Month: February 2009

MIIS Staff Members to Attend WeAreMedia Workshop

Next week, Kristen Byers and Rob Horgan will be attending a two-day intensive workshop on social media and non-profits sponsored by the Non-profit Technology Network in San Francisco. TLC and Recruiting have generously provided the funding for this. The conference requires that two people from an organization attend: one broader marketing staff member and one person in charge of technical implementation.

They will be keeping a blog to record their participation and implementation of a media project.

The goal of the conference is to provide participating teams with an understanding of how to craft a social media strategy and to experiment with tactical approaches. Thanks to some advice and input from Caroline Mansi, Lynn McDonald, and Bob Cole, Rob and Kristen have decided to explore the merits of using Twitter for promotion, recruitment, marketing and information sharing at MIIS. Kristen has extensive experience in new media projects and is a regular user of Twitter. Rob recently created a Twitter account for the Recruiting Department: http://www.twitter.com/miis

The workshop aims to help participants plan and effectively integrate their media project (in this case, Twitter) into their organization’s overall web communications. They hope to return to campus with some ideas for implementation.

Outlook blues? It May Be Time to Reset Your Password!

In keeping with stricter security measures now in place at Middlebury College, you will sooner or later find that your Middlebury Exchange (network) password will expire, and Outlook will either not let you log in with your old password, or will suddenly ask you to re-enter your password to continue using your Exchange account (your old password will no longer work if this happens).

In order to continue using Exchange you will need to reset your Middlebury network password (not your BannerWeb or BannerINB password).  To do this go to the following web URL

https://bat.middlebury.edu/activate/

to Activate (reset) your Middlebury network account.

You will need to enter your BannerWeb ID (the one you use for timecards) and your BannerWeb PIN number to login to reset your network password.  Then, simply accept the terms on the following page, and you will be allowed to enter a new password for your Middlebury network account (keep in mind that currently this account is only used for Exchange, and is not tied to your MIIS network account for logging into your MIIS computer in the morning).

Remember that Middlebury uses much stricter standards for entering new passwords, so you will likely need to add at least one capital letter, one number, and one special character for your new password to be accepted.  Please write down your new password once it is accepted and store this in a safe place out of sight of passersby.   If you forget your Middlebury network password, you can come back to this same URL to reset it again.

If you have forgotten or don’t know your BannerWeb ID, you should contact HR here at MIIS to get this information.  Once you have your BannerWeb ID, you can contact the ITS Help Desk, here at MIIS (x6656) to get your BannerWeb PIN reset if necessary.

FYI:  Middlebury is working to include MIIS users in their automatic password reminder system, so in the future you may receive an email ahead of time, warning you that your Middlebury network password is about to expire, including instructions on how to reset this (as described above).

Thanks for your patience as we take advantage of this much more powerful email service offered to us by Middlebury College.

Google Search Now Live at MIIS!

Have you ever tried to find something on the MIIS website only to be given a PDF campus map as a search result?  You’re not alone and hopefully now those days are over!  The www.miis.edu website now has incorporated a google search function into the website.

Little known fact: MIIS actually is running 5 separate websites – the main site and one for each school.  With our old search function, you had to be on the right site to find what you needed.  Searching for language programs in the Fisher site would have produced less than ideal results.  Our old search function also seemed to give priority to PDFs and menu items rather than actual pages.  The google search function now covers all of our sites and has the google relevancy to help prioritize our search results.

Thanks to Chris Norris and his staff at Middlebury for sharing their Google Search Appliance with us, configuring it to index our sites, and writing the code to make it all run.

In a recent google webinar, it was reported that 50% of the duke.edu web users were using the search function in place of the menu navigation.  This new search function should allow our constituents the ability to find what they need more easily and tap into the google search habits of digital natives (aka most of our students).  The google search function also allows for all google search conventions and has an advanced search function where you can search by program, sort by date, or narrow your search.

This is part of a larger website redesign project that a dedicated group of MIIS staff and faculty members have been working on since November.  To see what we’ve been up to, check out our wiki space.

If you’re interested in giving more feedback about the website or joining our group, contact Lynn McDonald

Staff Advisory Team

The votes are in and the working group dedicated to creating a staff council structure will now move forward in creating a proposal for the 6-person staff advisory team.  56 staff members voted and gave important insight and feedback into the staff council structure.  The working group will now create a proposal that incorporates your ideas to share with the administration.  Stay tuned for more information!

Karen Weiss
Priscilla Lorenzo
Toni Thomas
Lynn McDonald
Susan Wolfe
Erika Johnson
Kenley Butler