ARTICLES

Award Winner Benefits from "Both Worlds"
Dr. Kaci Thompson, this year’s winner of the UM Innovation in Teaching with Technology Award, used to enrich her lectures with slides to provide students with visually accurate images of rare and unusual creatures. There was one problem with this – students did not have access to the images after the lecture. Full article

ElementK e-Learning: A Cost-effective Approach to Staff IT Skills Training
ElementK sounds like the stuff of science fiction but University of Maryland faculty, students, and staff know it as the way they can teach themselves the intricacies of computer programs like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, ACT!, and many others— all online, free of charge and at their own pace. Full article

E-mail System Update
In February, approximately 300 OIT staff members migrated to the new Mail@umd e-mail system. Since that time, various technical quirks have been identified and resolved. This summer and fall all incoming students received Mail@umd e-mail system accounts. New faculty and staff members are receiving Mail@umd accounts as well. Full article

ELF Financial Forms Honored at 2002 Invention of the Year Awards
ELF Financial Forms, the brainchild of nine University of Maryland colleagues, was one of three finalists in the category of Information Science Invention of the Year at the university’s 2002 Invention of the Year awards. Full article

If You Share, Beware
Downloading and sharing music and movies through the Internet is a popular hobby for millions of people worldwide. Although it’s easy to do, it’s also illegal—and the possibility of getting yourself and the university in real trouble increases every day. The penalties are stiff so take protective steps. Full article

Managing University Data Assets
When most people think of storage, they picture a vast, cavernous warehouse filled with shelving and boxes full of goods. At the University of Maryland, however, storage doesn’t just apply to the Terp inventory waiting to be displayed and sold at the campus bookstore but also to valuable intangibles: the university’s data assets. Full article

More Students Have Access to Technology Classrooms
Thanks to the Student Technology Fee and funding from the Teaching Facilities Committee (TFC), more students will have access to newly equipped technology classrooms or rooms with upgraded technology than last fall. Six new Technology Classrooms have been installed and 22 existing Technology Classrooms have received upgrades over the summer. Full article

OIT Speaker Series, Teaching, Learning, Technology?, Announces Speaker Lineup
The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is proud to announce the speakers for the second annual speaker series, “Teaching, Learning, Technology?” The series was created to facilitate a campus discussion of issues related to the integration of technology into the teaching and learning process through presentations and discussions facilitated by national experts. Full article

Protecting the University Community
For decades, the Social Security Number (SSN) has been used as an ID number for each individual associated with the university community. Recently, there has been a nationwide increase in the use of personal information like SSNs to commit identity theft and other types of fraud. Full article

ProjectLINKS Increases Technological Access for Local Middle School Students
Students at three Prince George’s County middle schools have a better chance of entering college and successfully completing their degrees, thanks to ProjectLINKS: Linking Information Networks and Knowledge to Students. ProjectLINKS, a Digital Divide E-tutoring pilot program run by the Educational Talent Search program, will serve as a model for the country. Full article

Spam Begone!
We’ve all gotten them—those annoying, unwanted e-mails that clog our inbox and make us mentally sigh with frustration. By now, most people know what spam is, but not everyone knows how to get rid of it. In October, University of Maryland computer users will find their lives made easier by a new program, SpamAssassin, which analyzes these irritating messages before they even reach your mailbox. Full article

Streaming Media and Its Potential University Applications
Listening to a radio station’s Web broadcast. Catching the highlights from yesterday’s game on www.espn.com. Viewing the online trailers for a movie you’re considering attending. What do all of these things have in common? They take advantage of streaming media technologies. Full article

SEVIS
For the past year and a half, Student Application Services (SAS) has been working with International Education Services (IES) and other entities within and outside the campus in implementing a system that allows the university to comply with SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System). Full article

Security Architecture: Protecting the University
“Protection, detection, education” might sound like the motto of law enforcement officials but the Office of Information Technology (OIT) takes this phrase seriously too. So seriously, in fact, that OIT has put an impressive seven layers of security in place to prevent viruses, hackers and other unwanted things from creating chaos for you and the university. Indeed, the Maryland community can breathe a little easier, knowing that a team on campus is hard at work behind the scenes. Full article

UM Joins the Access Grid
A group of five University of Maryland researchers sits in a partially cleared seminar room, their chairs casually arranged in a half circle facing a long blank wall. Projected along that wall are many computer windows, each displaying a video stream broadcasted live from several other seminar rooms much like this one. Microphones and sound systems in each room provide live audio feeds, enabling groups of researchers in each of these remote sites to discuss their research results as if they were all seated together in one space. Full article

University of Maryland Installs New Root Certificate Authority
People might normally associate cryptography with dashing spies delivering encoded messages, code breakers working diligently to decipher their meanings, and clandestine meetings. It might surprise some to learn that the University of Maryland engages in cryptography every day—all through cyberspace. As a Certificate Authority (CA), it authenticates requestors and signs certificates used to protect networked services for the university community. In other words, it makes sure that Web sites secured with university signed certificates can be trusted as valid and authentic. Full article

COLUMNS

Message from OIT
A message from the Office of Information Technology. Full article

FEATURES

askIT
Answers to your questions about technology use. Full article

Help Desk Tips
Answers to frequently asked questions and tips on more effective use of IT. Full article