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now available to subscribers of the Athena Knowledge Network, which offers short video lessons from busi- ness faculty and authors. To obtain additional information, e-mail sales@athenaonline.com or visit www.athenaonline.com. Personal Surfing Is Good for Business Companies that restrict their employees' personal use of the Internet during company time may have to rethink that decision. The University of Mary land Robert H. Smith School of Business in College Park, Mary land, and Rockbridge Associates, a market- ing company in Great Falls, Virginia, recently conducted a "National Technology Readiness Survey." The survey found that workers in the U.S. spend spent less time at work using the Internet for personal use (3.7 hours per week) than they spent at home using the Internet for work (5.9 hours per week). These numbers suggest that employers may be better off with lenient policies governing how their employees use the 'Net on the job. The division between work and NEWSBYTES personal life has become increasingly blurred, Ronald Rust, director of the Smith School's Center for e-Service, told Computerworld. Companies that crack down on personal Web surfing may inadvertently cause workers' productivity and morale to decrease, he said. TOOLS OF THE TRADE Jones School Faculty Report Direct-to-the-Web The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University in Houston, Texas, has implemented a system to automate and simplify the process its faculty use to enter data into the school's computer database and Web pages. The Jones School recently added a Faculty Reporting System module to its xCatalyst software platform. The software and module were developed by Houston's ESX Engineering (www.esxengineering.com). The Jones School has been using xCatalyst for more than a year to manage its Web site. Since the new faculty reporting module was added to the platform, the school has been able to replace its existing electronic faculty reporting system, which required redundant data entry. Now, professors can enter their annual reports into the system; those reports are then immediately accessible by the provost and deans. Professors no longer rely on a Webmaster to update their Web pages—the new module allows them to input their own updated in- formation, which is automatically published to their Web pages. The features of the faculty reporting module "reduce the amount of staff time needed to keep the Web pages up-to-date," says Debra Thomas, director of public relations for the Jones School. She adds that the software also has helped the school streamline its operations both internally and externally. "The platform has really helped us with our Web initiatives, allowing us to be more effi- cient in getting our information to the public." Features of the Faculty Reporting System module include three levels of security access to the system; data entry and user action forms, which allow faculty to input defined informa- tion on demand; and specified sections of data output, where certain collected data can be published on the public Web site. ■ IUSB LAUNCHES MIS This fall, Indiana University, South Bend, will add a business major with a concentration in management information systems to its under- graduate program. IUSB's School of Business and Economics is adding the program in response to positive feedback to its master of science in management information technolo- gies, which it launched in 2000. Undergraduates pursuing the new major will take classes in subjects such as database management sys- tems, Web page design, e-com- merce, and computer programming. ■ TWO COUNTRIES TOP TECH LISTS Finland recently ranked No. 1 in its use of information and communica- tion technologies (ICT) in a recent report on glob- al information technology. The report, pub- lished by the World Economic Forum with the World Bank and INSEAD busi- ness school, ranked 82 coun- tries in their readiness to use and deploy net- work technolo- gies. Finland edged out the U.S. for first place. Meanwhile, a report from Cap Gemini Ernst & Young found that Sweden outpaces its European counterparts in the accessibility and sophistication of its online services for public and corpo- rate consumption. ■ D ATA B I T The National Technology Readiness Survey from the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business found that of those who use their work computers for personal Internet surfing, 22 percent checked account information from a utility company (up from 13 per- cent in 2001) and 20 per- cent paid a credit card bill online (up from 15 percent in 2001). z BizEd MAY/JUNE 2003 53