New Technology Initiatives Help Make Miami More Miami

We are at an exciting time at Miami University. As a new academic year commences with a new president and many new buildings, a new sense of energy and enthusiasm pervades our academic undertakings. In the information technology area, many new things are happening as well. I would like to take this opportunity to share some of these new initiatives with you.

As fall semester began, 2,052 students arrived on the Oxford campus with new notebook computers purchased through the Miami Notebook program. Our information shows that approximately half of our Oxford first year students participated in the Miami Notebook program.

New IT Services Support Desk Satellite Location in King Library

As one of the new initiatives derived from the student technology fee, the IT Services Support Desk is expanding its services to students. The first step in this expansion is a new “walk-up” service location in King Library. During most afternoon/evening hours, an IT Services Support Desk staff member is now available at the Information Desk in King Library to address student computer problems and questions.

IT Services to Increase Spam Filtering

In response to the growing problem of spam, beginning October 23 IT Services will increase the level at which the university's e-mail filters block suspected spam. This change is expected to result in as many as 300,000 messages per day being stopped at the firewall instead of clogging faculty, staff and student e-mail boxes. Users will never see e-mails that are blocked by the filters; however at this low level, filtering results in less than .1% false positives (legitimate e-mail being identified as spam and blocked.) 

Integrating Laptops into the Classroom: Digital Writing Sections of English 111

Writing has changed dramatically in the last ten years. Digitized technologies have altered the processes, spaces, and products of writing, both in school and in the workplace. To better prepare students for writing in this new era, Miami’s Department of English is pleased to announce the introduction of Digital Writing sections of the required first-year writing courses, English 111 and English 112.

Become Security-Aware and Win an iPod!

Another laptop full of personal data is stolen. Victims of identity theft negotiate restoring their damaged credit. The latest computer virus wreaks havoc with businesses nation-wide. We hear stories like this nearly every night on the news.

Using computers to create and share information makes us more efficient, but also more vulnerable. October 31 is National Security Awareness Day and Miami's Information Security Office is planning a week-long series of events to alert you to the dangers and the simple steps you can take to avoid them. You can win an Apple iPod nano just by taking part!

Campus Pack for Blackboard: Wikis and Blogs, Oh My!

Interested in using Miami’s Blackboard course management system to support your course in more dynamic ways? New Campus Pack tools may be the answer.

WHY does Miami use Cisco Clean Access!?!?

The student posing the question “Why do we have to have [the Cisco] clean access agent on our PCs?” to Mama Miami recently is in very good company. That question was echoed many times as students living in residence halls responded to a recent IT Services survey (see related article). If you have a Microsoft Windows computer and are curious about why you need to log in to Miami’s network using Cisco Clean Access, please read on!

IT Services Adds New Networks to MUnet Channel Lineup

Responding to student requests, IT Services has made several recent changes to the on-campus cable television lineup.

New University Web Template Nearing Implementation Phase

A new template for university web pages is in the final stages of development and will soon be ready for implementation. Because it employs internationally accepted web standards, the new template provides a framework that will accommodate advances in web technologies as they evolve.

Stand and Be Counted!

“How many computers does Miami have?”
“How old are those computers?”

Those may sound like simple questions that should be easy to answer, but with computers being purchased by every unit on campus and tracked in very different ways, up until now answering those questions has been a time-consuming, painful, and error-ridden process.

Fall 2006 Banner Navigation Workshops for New Banner Users

New Banner users can get up and running faster by attending hands-on training in the new Internet-native Banner 7 class. IT Services will offer a 3-hour Banner Navigation workshop several times during Fall 2006.  This instructor-led workshop is designed to introduce basic Banner terminology and teach general navigation techniques that apply to all Banner modules. Attendees use a special Banner training database to practice their navigation skills.

Microsoft Set To Release New Versions of Windows, Office and Internet Explorer

Microsoft is putting the finishing touches on new versions of Windows, Internet Explorer and Office. Each new version is touted as making computing easier and more intuitive.

Project Team Nominates Survey Tools for Faculty/Staff Use

In response to many requests for a web-based survey tool, IT  Services chartered a fiscal year ’06 project to select a tool for University-wide use. The project, which began on March 29th, concluded on August 18th with the recommendation that the University purchase and deploy two survey tools, Prezza and Snap.

Early Successes for Researchers Using Miami’s New High Performance Computing Cluster

With 114 users, 79 scientific applications installed and nearly 250,000 hours of processing time logged since mid-March, Miami’s new High Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC) has proven to be a popular resource for Miami faculty engaged in research. HPCC (aka “RedHawk cluster”) users have included faculty from a variety of departments including botany, mathematics and statistics, chemistry, physics, computer science and engineering.

Pilot Projects Using New SAS Business Intelligence Software Underway

Will we need to hire new staff this year or new faculty next year? Where will those faculty and staff be most effective in furthering the university's mission? Will the funds be available or what expenses might need to be trimmed? Questions like these, and more, are asked every day across campus. In running a university, information and data is constantly generated. To use that information to assist in making the best decisions possible, IT Services continues to move ahead with its Decision Support program. New pilot projects in Human Resources (HR) and in financial reporting are underway.

Students Review Fall Move-in IT Support

Two students win gift certificates in survey prize drawing

When students arrived on campus this year they found something new hanging from their residence hall door knobs: a set of info cards on topics ranging from connecting a computer to the network to using campus phones and voicemail. The goal – make sure students had the information needed to get up and running quickly with their computers, TVs, and phones.

Faculty & Staff Guide to IT Support and Services Debuts This Fall

Ever wonder who to call about an IT question? Looking for a clear idea of what office in IT Services provides which service? Want to share information about how to get things done with new faculty and staff in your office? To answer these questions, and hopefully many more, IT Services will publish its first annual Faculty and Staff Quick Reference Guide to IT Support and Services this fall.

Windows Vista – Sneak Preview of Microsoft’s Next Generation of Operating System

In early September, Microsoft made Windows Vista Release Candidate 1, the nearly finished version of their newest operating system for PCs, available to developers and testers. According to Microsoft, Vista is on track for release to enterprise customers in November 2006 and to consumers in January 2007. Will you and your current PC be ready for this new version of Windows?

Internet Explorer 7 Coming Soon

The newest version of Microsoft’s web browser, Internet Explorer (IE) 7, has new features designed to make surfing and finding information on the web faster and more secure.  According to Microsoft’s program manager Chris Wilson in a post on the IE team’s blog “… we prioritized IE 7 around 3 things – security, end user experience, and standards improvement …”