Author Archives: Joseph Antonioli

About Joseph Antonioli

Senior Curricular Innovation Specialist

ACTT In-Progress Project Presentation for GoogleApps for Edu and OneDrive

Tuesday, May 17th from 3-4pm
LIB 105A or Polycom 712833

The new ACT Team process includes in-progress project presentations. These presentations are meant to inform the community about how things are going, what has been done and what still needs to be done, what is going well and what are the challenges.

Agenda

In this meeting we will look at the GoogleApps for Edu and OneDrive projects.

In-progress project presentations are open meetings, anyone may attend. Please feel free to share the invitation with anyone you feel is interested in the topics discussed.

ACTT In-Progress Project Presentation Video Streaming Service

Tuesday, May 10th from 3-4pm
LIB 105A or Polycom 712833

The new ACT Team process includes in-progress project presentations. These presentations are meant to inform the community about how things are going, what has been done and what still needs to be done, what is going well and what are the challenges.

Agenda

In this meeting we will look at the Video Streaming Service project.

In-progress project presentations are open meetings, anyone may attend. Please feel free to share the invitation with anyone you feel is interested in the topics discussed.

 

ACTT Extended Team Meeting Agendas for April 19th and 26th, 2016

The new ACT Team process includes Extended Team meetings. These closed meetings allow the Team to work with expert staff and focus on evaluating solutions that inform recommendations.

Agenda

The next two meetings will be discussions with vendors that can help meet the needs for the Video Streaming Service project.

  • Tuesday, April 19th, 2016 – Panopto
  • Tuesday, April 26th, 2016 – Ensemble

Notes for In-Progress Projects April 12, 2016

The new ACT Team process includes in-progress project presentations. These presentations are meant to inform the community about how things are going, what has been done and what still needs to be done, what is going well and what are the challenges.

Agenda

In this meeting we will have two presentations:

In-progress project presentations are open meetings, anyone may attend.

RStudio

Albert Kim and David Guertin

  • http://rstudio.middlebury.edu
  • David creates accounts for faculty and students.
  • In the desktop version, each student needs to install multiple packages; with RStudio Server, a faculty or an admin installs all packages in one location and students don’t need to.
  • R Markdown: combines text, R code, graphics are embedded in one document. Standardized and easier to grade.
  • Some upper-level courses require students to download the desktop version of RStudio, it is important for them to understand this environment. The server version is most useful for entry-level courses and limited use within a course as it reduces the time needed to set up the software.
  • VPN may be necessary for MIIS to access RStudio, this should not be the case. David will work with Chris to see why this may be happening.
  • To go live, we would need to set up with Active Directory. Do we want people to add RStudio via the Course Hub using a self-service model, or do we them to contact AT? David and Joe will communicate about this.
  • Shiny Server Pro: create interactive apps and graphics without needing any tech knowledge. Graphics are interactive, changing the variables changes the graphic display in real time.
  • You can host apps on free shinyapps.io or you can install Shiny Server Pro and serve on your own servers. Free for academic institutions with proof of syllabus. The Middlebury-hosted service is much more responsive.
  • We would like to share these services with other faculty. Albert and Bill will communicate and set up a demonstration, possibly through CTLR programming.

 

Academic Cyberinfrastructure Inventory

 

  • The Project Team is learning a lot about our environment through working on this project.
  • Q: Why does the inventory include services like Facebook, Twitter, Scrivener, etc.?
    • We know these services are being used for academic work.
    • For comparison with similar services.
    • To track the continuum of moving from service to service over time.
  • A viewable/usable version of the inventory should include a filter for Middlebury-supported services.
  • Once the Project Team has completed the categorization phase, the project will be shepherded by the ACTT working with ITS to deploy the information in a web-accessible format. It will include search functions for faculty, staff and students, with some protected information behind authentication for staff that need to track dependencies, for instance.

Notes for Kick-Off on April 5, 2016

Agenda

We will be starting the new ACTT process with a Kick-Off meeting. This is an open, non-mandatory meeting for anyone who is interested in learning about the Academic Cyberinfrastructure Transformation Team to attend. We will introduce the new team members, structure, and thoughts on how the Team activities will be evaluated.

This is an open meeting, please share with anyone who is interested in learning about the ACTT

Notes

  • Mission: “Our mission is to evaluate and recommend technology services and innovations for teach, learning and research.”
  • Joe is teaching a course on “Design Thinking” this semester. Design Thinking includes an “Empathy Phase”

Q&A

  • Q (Melissa/CNS). How will information and requests trickle up?
    • “I have many day-to-day projects where I would love to have a license that exists on the Midd campus, but not the MIIS campus, or I would like to build a server with 1TB of storage to host a web site”
    • “My research center, CNS, is becoming such a large consumer of storage and bandwidth”
    • “On a request from Laurie Patton, I am researching a cloud services that could host our information”.
    • Answer – Joe – Anyone who wants to make a request for technology or technology services for academic use may approach the team. Happy to be an entry point for requests that may go to ITS or other groups.
    • Jim – we have to account for the resource requests during the budget request process.
  • Q (Melissa/CNS). We are a collection of researchers that become PI on large grants, we need to inform others of the implications on the projects that we are running…  So we can write it into
    • We are giving money to non-Middlebury developers to do things that could be done inside Middlebury
    • Jim: not necessarily opposed to using outside resources…
  • Q (Jim): May be Amy McGill can weigh in on the MIIS budget process and how funding decisions are made.
    • Amy McGill
      • MIIS Research Centers are funded with base productivity requirements
      • Campus community infrastructure is for day-to-day use
      • Research Centers seek their own funding for larger projects that need additional resources, they do typically provide for initial as well as on-going maintenance costs.
  • Q. ACTT contribution to the Strategic Planning Process?
    • t.b.d.
  • Q (Melissa/CNS).  Is it too early to start making suggestions for agenda items?
  • Q (Melissa/CNS).  I would love to explore the ability to share licenses across campuses.  We pay out of grant licenses for Tableau, for image processing software…  I drool over some of the licenses that the Geology department has.  This is not a simple request, but I would love to tackle it as a subject.
    • A (Zach/ITS-SR): Let’s talk; more productive if we can get an idea of the specific titles you’re interested in, so we can check what licensing models are available.
  • Q (Melissa/CNS).  I would love to talk about our data storage and access to bandwidth.  Because we use satellite images, large data sets, we are becoming something of a hog on the MIIS systems.   I would like to open a discussion on how we can meet CNS’s research technology needs including storage, bandwidth, and some security issues.
    • Joe: Has anyone done a “needs assessment for the department”?
      • We don’t have a department, we are a research center within a larger campus.
      • I have done a casual needs assessment. 13 TB of storage, external drives, google drives, drop boxes… Need access across three offices.
      • Jim:  ITS can help with a needs assessment and identify appropriate technology solutions, perhaps on campus or in the cloud, ideally consistent with other larger IT initiatives for Middlebury and work with CSN to identify, implement solutions.  We did this for the Middlebury DC office a couple of years ago that included the CSN operation there for example.
  • Q (Bob/MIIS).  Working toward equitable cyber infrastructure across VT and Monterey campuses seems like a an appropriate activity for the Team.

Actions

Joe to build form for collecting evaluation requests.

ACTT In-Progress Project Presentations for RStudio Server and the Academic Cyberinfrastructure Inventory

Tuesday, April 12th from 3-4pm
LIB 105A or Polycom 712833

The new ACT Team process includes in-progress project presentations. These presentations are meant to inform the community about how things are going, what has been done and what still needs to be done, what is going well and what are the challenges.

Agenda

In this meeting we will have two presentations:

In-progress project presentations are open meetings, anyone may attend. Please feel free to share the invitation with anyone you feel is interested in the topics discussed.

 

Notes for Core Team March 29, 2016

[RE] Introductions

We all knew each other from the CTT, so this was a chance to reaffirm a commitment to looking at technologies and the services around them that make them successful. The re-boot to the ACTT structure provides definition and focus, while sticking to the mission to evaluate and recommend technology services and innovations for teaching, learning and research.

Review Charge and Process

We reviewed the slides at go/delta, paying attention to the responsibilities of the various Team members. The Extended Team is made up of experts, Program Teams, and Project Teams.

Program Teams

The Middlebury Institute of International Studies is in the process of forming a Team, similar to the CTT, that will focus on cyberinfrastructure conversations pertaining to Monterey. They will have their own sponsorship (Amy McGill) and leadership (Bob Cole), set their own agenda topics, and determine how they will communicate together. Bob and Amy will share information between the MIIS Team and the ACTT.

Other Program Teams may develop in the future. MIIS has a head start, the DLC is a good hub for these conversations.

Project Teams

Small Project Teams carry out the charge of the evaluation. Their activities may include gathering requirements, identifying solutions, contacting vendors, and starting drafts of recommendations. These Teams will share information with the Extended Team, this allows the Project Teams to be nimble while still gaining a variety of perspectives. The ACTT Core Team is responsible for the final proposals.

Academic Cyberinfrastructure

We agreed on the importance of looking at the practices and people associated with technologies. Joe presented a short definition of cyberinfrastructure, others provided their own understanding. The Core Team is currently working on a shared definition that will help describe what we do. Joe will start share his definition, others will contribute.

 

Make Decisions About Communication

We decided an email group and slack channel, Joe will make these happen.

We have started building a schedule of meetings.

Plan Open Kick-Off for April 5th

Joe will present the slides avalable at http://act.middcreate.net/site/. Everyone will provide their own input. MIIS will have a number of people who are interested in their Program Team attend.

Set Agendas for Future Meetings

Future topics include video streaming, RStudio, and the Academic Cyberinfrastructure Inventory. There is also an interest in learning about GoogleAppsforEdu and One Drive, especially knowing what will be available for the fall. Joe will confirm presenters, then we will share the topics and dates as far out in advance as we can.

ACTT Kick-off Meeting: April 5th, 2016

Tuesday, April 5th from 3-4pm
LIB 105A or Polycom 712833

Agenda

We will be starting the new ACTT process with a Kick-Off meeting. This is an open, non-mandatory meeting for anyone who is interested in learning about the Academic Cyberinfrastructure Transformation Team to attend. We will introduce the new team members, structure, and thoughts on how the Team activities will be evaluated.

This is an open meeting, please share with anyone who is interested in learning about the ACTT.

Extended Team Membership

Academic Technology – Joe Antonioli
Center for Teaching and Learning – Bill Koulopoulos
Central Systems and Networked Services – David Guertin
Digital Learning – Sean Morris
Digital Liberal Arts – Alicia Peaker
HelpDesk – Joe Durante
InfoSec – Paul Dicovitsky
Librarians – Stacy Reardon
Media Services – Mack Pauly
MIIS Digital Learning Commons – Bob Cole, Amy Slay
SR Hardware – Jamie Carroll
SR Software – Zach Schuetz
Web Applications – Adam Franco

Extended Team responsibilities:

  • Contribute expertise.
  • Round-the-table updates.
  • Share back with their group.
  • Attendance by invitation.