ITS News

A faster FIND

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:12:28 -0600

This week, ITS completed an upgrade to our campus lookup utility, FIND. This upgrade wasn't about new features; instead, look for super-snappy response times to your searches. Log on at http://find.lawrence.edu.

Student photos in Voyager for faculty

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:25:47 -0600

The Technology Advisory Committee (TAC), responding to requests from faculty, has announced that student photos can now be viewed in Voyager class, waiting, advisee, and major/minor/concentration lists. With guidance from folks in the Registrar's Office, ITS development staff has made this possible. When you pull up one of these lists, at the very bottom of the screen will be a link that says, for example, "Display class list with pictures." Click on that and, voila! You can, of course, "Display class list without pictures" if you prefer. These are the same student ID photos that appear in Find. They won't export into Excel, but they do appear in a larger size on the individual student pages. You will also note the student's nickname, as known to the Registrar's Office, in parentheses after their name throughout the Voyager displays. The nickname has also been added to the list exports.

Winter Break Computer Lab Schedule

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:00:00 -0600

Students, LU Computer Labs will be closed during Winter Break (December 14 - January 6) with the following exceptions: December 14 - 18: Colman Hall Open 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. December 19 - 23: Kohler Hall Open 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. December 27 - 31: Ormsby Hall Open 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. January 1 - 6: Plantz Hall Open 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. Computer labs will reopen on Monday, January 7, at 9 a.m. The ITC will be available during library hours (8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. on December 17 - 21, 26 - 28, 31, and January 2 - 4). Please contact the ITS Helpdesk at x6570 with any questions.

Lawrence Web Servers Uncovered: A must for content maintainers and web publishers

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:45:24 -0600

Here's a secret for anyone who updates Lawrence web pages: there's a special way that you can check your work to make sure it's visible to the outside world. It's always a good idea to load up your web page in a web browser after making updates, and most people probably do this. If you don't check your work with a real browser after editing and uploading your web pages, then you'll never know if your content is rendering properly. What might come as a surprise to many is the fact that simply checking your web content in a browser is not sufficient where Lawrence pages are concerned.

Campus Network Upgrades, 2007 (Part I)

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:01:00 -0600

As noted early in the summer, the 2007-2008 ITS capital budget includes provisions for a number of upgrades to the campus network. Several of these have been completed, and several others are nearing completion. So, it's time for a report to the campus community covering 1) greater bandwidth to the Internet, 2) expanded wireless coverage, 3) network access control, and 4) the extension of the campus network to Banta Bowl. This report covers the first two of these. Expect more information on the second two in about a week.

Technology profile, Class of 2011

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:40:00 -0600

Here's our annual update on the personal technology choices of freshmen. In a nutshell, students were slightly more likely to bring cellphones than last year's freshmen, somewhat more likely to bring laptops and MP3 players, and significantly more likely to bring a Macintosh than last year.

Scheduled Network Outage

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:55:00 -0600

Please be advised: ITS will be completing network upgrades Thursday, November 8, from 5 - 6 a.m. During this time, users will not have access to personal home directories, department share space, or printing services. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this outage, please contact the Helpdesk at ext. 6570.

New Feature Available in Voicemail

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:45:00 -0600

Thanks to the recent voicemail upgrade, faculty and staff members are now able to utilize Conditional Greetings in voicemail. There are three types of Conditional Greetings:

Busy: Greeting callers hear when your phone is already in use.
Call Forward: Greeting callers hear when your phone is forwarded to another extension.
No Answer: Greeting callers hear when your phone is not answered.

Instructions to configure Conditional Greetings may be found here: http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/its/facstaff/telecom.shtml#conditional. You may also continue to use your current, Primary Greeting and not make any changes to your voicemail settings.

ITS Introduces Print Management to LU Students!

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:20:00 -0600

Information Technology Services is proud to announce the arrival of Print Management on campus - an initiative recommended by the Student Welfare Committee to reduce printed paper waste at Lawrence. ITS believes the new printing system will help the environment as well as offer additional convenience to students. It will no longer be necessary for students to resend a document to print at another location if a printer becomes jammed or out of paper. Rather, print jobs may be retrieved from one of many Print Release Stations across campus. What exactly is Print Management? Print Management allows print jobs to collect in a print queue until released by the owner from a Print Release Station. Print jobs will remain in queue for 15 minutes; if jobs are not released within the allotted time frame, they will be automatically canceled. Authentication with a network password is required to release a print job. This security feature will ensure that print jobs may only be released by their owner. Print jobs may be reviewed and released from any Print Release Station on campus. Print Management will be rolled out on Thursday, November 1. Implementation will most likely be completed by the close of Reading Period on Sunday, November 4. For additional information including Print Release Station locations and how to utilize Print Management on a personal computer, refer to the ITS website on Print Management. Please contact ITS if you have questions or if you encounter a problem using the Print Management system. Thank you!

Discounted Adobe Software Offer

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:06:18 -0600

Faculty and Staff, ITS wants to share an incredible offer - as part of the WAICU Adobe Purchase Program which Lawrence is a part of, faculty and staff are able to purchase Adobe software for home use at student discount pricing through Journey Education Marketing (JourneyEd), WAICU's designated reseller for Adobe products. This offer is for a limited time only and expires November 30, 2007. If you are thinking of purchasing Adobe software, now is the time! Click here for more information.

Issues with Microsoft Office

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:30:00 -0600

Lately ITS has encountered numerous incidents involving Microsoft Office documents. If you are using the new version of Microsoft Office for Windows (Office 2007) on your personal computer, OR, if you receive files from users of Office 2007 (generally, most students with new computers), please refer to the following article posted earlier this year. View the article here: http://blogs.lawrence.edu/its/2007/04/keeping_microsoft_office_docum.html This article includes tips on how to keep Office documents compatible, and ITS feels that students, faculty, and staff may find it very useful as classes begin.

Classroom Technology Hotline Ideal for Faculty

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:35:00 -0600

Faculty members, Imagine that it's 9:47a.m. and your class begins in three minutes. You are anxiously awaiting the arrival of your students so you can share the fabulous presentation which you spent endless hours creating. The classroom is full of energy, and you know it is going to be a great day for learning at Lawrence University. You happily turn on the projector, log in to the computer, and... blank screen...nothing happens... Your positive vibe creeps and dwindles as you try again. You don't have time to waste on this exciting day. What are you to do?!?! It's oh so simple. Call the Classroom Technology Hotline at x7020 from a building phone or 920-832-7020 from your cell phone. An ITS technician will be dispatched immediately to troubleshoot the problem and restore services in your classroom. ...and the positive vibe returns! ITS implemented the Hotline last academic year specifically for problems encountered with projectors, computers, and other audio/visual equipment while class is in session. The Hotline is conveniently available from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. (Please note, ITS requests that you reserve the use of the Classroom Technology Hotline for urgent technology issues with existing classroom equipment. Other issues should continue to be addressed via the Helpdesk.) For more information on operating classroom equipment, refer to the printed instructions located in the equipment cabinet or posted on the wall in each multimedia classroom. You may also visit www.lawrence.edu/dept/it/classrooms.shtml. To request a personal multimedia training session, please contact the Helpdesk. We will be happy to assist you.

LU Wireless Expands to Include Residence Hall Lounges

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:45:24 -0600

Students, ITS has expanded LU-provided wireless to include several new locations! Effective immediately, wireless is available in the first floor lounges of Kohler, Ormsby, Plantz, Sage, and Trever Halls. Wireless is also available in the fourth floor lounge of Hiett Hall. ITS is excited about this expansion and will inform you of additional expansion as it occurs. For more information on LU-provided wireless, please visit www.lawrence.edu/dept/its/services/guides/wireless.shtml.

Scheduled Wireless Network Outage

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:00:00 -0600

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students, The campus wireless network is being expanded to include additional access points in academic areas and wireless in the residence hall lounge areas. Due to this expansion, it is necessary to upgrade the wireless network equipment. Starting at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, Wednesday, September 5, the wireless network will be unavailable until the upgrades are completed. Due to the work involved, we are unable to accurately estimate when the wireless network will return to service (return to service is expected sometime during the day on September 5th). A notice will be sent when service has been restored. If you use the wireless network, please plan to connect through the wired network tomorrow. Wired network services will not be interrupted during this project. If you have questions, please contact the helpdesk at ext. 6570. -- Dana Rose-Schmalz, User Services Manager

Scheduled Internet Outage

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:50:00 -0600

Faculty, Staff, and Students: There will be a brief Internet outage on Friday, August 31, from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. due to hardware upgrades. During this time Internet services will be unavailable. If you have any questions, please contact the Helpdesk at ext. 6570. Thank you.