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August 4, 2000 JOURNALISTS: Here is a story idea and select events from the Purdue News Service. To arrange interviews or campus visits, contact Jesica Webb, (765) 494-2079 or page her, (765) 743-4333-4117. Are you being 'watched' at work? According to an April survey by the American Management Association, more than 78 percent of large U.S. firms monitor employee communications on the job – twice as many as reported doing so in 1997. Legislation recently introduced in both houses of Congress would require companies to tell employees if they monitor their computer, Internet or telephone use at the office, and how they intend to use the information after it's collected. Purdue communications professor Carl Botan is actively researching workplace surveillance and can comment on its impact on the office environment. His work is supported by the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) and focuses on the unplanned and unintended negative effects of surveillance, which he likens to a hidden tax or overhead. CONTACT: Carl Botan, (317) 873-6493, or (317) 506-0135; cbotan@purdue.edu Events • Tuesday, August 8.   Gallery dedication ceremony and reception. 4 p.m. Great Hall of the Purdue Memorial Union. The newly relocated PMU art gallery will be renamed and dedicated in honor of Robert L. Ringel, executive vice president for academic affairs. The gallery opened earlier this year in the former browsing library at the southeast corner of the Union on the main floor. CONTACT: Jeanine Smith, (765) 496-3133; jsmith@purdue.edu • Friday, August 11.   Crop forecast update at the Indiana State Fair featuring Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan; Tom Jordan, Purdue Extension ag program leader; Ralph Gann, state ag statistician; and Chris Hurt, Purdue professor of ag economics. 8:30 a.m. in the Our Land Pavilion. CONTACT: Beth Forbes, Purdue Ag Communications, (765) 494-2722; bforbes@aes.purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page