Dwight Fischer, Plymouth State University

If classes are delayed or canceled, do you have contingency plans using Blackboard or any online tools? Do you compensate ‘seat time’ with online engagement? My guess is that a few of you are, but most of us aren’t.

What have we learned about our preparedness and our response to environmental extremes? How would we hold classes if there was, say, an avian flu outbreak? How would you conduct your courses? Could you?

I ask not to provoke but to think. Many of us in administrative roles spend a lot of time preparing for a wide range of emergencies. We do many ‘what if’ scenarios. Emergency and disaster planning are now core to what we do.

What is your classroom ‘what if?’.

This year, I’m afraid all we did was cancel classes. If I was a PSU student or parent, I might be asking for more. They’re paying for it and we have the tools.

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Change often means changing habits. So it is with how you get your University news and information.

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Over the past year, we’ve been reviewing our overall communication strategy for the campus and in particular, internal communications. The question: How do we communicate effectively with so many people with so many diverse needs and via so many communication tools?

Things used to be simple. We had allemp and allstudent email lists. Those tried and true communication means got the news to everyone. But things have changed. Last year allemp was retired. As the University has grown and our employees have expanded statewide, and as email has become a firehose of information and services (and digital crud) blasting all the news to all employees at will outgrew its effectiveness. Also, emergency notifications were intertwined with pottery sales and surplus equipment. We needed to step up our game.

So allemp went away and PSU-Announce was initiated. Public Relations sent out daily update compilations. For most, this system worked, but something was lost. Internal, combustible conversation. Healthy campus dialogue. The ability of one to send out thoughts to many.

Meanwhile, students are evolving right past us. They use email, but they communicate much more immediately and integrally with cell phones and FaceBook. They are on those communication tools all day long. They might check their email once or twice a day, but it is not their preferred mode.

Concurrent to our growth as a University, communication tools have evolved significantly. We now have a full-fledged campus web portal. We can post news and all sorts of information there. We have blogs, which are simply interactive web pages, technology that is now used to list campus events. We still have email listservs for faculty, OS and PAT groups.

Our problem wasn’t that we didn’t communicate. Rather, we weren’t communicating effectively. We began disseminating news in multiple formats, yet it was flying by many people. Many employees bemoaned the loss of allemp (any employee with the ability send any email to all employees!). Students complained of the University spamming them. We had a bona fide communication gap.

We needed to simplify. We needed to get smarter and more consistent with our communications.

OPR just launched a new myNews tab in myPlymouth. One tab, all news and information for the University. Announcements, Plymouth Week, PSU Athletics, This Week@PSU, the Plymouth Magazine and more.

They also created an ‘opt-in’ email distribution list called fyi@plymouth.edu (subscribe to PSU FYI at: http://toto.plymouth.edu/mailman/listinfo/fyi) for those that want the daily announcements in their email.

For important and urgent news, all employees and students will still see information pushed to them in email.

*****

Here is where a change of habit might be beneficial. If you want complete news and information of everything going on at PSU, look to the myPlymouth myNews tab. It’s all right there. If you want this news delivered to your email, ask for it.

It’s no longer the case that the news and information is not there. It’s up to you to decide on how you want to get it.

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There’s lots of hype around the new iPhone. Credit Apple with their marketing and entertainment strategy. Apple products don’t usually do well in large organizations, but from a consumer perspective, there are none better.

People ask me if I’m going to get an iPhone. Probably not, at least for now. Not because I don’t want one, and not because it’s expensive, but mostly because I’m not sure how much integration I want in my cell phone.

First and foremost, I want my cell phone to work as a phone. Too many times, especially here in the north country, I can’t make or keep a call. Or my messages alert me hours after the call was made. Before my phone does anything else, I want that function down pat.

Yet another reason I’m not clamoring for the iPhone is that, well, everyone else is. It’s the latest fad. I think I’ll let the initial phase blow over and maybe wait for the 2.0 or 3.0 version. Maybe.

Those factors aside, I’m not sure I want my cell phone to be my iPod, my web, camera, photo cache and everything else. I think it would be novel to have all those functions in one, single unit, but I already have conniption fits when I misplace my phone, iPod, or camera. If I was to have an iPhone and lost it, or dropped it, or forgot to take it out of my pants as I jumped in a lake, it would be game over for a while.

I think what Apple has produced is marvelous example of technical innovation. It will influence the market significantly. But for now, no thanks. I don’t mind having separate units.

Besides, it’s summer, a time to disconnect. I want a few weeks to spend LESS time with my cell phone, not more.

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As most of you head out for the summer, I thought it a good time to give you a quick update.

Over the course of the summer, ITS is planning on upgrading our email program. We’ve heard plenty from you about problems with email in myPlymouth, WebMail and a lack of reliability this year. That has caused some of you problems at critical times of the semester. Our regrets. Several ITS managers met with student leaders in April to discuss what students need from an email program. This is what they said:

• Simple, uncluttered web interface, like Yahoo, Google and HotMail.
• Calendar that can be shared
• Easy, intuitive navigation
• Ability to store contacts
• More storage capacity for personal documents
• Ability to send large attachments
• Reliability!

We explored options, such as outsourcing student email to Google. After careful consideration of the pros and cons, we (and many faculty) felt that driving students to GoogleMail as an official communication tool would compromise some security and privacy. This was not unanimous, nor would we rule it out in future years, but at this time we decided to bolster our resources internally.

When you return in the fall, you will find a new email program that will meet all the needs above. We heard you.

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There will also be a major facelift to myPlymouth on Memorial Day Weekend. Think of it as a Botox injection. We think you’ll like the new layout. It’s less cluttered and more functional. Tighter.

At the same time, the PSU Web pages, with a focus on external audiences, will also be unveiled.

********

ITS wishes you all a safe and enjoyable summer. For graduating seniors, congratulations! We’ll be looking for you in the Alumni myPlymouth.

Dwight Fischer, CIO

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Windows Vista and Office 2007

Microsoft released new versions of their operating system and Office application suite in February. As with most major software releases, new form and function are often associated with incompatibilities with other applications. We are well-advised to bide our time and let the software industry adapt accordingly. PSU will not be upgrading employee computers for either product until the fall, if then.

We’ve been testing the new products. While there are many positive aspects to Vista and Office, we find that they pose a learning curve. We’re all going to have some work to do to prepare.

For faculty and staff, upgrades to Vista and Outlook 2007 will be months away, probably over the summer for some. These upgrades will render many older computers obsolete or, at best, slow. They require significant compatibility testing with the vast array of other PSU applications. Additionally, the upgrade for Microsoft Office (the suite that includes Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint), will necessitate retraining for most employees. Our testing has found numerous changes and reconfiguration of what’s been fairly well known product.

In Word, for instance, many of us have used the product for years. We know where all the commands and formatting functions exist in the menu system. The new version of Word has re-jiggered the menus into what they now call ribbons. While intelligent, they are less-than-intuitive. Until you learn how it works, you simply cannot sit down to your computer, write, format and go. The same holds true for Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. You may find it frustrating while you search for the tools/functions that you’ve known so well.

ITS is preparing an information and training program for the months ahead. We’ll have in-class and online options. For now, for those of you anxious to use the new products, please be patient. It has become one of our highest priorities for the next twelve months.
While we can hold off upgrades to employee computers, students and others who purchase new computers will have Vista pre-installed, and most likely Office2007 as well. Our Learning Commons technical staff will be there to support you as best we can. Get ready, however, because we’re sure you’re going to experience the challenges of being an early adaptor.

If you are considering purchase of a new computer, we suggest you talk with the PSU Computer Store. They can help you understand the implications and issues around what you will experience. Most important is to understand that documents you save in the new format cannot be read by earlier versions unless the recipient gets a translater. (contact helpdesk@plymouth.edu) If you can wait another semester to buy a new computer, you’d be well-advised.

For a concise summary of new Vista features, click here. http://www.eweek.com/slideshow/0,1206,pg=0&s=25951&a=199829,00.asp

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Using Microsoft Vista on Campus

Please be aware of the current limitations of using the new Vista operating system on campus.

ITS has engineered a reliable pre-clearing system which includes an automatic anti-virus installer in order to provide a safe computing environment for all. Machines without our version of anti-virus software are not allowed network access.

With the launch of Vista , many software companies are still rushing to come out with Vista-compatible programs; including anti-virus programs. Our anti-virus vendor, McAfee, is currently still developing an installer for their newest anti-virus program. As such, we are currently unable to provide seamless automatic protection to Vista machines. While ITS will strive to help first early adapters, it is likely that Vista machines will encounter network access problems until McAfee releases their installer program to PSU.

Faculty and staff members who use VPN software should also note that currently, our VPN software is not Vista-compatible. It would be impossible to access any network resources that require VPN with a Vista machine now.

As with any new operating system release, these early challenges should dissipate in time. We will follow up with more communications in the months ahead.

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Email…what a wonderful tool running amok. Much of our work today is based in email. When you find, however, that your inbox is cluttered with spam and unsolicited intrusions, you start to wonder if it’s all it’s cracked up to be.

Most of the mail on the internet today is spam. We protect you from most of it. Not all. You have tools at your disposal to block more. Unfortunately, the more you tighten your filters, the more good emails get caught in the nets. (sigh) Thus we are losing confidence in a communication means that used to be very reliable.

In spite of our approaches, new types of spam keep coming through. A year or so ago, we were dealing with multitudes of smut and offers to enlarge. We installed new software to filter that out. Then we had credit card and eBay scams, phishing ploys enticing us to update our accounts and offer up our access codes to financial data. Currently, we’re fending off stock deals, masked by randomly generated names and subject headings.

Consider this from a recent Computer World article:

Computer security analysts who fight spam face the same thankless task as goalkeepers: They don’t get much credit for the unsolicited e-mail they stop, only demerits for the ones that get through. But those few messages that wriggle past increasingly sophisticated filters constitute the greatest threats on the Internet. The sheer volume of spam threatens to bring the Internet to a crisis point. The amount of all e-mail traffic that is spam has recently risen to 85%, according to the Messaging Anti-Abuse Work Group in San Francisco….

Who knows the precise percentage, but those numbers are consistent with our experience.

Fighting spam is difficult in an academic environment. We value academic freedom and are committed to free exchange of ideas. Rarely do we block access to information, and only when it poses a threat to our network.

Yet if the spammers continue to have their way, they may force us to develop new strategies for communicating and messaging. It might mean that we change to another means of messaging. It almost certainly requires resources and ITS time and effort.

Set your own spam filter at oz.plymouth.edu/spamkill This is a free service to the PSU community. Outlook users can also set a second filter under the Tools menu.

ITS will continue to keep pace with developments in the anti-spam industry. We know this is important to all of us.

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There’s been a good debate about whether or not PSU should support blogs. Who among you think this is important for PSU to invest in and support?

Blogs, or web logs, are used more and more for individuals and organizations to publish material to the web quickly and easily. Any individual can set up a blog and write until their heart’s content. They can publish their thoughts to the world and with no editor, filter or moderation. If they have good ideas and can write effectively, others take notice. They may also establish a feed from your site. That means every time you post something on your blog, it is pulled to their attention.

Like so many new aspects of the web, water seeks its own level. If you are good, people take notice and your hit count increases. Some may get their 15 minutes of fame. For most, it simply brings the satisfaction of writing and publishing.

Some PSU classes use blogs. Students are required to set up a blog and post materials there as part of assignments. Some students who are less extroverted in the classroom can be more effective communicators in writing. (and vica versa)

Over the past year, PSU has been hosting a small blog server in a pilot study. Several departments have signed on to use them, along with a few individuals. The very blog you’re reading now is sitting on that server. Yet we cannot continue to expand its use without investing in more equipment.

With that background, here is the issue. Should PSU host a blog site for individuals or not? Should we invest PSU resources in the hardware to host blogs in the PSU domain? It might cost around $7-8,000, plus someone’s time to maintain and upgrade it in the future. Or should we use and encourage blogs, but use any one of the many blog sites free and easy to anyone on the web. There are two camps of thought.

Camp One: PSU should not only support, but encourage blog use. We are an academic community where free exchange of ideas and thoughts is fundamental to our mission. By encouraging the use of blogs, we can bring more attention to PSU. In a Google Economy, this is muscle. It could also be a marketing boon. $7-8k in cost is nothing considering the larger cost of technologies on campus. PSU can and should invest in this rapidly expanding means of communication. It is core to what we do. Also, by hosting the blog site at PSU, we do not require students sign up for web services outside of our control.

Camp Two: PSU should encourage and support blog use for anyone interested, but why invest in hardware and support when blogs are a commodity readily and easily available on the web? Anyone can sign up for a free blog by establishing a username, password and verification of age. (www.blogstream.com, for an example) There is nothing overly personal or sensitive in that information. (If you don’t want to give your real birthdate, don’t.) There would be no cost to PSU and the same functionality would exist. Besides, given the rapid pace of change around web applications, we might want to wait this out and see if it’s a fad or a true wave of the future.

I’ve simplified the debate to this core issue. There are pros and cons to each. The crux question to you is whether or not you feel this is important to what we do at PSU? The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) engaged in this debate in their September 2006 meeting. Their recommendation was that PSU should support and host blogs.

It will be presented as a budget priority for next year. It will compete with other priorities for new funding.

What do you think? Do blogs matter to you and if so, should we host or post elsewhere? I’d love to hear from others in the campus community.
(ITS’ers and blog aficionados, let’s give others a chance to chime in first)

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• Technology Update: Fall 2007