Matthew Reidsma on Libraries and the myth of mobile phone use
Journal revamped : ” … the members of the new editorial group … say their task is to produce copy that demonstrates that academics can do more than indulge in prolix, self-indulgent, and jargon-ridden prose that does little for readers’ edification, let alone pleasure.” (The journal referred to: Public culture.)
EDUCAUSE is holding a “5-Day Sprint” of daily web seminars about Mobile Computing at the end of April. If you are unable to attend the live web seminars, recordings will be made available on the EDUCAUSE web site following the events.
—From EDUCAUSE—
This free, weeklong experience allows you to choose from a wide range of scheduled events and asynchronous activities. Take part in daily web seminars, discussions, and other happenings to explore mobile computing and what it means for higher education.
Each day will be dedicated to a different theme related to mobile computing. Come and go at your leisure as you take part in the daily activities that interest you most.
Daily Themes
Monday: The Future of Mobile Computing
Hear how the community is framing and contextualizing the depth and breadth of what mobile computing means on campus, setting the stage for a week of rich and dynamic discussion.
Tuesday: Teaching and Learning
Join us as we discuss the learning that is—or could be—enabled by mobile technology.
Wednesday: Mobile Enterprise Integration
Engage in the conversation about how to plan for a fully integrated mobile experience for faculty, staff, and students.
Thursday: Security, Privacy, and Policy
Bring your experiences and ideas as we examine the current state of mobile security, anticipate what’s coming, and explore effective practices.
Friday: Mobile Infrastructure
Come together as we touch on the wide range of hardware, software, and network infrastructure components necessary to make mobile computing an effective addition to campus services.
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For many years, the Bread Loaf School of English has been using a mail/conferencing system called FirstClass. FirstClass was one of the first ‘bulletin boards’ to develop a graphic user interface and the BLSE has used this technology for mail, course conferences, support of the Bread Loaf Teachers Network and general discussion conferences. Until last May, the server running the FirstClass server software was located on campus and supported by the Enterprise and Network Solutions group.
Last May, LIS decided to outsource the administration and support of this server to WhatIf Networks, a company based in Westbrook, ME that has years of experience supporting FirstClass servers. The cut over of services took place just before the beginning of the 2010 BLSE summer sessions. At the conclusion of the summer classes, we began planning to upgrade the server to a newer version of the software, from version 8.0 to version 9.1. One of the driving factors in this decision was the increasing number of requests of the BreadNet community to access their mail and conferences from smart phones (particularly iPhones) and iPads. Our upgrade now makes this possible and we have a number of happy smart phone users.
However, to prepare for the upgrade, it was necessary to reconfigure the roughly 1000 user desktops so that the upgraded client view was clean and uncluttered. Caroline Eisner, the director of Breadnet; Margaret ‘Mugs’ Johnson of WhatIf Networks and Shel Sax worked over the weekend reconfiguring the user desktops in preparation for the upgrade. The upgrade was effected late Saturday afternoon, November 20th and the new software installed without incident
After the upgrade, a typical FirstClass client desktop looks like this:
