ITS News, Volume 2 - No. 1Editor: Phoebe LarsonContributors: Joel Cooper, Adam Fetcher,Lauren Garrison, Mark Heiman, Andrea Nixon, Sue TraxlerPhotographer: Nathan Westlake

Computing Assistance for Academic Faculty and Staff: x5999

Computing Assistance for Administrative Staff: x4547

Computing Assistancefor Students: x4040

www.carleton.edu/campus/ITS

CONTACT INFORMATION

fall 2005

Pg. 1

comparisons between Sakai and Moodle. In thespring participants will describe their experi-ences as part of an LTC event. Based on experi-mentation and these discussions, the Collegewill select either Sakai or Moodle as our coursemanagement system.

Colleges and universities throughout thenation are working to develop and effectivelyuse course management systems in curricula."Carleton is looking for the right tool for ourcampus, and also participating in larger devel-opment activities within the higher educationcommunity," says Andrea Nixon, associatedirector for academic computing. Carleton isknown as a national leader when it comes toselective and effective integration of informa-tion technologies into curricula. Through thisprocess, the College will not only select theright course management system, it will alsobe positioned to make contributions to thedevelopment of Sakai or Moodle in years tocome.

Andrea Nixon is associate director for academiccomputing at Carleton.

put it on the card

Last winter, the administrative council authorized a committee to investigate andimplement a one-card system at Carleton. A

page 1: emerging technologypage 2: who’s new/factoidspage 3: staff profilepage 4: meet the web team/datacenter/its self-studypage 5: tips and tricks/internet2page 6: file sharing/peps

ITS News • Fal l 2005

E M E R G I N Gt e c h n o l o g y

selecting a course

management system

Carleton has a long history of carefully selectingtools that support curricular work. The majorityof these evaluation processes are focused onspecific curricular activities that can be narrowlydefined. For example, designing large formatposters for scholarly presentations or improvingpronunciation for language learners. This year,Carleton will select a tool that is of potentialuse for every course offered at the College.

Course management systems provide a singletool that facilitates online learning, discussion,research, and other collaborative activities. Inthe spring, Carleton will select between twopossible alternatives named Sakai and Moodle.These tools are single sources for real-timechatting, discussion forums, student classfeedback, calendars, and online grading amongother features. Sakai and Moodle are coursemanagement systems developed in the highereducation community and grounded in acommitment to effective teaching andlearning practices.

ITS, together with the Learning and TeachingCenter (LTC), have begun a three-stage evaluationprocess. This fall a small group of faculty willdo preliminary testing of Sakai—a tool still inactive development. Winter term, a largergroup of faculty will conduct side-by-side

second edition on

the stands

Welcome to the second edition of ITS News.Fall has been busy for Information andTechnology Services (ITS).

Internet2 is now up and running at Carleton,the Presentations, Events, and ProductionSupport (PEPS) team opened up shop in LairdHall, and a new data center is under constructionin the Center for Math and Computing (CMC).In addition, the department welcomes somenew faces to the staff and highlights the workof the Web development team. Be sure tocheck out the Tips and Tricks section (pg. 5) for advice on backing up your computer andhighlighting text among other words ofwisdom. And learn a few fun facts about thehistory of technology and the Google empirein Factoids (pg. 2). For further informationabout what’s happening in the ITS departmentvisit www.carleton.edu/campus/ITS/.

one-card system would allow faculty and staffmembers and students to consolidate all cardfunctions onto their Carleton ID cards. The cardswould provide photo identification, libraryservices, entrance to the recreation center andcampus buildings, admission to College events,flex dollars for meals, equipment checkout, anda debit function that would allow students andtheir parents to put money in the cards for usein the College bookstore, vending machines,copiers, and laundry machines.

The administrative council authorized fundingfor the project, and a committee of 20 peoplehas been meeting since last winter to identifyvendors and determine the benefits a one-cardsystem would provide the Carleton campus.The committee hopes to launch the one-cardsystem in September 2006. They are exploringnames for the card with the help of studentgroups and working with the publicationsoffice to redesign the current Carleton IDcards. It is estimated that faculty and staffmembers and students would receive theirnew ID cards sometime next summer.

For further information about the one-cardsystem contact the committee co-chairs, DanBergeson (dbergeso@acs.carleton.edu) or SueTraxler (straxler@acs.carleton.edu).

WHO’S NEW?

Spotlight on New Employees

kevin chapman

Title: Student Computing Help DeskCoordinator, aka “SCICtator”

What he does: Looks after the StudentComputing Information Center (SCIC). Selects,schedules, and supervises the 42 students whostaff the SCIC help desk and phone lines.Monitors and maintains the condition ofpublic computer labs on campus.

IT background: Served in technical andcustomer support roles for various companiesfor over ten years. Spent six years working fora training and education consultancy and afew years working as an independentprogrammer and developer.

Reason he likes IT: “The folks who work inITS at Carleton are friendly and always happyto answer a question. I have an affinity fortech support. It’s a great way to learn andkeep pace with technology on a daily basis,and I enjoy the fact that a tech support personis often in an educational role. You have thechance to help someone better understand thetools they’re working with.”

matt bockol

Title: Web Technical Administrator

What he does: Makes sure campus Webservers are running smoothly, helps maintain

ITS News • Fal l 2005

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Reason he likes IT: “I believe people learnbest when they are able to communicatewithout impediment or fear. Like Brandeis,Carleton has a history of engagement. I’mhappy to help enable that.”

joann martyn

Title: Academic Computing Coordinator forArts, Performance, and Recreation

What she does: Collaborates with faculty andacademic staff in arts, performance, and recreation to incorporate and use technologyin their teaching and research.

Background: Served as a computer applications trainer at NorthwesternUniversity in Evanston, Illinois, and as anacademic technology consultant at theUniversity of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Holds aBA from the University of St. Thomas and anMA in drama performance studies fromUniversity College in Dublin, Ireland. Alsoearned a Minnesota teaching license.

Reason she likes IT: “I enjoy working withpeople at the crossroads where education andtechnology intersect.”

the Reason content management system,implements new online services, and helpsfaculty create online academic tools to use intheir curriculum.

IT background: Worked as a senior specialistat Harvard University, helping faculty useexisting online tools, or building new ones tosuit their needs.

Reason he likes IT: “There’s no shortage ofinteresting projects, and everyone here hasbeen very friendly and welcoming.”

richard graves

Title: Senior Unix Administrator/NetworkSecurity Administrator

What he does: Maintains UNIX server andsecurity architecture and plans for futuregrowth. Runs the academic e-mail systems.

IT background: While a student at StanfordUniversity in 1990, learned about thencutting-edge technologies as a way ofreaching a girlfriend studying in St. Petersburg,Russia. Led Stanford’s residential computingtech team, installing the first ethernetnetworks in undergrad dorms. Developed aninterest in online security, privacy, and hatepropoganda. Worked for Stanford’s networkinggroup for seven years, then led the UNIX anddirectory services teams at Brandeis Universityfor seven years.

Richard Graves Mat

Kevin Chapman Joann Martyn

F A C T O I D Sgiddy for google

For years Google.com has been dominant in thesearch engine market. In the past few months,Google has ventured into new territories. GoogleEarth (http://earth.google.com/) provides a free,PC-only program that allows you to view satelliteimages throughout the planet. Type in an address,and look at it in satellite images. Sightsee theGrand Canyon in 3-D. Type in two addresses (forexample, Red Square and your home address) andyou can virtually fly from one to the other. Haveyour own topographical maps? You can overlaythem onto the satellite images. Google claims tobe developing a Mac version as well.

Google has also made lunar images. Both Macsand PCs can look at satellite images of the moon.Check out the landing site for the Apollo missionof 1969. Take a closer look and you may even seethe landing site for Wallace and Gromit!

Andrea Nixon is associate director of academiccomputing for ITS.

“Google it”

What attracted you to Carleton?

I’ve been working in higher education most ofmy life. I briefly worked in manufacturing, butI prefer working in an academic environment.My husband and I returned to Minnesota in2001 to be closer to family. This position atCarleton was a godsend for me.

What have you most enjoyed about your job?

I like the people I work with and do projectsfor. I also like having my office located amongthe math and computer science facultybecause it allows me to get a better feel forthe academic side of Carleton.

Interviewed by Lauren Garrison, a senior at Carleton.

ITS News • Fal l 2005

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STAFF PROFILE:

sara oster

Sara Oster, database systems administrator, has worked in information systems since 1985.Originally from Minnesota, Sara graduated fromCalifornia State Polytechnic University with abachelor’s degree in business/informationsystems. She held a number of IT positionsbefore coming to Carleton in 2004.

What does your position as databasesystems administrator entail?

I’m responsible for making sure Colleague,Carleton’s administrative database, runsefficiently. Colleague is software used tomaintain information about students from the time they are admitted to the College untilthey graduate. It stores demographic informa-tion about students and faculty and staffmembers at Carleton, and also records paymentsmade to students’ accounts, manages financialaid awarded to students, keeps track of studenthousing, pays employees, and allows studentsto register. I manage Colleague accounts,making sure the right people have the rightaccess to administrative data, and that allColleague software components are current.

What are you currently working on with Colleague?

I’m upgrading some Colleague products thatwill make Web transactions on WebAdvisor—aprogram used to access information containedin the administrative database—more efficient.

STAFF PROFILE:

rebecca hulett

Rebecca Hulett, academic computing coordinator for classrooms and labs, hasworked at Carleton since February 2004.Previously Hulett worked at GustavusAdolphus College, where she maintainedWindows computers and co-managed the help desk.

What attracted you to technology?

I fell into it. When I went off to college Ididn’t know anything about computers. I hadnever sent an e-mail or browsed the Internet,yet I was placed in the information technologydepartment at Gustavus. I started as a labassistant, and from there I worked at the helpdesk. Later, a full-time position opened in the department.

What does your job at Carleton entail?

I maintain the software on computers in theclassrooms and academic lab spaces. I installsoftware and make sure that things arerunning reliably, and I work to install softwarefor faculty members who require certainprograms for their classes.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Software can be used in creative ways, notjust as it was intended. I enjoy finding cleverways to get things to work and helping people

get their software working so they can dowhat they want to do with technology.

What is exciting about technology right now?

I’m amazed by how much technology iscoming into our everyday lives and howmobile it has become. Everything is gettingsmaller and more functional. For example,some cell phones can also serve as iPods, palmpilots, and cameras. I think technology willchange the way our social structure works.Students today rely on chat programs tocommunicate with friends and to meet people.It would never occur to me to do that, butthat’s part of the way they grew up.

Is all this new technology good?

It can be a good thing, but people need tokeep in mind the appropriate technology fortheir uses. If all you want to do is displaysomething on the wall, a regular overheadprojector is a good, quick way to do it. There’sno need to scan in the image, save it, andplace it in Powerpoint format. The technologydoesn’t gain you a lot in that situation. Usingtechnology for the sake of using it doesn’talways help, but if people are judicious in theway they use technology, it can be great.

Interviewed by Phoebe Larson, a staff writer at Carleton.

tt Bockol

Rebecca Hulett Sara Oster

Pg. 4

ITS News • Fal l 2005

meet the web

development

team

Who they are: Jaye Lawrence, director of Web communications and development

Matt Ryan, associate director of Web communications and development

Matt Bockol, Web technical administrator

Mark Heiman, information coordinator

What they do: The Web development teamcan help you create a Web site or improve anexisting one. The team oversees Carleton’smarketing Web sites and provides custom Webdevelopment and design. They also helpcampus departments set up their Web sites inthe Reason content management system,which makes Web sites easy to update evenfor those with no technological background.

Check out the team’s work on the new GouldLibrary Web site that launched earlier this fall.

Where they’re located: Gould Library, second floor.

Maureen Sullivan, an independent highereducation consultant, will be working with ITSas a facilitator during the self-study. Maureenhas worked with numerous college and universitylibrary and IT departments. Most recently atCarleton, she worked with Gould Library ontheir self-study last year.

The ITS self-study will take place mostlyduring fall term and winter break. We willengage the campus community in conversationto solicit feedback and input. We will announceopportunities for your involvement during fallterm. One of the outcomes of the self-studywill be a report to be shared with the campuscommunity. This will be one of the buildingblocks for ITS as we move forward to meet theCollege’s information and technology needs.

We will also invite several visitors from peerinstitutions to review the report, visit campus,and meet with ITS, senior administration, andthe campus community. This visit will takeplace the end of February 2006 and will be theculmination of the formal self-study process. I also see it as the beginning of implementingmany good ideas that come out of the self-study.

Joel Cooper is director of ITS.

data center

construction

New data center will aim to meet serverneeds for the future.

We all feel the effects when the computerservers are down, but what makes them soimportant? They house all of Carleton’s data,such as e-mail messages, financial aid applications, course folders, the alumnidirectory, Caucus conferences, and all othertechnical applications on campus. A new datacenter, being constructed in the basement ofthe Center for Math and Computing (CMC), will be the keeper of one of Carleton’s most important resources—information.Construction will be complete in November,and servers will migrate to the new room bythe end of winter break.

The current data center, also in the basementof the CMC, was designed for computing in theearly 1990s. Although individual servers todayare much smaller than they were a decade ago,many more are required to meet user needs forinformation technology. The result is that farmore power and cooling are required todaythan when the CMC was built.

A joint study by facilities, ITS, and an outsideconsultant in Spring 2005 determined that itwas not cost effective to retrofit the existingspace with power and cooling adequate forfuture needs. The new space replaces atraining room, conference room, kitchenette,and small closet in the west end of the CMC

basement and is slightly smaller than the twofirst-floor CMC labs combined. The space isdesigned not only to allow growth in informationtechnology equipment, but also for additionalelectrical and cooling capacity as is required.

“We continue to add servers and applicationsto meet institutional needs,” says Les LaCroix,associate director of network services. “Withinfive years, not only will we have added manymore services, but all of the existing serverswill have been replaced once or twice. Even onthat relatively short time scale, it is difficultto predict what the power and cooling needswill be.”

For more information contact Les LaCroix,associate director of network services.

Adam Fetcher is a senior at Carleton.

its self-study

ITS engages in self-study to determineCarleton’s technology needs.

Beginning this fall term, ITS will engage in aself-study. It’s a regular event in the life of anacademic department to undergo a self-studyeither as a way of engaging in curriculum reviewor renewal, or as part of the re-accreditationprocess. As part of our recent move into theDean of the College division, we've been asked to do the same thing. This provides anopportunity for us as a department to focus on Carleton's technology future and how ITScan help that future unfold.

Web Development

Data Center U

Jaye Lawrence

Mark Heiman

Matt Ryan

Matt Bockol

Pg. 5

ITS News • Fal l 2005

Tips & Tricks

logging out

Never stay logged into your computer at theend of the workday. It is essential that you logout, shut down, or restart your computer atthe end of the day to ensure that personalresearch and institutional data stays secure.Leaving your computer on, but not logged in,is wise because Windows and Mac updates andRetrospect will run automatically throughoutthe night. Restarting your computer is thepreferred setting as it saves computer start-uptime in the morning.

Note to faculty and staff members aboutbacking up your computer:

If your computer is set to be automaticallybacked up with Retrospect it can be backed upat least three times per month. A regular andfrequent backup strategy can save hundreds ifnot thousands of hours of your work. Thisservice provides a very easy means ofprotecting your valuable work. Please contactyour computing coordinator if you are notcurrently taking advantage of this service and would like to.

To determine whether or not you haveRetrospect on your computer do the following:

On a Mac–Open the applications folder anddouble click on Retrospect Client. Check thestatus box in the open window to see if the“on” button is highlighted. If Retrospect Clientdoesn’t appear as an option in your applicationsfolder call your computing coordinator to havethe program installed.

On a PC–From the start menu choose programsand select Retrospect Client. Check the statusbox in the open window to see if the “on”button is highlighted. If Retrospect Client doesnot appear in the program listings call yourcomputing coordinator to have it installed.

windows tips

The install updates and shutdown command is anew addition to the shutdown menu thanks toa recent update of Windows. With this commandyour computer will attempt to apply anyMicrosoft updates available before shutting down.

Using alt + tab will switch between applications.Shift + alt + tab will run through them inopposite order. These commands are especiallyuseful when running several programs at onetime. Hitting the Windows key and “D” at thesame time will allow you to minimize everything and gain a clear screen.

mac tips

Choosing restart from the apple menu is thequickest way to ensure that you are loggedout of the network at the end of the day.

Apple + tab will allow you to switch betweenapplications, or use shift + apple + tab to runthrough them in the opposite order.

The Macintosh operating system regularly runsupdates through your computer. The systemchecks for updates weekly. If updates are foundit will prompt you to install them. It is a goodidea to do so in order for your computer torun properly.

a few more tricks

of the trade

Does it bug you when you're attempting tohighlight text and the screen scrolls by so fastyou end up spending most of your time trying tograb what you need? The best way to highlightlarge chunks of text is to use the shift keyalong with the arrow keys, which controls yourcursor. For example, if you hold down the shiftkey as you hit the down arrow, you can quicklyposition the cursor exactly where you want it.

Sue Traxler is associate director of administrative computing at Carleton.

nder Construction

For Mac Users

Windows Tips

Logging Out

internet2’s

arrival

It’s here—an internet to rival all internets—Internet2. Not only does the campus now havemore regular Internet bandwidth (20 megabytesup from 8), it is now equipped with a high-speedconnection to Internet2 that offers new possibilities for teaching and research.

Internet2 is different from the regularcommodity Internet because of its unusuallyfast connection speed and because it links to agrowing number of sites in higher educationand research. Carleton's Internet2 connection,when fully operational, will provide theCollege with 500 megabytes and up to agigabit per second of Internet2 speed.

Carleton worked closely with St. Olaf Collegeto build a cross-town fiber optic infrastructure.This fiber connection ends at the University ofMinnesota, the on-ramp to Internet2. Thefiber connection puts Carleton and St. Olaf in the metro area for telecommunicationsservices, considerably decreasing theirongoing Internet connectivity costs.

Carleton community is just beginning toconsider what Internet2 will mean for thecampus. Says Joel Cooper, director of ITS, “I think a couple years from now we’ll lookback and reflect that this was one of thosequantum leaps in technology.”

Phoebe Larson is a staff writer at Carleton.

Pg. 6

Information Technolog y Ser vices Center for Mathematics and Computing One North College Street, Northfield, MN, 55057 Phone: 507- 646-4286 Fax: 507- 646-4537 www.carleton.edu/campus/its

p.e.p. talk

Presentation, Events, and ProductionSupport (PEPS) team bridges the gapbetween media and technology.

A quick glance at a Carleton events calendar orcourse syllabus demonstrates the need for bothmedia services and technology support oncampus. It makes perfect sense that as mediaand technology increasingly merge so must thedepartments that support them.

Say hello to Presentation, Events, and ProductionSupport (PEPS), a new group within ITS designedas a central point of contact for the services andequipment needed to maintain classroomtechnologies, campus events, and college-widepresentation and media production needs. PEPSdoes it all easier, faster, and better than the oldsystem, according to PEPS team leader andmedia technologies coordinator Lew Weinberg,who, together with presentation technologycoordinator Jim Pierret, make up the PEPS team.

During a single week, Carleton offers—along withregular classes—myriad speakers, presentations,and student and alumni events, all of which usesome form of technology, says Weinberg. Thegrowing integration of digital media into allaspects of the campus calls for one group tohandle all related issues. The creation of PEPSunder the ITS umbrella ensures a sharp focus onrapidly evolving technologies.

In addition to providing equipment, the PEPSteam offers workshops on multimedia productionand provides custom materials for classes orcampus organizations, video dubbing, conversion services, and media coverage and technology for events. They also oversee classroom equipment.

PEPS’ office in 14 Laird Hall includes a videoproduction lab open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.,Monday through Friday. The team can workwith academic departments to produce classand training materials on DVD and the Web,and can collaborate with Campus Activities,student-run organizations, and administrativeoffices to facilitate events.

For a complete list of services and furtherinformation visit the PEPS Web site athttp://go.carleton.edu/peps or call x7070.

Adam Fetcher is a senior at Carleton.

Presentation, Events, and Product Support (PEPS)

file sharing

Want to share a file (a Word document, picture,etc.) with a group of people? The “Attach”button in your e-mail program may betempting, but please think before you click:

• Large e-mail attachments can take a lot oftime and disk space to deliver, and the morerecipients, the greater the effect. At therecipient's end, they have the potential to fillup quotas, perhaps preventing the recipientfrom getting your message at all.

• Wise e-mail users never open attachmentsthey weren’t expecting, so there’s a good chanceyour attached file will be discarded unread.

• The process of decoding and reading filesattached to e-mail messages isn't foolproofand can vary widely depending on the e-mailprogram and operating system.

• Sending files by e-mail requires the recipientto manage the files using a tool not designedfor that purpose, leading to potentialconfusion and data loss, particularly ifmultiple versions of a file are involved.

E-mail is fine for sending small files (say a smallpicture or two) to one or two people, but forlarger groups, you should consider other options.

1. Is your content really just text? Manypeople send Word files as e-mail attachmentswhen the content of the file could easily becopied and pasted right into a mail message.

Sending the content as e-mail text instead of aWord file will guarantee that more people read it.

2. If all the recipients are at Carleton, a sharednetwork folder is the easiest way to organizeand share files. ITS currently provides sharedfolders for courses, departments, and somecampus organizations. Your computing coordinator can help you identify or createthe appropriate folder for your needs.

3. If your recipient list includes people notaffiliated with Carleton, you can use the Webto easily distribute files. Courses, departments,student organizations, and individuals all havea folder called WebPub in their network space.Any files placed there are automatically servedto the Web. Simply send out a URL and peoplecan download the files at their convenience.Your computing coordinator can help youlocate the appropriate WebPub folder andconstruct the URL that points to your file.

Note: if you’re publishing files in an officialcapacity for the College or for public use, itmay be more appropriate to place them onyour departmental Web site, rather than usinga WebPub folder.

Your Computing Coordinator will be happy tohelp you choose the best tool for sharing fileswith groups of people.

Mark Heiman is information coordinator for ITS.