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New Information from Camden Computing Services
[Division of Office of Information Technology – OIT]

WELCOME TO (OR BACK TO) RUTGERS, CAMDEN CAMPUS!

The staff of Camden Computing Services wants to take this opportunity to wish you an enjoyable and productive academic year.

We would like to share some information on various services provided by Camden Computing Services.  This includes new services and recent improvements/changes.

INFORMATION FOR EVERYONE:

The list below provides information on what's new or changed this spring in computing on the Camden campus.  For more details on these and all of our services, please go to our web site at:  http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu/

[Faculty/staff Note:  Please consult your departmental computer support person before attempting to make any changes to your office computer]

* In mid-August the Webmail application was upgraded to provide additional features and security of your email. As part of this upgrade a few ‘sent mail’ preferences have been reset: (1) due to the high number of people going over quota by the saving of “all” sent mail, this preference has been reset to not automatically save sent email. If you want to continue to keep a copy of all your sent messages, please go into Options => Personal Information and look for sent-mail options at the bottom of that screen; (2) a recipient limit is now set to 50 as the maximum number of email addresses you may send to at once;. If you need a large mailing list, please use either Mailman (https://email.rutgers.edu/home/) or RAMS (https://rams.rutgers.edu/). These are the two supported mailing list services at Rutgers; and, (3) you may not send attachments larger than 50 megabytes using the IMP message composer. An attempt to send more than 50MB will result in attachments that may appear as empty files to the recipient.

* Due to the continual increase in spam on the Internet, we are constantly updating our filtering schemes and spam scoring techniques to provide the community with a minimally intrusive protection against this problem. One of the recent changes altered the default days to keep mail in your Spam-Messages folder down to 14 days.

* The university has contracts with many vendors to supply computer products to the university that are ordered through RIAS. This summer saw the establishment of the PC Purchase Cycle program that provided the opportunity for not only departmental purchases, but, also personal computer purchases from at least two vendors (Apple and HP). Since this email message Apple has withdrawn their offer, but, Dell has been added. The configurations, prices and process to follow for either type of purchase are at http://findtech.rutgers.edu/.

* Computer security and protection is everybody’s responsibility. In order to provide university-wide and personal virus protection Rutgers has a site license for Trend Micro that may be obtained through the software link below. Additionally, a Camden CD (called the PC cleaner CD) is available that provides other current applications that may be more effective on already infected systems. This CD may be obtained from either the Campus Center or Business & Science Building lab Help Desks.

* Wireless access has been expanded on the campus over the past months to now include Johnson Park in front of the Whitman Center and the Fine Arts building. Planning is underway to further expand service to include the Gateway to the Campus in the spring 2008 semester. The wireless coverage areas are noted on the Camden RU Wireless web page - http://ruwireless.camden.rutgers.edu/

* We offer free hands-on classes during each semester known as our Education Series (EdSeries). Some of the sessions presented include Office 2003 vs Office 2007; Excel (Introduction, Calculations, and Projects); Virus and Spyware Protection. The schedule for each session is online at http://edseries.camden.rutgers.edu/

* Following our piloting of duplex printing in BSB 132 for a year and the overwhelming response from the OIT Printer Conservation survey, we have converted all public lab systems to print in duplex mode by default this semester. Single side printing (simplex) may be selected on the systems for those projects requiring such output. Also, don’t forget about the availability of color printing in Law, BSB and Campus Center for a charge of $.25 per page paid through funds placed on your RU Express account on your University ID card. A second outcome of the Printer Conservation program will be the introduction of a pilot of the Print Release Station in BSB 109/110 to start the conversion to new management of printing in the public labs. In order to use this pilot, you are required to have your University ID card with you to “release” your output to the printer. More details of this project will be sent during the semester.

* The old, hot, smelly, and crowded Robeson Library lobby computer lab has been closed and the equipment (18 systems and two printers) was moved to the more spacious, better lit, and well ventilated area in front of the open book stack area to join the twelve systems already there. Signs have been posted to lead you to this area. A third printer was moved from the BSB lab to this area to improve the print capacity in the library.

* Open Office is no longer being supported on the Macs by the vendor. Of course, we will continue to support MS Office 2004 on the Macs until the anticipated Office 2008 is released.

* Don’t forget about Rutgers collection of free and discounted software available to faculty and staff that may be reviewed and ordered at https://software.rutgers.edu/

ITEMS FOR FACULTY AND STAFF:

* Sakai is the new supported Course Management and Collaboration system at Rutgers-Camden (and New Brunswick). WebCT is no longer available, but if you have materials you need from a previous semester's WebCT site, you can still retrieve them. Call for assistance ASAP.
Faculty training is available in Sakai, from a one-hour intro (create your site, upload a syllabus and other course documents, and create announcements to send to class) to an in-depth design session (assessment, online discussions, structured content, and more). Other available training includes presentations with PowerPoint, digital image editing, designing websites, creating .pdf documents, formatting complex documents with Word, citation management, wikis, blogs, and podcasting.
In Camden, faculty training is arranged to meet your needs on your schedule. Simply phone or send email outlining your goals and/or questions plus your availability to schedule a one-on-one, hands-on session in your office or Emily's office.
Emily Corse of Instructional Design & Technology (IDT) works closely with Camden Computing Services and OIRT in support of instruction. Visit the IDT website at http://idt.camden.rutgers.edu/ or contact Emily (x6474; corse@rutgers.edu) to schedule training or consultation.

* The annual symposium presented by the Office of Instructional and Research Technology (OIRT) is scheduled to be held across all Rutgers campuses on March 12, 2008 as an opportunity to learn about the impact of mobile devices and collaborative tools in higher education. The title for this year is, “The Fully Connected World Symposium.” More details will be available later this semester.

Hot Links:
* RAMS mailing lists for administrative and class communications with students – https://rams.rutgers.edu/

* For information on Smart Classrooms use for FAS and the Business School faculty, see the web page at: http://smartclassrooms.camden.rutgers.edu/

* For those who access their class rosters online, they now include the ability to see roster photos for the students in your class. If you want to match a face to a name, this addition to the class roster should meet your needs - https://sims.rutgers.edu/rosters/

* A test scanner to aid faculty in grading multiple choice exams exists in BSB 132.  Information on this scanning/grading device can be found at:  http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu/scanner/index.php

ITEMS FOR STUDENTS:

* As is the case every summer, Computing Services was busy upgrading and improving the public computing labs across the campus. This year saw a variety of changes including:

- The upgrade of the PC equipment in the Business & Science building labs, rooms 108, 109, 110, and 132. This summer saw the switch from Dell computers to HP computers resulting from the PC Purchase Cycle program.
- All ten Mac systems in the labs across the campus were upgraded to new iMacs.
- All nineteen Sun Unix workstations in BSB 133 were replaced by dual boot HP PCs that will support Linux as the unix operating system as a priority. This lab will continue to be used as an open lab when not reserved for Computer Science classes. The dual boot capability installed on these systems will permit them to also be used in the Windows environment as an option.
- All flatbed scanners were upgraded in all labs. In addition, one single sheet feeder scanner was purchased and installed in BSB 132 in order to manage it’s usage to avoid the breakage we’ve seen in the past.
- The computers in BSB 110 have been reconfigured to provide more space for six of the systems to permit students to gather in small workgroups for projects as well as a system in BSB 132. Additionally, in the Robeson Library there are private rooms in the basement with a computer that may be reserved at the circulation desk for group projects (rooms L14 and L15).
- Some of the software additions/changes (besides the normal updates) include - full SPSS available on all PCs through a shared networking license now in place; full Creative Suite 3 Design Premium available on all PCs in a shared networking license now in place (includes Adobe 8 Professional, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop); Python for the Computer Science language class; and, Office 2007 and Office 2003 installed on all systems with 2003 as the default in coordination with classroom instruction.

Hot Links:

* For quick and easy access to most of the services available to Rutgers students, please try our Rutgers portal, called myRutgers (https://my.rutgers.edu/).

* Rutgers students can get unlimited, FREE music downloads from Ruckus Network at www.ruckus.com. Rutgers has partnered with Ruckus, Inc. to provide this unlimited, free music downloading service to all Rutgers students. The Ruckus music library contains over 1.6 million tracks of music! For more information, visit http://ruckus.rutgers.edu/

HELP:
*  Walk in (BSB 109 & 132; CC 017), phone in (856/225-6274), and email (help@camden.rutgers.edu) Help Desks along with online web page instructions at:   http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu

** Posted from email messages sent to the campus community on September 6, 2007.