| Thursday, January 22, 2004 |
| OPINION
IT NEWS
RESOURCES
NEW PRODUCTS
DEALS, CONTRACTS, GRANTS
SPONSORS
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OPINION
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Terry Calhoun, IT Trends Commentator
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
University of Michigan
J'e’s “State of the Web sites” Address, Part I
Last summer, some folks at the University of Oregon conducted a comparative
study of 127 university Web sites to analyze technical and design trends. You
might think that the results of such a study would not be appropriate for an
“opinion” piece, but you would be wrong – especially if the report is written
by J'e St. Sauver.
His opinions come through loud and clear, and when I briefly browsed the
report, I thought it would be not only of interest, but with J'e’s commentary,
count as an opinion piece, too. Part I, in this issue of IT Trends, covers methodology,
Web server software used, natural minimum Web page size, and the trend toward
segmenting Web sites into “domains” for various user types, such as prospective
students, alums, staff, etc. The first half of J'e’s report covers these areas
and it follows. Enjoy!
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J'e St Sauver
University of Oregon Computing Center
Study Sample
The schools selected for study consisted of the set of all
AAU universities (http://www.aau.edu/aau/members.html),
all Tier 2 or better national doctoral universities from the
2002 US News and World Report university rankings,
and a small number of other colleges and universities which
were traditional comparators or otherwise locally nominated
for inclusion.
Read more
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| IT NEWS |
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Here Comes ‘Bagel’
Some are calling it "the next Sobig” virus, but we haven't seen that many
reports of it causing problems on campuses yet. First spotted in Australia,
its subsequent spread has been global and appear targeted to under-resourced
organizations. (ZD Net)...
Read more
Deakin U: Every Student Must Have Online Credits to Graduate
Without diminishing the importance of face-to -ace, Australia’s Deakin University’s
faculty and administrators wanted to ensure every student graduates with experience
taking classes on line (The Warrnambool (Australia) Standard)...
Read more
First Online Simulation Game Designed for a College Course?
This Northern Illinois University course probes the evolution of the Roman
Catholic Church as an institution from the 16th century to the present. One
bonus of participating - you get to pick the Pope (Northern (Ill.) Star)...
Read more
Fighting Spam at the MIT Conference
Those in attendance see that anti-spam efforts are taking a toll on high-volume
spammers, by increasing their cost of doing business, if nothing else (PC World)...
Read more
‘Facebooking’ at Yale
A potential privacy and safety nightmare? Or a longstanding,
integral tradition? (Yale Daily News)....
Read more
Forget Space – Give Me Access!
Students clamor for high tech amenities, such as broadband and
technical support (New York Times)
....
Read more
China Changes Its Mind, Allows Duke U. Web Sites, E-mail
Somehow, Duke Web sites were inaccessible and e-mails from Duke
were not deliverable in China. No one knows why. Now, access is
restored, and still, no one knows why. Yale is among other
institutions that have had similar problems in China
(Duke Chronicle).....
Read more
Illegal Porn on AU Computer Spotted by Swiss 'Netizen
Highlighting how difficult it is to monitor downloads on campus
computers, it took someone from Switzerland to notify the
University of Arizona, recently, about child pornography on a
student's computer (Arizona Wildcat)
...
Read more
Texas Christian University Students to Get Norton Antivirus
TCU is licensing the software for all students. Students who
compute on campus are required to install and use it or face
removal from the network. (Daily Skiff)...
Read more
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| RESOURCES |
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Catalog of Government Science and Technology Web Resources
This Web site locates thousands of U.S. government science and
technology resources on the Web that let you tap into government
expertise, services, and facilities. ...
Learn more
Assistive Technology Resource Center
Resource center information on the use of adaptive and assistive technologies....
Learn more
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| DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS |
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Plato Learning Lands Florida Distance Learning Deal
Plato Learning, Inc., a provider of K-Adult computer-based and
e-learning solutions, was awarded a three-year, $1.5 million
contract to provide developmental education courses to all K-20
institutions in the Florida Distance Learning Consortium, with 11
community colleges and two state universities already committed
to implementing the course offerings.
University of Missouri Awards Document Workflow Contract
Document imaging specialist Perceptive Vision won a contract from the University
of Missouri System, for its ImageNow document imaging, management and workflow
solution. The university will install the software in all four campuses -- Columbia,
Kansas City, Rolla and St. Louis. The system will store and allow instant retrieval
of an estimated 50 million electronic objects (scanned documents, images or
any other electronic file) per year to meet the administrative, legal, fiscal,
research, and historical needs of the University.
Read more
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POLL
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Did your institution experience any significant problems at the beginning of
this term with online registration?
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NEW PRODUCTS
Hosted Content Manager for Smaller Organizations
GlobalScape, an application service provider of content and file
management services, introduced PureCMS, a hosted content
management service that enables organizations to share
responsibility for Web site content among non-technical team
members, without the need to install and manage a software
application internally.
The hosted service enables small organizations with limited IT resources to
save time and money through use of a content management system that d'es not
require investment in hardware, software or additional IT personnel and provides
24-hour availability, backup and ongoing maintenance of a staging environment
for their Web sites.
Learn more
Corel Hopes to Sway Windows 98 Die Hards
Following Microsoft's decision to offer extended support for Windows 98 through
June 2006, Corel announced a campaign to attract Windows 98 users to WordPerfect
Office 11. As part of this campaign, Corel will extend a special offer to Windows
98 users, allowing them to upgrade to WordPerfect Office 11 at a reduced price
while retaining their current operating system.
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Increasing Quality in Online Instruction
This week's interview features David Starrett Director, Center for Scholarship
in Teaching and Learning, Southeast Missouri State University.
Since 1997, technology institutes at Southeast Missouri State University have
helped faculty to use technology effectively. Starrett discusses roles and rewards,
assessment, and other issues regarding faculty development.
Click
Here to Listen
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New! Digital Tweed Blog
What do Mohammad Ali, Penny Marshall, and John Wooden have in common? They
are among the small cast of luminaries who make prominent (if brief) appearances
in a new IBM television ad promoting Linux...
Read
the Blog Now!
Casey Green offers his latest observations about
technology in higher education along with relevant examples from the widely
known Campus Computing Survey.
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