Technology@Wooster

Members of the User Services staff will be on campus Saturday, March 22nd, and Sunday, March 23rd, between noon and 7 p.m. to provide technology support for students, faculty and staff involved in IS preparation. Staff members will perform hourly printer checks, cover help desk phones and be available for students in need of last minute technology support.

The student help desk in Andrews Library will be open Saturday, March 22nd between noon and 8p.m. and Sunday, March 23rd between noon and 1 a.m. for phone and walk-in support. The help desk can be reached by calling 330-287-3000 extension 4357 from off campus, or extension 4357 from on campus.

In an effort to better inform members of the campus community about the various information technology resources available to them, the Office of Information Technology has launched an effort to enhance the documentation of these resources and to improve its organization and accessibility.  New documentation is being created in the College wiki and links to it can be found under the “Computing Resources” tab of the IT website. Currently, the wiki contains information about audio and video production resources, copying and printing services, classroom technology, IT help desks and networking services (including wireless).  The documentation initiative will continue throughout the Spring 2008 semester and into the summer, and many new documents will be created. The initiative is being guided by User Services Intern Catherine Grandgeorge.

Routine hardware and software maintenance is typically carried out between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Tuesday mornings. On Tuesday, August 21, IT will upgrade the operating systems of our print servers during this window. These upgrades are intended to improve the stability of print services. Printing and copying services may be briefly disrupted during the upgrades. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.  Questions should be directed to the employee help desk at 330 287-3000 x1111.

Members of the User Services staff will be on campus Saturday March 24^th and Sunday March 25^th from 9am – 5pm to provide technology support for students, faculty and staff involved in IS preparation. Staff members will perform hourly printer checks, cover help desk phones and will be available for students in need of last minute technology support.

Over the last few weeks IT has been attempting to isolate the source of the slow printing to several of our public and departmental printers. We have recently moved the public printers behind a firewall to protect the printers from network traffic not intended for them. These steps have made a significant change in the speed at which those devices operate. User Services will be contacting individual departments to discuss the steps necessary to continue to move the devices to a protected network.

Vince DiScipio
Director Networks, Telecommunications and Systems

A new poster printer (an HP DesignJet 800PS) is available in Taylor 205 for faculty, staff and student use. Printing takes place via the Pharos system. Student print accounts will be debited $4.80 per linear foot. For faculty and staff, Pharos will record the same charge against the appropriate account. Instructions are available on the IT documentation site. Questions about the poster printer should be directed to the help desk at 330 287-3000 x4357 (HELP).

The computer lab in Taylor 205 has been enhanced in a number of significant ways. This summer, the lab’s 16 general purpose computers were replaced with new Dell OptiPlexes running Windows XP. The computer furniture was also replaced to provide much more spacious and comfortable work areas.

A new poster printer is also available in Taylor 205. Printing takes place via the Pharos system. Student print accounts will be debited $4.80 per linear foot. For faculty and staff, Pharos will record the same charge against the appropriate account.

Taylor 205 also now provides audio and video production facilities. The lab contains four new iMacs with the following software:

• iMovie for digital video editing. Each workstation is enabled (with DA converters) to import video from a variety of sources, including Mini-DV, DVD, VHS and DV codec.
• iPhoto for importing photos from digital cameras for storage and use in video and slide projects
• Garage Band for creation of digital music, sound effects, podcasts and multi-layered audio projects
• Audacity for voice recording and multi-layered audio projects
• Photoshop CS for photo editing

In the very near future the lab will add two PC’s to support video editing with Windows Movie Maker. These workstations will also be equipped to import video from various sources, including Mini-DV, DVD, VHS and DV codec.

A sound booth has been added to the lab to support audio production. It contains a MacIntosh G4 tower equipped with Audacity and a condenser microphone. The booth is equipped to digitize audio from cassette and other analog sources.

The office of Media Technology Manager Anthony Liccardi is now located within the Taylor 205 lab so that he can manage the multimedia production resources and provide related assistance. Instructional Technology Intern Joe Benfield is also based in Taylor 205.

IT has taken a number of steps to resolve the printing problems that have plagued the Wired Scot. In order to eliminate the centralized print queuing system that has been the source of much of the difficulty, we replaced the terminals with computers. Also, we have asked our student help desk workers to begin each shift by visiting The Wired Scot and correcting any problems that they find. This means we visit The Wired Scot eight times on a typical day. If you do encounter printing problems please call us at extension 2312.

In response to the recommendation of the Digital Media Output Workgroup, IT has deployed a number of color printers for student, staff and faculty use. These devices are available at the following locations:

• Kauke 125
• Mateer 105
• Morgan 211
• PEC 203
• Scovel 117
• Severance 106
• Taylor 205
• Timken Science Library 116
• The Wired Scot

All printing to the color printers is via the Pharos system. Student print accounts will be debited 15 cents for each page directed to any of the color printers. For faculty and staff, Pharos will record the same per page charge against the account that is selected.

To use the new color printers you must download and install the appropriate printer driver. Visit http://www.wooster.edu/technology/documentation for instructions. If you need assistance, please call the help desk at 4357.