Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Page 1 - News From the World of ICT http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
News From the World of ICT
Welcome to another issue of the ICT newsletter!
News From the World of ICT is our way of sharing with the
Maxwell community who we are, and what we do.
From events in the Global Collaboratory, to computing tips and tricks to make your
day a little easier, you’ll learn something new in every issue!
Issue 4 December 2009
Contents:A word from the Director... ......2
Staff Focus ...............................3
Faculty Focus ...........................4
Emerging Technology ..............6
Online Collaboration ................8
Tips and Tricks .......................10
Additional Information ..........12
Help Info ................................13
Page 2 - A word from the Director... http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
A word from the Director...
Last year, ICT made the web conferencing software, Adobe Connect Pro, available to the Maxwell
community. This allowed faculty, staff and students to easily conduct everything from online meetings and presentations, to collaborating research. This year, the university purchased a campus license which allows
the entire campus community to use this powerful tool. For more information, please see the Online Collaboration page of this newsletter.
Microsoft officially released Windows 7 to the public in October. As was mentioned in the last newsletter, ICT has been busy testing and preparing Windows 7 for deployment in Maxwell sometime next spring. In January, we will be meeting with the departments to provide more information and share our wonderful experience testing Windows 7. The Windows 7 demonstrations will be followed by formal beta testing sometime in February. If you are interested in participating in the Windows 7 testing, please contact: [email protected].
If you press and hold the <• Ctrl> key and then scroll your mouse wheel backward/forward on the desktop, the desktop icon size will increase/decrease. (Be careful with this, it will sometimes mess up the icon organization on your desktop.)You can enable “checkboxes” to help select • multiple items in a folder window. Set this up through your Folder Options: from any explorer window, click Organize on the Command bar, then choose Folder and Search Options / click the View tab / check “Use check boxes to select items” / OK.
Did you know?
Page 3 - Staff Focus http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
Thomas FazzioInstructional Technology Analyst
Tom joined ICT in June of 2000 as a Micro Computer Tech and A/V
Specialist. His involvement with the renovation of the Global Collaboratory led to his current position.
Tom assists event planners with the technical needs for their event. This usually means helping schedule the Global Collaboratory, setting up a videoconference, mixing microphones for a PA system, or running a live broadcast on the web. He also provides information about using other web media such as collaborative conferencing with Adobe Connect or podcasting via iTunesU. He loves working on the many projects and presentations that take place each semester. The Maxwell School is a very busy place and he feels lucky to be involved with a lot of that activity.
We asked Tom about the weirdest thing he’s encountered on a job. His response was very funny, but, due to space issues, you’ll have to ask him about it the next time you see him.
Staff Focus
Tammy HnatComputer Consultant I
Tammy began working for the ICT Department in April, 2007. She has
been teaching computer applications since the ‘97 version of Microsoft Office - Office 2007 being her favorite, so far.
Her primary role is to provide computer application support to the Maxwell community. She works one-on-one with faculty, staff, and students; and provides group instruction during her monthly training sessions held in the IML. These training sessions allow users hands-on practice, which Tammy believes is a very important factor when learning a new new feature of a computer application. Training sessions are based on feedback from the Maxwell community, and on what applications she sees being used the most. If you’d like to suggest a training session, please send an email to ICT Training.
Tammy lives in the country with her husband and their cat. She loves adding plants to her many gardens, listening to her husband’s musical creations, and loses hours working with video software.Read about Tom’s Halloween video on page 7!
Page 4 - Faculty Focus http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
Faculty Focus
Ines Mergel Assistant Professor of Public Administration
How long have you been at 1. Maxwell? I started as a junior faculty member in August, 2008.
How do you use technology in your research and/or teaching?2. My research focus is based on the informal networking behavior of public sector employees in different levels of government. In addition, I am interested in how they use new social networking services, such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to include citizens in decision making processes, and to maintain their relationships with their colleagues, collaborate more efficiently internally and, overall, be more transparent in their actions.
In my research, I analyze data sets collected from public sector employees on their informal networking behavior. I use Ucinet, Netdraw, and NodeXL (a MS Excel add-on) to analyze the network matrices. I also use Stata to analyze the quantitative attitude data, and QSR Nvivo to code the text passages of interview data I have collected from State Health Officials, DNA Forensic Scientists, Members of Congress, and municipal CIOs.
I have just started a large-scale data collection of Twitter and Facebook messages published by Members of Congress to understand their use of social media and their need for self-promotion using social networking sites. For this project, I decided to categorize the messages in MS Excel and code the content of the messages in NVivo. The “@mentions” contained in their Twitter messages will be used to understand the underlying attention network (e.g., who is mentioning whom in their Twitter messages and in what context). I will analyze the network in Ucinet and display the sociograms by topics in NodeXL and Netdraw.
Continued on page 5.
Page 5 - Faculty Focus http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
Faculty FocusContinued from page 4. Ines Mergel, Assistant Professor Of Public Administration
While I use Blackboard primarily as a document container, I also use a free class wiki called PBWiki. I have asked the students in my MPA New Media Management class to set up their own pages, continuously add news regarding class topics, post questions, and discuss each others content. In addition, we are analyzing the use of social media tools in this class, and are frequently navigating to Facebook fan pages and discovering social media strategies of government agencies.
What new technology are you interested in using either in your teaching or for 3. your personal use? I am excited that Skype has been accepted to be tested as a communication tool by faculty members. With approximately 130 contacts in my Skype list, I was used to initiating international phone conferences ad hoc at no cost, and exchanging quick chat messages with the international research groups I work with. It will be great to have access to Skype on my office desktop again and save research money for phone conferences.
I am also interested in using a school-supported blog to quickly publish shorter pieces of my research, as well as Op-Ed style commentaries, before the final result of my research goes through the, usually, long peer review process. This will give me an opportunity to stay relevant while my full papers are under review. I have been using a free third party provider, Wordpress, since 2005 to write my blog (http://inesmergel.wordpress.com), but believe that there might be a larger recognition effect with a Maxwell URL and the school’s corporate design
Moreover, I would like to use Dropbox – a virtual network drive – to share large documents with my colleagues at other universities. This would enable us to share literature that we all need to read, or larger PowerPoint presentations that are difficult to transfer in an email.
Next semester I am planning to use Twitter groups in my class. I would like to be able to use Tweetdeck on my desktop to effectively sort through different keywords and follower groups, but also to observe Members of Congress messages without actively having to follow them and show up in their follower list. This will help to keep my neutral status as a researcher.
I continuously discuss my ideas on how to integrate social media tools into my teaching and research with Stanley Ziemba, Matt Coulter, Brian von Knoblauch, Tom Fazzio and Eddie Godwin. They patiently listen and test what the possibilities are here in the Maxwell Environment. I would like to take the opportunity to thank them for their expertise and feedback!
**ICT would like to thank Professor Mergel for her very informative contribution to our newsletter!**
Page 6 - Emerging Technology http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
Emerging Technology
Product name:1. Google VoiceManufacturer:2. GoogleProduct description:3. Google Voice is a free telecommunications service that acts as a call forwarder and message organizer. The service can issue you a phone number, or you can choose from available numbers in selected area codes. You then use a “Gmail-style” web interface to program the Google phone number so that it simultaneously rings other numbers - such as your house, work, or cell.The voicemail feature will transcribe the message and send it to you via email or text message. You can either read the message or click “Play” to listen to the message through your phone or computer.
Cool features: 4. Some of the many great features of Google Voice include:
A single Google number for all of the user’s phones.• Free calls and • SMS in the US and Canada.Call international phone numbers for as low as US$0.02 per minute.• Call screening - announce callers based on their number or by an • automated identification request for blocked numbers.Listen in on someone recording a voicemail before taking a call.• Answer an incoming call on any of your phones.•
This page will introduce you to emerging technology we’ve found interesting. For more information regarding technology presented, please click a link provided.
Continued on page 7
Page 7 - Emerging Technology http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
Emerging Technology
Phone routing - choose which phones should ring based on who calls.• Personalized greetings that vary greetings by caller.• You can view additional cool features of Google Voice by clicking this • link: http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html.
Links for more information: 5. For more information on Google Voice, or to request an invite, click here: http://google.com/voice.
Google Voice Cool Features, continued from page 6
Halloween is a really fun time for Tom. This year, he managed to put together a chorus of singing pumpkins. The lights inside the plastic jack-o-lanterns flashed as though they were singing “This Is Halloween” from the “Nightmare Before Christmas” movie.
To pull this off, Tom researched the many different light controllers available online. He settled on a kit that he had to solder together himself. The board understands commands in a standard theater communication language, DMX. He used free software to create the sequence the computer sends to the board via a USB to DMX converter.
You can watch Tom’s pumpkin chorus at http://vimeo.com/7642837.
Staff Focus - Tom Fazzio, Halloween Video - continued from page 3.
Page 8 - Online Collaboration http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
We’re all becoming more familiar with the many online services now available. It seems like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
and others are constantly in the news and being used by people worldwide. Syracuse University now provides a great tool known as Adobe Connect.
Adobe Connect is a web-based Flash program that allows each faculty, staff, or student to videoconference, share applications, live chat and more from nearly any computer! The best part is, this is free with your NetID.
Now is the time to offer virtual office hours! Schedule time when you are usually at your computer and will be available to answer questions. The interactive whiteboard makes it easy to draw out ideas. A student can share their current version of a paper so that you may offer your comments.
Imagine finding a published paper that has some key points for your research. You can email the author follow-up questions and hope the answers are useful, or send a link to your Adobe Connect session and conduct a collaborative interview. The two of you can see and hear each other, and share documents on each other’s screen.
Review sessions for tests have never been so simple. Instead of finding a room somewhere on campus and hoping the time and location is right for the students, simply host an online session. You can present polls to the attendees.
The university maintains a contact that allows a certain number of simultaneous connections. This is up in the thousands and can be adjusted, if needed. Click the link below to learn more about the Univerity’s Adobe Connect Pro webconference tool: https://answers.syr.edu/display/aascshare/Adobe+Connect+Pro+Home.
Continued on page 9
Online Collaboration
Page 9 - Online Collaboration http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
Online Collaboration
To help you understand the recommended equipment to use, visit the ICT WebCam and Headset Recommendation page: http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/content/view/281/
Do you have 10 minutes for a demonstration? Watch the features in the “meeting” video at http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/overviews.
http://webconference.syr.edu – log in with your NetID and you will be collaborating online!
Continued from page 8.
Page 10 - Tips and Tricks http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
Tips and Tricks
Tip 1: Log in Faster! If you make sure there’s an “s” in the beginning of the web site address like this, you will not have to refresh your web browser after clicking the Ektron login button: https://www1.maxwell.syr.edu/maxlogin.aspx
Tip 2: Keep your Text Formatting Clean!
Continued on page 11
EktronThis newsletter’s “Tips and Tricks” are for people who
create and edit web pages in the Maxwell School’s new Ektron-
powered web site.
If you paste text from a Microsoft Word document or an Outlook email message into the web page you’re editing, you may introduce an unintended font or style into your web page that’s not consistent with the rest of the site. Avoid this by pasting your text through a right-mouse click and using the “Paste Plain Text” function, as seen in the picture:
Page 11 - Tips and Tricks http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
Tips and Tricks
Or, avoid unintended fonts or styles by selecting the “Paste Plain Text” button from the Ektron page editor’s toolbar:
Ektron Tips and Tricks - continued from page 10
Tip 3: Delegate and Approve If you want to delegate the editing of certain sections of your site to others people in your office while still maintaining control over what information ends up on your web pages, then Ektron “Approval Chains” are for you!
When this is set up, those given editing privileges will see a button to “Submit” content, whereas you have the permission to “Publish” content.
For more information about any of these tricks please email [email protected].
Page 12 - Additional Information http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
Additional Information
►Reserving the GCEvents hosted by groups with a Maxwell School affiliation may request use of the room up to 12 months ahead; others may make requests 2 months ahead. Room availability may be checked by calling 315-443-9003, or by emailing [email protected] – an online request form must be submitted before confirmation is made. The reservation process will involve a discussion of technology and staffing needs during the event.
►Interactive Media Lab (IML) - Access Student access: • See Holly Johnson in 034E for form. Please bring your SUID!
Faculty & Staff access:• IML access for faculty and staff should be requested by the individuals’ department. Please have your department send an email to Holly Johnson at: [email protected]. No form is necessary!
►IML CoverageMonday: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm• Tuesday: 8:30 am - 1:00 pm• Wednesday: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm• Thursday: send an email to • [email protected]: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm•
The IML is closed during ICT training sessions. Please check the ICT website for details on upcoming training sessions.
Page 13 - Help Info http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
Help Info
Service [email protected]
(315) 443-3847
Global Collaboratory [email protected]
(315) 443-4742
Training [email protected]
Upcoming Training Sessions http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/inside/
ICT Website http://ict.maxwell.syr.edu/
ICT Newsletter suggestions [email protected]
Help Desk Hours (Room 034A)
Mon-Fri. 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
