ARTICLES
Adaptive
Technology Lab
The Adaptive Technology Lab
(ATLab) is a study, reading, and work room located in McKeldin Library.
It houses adaptive hardware and software technologies for accessing information,
producing papers, recording articles, and conducting student testing.
Full article.
Architecture
Slides Go Digital
In the last few years, with
the help of OIT, the Visual Resources Collection has been digitizing images
and storing them on CDs. The digital images may then be viewed by students,
in lieu of the physical originals, with fewer time and resource constraints.
The digital versions may also be uploaded to a server, integrated into
the library's database records, or put online for easier access. Full
article.
First
Steps to Secure Online Behavior: Virus Issues
In
an effort to provide a safe computing environment to faculty, staff, and
students at University of Maryland, OIT has been proactive in combating
threats from computer viruses. It is important to remember though, no
matter how sophisticated the technology, user behavior plays an important
part in maintaining secure online behavior when it comes to dealing with
computer viruses. Full
article.
Mobile
at Maryland (MAM)
During Summer 2001, NTS deployed
wireless data network access throughout general public areas for the benefit
of the university community. This is a key step in making the OIT strategic
initiative to provide wireless services a reality. Full
article.
New
LDAP Directory Provides user@umd.edu Email Addresses
All faculty, staff, and students
at the University of Maryland now have a simple, personal <userID>@umd.edu
email address, which will forward, mail to whichever email account is
on file as a person's preferred address (WAM, GLUE, Umail, etc.). Full
article.
New-Media
Journalism Lab
Journalism majors are now learning
how to produce, write, edit, and design stories for the Web in a new-media
lab launched this year at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
Full article.
OIT
Helps the Community GROW
The fifth annual Girls Rock
On the Web (GROW) took place during the first week in May, National Technology
Week. Sponsored by the nonprofit group DC Web Women (DCWW), this event
provided technology training to more than 200 local girls between the
ages of six and ten. OIT provided one of eight locations in the DC area
hosting this event, and contributed several volunteers to an evening of
fun on the Web. Full
article.
OIT
LAN Services
What is a LAN? It’s a Local
Area Network. What is a Local Area Network? It’s computers and computer
peripherals and devices that share a single local network within a specific
office, building, or work environment. A typical LAN can be composed of
anywhere from three to 300 to 3000 computers, one or more printers, and
a fileserver with useful computer applications and file storage space
needed by the LAN’s computer users. Full
article.
Parking
Garage 2 WAM Lab Takes Advantage of New Open Network Connections Program
The Open Network Connections
System enables users of portable network devices, such as notebook computers,
to register their systems for access to special open network data jacks
at several "walk-up" locations at the university, including the PG2 lab.
Full article
PHR
Goes Live ?BPR Rolls On
With the start of the phased
implementation of the new Payroll/Human Resource (PHR) system, the University
of Maryland passed another landmark on the road to an electronic workplace.
Full article.
University
Technology Coordinating Committee Becomes a Reality
The mission of the UTCC is to
improve communication and increase collaboration among the various people
and units responsible for providing IT support, infrastructure, and administrative
services throughout the university. Full
article.
VPL Assists College Park Scholars to Develop Professional Quality Graphic
Presentations
Working with OIT's Visualization
and Presentation Lab (VPL), College Park Scholars learned the complexities
of digitally composed poster design and production. Full
article.
WebCT@Maryland
upgraded to WebCT 3
The WebCT@Maryland server (http://www.courses.umd.edu)
was upgraded this past summer to WebCT 3.6 Campus Edition. This upgrade
provides some key backend upgrades to provide better performance to the
university. Full
article.
COLUMNS
Copyright
and Electronic Information Access On A Collision Course
The application of copyright
law to digital media is a topic that has drawn considerable attention
in the past few years. It seemed that the interest had peaked with the
passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998. However,
the attention devoted to such issues by Congress, state legislatures,
and the courts in the ensuing months since the DMCA have proved that the
issues are far from resolved. Full
article
IT
Counts
Data and statistics describing
IT use at the university. Full
article.
Message
from Vice President and CIO Don Riley
A message from the university's
Chief Information Officer. Full
article.
FEATURES
askIT
Answers to your questions about
technology use. Full
article.
Help
Desk Tips
Answers to frequently asked
questions and tips for more effective use of IT. Full article.
Survey: Did You Get Sand in Your Computer?
Take our online survey. Results
will be printed in the next edition of ITforUM. Full article.
Backup
Survey Results
Results to last issue's survey
on campus email usage. Full
article.
Did
You Know? Videoconferencing facilities are available and may be scheduled
through the NTS Service Desk, 301.405.4400.
A mail relaying function that allowed anonymous distribution of
spam (unsolicited email) was disabled on email servers in the WAM, Glue,
DEANS, and instructional UNIX cluster in August. For more background on
this issue and fixes for those affected, please see http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/systems/wam/all/419/.
Do you need the name changed on
your telephone display? Call the NTS Service Desk at 301.405.4400.
There is no charge for this service!
Message
from
Vice President and CIO Don Riley . . .
Leadership, Innovation and
Customer Service!
Success in corporate America is defined by a high return on investment.
Charitable organizations measure their accomplishments by good deeds and
social impact. A winning record (trip to the Final Four?) is the yardstick
for competitive sports teams. OIT aspires to be an organization renowned
for leadership, innovation, and customer service. The Office of Information
Technology (OIT) has embarked upon a strategic planning and organizational
alignment process that will establish appropriate goals and benchmarks
for success. The University of Maryland’s strategic plan (see http://www.umd.edu/strategicplan)
describes an ambitious agenda for the university, including an emphasis
on improving our information technology infrastructure and effective utilization
of technology for instruction, research, and business activities. Seventeen
action items from the university plan have been assigned to OIT (see http://www.oit.umd.edu/pp/plan/umplanit).
OIT has been working with the Information Technology Advisory Committee
(ITAC) to integrate these items into a more comprehensive IT strategic
plan for the university. The IT strategic planning process (see http://www.oit.umd.edu/pp/plan/process.pdf)
is expected to be completed this Fall. In April 2001, OIT engaged its
entire organization in developing a statement that identifies its view
of the strategic direction for information technology at the university
(see http://www.oit.umd.edu/pp/plan/strategy.html).
According to our vision for IT (see ?lt;a href="#vision">OIT Vision Statement?,
success for our organization will be measured against our ability to exhibit
leadership and expertise, promote partnerships, and provide reliable and
responsive customer service. The mission of OIT conveys similar aspirations
and is an attempt to signify the unique role assumed by the central information
technology unit for the university (see ?lt;a href="#mission">OIT Mission
Statement?. The goals and objectives are the cornerstone of the information technology
strategic plan. The goals describe our ambitions and future directions
in broad terms while the objectives are the specific steps that will help
us achieve the goal. The goals may also be seen as building blocks where
the success of one goal is dependent on the other. The IT goals that we
have established are: We are presently fleshing out the objectives and priorities through focus
groups and other information collection activities. Feedback or questions
about the IT strategic plan can be addressed to Rodney Petersen at 301.405.7349
or it-plan@umail.umd.edu. We recognize that strategic planning and organizational alignment are
just the beginning of a long and important journey towards improving the
university’s IT infrastructure and enabling us to become a great research
university. We believe, however, that the by-products of both the strategic
planning document and the process used to develop it will lay an essential
foundation for success. We also hope that you will see marked improvements
from OIT in the coming months in our ability to provide leadership, innovation,
and quality customer service.
| OIT Mission Statement
The mission of OIT is to provide leadership and innovation in information technology planning, to implement efficient technology infrastructures, to develop and deploy effective information systems, and to deliver responsive IT support services. |
Letters to the editor and story suggestions are welcome. Please send correspondence to the Executive Editor at ITforUM@umail.umd.edu.
Staff Credits | Archive. © 2001 University of Maryland.
