ORD Alerts are here! Subscribe/unsubscribe online

ORD Alerts are here! Subscribe/unsubscribe online

The MUSC Office of Research Development is launching a new web-based funding alerts service for members of the MUSC research community. ORD Alerts offer an assortment of keyword-based listservs that individuals can subscribe or unsubscribe to as they wish.

ORD Alerts will largely replace the e-mail "interest groups" developed on an ad hoc basis by Peggy Schachte, Director of the Office of Research Development. Peggy will continue to monitor funding opportunities and research news, and send alerts to relevant interest groups, as time allows. To deter spamming or inadvertent distributions, only ORD is enabled to send messages to the lists or identify all the subscribers.

Advantages of the web-based listserv approach include publishing the menu of available groups, empowering individuals to subscribe and unsubscribe themselves, and using a more reliable list management program. The email interest groups were initially built in a now outdated mail program that has developed a disconcerting habit of unpredictably removing all names from the address books. A potential disadvantage is the possibility of duplicate messages as a result of cross-listings.

To get started, the various ORD Alerts listservs have been populated with the names and addresses from the existing email interest groups. Peggy plans to start using the new lists during the week of August 8th. She anticipates that people may be curious about which groups they are pre-subscribed to, and will try to answer questions as quickly and completely as possible.

To learn more about ORD Alerts, please go to research.musc.edu/ordalerts.html. To see the menu of lists and subscribe, please go to research.musc.edu/ordalerts_lists.html.