Doing the numbers: FT has more than just a new look

29 percent of our readers asked for more pictures, so FT expanded the "Photo of the Day." This reflection of Wilson Hall, taken by employee Igor Mandrichenko, ran in the October 2 issue.

According to results of a survey taken last winter, Fermilab Today is still useful: 83 percent of you felt it played a valuable role in communication at the lab. But there were a number of areas that you felt we could improve. Below is a breakdown of the most common criticisms, with a brief description of how we have addressed them.

46 percent wanted more stories about employees. There were requests for more human interest stories, and requests for us to cover a wider variety of employees--not just the physicists. We implemented a new "Profiles" section to highlight employee achievements, explain support jobs, and describe hobbies outside the lab. We also implemented a "Readers Write" section to put more voices into the newsletter, and expanded the scope of Photo of the Day.

63 percent said "Result of the Week" was either very difficult to understand or somewhat difficult to understand. Result of the Week authors have taken extra efforts to exclude jargon from the column. We have also started a column called "What's in a Name?" to explain physics concepts while telling a story about the origin of a particular science term, as well as a column called "What's on Your Wall?" to break down important concepts and projects.

94 percent always or usually read the "Director's Corner," making it the most popular of all our columns. Also, there were requests for more information about what is happening in each division and section, and what each division and section actually do at the lab. For these three reasons, we created a "Division and Section Head Column," modeled after the Director's Corner.

44 percent asked for more stories on policy and budgets. We are interested in suggestions about how to accomplish this. You can contact us at today@fnal.gov.
--Siri Steiner

Read a full report of the survey results here.

Free lunchtime concert

Don't miss the free concert today at noon in the Ramsey Auditorium. Carrie Vecchione will play Oboe and Rolf Erdahl will play Double Bass. The two Minnesota-based musicians are touring with support of a grant by the American Composer's Forum. You can read more about them here.

National Public Radio's Morning Edition,
November 17, 2006:

'Dark Energy' Thought to Fuel Universe Expansion

Astronomers have new evidence from the Hubble Space Telescope that a strange force was present in the universe billions of years ago. The force is called "dark energy." It's forcing the universe to expand at an ever quickening pace.
Listen to report