| August 28, 2008 | Vol 10. No. 1 |
Illegal Music Sharing to be Blocked
In compliance with the Higher Education Act of 2008, Canisius College will block illegal music sharing. Under the law, Canisius College must certify that it “has developed plans to effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, including through the use of a variety of technology-based deterrents.” Students are encouraged to use commercial music services such as iTunes or Amazon to download music.
Illegal music sharing is usually accomplished by way of a kind of networking called peer-to-peer networking. By severely limiting peer-to-peer network traffic, ITS hopes to:
- Fulfill its obligations under the law. Encourage compliance with the Canisius College Community Standards.
- Realize improved network performance for instruction and research. Reduce the necessity to "disinfect" or rebuild computers that have inadvertently loaded viruses, spyware, and adware.
- Make more efficient use of Canisius College resources, including staff time that has been used to track down students who have been identified by copyright holders as having unauthorized music on their computers.
Library Open House
Come join us for hot dogs, popcorn and cotton candy during our open house on Friday September 12 between 11:30 a.m. and 5:00 pm. Free! Free! Free! Donate canned food items to have your library fines waived.
Archives Speaker Series Continues
The Canisius College Archives, the Special Collections and the Andrew L. Bouwhuis Library announce the 2008-2009 Archives Speaker Series, which begins on Friday, September 12, 2008 from 2 p.m. -3 p.m. on the second floor of the Andrew L. Bouwhuis Library featuring
Robert J. Butler PhD, professor of English, co-author of the recently released The Richard Wright Encyclopedia, will discuss this critically acclaimed reference that encompasses the life, work and times of Wright, the African-American author whose works helped redefine race relations in mid-20th century America. An exhibit accompanies this discussion, and light refreshments will be served.
The Archives Speaker Series showcases scholars with a special understanding of archival research, based on their own experiences; and who have completed a book or other expresssion of scholarship reliant on archival research.
This event is part of the day-long Canisius College Library Open House, and will be followed by the Faculty Promotion Celebration. Please consider participating in both.
For more information contact Kathleen DeLaney at Ext. 2916 or delaneyk@canisius.edu
Busy Summer for the Media Center
Welcome back from the Media Center! This summer, work was completed in a large number of classrooms on campus. Two of this summer’s more noticeable upgrades happened in OM 110 and OM 308. Both rooms were upgraded from Level 1 classrooms (TVs with a DVD/VCR) to full Level 3 classrooms. Each room now features a ceiling-mounted projector, Crestron Color Touch Panel, resident PC computer, laptop connectivity, DVD/VCR combo unit, ELMO P-10 document camera and auxiliary cables allowing for easy connecting of other audio/video devices.
In addition to these standard Level 3 features, OM 110 and OM 308 each offer something a little different. OM 110 has a new Mitsubishi DLP projector that allows for the display of widescreen computer (resident PC and laptop) and video (DVD) images, while a SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard was installed in OM 308.
However, OM 308 was not alone in receiving interactive whiteboard technology. For information on other SMART Board installations, visit the new Interactive Whiteboard section of our Web site. For further details on the rest of the classroom upgrades, including a new Level 3 classroom at the Canisius Center @ Amherst, coordinating the installation of flat panel displays in OM 111 and the upgraded lighting system in all of the case study classrooms, visit our What’s New? page.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns about instructional technology in the classroom or would like to schedule training, please feel free to contact the Media Center office at ext. 2590. For more information on classrooms, please check out the What’s In My Classroom page at the Media Center Web site.
Implementation of Microsoft Office 2007/2008
Office 2007 for Windows users and Office 2008 for Macintosh users are now standard in all College computer labs and Instructional Technology Classrooms. This change was necessitated by text book publishers who have incorporated the current Office product. Faculty members who have a new computer this fall, or those who have recently had their computers “re-built” by ITS, will know that the implementation of the new Microsoft Office suite for college computers has also begun. Over the next few months, all academic offices will be converted to the new program. Subsequent to that, administrative offices will be converted. The interface for Office 2007/2008 is significantly different from previous versions. Look for workshops to be offered this fall. In the meantime, some good references can be found at:
Quick Reference for Word 2007
Interactive Word 2003 to Word 2007 Reference Guide
Microsoft Self-paced training courses
If you would like to have the new Office software installed sooner rather than later, please contact the ITS Help Desk to make arrangements. (Ext. 2299 or helpdesk@canisius.edu)
“Opt-in” Google E-mail for Students
Canisius College is now outsourcing its student email to Google's gmail on an "opt-in” basis this fall. We expect that many students will take advantage of this new service as it will provide significant benefits, including more storage space and the option of a Canisius E-mail address when they become alumni. In addition, each student who uses G-mail will have a personal start page.
On campus, the E-mail addresses of students will still look the same; i.e., username@canisius.edu. However, when a student “opts in” all E-mail to their address will be automatically forwarded to Google mail. Angel E-mail will still work the same; messages sent to a class in Angel will be delivered to Angel and, in addition, to the students’ choice of E-mail. Class listprocs can also still be used for class E-mail. The only difference will be that students can choose where they read their E-mail – Griff mail or Google. As we start the project this fall each student must "opt-in.” Subsequent to this, new students will only get Google G-mail accounts.
Angel
As in the past, all courses offered this fall have been set up in Angel, our Learning Management System, and are available for faculty to add their syllabus, course content and calendar. Current course enrollments from Banner are reflected in Angel. Adds and drops that are processed in Banner are also reflected, usually within hours, without any additional faculty intervention.
New for the fall 2008 semester is that all Angel courses are date-enabled. Faculty who want to adjust the date that students can access course information can go to “General Course Settings” on the Manage tab and change the start date.
Angel workshops will be held throughout the Fall semester. Click on the “Angel Training for Faculty and Staff” on the Angel login page for schedule and registration information.
New Campus Anti-virus Software
This summer, ITS has licensed ESET, new anti-virus and anti-spyware software. This alternative to Symantec will provide us with many operational benefits. In the coming months, the ITS Help Desk will arrange to have the current anti-virus software on your computer removed and the new one installed. Until then, Symantec will continue to work as it has in the past.
Do you have questions, comments, or suggestions for articles you would like to see published in the LIS News? Please let us know:
lis_comments@canisius.edu