IT Trends :: Thursday, November 30, 2006

IT News

Return to Sender at Wesleyan University

Institutional research surveys from Brown University sent to Wesleyan students spur a “spam war” of sorts when a sophomore decides he d'esn’t like getting those e-mails and urges other students to send e-mails back with very large attachments. The student complained that he had already asked to be taken off the list, but got a second e-mail anyway. Brown said that the survey was part of a large study being conducted at multiple universities on open curriculum and how it works…

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9 Out of 10 E-mails Now Spam

According to Postini, an integrated message management firm, the percentage of e-mails that are spam has risen to 90 percent. About 200 illegal gangs are behind 80 percent of unwanted e-mails, according to Spamhaus, a body that tracks the problem. Alongside of and part of this rise, the quantity of spam e-mails has tripled since June of 2006. Whew, and we thought it was just us…

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Oklahoma State All Out for Energy Savings

Gee, I never have figured out if I should leave the computer on to not wear out the switch, or whether I should turn it off when I can to save energy. Oklahoma State University has been making a major push to make sure that lights are turned off when not in use. They even have a staffer roam the halls shutting off lights in every room and closet, leaving behind stern notes when lights are left on. Officials estimate that this employee single-handedly turns off 5,000 light bulbs per night, 20,000 a week, and more than 1 million in a year...

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New Michigan Classrooms Go Interactive

How about those “dinner theater” classrooms at Michigan? The 140,000-square-foot Undergraduate Science Building is an example of a new effort to encourage classrooms to be used more efficiently. It’s managed by a governance board of representatives from several colleges at U-M. The rooms don’t belong to a single department; they’re intended to be shared by a wide range of professors…

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