Citizens of Florida -- be they members of the technical community or the media, general public, teachers, or lawmakers -- who have questions about issues related to the phosphate industry often find their way to the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research. Here they get the facts and perspective they need to start asking questions or making decisions.

FIPR's task is to provide them with the technical information they need in a manner they can understand. FIPR's public information program is continuously striving for new ways to present the facts the Institute generates and collects. It is standard practice for FIPR's research directors and other experts to pick up the telephone and answer questions or carve out time from their day to meet with someone who wants to be better informed on an issue. Helping members of the media understand the background they need to research an industry, environmental or technical story is also typical.

FIPR also publishes its findings and distributes them free of cost to anyone who is interested, and as part of the research process, makes sure the results are transferred to those in the community most likely to utilize them.

To better understand where to focus our information effort, the Institute needs to know what the public knows, what they need to know, what they want to know and how it can help. It also needs to know whether they know that we are available as a resource. To find answers to these questions, FIPR recently directed a survey conducted by the University of Florida called Public Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding Florida's Phosphate Industry and Related Issues. Survey methodology and results have been published and are available in FIPR Publication #00-PUB-184.

One way FIPR is trying to get information to people at the level they need is to exploit the capabilities of information technology. One unique project has captured the expert and practical knowledge of FIPR's oldest research director. His at-risk, unpublished knowledge, experience and wisdom have been put into a computer program that acts as a warehouse and progenitor for derivative, subject-specific programs. The project is known as MiLo, a name which is derived from that of its subject -- FIPR's Director of Research -- Mike Lloyd.

MiLo now exists and is being expanded and tested internally. Derivative programs focusing on radiation and using FIPR's phosphate knowledge to help classroom teachers meet state and national teaching standards are being developed. Interest has been expressed in MiLo as a training and education tool for the both the expert and the novice.