Fall 2009
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]
RUWireless Expansion & Update:
As part of the renovation of the “gym” into the new, wonderful Recreation Center, Rutgers students, faculty and staff may now access the Internet through a wireless connection throughout the facility. By using the latest in technology, this building provides higher access speeds than previously installed – up to 130-150 Mbps range. Please refer to the wireless map for viewing the coverage in Camden: http://ruwireless.camden.rutgers.edu/
RU-iptv:
We’d like to remind you that multicasting capabilities is available over much of the Rutgers wired network. This makes it possible to provide further services directly to your computer, including access to limited video programming, various local, national and international TV programming, as well as live coverage of Rutgers campus events. President McCormick's address to the university on Friday, September 25, 2008 at 1:10pm will be broadcast live utilizing multicasting as well as standard Internet streaming. For more information on multicasting and to test whether your data jack supports this technology, please visit: http://ruiptv.rutgers.edu
Please visit the President’s page for the link to his address: http://www.president.rutgers.edu/address09.shtml
PrintGreen:
The PrintGreen initiative is entering its second year of full implementation in the computer labs on the campus. This project has helped to ensure that Rutgers is environmentally and fiscally responsible when it comes to paper usage. During each six-month period (July-December and January-June), every student gets $30 posted to their printing account for black-and-white printing. If you print the default double-sided, this amounts to 3000 black-and-white pages a year (or, 1,500 page images per period). This has proven to be very successful. Signs are located in the labs and near the public printers with suggestions for reducing even further the amount of printing. Printing on the Camden campus decreased for FY2009 as was anticipated with the full implementation of the program. The campus saw 3,189,255 images printed on 2,049,957 sheets of paper for the year as compared to 3,182,259 sheets for FY2008. Overall there was a 29% drop in printing from the previous year.
As for the students who went over their quota for the January-June period -
** Law - 75 were over out of 689 - 11% (a high number of students still printed single-sided)
** CCAS - 50 were over out of 2010 - 3%
** SBC - 6 were over out of 500 - 1%
** SBC Grad. - 0 were over out of 104 - 0%
** Grad. School - 14 were over out of 221 - 6%
** UC - 7 were over out of 521 - 1%
** School of Social Work - 3 out of 109 - 3%
More information may be found at: http://printing.rutgers.edu
Hardware and Software Sales at Rutgers:
A number of hardware and software vendors work closely with Rutgers to offer computing equipment and application software at attractive prices. In particular, Rutgers has contracted with certain vendors in order to offer a variety of free software (such as Trend Micro Antivirus) and reduced-priced software (including Microsoft Office at an extremely good price through the Microsoft Academic Student Select agreement). More information is found at:
http://findtech.rutgers.edu
http://software.rutgers.edu
Caution - Phishing Emails:
Even though we try to have aggressive anti-spam and anti-phishing filters for Rutgers servers, periodically phony email messages make it through to Rutgers students, faculty, and staff. These messages try to get recipients to reveal private and confidential information, such as passwords, birth dates, social security numbers and the like. Unfortunately, some people have being tricked by these "phishing" scams only to discover their account has been compromised or locked out or worse, their identity has been stolen. Always remember, Rutgers will never ask you to reveal this type of information through email - so you should never reply to these messages. Always be wary. Don't let yourself be tricked. Search for “phishing” at:
http://rusecure.rutgers.edu
If your identity has been stolen, Rutgers will assist you in your pursuit to clear your name. Please visit the Identity Theft Assistance web page for more information - http://uhr.rutgers.edu/ben/AddBenIdentityTheft.htm
Message Boards:
You may have noticed the new Message Boards strategically placed in many of the building entrances on the campus. Notices will be posted by building occupants to inform everyone of the activities and services provided. Additionally, campus wide announcements and general information (weather, news, etc.) will be displayed in the two smaller windows on the screen. The boards will be utilized to provide quick communications to the campus in the event of an emergency on or around the campus.
Update Online Personal Information:
Once again we are recommending that everyone take a few minutes at the start of the year to review your information that is stored Online for Rutgers. All departments at the university (such as, Financial Services, Student Life and Computing Services) utilize this information to keep you informed of notices from Rutgers as well as to contact you during any unforeseen emergencies that may occur. Please visit the Personal Information Update web page to follow the correct link for your status to update your information as appropriate:
https://personalinfo.rutgers.edu/
Usage Statistics Online:
If you are interested in seeing the trends of usage of the services offered by Camden Computing Services, we create monthly web pages with the statistics. The following is the current list: Monthly Camden Central Services; Monthly HPC/Alpha Clusters & Fine Arts; Monthly Public PC Lab Software Usage; Monthly Public Macintosh Workstations; Monthly Email Viruses & Spam; Monthly Print Queue Management; Monthly Virtual Web Site Statistics; Monthly RUWireless Statistics; and, Monthly Smart Classroom Statistics. You may access any of these from the Stats Page - http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu/stats/
EdSeries:
Free, hands-on training seminars are in the process of being finalized for the fall semester. Sessions in the Camden EdSeries will include Word 2007; Excel 2007; Powerpoint 2007; Virus & Spyware Protection; Access 2007 and Outlook 2007. These seminars are open to all faculty, students, and staff. The schedule for each session will be posted online shortly at:
http://edseries.camden.rutgers.edu/
ITEMS FOR FACULTY AND STAFF:
Classroom Upgrades:
Our goal is to keep the classroom technology current and to help insure that equipment will continue to operate properly. The following activities have occurred:
- New podium in Science Lecture Hall (including new control panel) with pictures & notes –
http://smartclassrooms.camden.rutgers.edu/slh.php
- Thirteen (13) classrooms have had new projectors installed - Armitage 120, 218, 219, 337; Fine Arts 108, 215, 240;
Library 203, 205; and, 319 Cooper 109, 110, 203, 213
- Armitage 123 has a new HD projector, Blu-ray player and new wide screen
- Armitage 206 and 221 had the broken AV black boxes on the wall replaced
- Classroom PCs/laptops were replaced with new computers
- 401 Penn has been renovated by Facilities. It now has 2 HD projectors, Blu-ray player, document camera eye in the
ceiling, twenty speakers, and all new AV equipment. Although not functioning quite 100% (it will be very soon), pictures and notes may be found at - http://smartclassrooms.camden.rutgers.edu/pen401.php
More information about the classrooms and their electronic functionality is available on our Smart Classroom web pages starting at:
http://smartclassrooms.camden.rutgers.edu/
2009/2010 Faculty/Staff Technology Guide:
The Camden 2009 Faculty / Staff Technology Guide is available. It is designed to highlight the services available to faculty & staff and as a starting point for obtaining further information about IT services provided at Rutgers. Please visit the online web page - http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu/facstaffguide.pdf
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/
* 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:
2009/2010 Student Technology Guide:
The Camden 2009 Student Technology Guide is available in both hard copy and online. It is designed to highlight the services available to students and as a starting point for obtaining further information about IT services provided at Rutgers. Pick up your copy at the Help Desk in any computer lab or visit the online web page - http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu/studentguide.pdf
Full Screen Server Access from Home:
A pilot project has started this fall that will provide students with remote (home) access to all of the software available on the student server (clam) and the Linux lab machines. This will be useful to those wanting access to applications such as Maple, Mathematica, Matlab, or SAS when not in the computer labs. More information on accessing and using this service is found at - http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/HELP/Documentation/Unix/remoteXserver.html
Student Server (clam) Upgrade:
On August 13, 2009 the student server (known as clam) was upgraded to new hardware and a new operating system (Debian Linux). To improve security, the remote access method was changed for SSH (remote shell access) and SFTP (remote file transfer, including WebDrive) where one must change from the old remote host name (clam.rutgers.edu) to the new remote host name (clamshell.rutgers.edu).
Anyone who maintains a web site on clam should note the following:
* The remote host name you connect to in order to upload files to a clam-hosted web site must change to clamshell.rutgers.edu.
* The remote host name you use in a URL for a clam web site WILL NOT change. The URL for any site on clam will continue to begin with http://clam.rutgers.edu (or for secured connections using SSL, with https://clam.rutgers.edu).
For more information about these changes, please contact: help@camden.rutgers.edu
Spring Student Survey:
The Spring 2009 Student Online Survey was offered to the Camden students in April. Notices were posted through a variety of methods for communications (REACT, in the labs, on the OIT - Camden Announcement page and on each PC desktop screen). With over 300 respondents, the average satisfaction across all topics remained solid with quite a few increases in satisfaction. The lowest satisfaction ratings were recorded in Housing network connections (3.4 for wired and 2.9 for wireless; with the scale being 1=low, 3=Medium, and 5=High). From the comments on the connection section, it was obvious that the dissatisfaction with the wireless service was from an individual room (which is not supported at this time although some rooms get the bleed over from the lounge installations). We’re reviewing the 200+ comments supplied and will determine where improvements may be made. The summary results are located at:
http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu/Announce/newsletters/SurveyResultsSp09.php
Public Lab Upgrades:
As the result of converting to a four year equipment replacement plan, there were no public lab computers replaced this summer. As in previous years, new applications are being added, updated versions of select software are installed, and new images for all systems to manage the many changes were prepared and installed for the start of the semester. For the complete list of lab locations and equipment, please visit:
http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu/equipment.php
In order to generate more usage of color printing, we have moved the color printer from the Law School over to the Robeson Library lab area. After careful consideration, it was determined that this move would provide improved services to all students.
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/).
HELP for ALL:
* 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 October 4, 2008.
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