another.

 

Scholarships

Searching the FAU site http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=site%3Afau%2Eedu+%28scholarship+OR+scholarships+OR+fellowship+OR+fellowships%29
Several scholarship sites http://www.google.com/search?q=scholarships&sa=Google+Search&cat=gwd%2FTop%2FReference%2FEducation&hl=en

 

Employment - done

Career Builder http://www.careerbuilder.com/index.htm?cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=c3431054108b40e09aa37b8e0396743d-155062104-xm-2. Note the section on "diversity jobs" http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/Diversity.htm?sc_cmp2=JS_HP1_SD_DI

Monster.com http://www.monster.com/

Yahoo! Hot Jobs http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/

Craig's List (http://craigslist.com)

 
Job Search - done

Affinity groups (http://www.itsnotwhatyouknow.com/Affinity.aspx), esp. for women and minorities (http://www.rileyguide.com/diverse.html) and http://www.rileyguide.com/diverse.html

Career advice from Monster.com (http://content.monster.com/), and interview advice (http://interview.monster.com/)

 

Social meetings - done - (http://www.meetup.com/) (The four items below are optional. We will not use class time for them.

Networking and schmoozing (http://communication.utexas.edu/ccs/pdf/Handouts/Networking8-02.pdf)

Power-Schmoozing Your Way to the Top (http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,299448,00.html)

SCHMOOZING AND BUSINESS ETIQUETTE (http://www.mgt.ncsu.edu/studentinfo/careerserv/Etiquette.doc)

Getting The Most From A Good Story (http://www.sayitwithastory.com/articles/GettingTheMostFromAGoodStory.pdf)

 
FAU library online

Main screen done - http://www.fau.edu/library/

Proxy Server -done-  https://login.ezproxy.fau.edu/login

Books http://webluis.fcla.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/fclwlv3/wlv3/DBwebluis/CM02/DGcat/DBFA/P1basic, 
Advanced http://webluis.fcla.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/fclwlv3/wlv3/DBFA/DI28905892/DGcat/RP3/CM2/P1advsrch

Electronic collection http://www.library.fau.edu/ecollect/ecollect.htm
Databases sorted by subject http://www.library.fau.edu/ecollect/dbsub.htm

Visit GrantSelect in the FAU electronic collection.

Under databases, note the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.

Under electronic books, note the Britannica (http://www.library.fau.edu/depts/ref/ebooks.htm)
Compare Britannica with http://answers.com and the Wikipedia. (http://search.netscape.com/ns/search?query=wikipedia+criticism&x=0&y=0&st=webresults&fromPage=NSCPResultsT)

Computer books (http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com/?uicode=)

netLibrary (http://www.netlibrary.com/library_home_page.asp)

Interlibrary Loan http://www.library.fau.edu/depts/ill/illdept.htm 

On plagiarism (http://www.google.com/u/FAU?q=plagiarism&domains=fau.edu&sitesear€€€€€€€€€€€€€ch=&sitesearch=fau.edu&sa.x=13&sa.y=10)

On citations (http://www.google.com/u/faulib?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&domains=www.library.fau.edu&q=%22how+to+cite%22&btnG=Search&sitesearch=www.library.fau.edu)

What is a scholarly journal? (http://www.library.fau.edu/npb/skill2.htm)

Sucking up to your professor by reading his/her dissertation (http://digitalcommons.fau.edu/faculty_dissertations/index.html#anchor1964). For the human vacuum cleaner (http://scholar.google.com/)

 
Invisible Web/Deep Web (Invisible Web/Deep Web (http://www.answers.com/deep%20web)

Please go to answers.com and find and skim the article on "database." Now find and skim the article on "brownfield land," paying special attention to pollution as an issue.

Now, using Google, find databases on brownfield pollution in Broward, by selecting buzz words from each column in the following table (one buzz word from each column). (Don't feel you have to read straight across the table; feel free to mix and match.)

database "real estate" brownfields
"data set" social conditions pollution
statistics pollution environment
abstracts brownfields  
reports political conditions  
profiles economy  
indicators economic conditions  
 
Good for Browsing

What is curiosity?

Google directory http://www.google.com/dirhp

dmoz directory http://dmoz.org/

Yahoo directory http://dir.yahoo.com/

FAU library http://www.library.fau.edu/depts/ref/start.htm

Free books http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/subjects.html

Freecycle http://www.freecycle.org/

 

 

 
Free stuff for nonprofits and government (http://gollygrantsonline.com/free-and-fine-faq.htm)

 
Is that all there is?

No. More material will be added.
 

Posted 2006-01-15--Please, if you send me e-mail, include in your subject line, "I am a student in your PAD class." It is "PAD" that stops my spam filter from trashing your e-mail.

Here is guidance in opening an account to log on with your own username and password (http://www.ecs.fau.edu/labs/about/easydirections.htm).

Posted 2006-01-17--If you found this message, good for you. This is where I would have posted your homework, if there4 were homework due on 2006-01-20.

By the way, we will have a  practice quiz at 12:30 p. m. this coming Friday, 2006-01-20.  

Posted 2006-01-21--Here is homework due on 2006-01-27. Please be sure to write your name
in the upper right corner of each sheet.

(1) Go to salary.com (http://salary.com/) and enter the job "head nurse" and the postal code
"33301". Click on "Search."


nge (free)" and proceed to
determine the salary range for a head nurse. Give me a one page printout of the
screen showing the salary range. It will show a bell-shaped curve.

(2) Go to the FAU electronic library (will require an Owl card, if you are
working from home. Find "Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center" and 
click through to the screen that show resources on homelessness. Give me 
a one-page printout of that page.

Feel free to investigate all the interesting features of 
salary.com and OVRC, while you are there. 

Expect a quiz at 12:32 p. m., or 12:37, if the elevators are not running.

Posted Sunday, 2006-01-29--This HW is due on 2006-02-03.

When using the Internet, be very careful not to spend money until you have determined that
what you need cannot be discovered free. For instance, here is the page from which the
Miami Herald attempts to sell archival articles (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/),
Choose the "radio button" for ARCHIVES and search for articles during January 2006
which might refer to FAU professor Jerry Kolo. Notice that following an abstract of the
article, the newspaper attempts to get you to pay for the full text as a charge on your
credit card. Now copy the title/headline of the article and find it free in full text by using 
Google. Print the article and write your name in the upper right of every page you turn in.

Posted 2006-02-04--This is HW due on 006-02-10.

(1) Several of you are studying this term with a professor of public administration or criminal justice. To explore her interests, you may go to  http://www.fau.edu/caupa/spa/faculty.html and http://www.fau.edu/caupa/spa/facpubs.html (for PA) or    http://www.fau.edu/dcj/faculty.html and (cj).

 Pick a professor. Go to GrantSelect and find a grant for him to apply for.

 All you have to do is to print a page from GrantSelect, and write your name and the professor’s name in the upper right.

 (2) About twenty years ago, I wrote a scholarly article with “Hank” Sarkis in robotics in health care and another article on the same subject with Professor Palkon.

 I would very much like to know if the full text of either article is available in the FAU electronic collection. See if you can find and print page one of either article. If you cannot find it and but someone else in the class does, you will be marked unsatisfactory for this part of the HW.

 In the upper right, write your name and the database through which you located the article.

 (3) I want to learn to use the computer system called Knoppix. Where shall I look on the Internet. Hint: I have provided at least two sources above.  

 Print one page from each source and put your name in the upper right.

Posted 2006-02-08 at 11:30 a. m.

Our class has been re-assigned to FL 411. Tell everyone from the class, please. Fleming Hall is attached to the BU building on the east.

Posted 2006-02-11

This HW is due on 17 February 2006. It is an exercise in locating an item in the so-called "invisible Web." 
Find and print the information. Does Mrs. Joan Mendell's pet cat.have long hair? What breed or breeds of dog
does Wayne Huizenga own?

Posted 2006-02-11

Email from Hank Sarkis

"Hello Jay!  On Friday I got several "Mendell" goggle search hits to one of
my web sites  that resolved to FAU -- I assume students are busy with an
assignment.BTW, congratulations and good luck on your upcoming book.

"(start of random thoughts)
 

"I saw "Nonextrapolative Methods" for sale at $106 and used for $10.

"I enjoyed reading your material on hidden databases and blogging. I'm a big
fan of  Michelle Malkin -- mainly because of her looks. 

"I took the challenge
and found your 1964 dissertation "INVESTIGATION OF PLASMA OSCILLATIONS
STIMULATED BY A PRE-BUNCHED ELECTRONBEAM FROM THE R.P.I. ACCELERATOR" in
about 2 minutes.

"(end of random thoughts)"

Posted 2006-02-12

If you have submitted HW late via fax or email, it would be a very good idea to check with me to see if 
I have entered it into my grade sheet.

Posted 2006-02-18 at 3:00 a. m.

Here is HW due this coming Friday. Go into the "Invisible Web" and find 
me the name of at least one person in Florida who has made a political
contribution to support animal rights. Print a page to prove you found
someone.

We will have a quiz this Friday, and you will have to get the right answer onyour first attempt.

By the way, Spring Break runs from Mon 6 March to Sun 12 March. 

Posted 2006-02-22

I have to attend a faculty meeting this Friday, 
from 10:00 to 11:30, in our downtown Fort Lauderdale tower. If I have not
showed up for class by 12:25, someone should call me on my cell phone for
an ETA.

Posted 200-02-25

This HW is due on Friday 3 March 2006. Also due, if you have not turned it in, is the HW about political contributions for animal rights.

The Reference section in dmoz.org is a source of useful information for FAU students

(1) Find a Web page that teaches you how to write better, and give me a screen shot of any one page.

(2) Find and print one4 page of information about the chemical element Mendelivium.

(3) Find a copy of Don Quixote and print one page.

Posted 2006-02-26

Our next lesson is on the Internet as a teaching tool, using the magic words basics, faq, tutorial(s) , and manual(s)

See what you get if you enter "network basics" in Google. Try this with and without the quotation marks.

See what you get if you enter "network faq" in Google.

See what you get if you enter "network tutorial" in Google.

See what you get if you enter "acer manual" in Google.

See what you get if you enter "refilling instructions" in Google. 
Posted 2006-03-14

See my page on computer security.
Posted 2006-03-19. HW due 2006-03-24.

Find a Web site that explains how to recognize that the hard drive of your computer is about to fail and what you can do about it. Print the first page.
Posted 2006-03-21

Florida Public Personnel Association

Annual Scholarship Application

 

The Florida Public Personnel Association (www.fppa.org) is an organization of public sector human resources professionals and consultants. Annually it awards up to four scholarships in the amount of $500 to qualified students seeking a degree in Human Resources.  Candidate requirements are:

 

  • Full or part-time enrollment in an accredited college or university program with major coursework in the field of Human Resources.
  • Enrollment in the program must be by May 1, 2006 or proof of future enrollment as of the same date.
    •

 

Interested applicants should submit the following:

  • Resume
  • Transcripts
  • Proof of enrollment or future enrollment
    •

 

Submit documents by May 22, 2006 to:

 

Arlette Steinberger, Past President

Florida Public Personnel Association

C/O City of Fort Lauderdale Department of Human Resources

100 North Andrews Avenue

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

Asteinberger@fortlauderdale.gov    

954-828-5300

 

A selection committee will evaluate qualified candidates. The Florida Public Personnel Executive Board must approve recommended candidates.  Scholarships will be granted by July 10, 2006. The Association reserves the right to announce the name of the recipients and their educational institution at its Annual Awards Luncheon on July 24, 2006.      

 
Posted 2006-03-22

Classes

Project self

Distinct tasks

(A) Content- -The insight, useful information, instructions, etc.

 

(B) Technology- -Making the internet work by laying out pages attractively, collecting electronic funds, doing internet research, etc.

Laying out Web pages, http://library.albany.edu/imc/webdesign/

Researching and linking to content, http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html

FIXED LINK. Making claims and offers, http://www.sherus.com/business/copywriting/

 

Collecting funds, https://www.paypal.com/

 

(C) Promotion- -Making your site conspicuous for the search engines. Making people use your site, return for subsequent visits, and link their Web page to yours.
Search engines,-- http://searchenginewatch.com/
Content and usability,-- http://www.usability.gov/
Attracting links,-- http://www.mikemoran.com/skinflintsearch/links.htm, http://128.121.217.240/downloads/Common.Sense.Web.Marketing.pdf
 

United Way of America Media Guide, http://www.capwiz.com/unitedway/dbq/media/

(D) Fulfillment, compensation- -Figuring out how to sell product, to deliver it, collect for it; how to buy and sell advertising,; how to sell something. .
Amazon, http://www.weblogsky.com/archives/000027.html, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990711_affiliates.html

Blogs

Projecting self entrepreneurially

Web page- -A—D

Blog- -A, C, D

Podcasting

POD- -A—D

Projecting self cooperatively

Newsletter- -A, B

Web page- - A, B

Educational program- -A, B

Remediation

Writing, editing.

 

 
Posted 2006-03-22. Professors' salaries. http://www.fau.edu/org/uff/Salaries.pdf
Posted 2006-03-25. Email from Ms. Ramos.
Prof. Mendell:
   An Internet revelation has occurred!!  I was having a problem with my car radio and needed a code so that the radio would function properly (theft deterrent code).  In order to obtain that code I needed to fork over 100 bucks to the Mitsubishi Delray Beach dealership.  Determined that there had to be a better way (a free way),  I took advice from your class and headed to the Internet to search.  I came upon a forum and found a way to obtain the code from a Mitsubishi dealership in California, with the help of a gentleman named Kevin, for FREE!  Whoo-hoo!
 
On top of the World...Ivette Ramos

Untitled
2006-03-26. HW due 2006-03-31.

I want you to please search the Internet to see what is being said about you. This is called "ego surfing." I suggest you first go into Google and search for your name, as "Jay Mendell" . . . "Jay S Mendell" . . "Jay Stanley Mendell" . .  "J S Mendell" . .  jay AND mendell.(MaybeI have covertly mentioned you on one of my Web pages.)

After you have used Google, try Dogpile. 

Then examine the invisible web. Where should you search? Try the local newspapers in the FAU electronic library. Try the county records division, the animal control division, the FAU Web site. 

If you find yourself on the Web, please give me a printout. If you do not find yourself, give me a log of where you have searched.

Posted 2006-04-02. HW due on 2006-04-07

The essence of promoting yourself (on the Internet or elsewhere) is to explain the benefits you can give to others. Go to http://www.sherus.com/business/copywriting/

and in the left column click on the links to “The Emotions” and “Building Benefits.” Read that section and any other sections you care to click through to.

You are about to complete a course in computer applications. Please explain the benefits you can bring to these other, as a result of this course.

Prepare explanations to an employer, a loved one, a professor, plus three other people. Each explanation should be one or two sentences.
Psted 2006-04-03.

Last day of required attendance is 2006-04-14. The following Friday is optional.

Posted 2006-04-04

Example of self promotion

Of PAD 6233, “Seminar in Grants Writing,” Professor Jay Mendell says, “My goal is to make it impossible for a student NOT to receive a grant.” The course will be offered in Jupiter during summer C session 2006 on Tuesday evenings from 6:30.

When you change from being an expense center to a profit center, your public service life changes, says Professor Jay Mendell. He asserts that employees who bring in money gain the respect of their colleagues and a degree of autonomy from miserly supervisors.

“Seminar in Grants Writing,” is a nuts-and-bolts course devoted to taking registrants, step by step, through writing a complete proposal. Over the years, many proposals written for the course have been funded by foundations and city, county, state, and federal governments

The seminar is strictly limited to 25 registrants and will be open to current students plus graduates of the School of Public Administration, as well as graduate students from throughout CAUPA and the College of Business. So we recommend that you register at the earliest opportunity. 

PAD 6233 has thus far not been scheduled for 2006-2007, and since Jay Mendell plans to retire in 2007, this may be your last chance to take the course with the professor who has taught more grantwriters than anyone in southeast Florida.

Interested graduate students may examine a recent syllabus by visiting http://gollygrantsonline.com/6233-gw-spring-2006.htm.