SIGUCCS: User Services Conference 

About: SIGUCCS: User Services Conference is an academic conference. The conference publishes majorly in the area(s): Information technology & Desk. Over the lifetime, 1267 publications have been published by the conference receiving 4530 citations.

Google this!: using Google apps for collaboration and productivity

Abstract: In 2009, Colorado State University migrated to Google Apps for Education as an e-mail hosting solution for its students from an internal on-premise e-mail system. The additional capabilities of Google Apps, originally seen as a nonessential add-on to the e-mail solution, have boosted the collaboration and communication among CSU's students beyond our expectations. Once the faculty and staff saw the potential for collaboration the requests to opt-in increased. This allowed collaboration between faculty and students on a scale not previously witnessed at CSU. Faculty who have made the switch to Google Apps are satisfied and enthusiastic with the service. The Google Apps for Education suite comprises Google Mail, Calendar, Talk, Docs, Sites and Video. In this paper I will provide an overview of each App as well as specific techniques on using each App. We will discuss the potential of teamwork and idea exchanges made possible by Google Apps and how they can be implemented in the academic environment. We will discuss and demonstrate interoperability between Google Apps and external applications, IT team collaboration, student employee management integration, migration techniques and more.

Virtualization: virtually at the desktop

Abstract: We have witnessed low resource utilization of high performance graphics workstations in our instructional computer laboratories. The low utilization statistics indicate that workstation consolidation could achieve great savings in infrastructure, networking, power consumption, and maintenance costs. In addition, we would spend less time in deployment, security, and fault isolation without compromising performance. The basic enabler for workstation consolidation in our instructional computing environment is the ability to allow multiple separate operating system instances and associated software packages to share a single hardware server. We have successfully utilized existing off the shelf products and developed tools and protocols to migrate processing tasks from the desktop level to the virtual desktop level running on remote hardware and returning the processing results back to the desktop level for display. Since all processing is done at the server level, we no longer need high performance graphics workstation class machines at the desktop. This allows us to offer high performance graphics workstation capabilities to any desktop, including lower-end commodity class desktop machines, notebook computers, or even thin-clients. While server consolidation through virtualization is not new, desktop workstation virtualization seemed a natural and novel extension of the server virtualization framework. Indeed, the general trend is towards applying virtualization techniques to almost all Information Technology infrastructure machinery, and we should expect to see more virtualization, virtually everywhere in higher education institutions. In this report, we will present our approach, framework, implementation challenges, lessons learned and next steps.

Achieving web accessibility

Abstract: The World Wide Web has long outgrown its novelty to become a necessity in academics. Internet access has enabled numerous activities-registration, research, and distance learning, to name a few-to reach more people than ever. Federal laws require state schools to provide accessible web sites for persons with disabilities-yet many fail to, perhaps due to webmasters' ignorance and misconceptions that enabling access is expensive and time-consuming. Public schools violate this obligation when they only respond on an ad-hoc basis to requests for accommodation; therefore, it is vital for webmasters to learn how to provide equal access. Whether a site is in its initial planning or is fully developed, there are common concerns to address: specifically, why do sites need to be accessible and to what degree? What is the process for creating or modifying pages to ensure accessibility? Can a web site use advanced technologies and still be accessible? How can accessibility be verified? What resources are available to assist in this process? Although comprehensive understanding of accessibility can be an undertaking, a significant amount of knowledge can be obtained through a broad introduction.

tele-TASK: teleteaching anywhere solution kit

Abstract: With the help of the new developed system tele-TASK - Teleteaching Anywhere Solution Kit - [2] [7] a new, drastically simplified entrance technology for on-line lectures is reached. Out of the apartment or the office each PC user with a suitable Internet connection can follow online lessons comfortably. Even an interested layman is able to access the courses. Not only content of teaching are delivered, which are presented to the students in the lecture-room by either a whiteboard or a video beamer, but simultaneously also video and audio of the lecturer. Navigation bar for accessing different parts in the recorded lecture are included. Tele-TASK supports all usual platforms, different net bandwidths, arbitrary presentation programs and needs no special software installations, configurations and no precognition of the end-users. For the first time, the system was deployed for recording, transmission and archiving of the computer science lecture "Information security in open networks" at the University of Trier in the summer semester 2002. High access numbers are expression of the perfectly problem-free and easy possibilities of using.

What is cyberinfrastructure

Abstract: Cyberinfrastructure is a word commonly used but lacking a single, precise definition. One recognizes intuitively the analogy with infrastructure, and the use of cyber to refer to thinking or computing -- but what exactly is cyberinfrastructure as opposed to information technology infrastructure? Indiana University has developed one of the more widely cited definitions of cyberinfrastructure.Cyberinfrastructure consists of computing systems, data storage systems, advanced instruments and data repositories, visualization environments, and people, all linked together by software and high performance networks to improve research productivity and enable breakthroughs not otherwise possible.A second definition, more inclusive of scholarship generally and educational activities, has also been published and is useful in describing cyberinfrastructure:Cyberinfrastructure consists of computational systems, data and information management, advanced instruments, visualization environments, and people, all linked together by software and advanced networks to improve scholarly productivity and enable knowledge breakthroughs and discoveries not otherwise possible.In this paper, we describe the origin of the term cyberinfrastructure based on the history of the root word infrastructure, discuss several terms related to cyberinfrastructure, and provide several examples of cyberinfrastructure