The NCAA News - News and Features

October 13, 1997

Fax on demand continues to find niche

BY SALLY HUGGINS
STAFF WRITER

Use of the NCAA's Fax-on-Demand System has more than doubled since its inception in 1995, despite the immediacy of the Internet as a form of conveying information.

Speculation that fax-on-demand would become obsolete when the NCAA's World Wide Web site was activated a year and a half ago appears to be unfounded, said James F. Wright, NCAA director of statistics and coordinator for the Association's Fax-on-Demand System.

"Fax-on-demand complements the Web site," Wright said. "It is another device that allows the membership, the media and the public to get information from us.

"It would be short-sighted to think everyone will use a computer and get information from us that way. Fax-on-demand means there are very few people out there who don't have a way to get information from us."

Statistics, polls and championships results are the front-runners for most requested information.

The most recent activity report from Info Connection, which administers the system, shows the system was accessed 1,845 times in September 1997, compared to 1,036 times in September 1996.

More telling are the year-end summaries. For the period July 1995 through June 1996, 17,899 documents were requested. For the period July 1996 through June 1997, 43,187 documents were requested.

Some of the dramatic increase can be attributed to expansion of the championships results directory, Wright said. When fax-on-demand was implemented in 1995, the system offered limited championships results as part of the main directory, but it rapidly became apparent that more detailed information on NCAA championships results was desired.

"There was a distinct need to expand the championships results," Wright said. "We didn't want the main directory to get any bigger, so we created a separate directory for championships results."

Detailed results

The championships results directory now is quite detailed. For baseball championships, there are box scores for each game. For championships that span several days, results are listed for each day of the competition. For some championships such as volleyball, lacrosse and soccer, results are provided for semifinals and championship games or matches.

For the 1997-98 academic year, the Fax-on-Demand System was fine-tuned somewhat and documents were added with information about sports wagering, sports agents and NCAA Hoops City, Wright said.

As fax-on-demand enters its third year as a means for NCAA members, the media and the public to access various documents and information, the system's popularity continues to climb.

The NCAA decided to make use of the system that many conferences already were using partly because of the amount of time members of the NCAA national office staff spent answering telephone calls and faxing information, Wright said.

Members of the NCAA statistics staff spent every Monday of football season answering telephone calls from constituents interested in the latest polls and statistics on various teams, he said. Since the fax system was implemented, the statistics staff gets few of those Monday phone calls.

What benefits the statistics staff also benefits other members of the national office staff. Wright's query to other staff members asking which items they spent the most time faxing resulted in the lengthy fax-on-demand directory.

Variety of topics

Information is available on topics as varied as infractions, committee vacancies, playing field specifications, education outreach, coaching records, initial eligibility, sports sciences, enforcement and attendance.

Anyone can obtain information through the system via a facsimile machine. The information is available from Info Connection, an automated 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week service that makes the information instantly available on demand.

Using the handset of a fax machine, users can call Info Connection at 770/399-3060. The system requests that the caller enter an NCAA passcode -- 1915 for NCAA institutions. The caller then may request desired information by entering request numbers from the fax-on-demand directory.

The main directory and general championships information directories were published in the September 22 issue of The NCAA News. The championships results directory was published September 29.

The general public can access the system using passcode 1925. Media representatives can call 770/399-3066 and enter passcode 1905. After entering numbers for documents desired, the caller then pushes the start button on the fax machine and the information is delivered.

Wright said the only cost to users is the price of the long-distance phone call. Savvy users can access the system during the hours of lowest telephone rates because it is a round-the-clock accessible system. Copy centers, which often are open 24 hours or at least have extended hours, also provide fax machines for public use, he noted.

In September, the NCAA began receiving a breakdown of request for specific documents. Before then, only the total number of requests to the system generally was available, Wright said.

With the more detailed reporting, the NCAA will be able to determine whether some documents are requested so rarely that they can be removed, he said, to keep the directory from becoming more cumbersome.

The September report showed football and volleyball statistics and polls to be the most requested documents. The NCAA Sports Library document, championships entry forms and qualifying information followed in the distance.

Information updated quickly

The ability to put updated information on the system quickly is a plus, Wright said. During football season, for example, updated statistics are available each Sunday afternoon through the system, he said, which helps institutions' sports information directors include the most current standings and statistics in their weekly press releases.

In such cases, the information can be placed on the fax system faster than it can be placed on the NCAA's Web site, Wright said. Any staff member with access to a fax machine can update fax-on-demand documents while information for the Web site must flow through more limited staff.

Wright said there are no plans to discontinue the Association's Fax-on-Demand System in the near future and efforts are being made to keep media and the membership apprised of its availability.

The NCAA public relations staff has sent information to media representatives reminding them of the information available through the fax system, and the Association also has sent a reminder to sports information directors at member institutions.

Association championships handbooks include information about the system and the availability of championships results through it.

Wright said if there are any regrets about the fax system, it is that the Association didn't take advantage of it sooner. Some conferences had been providing information to constituents and the media through the system for a couple of years before the NCAA, he said.

Wendy Lord, director of client services for Info Connection, said the service has been available for five years and is now used by 34 athletics conferences and some institutions. Most institutions provide information through their conferences, she said.

"I don't see this disappearing in the near future," Lord said. "We have to accommodate everyone. And anyone with a fax machine or access to one can get this information. Not everyone has a computer or access to the Internet yet."