Tracking Down Some Staffing “Sacred Cows”

Terry Calhoun, Commentator
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
University of Michigan

Every day the news headlines are full of budget cuts to higher education that are stupendous. Public institutions are losing 10-20-30 percent of their budget and responding by increasing student tuition and fees--when they can. This is the third year of budget crisis, and although information technology is so important a part of the higher education infrastructure that we are relatively immune, you know bad things are coming down the pike when you read about significant cuts in faculty at some colleges and universities.

Now is the time to look at every part of your IT operation. You know that if you look closely, there are older ways of doing things that you are stuck in which could be done with fewer people or less expensive hardware. In fact, the budget crisis offers an opportunity to think about making changes that in a more benign fiscal climate would be unthinkable. Maybe this is a chance to kill some sacred cows?

Read more

University of California Awarded $520.6M from Microsoft in Patent Infringement Decision

The patent infringement is for functionality programming that is central to much e-commerce, and Microsoft's use of it may have helped it considerably in its battle with Netscape. Microsoft plans to appeal.
Read more

Harvard Moving from Unix- to Linux-Based Servers

The main purpose behind the change at Harvard Arts and Sciences is a much-needed upgrade, but the fairly smooth-running transition is also saving the department some money, too.
Read more

UC Berkeley Freshman, and Like Many Others, Getting Early Warnings this Academic Year

Many colleges and universities are devoting larger and larger amounts of freshman orientation time to issues of network security and intellectual property.
Read more

w.32 Blaster Worm is a New, Ugly Form of Infection on Campus

Here's how one university, Auburn University, is managing its communications about Blaster.
Read more

Students at University of Illinois at Chicago Can Use New "News Bot"

The newsbot is a line of javascript which students can add to their own Web page and program to create a news box for their own use.
Read more

Technology Planning Clearinghouse

The National Center for Technology Planning (NCTP) is a clearinghouse for exchanging information related to technology planning. This may include technology plans; planning aids (checklists, brochures, sample planning forms, PR announcement forms); and/or electronic monographs on timely, selected topics. The NCTP was created for those who need help, seek fresh ideas, or seek solutions to problems encountered with planning.
Learn more

The Economic & Social Research Council

The ESRC provides a taste of statistical software applications in event history analysis and multi-level modeling for students in quantitative social science research and statistics-based research fields.
Learn more

Public TV to Distribute Digital Content to Educators

Digital asset management service provider OnStream Media Corp., has formed a strategic alliance with onCourse, Inc., the non-profit digital education service of America's Public Television Stations. The two organizations will provide a turnkey solution for the distribution, management, security, and storage of rich media content developed by the stations for the education, media, and corporate enterprise markets. As part of the deal, OnStream will integrate onCourse's Launchpoint technology, which streamlines the sharing and distribution of digital products among content providers.

Emory U. to Integrate Identity Data with PeopleSoft

Emory University has purchased Directory Federator Express (DFE) LDAP Proxy software from OctetString, a provider of virtual directory technology. DFE federates directories currently maintained separately by Emory University and Emory HealthCare administrators, allowing both organizations seamless access to PeopleSoft. DFE eliminates the need to copy, synchronize and maintain user identification data across two disparate platforms. This eliminates the need to cross-train administrators on two different directory platforms and the need to overburden either one of the directory platforms with user identity information that is not directly relevant to the organizational entity it supports.