Reporting

IET provides data analysis on computing trends

The IET Client Services Reporting group continues to publish reports for IET management and the UC Davis technical community on campus computing trends and the performance of units and services. Last quarter, the Reporting group developed a monthly report to analyze support requests received by the IT Express Computing Services Help Desk regarding the campus DavisMail service. The report includes information on the types of requests and the methods by which they were received, client affiliations, and summaries of the incidents reported. The report is used by IET management to evaluate trends and/or problems and to identify potential needs, such as additional training for help desk staff or communications to the campus about DavisMail. An ad-hoc report produced in January also compared support requests for the Cyrus email server to support requests for DavisMail.

The Reporting group also began evaluating select business intelligence and reporting software for potential future reporting management. While the group primarily uses Excel, Crystal Reports, Tableau, BIRT, and other products are being reviewed. The group has also been working with the IET Middleware group to evaluate existing database structures and scripts used for reporting. The evaluation will enable the Reporting group to identify ways to improve Reporting systems, effectively gather additional data from other systems and applications, and streamline data extraction methods. Finally, the Reporting group has been summarizing the processes, analytical methods, and data sources used to produce existing reports in an effort to communicate the results effectively. Contact: reporting@ucdavis.edu

Software Licensing

LabView licenses are now available

The IET Software License Coordination (SLC) unit finalized an agreement for LabView software, which will be available for use by faculty, staff, and students. There are two types of licenses: a single client license, available for $350 per license, and a teaching classroom (lab) license, available for $70 per license. Student use is limited to research or lab use, and the lab license is restricted to use in labs. These licenses may bepurchased from the Software Web site: my.ucdavis.edu/software

JMP license gets renewed for another year

IET’s SLC unit renewed the JMP license for another year. Staff and faculty may now purchase these products from the Software Web site, my.ucdavis.edu/software, at the discounted price of $15 per license. Students may purchase licenses from the campus Bookstore. Web site: bookstore.ucdavis.edu

Microsoft and SHI present information on the benefits of enrolling in MCCA

IET held the annual presentation for enrollment in the Microsoft Consolidated Campus Agreement (MCCA) on March 4. A presentation by Software House International (SHI), the UC software reseller, immediately followed the MCCA presentation. Taylor Kao, the UC Microsoft representative, and Mandy Moler, the UC account executive from SHI, provided information to departments on enrollment in the MCCA through SHI. Departments learned about the benefits of enrolling in MCCA, its entitlements, and new Microsoft products. Moler also provided a demonstration on using the campus SHI Web site and presented other useful information regarding SHI and the campus. Enrollment in MCCA opens in mid- April and closes in early May. Web site: iet.ucdavis.edu/microsoft/campus_agreement.cfm

UC-wide Adobe TSL agreement

UC Office of the President (UCOP) finalized a UC-wide agreement for Adobe’s new Acrobat Term Site License (TSL) option. The University’s designated Adobe software reseller, SHI, is managing the agreement. While the TSL terms and conditions differ from the current Adobe Contractual License Program (CLP) and Adobe High Volume agreement (both of which are still available), the products are the same. The TSL includes Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Pro Extended. Whereas the current agreements provide perpetual licenses with renewable maintenance, the TSL terms of agreement include:

• Annual licenses
• Updates and upgrades available at no additional cost
• Pricing based upon the number of FTE faculty and administrative staff instead of the number of computers
• Simplified compliance and administration. May be installed on new computers mid-year at no additional cost
• Lab computer installations are included at no additional cost
• Work at home rights for eligible faculty and staff to use on one additional computer

This year’s enrollment period occurred between late March and early April. New enrollment and renewals will occur annually. Contact: software@ucdavis.edu

Possible campus agreements for MatLab and Vector NTI software

IET-SLC has been pursuing campus-wide site license agreements for MatLab and Vector NTI software. SLC is close to finalizing the MatLab agreement, and will offer the following licensing options:

• Non-Teaching (standalone): license available for research purposes
• Non-Teaching (network): departments may run their own server to manage research licenses
  
• Teaching (standalone): license available for use in a teaching classroom only
• Teaching (network): departments may run their own server to manage teaching classroom licenses

These licenses are annual, and may be purchased from the Software Web site, , after May 1. IET is continuing negotiations with Invitrogen for a site license for Vector NTI software. SLC anticipates a finalized contract in late May. Contact: software@ucdavis.edu; Web site: my.ucdavis.edu/software

Internet Explorer (IE) 8 compatibility testing complete

With the release of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer version 8 on March 20, IET coordinated a campus-wide application compatibility testing effort. IET solicited volunteers to identify and test applications and services, and would like to thank these individuals and departments for their valuable contributions. Compatibility information for widely-used applications and services on campus are posted on the campus Microsoft Web site at microsoft.ucdavis.edu.

Application Development

Banner update

Student Affairs and IET have completed most of the Banner Revitalization project. Two critical items still need to be implemented:

• A scheduling form which gives the departmental course schedulers the ability to manage departmental courses
• Transfer of credit, which automates most of the work involved in evaluating and documenting students’ credit for work completed at other institutions

The project team expects both items to move into production by July 2009. The team began focusing on re-engineering some of the campus business processes in order to take advantage of enhancements made by SunGard. The Banner 8 upgrade is scheduled for implementation by fall 2010. Contact: Peter Brinkerhoff, pjbrinkerhoff@ucdavis.edu

Campus Data Warehouse project wraps up

The Campus Data Warehouse team has completed a major project overhaul for all of the programs used to extract data from campus source systems: (i.e., Banner, Instructional Activity, PPS). Complexity and stability issues in the original data extraction tool made it increasingly costly in hardware, staffing and financial commitments. The team also validated and updated the campus’s business rules. While the project was lengthy, IET gained system stability, documentation, and confirmation of business rules, plus the replacement of the costly ETL tool with non-proprietary solutions. Contact: cdw-eproj-team@ucdavis.edu

Campus IT Infrastructure

IT architecture update

IET’s IT architecture continues to play an integral role in analyzing design and deployment of various technology projects so that they meet campus technical and business requirements and further the campus mission of research, teaching and public service. Specific projects that have been addressed during the past quarter include: Identity management, middleware, cyberinfrastructure, data warehouse, and collaboration.

The goals of IT architecture aim to create principles and a framework to ensure IT-based systems evolve and support the needs of the campus effectively and securely over time. It also seeks to apply this framework (via the PPM 200-45 process) to areas that directly support business functions to promulgate the use of standards, reduce duplication of effort, and provide road maps for future planning. In order to assure alignment of UC Davis’s architecture within the broader higher education community, IET participates in multiple UC-wide and nationwide organizations like UC’s IT Architecture Group, the UCTrust Work Group, UC Grid, UC’s Cloud Computing Task Force, the InCommon Technical Advisory Committee, and IT Architects in Academia (ITANA). Contact: David Walker, IT architect, dhwalker@ucdavis.edu

CAS campus deployment

The Central Authentication Service (CAS) has replaced Distauth for a number of significant central applications, most notably, the campus portal MyUCDavis. So far, CAS has not experienced any detrimental throughput effects from the additional usage. Three improved client modules were released for campus use including, Cold Fusion, Mod_Auth CAS, and ISAPI. Additionally, the service underwent additional security testing and a test server was deployed for use by those looking to implement CAS. The high availability configuration and the software upgrade to version 3.3.1 are on hold pending the purchase and installation of new hardware. Upon the successful deployment of the high availability configuration, planning for the retirement of Distauth will commence. Contact: Hampton Sublett, Middleware program manager, hbsublett@ucdavis.edu. Web site: confluence.ucdavis.edu/confluence/x/eFY

Central Kuali Rice service to be offered by IET

Kuali Rice is a set of middleware tools created by the Kuali Foundation to ease integration between other Kuali, and non-Kuali, applications. By implementing Kuali Rice, IET-Middleware offers the campus a standard set of tools, namely a workflow engine and an enterprise service bus, among others, to reduce the need for campus departments to recreate these functions within their own applications. Kuali Rice will be integrated with MyInfoVault (MIV) later this year and with Kuali Financial System (KFS), Kuali Coeus (KC) sometime after that. eDocLite will be released three to six months after the integration with MIV. Contact: Hampton Sublett, Middleware program manager, hbsublett@ucdavis.edu

Bids received for new Domain Name System (DNS)

In autumn 2008, IET released an RFP for bids to procure the most effective and cost efficient Domain Name System (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) system to replace NetID which is no longer supported on campus. The finalist vendor has installed its equipment, and a test team with representation from across the campus
has been assembled. A test of the vendor’s equipment will run through April, and the contract will be awarded based on the outcome. Contact: Mark Redican, Network Operations Center manager, mredican@ucdavis.edu

Departmental listings for online directory

IET’s Communications Resources department has begun a project to enable the campus and general public the ability to view departmental listings online. The departmental listings, normally only available in the printed directory, contain contact information for campus services and academic departments and serve as a valuable set of cross-references and key terms that make searching the listings more efficient. A new advisory board will be convened to provide input on design and functionality for the project. Contact: Nick Barbulesco, ucdlesco@ucdavis.edu

WarnMe gets put to the test

Work continues towards making the campus emergency notification system, WarnMe, as robust and efficient as possible. A WarnMe project, now underway, will let initiators — the people who use the system to send messages — group recipients quickly, based on dynamic affiliations, and create more focused notices. In February, IET’s Network Operations Center and Data Center conducted a closed test of WarnMe to determine the network capacity and set a benchmark for the number of concurrent notifications. A full campus-wide test of the system was conducted in late April. And, as news spread in late April of an international outbreak of swine flu — an outbreak serious enough for the campus to monitor developments (see ucdavis.edu/help/swine_flu) — WarnMe stood ready to distribute urgent information to the campus if needed. Web site: warnme.ucdavis.edu

MyInfoVault to upgrade workflow and role management

IET and Academic Personnel continue to enhance MyInfoVault (MIV), the system that creates electronic dossiers for faculty academic promotion and merit actions. The design phase for workflow and role management is complete. Development has begun to implement Kuali-Rice Enterprise Workflow as a centralized service to be used by MIV. Enhanced features will include improved interfaces, more refined roles and permissions, improved dossier routing, notifications, and tracking information. Schools and colleges representing 91 departments and 2,700 accounts use MIV and have provided important feedback as the MIV group develops this upgrade. Contact: Joyce Johnstone, project manager, jmjohnstone@ucdavis.edu. Web site: myinfovault.ucdavis.edu

Data Center

Campus virtualization service enters production stage

The IET-Data Center will soon begin offering a production server and storage virtualization service. Savings, simplicity, and increased productivity are some of the benefits that campus departments may enjoy by taking advantage of this service. Campus clients may still maintain complete autonomy over the administration of their virtual systems while enjoying the advantages of highly available server and storage services, or they may take advantage of the full service system administration offered by the Data Center. These services are built on the VMWare virtualization platform, which was selected because it provides the best management features for an enterprise-level service. Internal tests with pilot clients are currently in progress and the service expects to be available to campus clients in May 2009. Contact: Dave Zavatson, project lead, dhzavatson@ucdavis.edu. Web site: virtualization.ucdavis.edu

Communications

IET communications group expands online efforts

IET’s communications unit, part of Data Center & Client Services, moved more of its output to online formats during winter quarter. In March it produced a PDF version of the IT Times newsletter, which had been a print publication until fall 2008 (ittimes.ucdavis.edu). Going forward the group will increase its emphasis on its TechNews information service (technews.ucdavis.edu). TechNews includes all the articles that have traditionally appeared in the IT Times, but costs less to produce, is more flexible, and distributes information more quickly than the printed publication did. The unit is also working with social media, and other parts of the campus, to build the audience for TechNews. In early spring, the Teaching Resources Center Web site added a link to TechNews. University Communications linked some TechNews articles to the main campus Web page, ucdavis.edu, or included them in its Friday Update online newsletter during winter quarter. And the communications group began posting its TechNews stories to a Twitter account (UCDavisTechNews).

IET updates several Web pages, starts on 754 -HELP promotional video for students

IET’s communications group combed, revised and updated several pages linked to IET’s student and faculty computing sites during winter quarter, and began an overhaul of the 10,000-word glossary of campus tech terms on the main IET page (iet.ucdavis.edu). It also began work on its next short video to promote IET services to students: this one will promote, especially to new students, the IT Express computer assistance help line, 754-HELP.

Client Services

The help desk provides phone support for prospective students

On March 12 -13, 44,387 undergraduate applicants received email notifications regarding the status of their applications for the 2009-2010 school year. The IT Express Computing Services Help Desk received over 1600 phone support requests for account-related assistance, an amount almost double that of the same period in 2008. IT Express staff supplemented support needs during peak call hours with IET staff from other areas, including Desktop Enterprise Solutions and Software Licensing. In addition, IT Express extended support hours to 11 p.m.

The help desk used a three-tiered call structure to facilitate handling of calls. Applicants were directed to one call queue for password resets and account creation assistance. Parents of applicants were directed to a message informing them that IT Express cannot provide information to anyone other than the actual account holder and advising them to have the applicant call IT Express directly. All other calls, including those from current students, faculty and staff, were directed to a separate call queue for immediate assistance. IT Express will continue to assist incoming freshmen, transfer students, and first-year Law School students with computing accounts issues until the students arrive on campus and begin classes. Contact: IT Express Computing Services Help Desk, 530-754-HELP (4357)

Telecommunications and Networking

New Multi-VLAN data feature � rolled out to campus departments

A new data feature called “Multi-VLAN” was made available to campus departments in February 2009. This feature allows department systems administrators to request network connections that carry up to six virtual local area networks (VLANs) This feature provides systems administrators with the opportunity to use campus network resources more flexibly and efficiently.

Before Multi-VLAN, a computing resource (database, file server, monitoring station, etc.) required one network connection for each VLAN it spanned. With Multi-VLAN, the same computing resource would require only one Multi-VLAN-enabled NAM, thus reducing the one-time charges by more than 60 percent and reducing the monthly charges by 20 percent to 50percent, depending on how many old, single-VLAN NAMs are combined together. Contact: Zack O’Donnell, service manager, zmodonnell@ucdavis.edu. Web site: cr.ucdavis.edu/commsrv/network/multivlan.cfm

UCDNet3 – update

IET-Communications Resources’ UCDNet3 project team continues to work on the three year plan for upgrading the entire UC Davis network infrastructure. In January, IET completed the first stage of the UCDNet3 project which replaced the network core and the Area Distribution Frame (ADF) routers. IET will begin selective replacement of the Building Distribution Frame (BDF) and Intermediate Distribution Frame (IDF) routers. The Telecommunications Advisory Board (TAB), a focus group of student, staff and faculty representatives, is assisting IET with the work prioritization of the network upgrade. The findings of the TAB will help IET plan this next phase of network infrastructure renewal. Contact: Mark Redican, NOC manager, mredican@ucdavis.edu. Web site: ucdnet3.ucdavis.edu

West Campus Utilities Project – update

IET–Communications Resources engineers and technicians are in the process of converting the voice telecommunications backbone infrastructure at the Primate Center from older, copper-based technologies to fiber-opticbased Digital Loop Carrier (DLC). The next phase of the project, installing new fiber optic and copper cable in the surrounding buildings and cutting the communications services over to the new lines, has begun. This final phase of the project is scheduled for completion in July 2009. Contact: Diane Bahr, ECM manager, ldbahr@ucdavis.edu

Cellular coverage expansion completed

Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon to install cell sites on the main campus, and in January, the last of the new sites went live. Since the installation, IET has received several incidental reports that cellular coverage has improved and is available in areas that previously had spotty coverage. cellsites.ucdavis.edu, an informational Web site created by IET-Communications Resources, shows the cell tower locations on campus. Also, the Mobile Communication Services Web page, cr.ucdavis.edu/commsrv/wireless/wireless.cfm, provides links to carrier-managed coverage maps. Contact: Zack O’Donnell, service manager, zmodonnell@ucdavis.edu

Security

Computing services and security conference planning almost complete

UC Computing Services Conference (UCCSC) planning accelerated in January in preparation to welcome attendees from the entire UC System on June 16th and 17th. The 59 sessions offered cover a wide range of security and nonsecurity topics, and include speakers from many campuses as well as vendor sponsors. The registration fee is $115, and discounted to $65 for attendees who choose to stay in the residence halls. Registration opened on April 6 with over 150 people registering in the first two weeks. All ten campuses, UCOP and Lawrence Berkeley and Livermore Laboratories will be represented among the registrants. For more information, including a copy of the sessions offered, please visit the Web site uccsc2009.ucdavis.edu. Contact: Julie McCall, jdmccall@ucdavis.edu

Cyber–safety reporting

December and began meeting with departments in March to discuss areas for improvement. In May, IET will provide its “state of information security” report to the Council of Deans and Vice Chancellors (CODVC). This report will include an overview of findings as well as next steps for improvement. For the first time, the 2008 cyber-safety survey included compliance indicators for information security standards in the secondary priority category. Contact: Bob Ono, IT security coordinator, raono@ucdavis.edu

Kerberos KDC Replacement project update

The Kerberos KDC replacement project proposal was recently submitted for review via the PPM 200- 45 administrative review process. Draft feedback and recommendations have been posted to admincomputing.ucdavis.edu/projects/kdc.cfm, and sponsor responses are expected to post in May. Also, in December 2008, IET contracted with Certified Security Solutions to identify a migration strategy that will allow the campus to make a transparent transition to the new MIT KDC. The contract was fulfilled in March 2009 and IET expects the migration to be complete by August 2009. Contact: Bob Ono, IT security coordinator, raono@ucdavis.edu

Anti–phishing measures

On March 3, in light of repeated attempts by phish attackers to compromise the integrity of campus email accounts and other electronic resources, IET implemented new anti-phishing measures. After evaluating collected data, reviewing practices at other campuses and consulting with the Campus Council for Information Technology, Office of Research, Deans Technical Council, and Technical Infrastructure Forum, the following measures were implemented:

• Restrictions on the number of individual “To:” addresses permitted for a single email message
• Limited government addresses on the campus “allow” list to the specific government domains required by the research community. Major funding agencies, such as NSF, DOE, DOD, NIH, and USDA are not affected. Previously, all government agency initiated messages were exempt from spam inspection.
• Implemented spam filtering on outgoing email IET is also developing a security awareness campaign to educate all faculty, staff and students about key cyber-safety practices, and the costs incurred when safe and secure computing practices are not followed. Contact: Bob Ono, IT security coordinator, raono@ucdavis.edu

Incident response update

The IT Express Computing Services Help Desk recently assumed primary responsibility for responding to reports of abuse of campus network resources. These reports may include use of unauthorized networking equipment (such as a wireless router), violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and connecting a virus-infected system to the campus network. Contact: IT Express Computing Services Help Desk, 530-754-HELP (4357).

Educational Technology Services

SmartSite moves forward on guest access tool, account retention

SmartSite, the campus’s course management and collaboration system, has seen the following progress in past four months:

• Guest access tool: Before the guest access tool was created, only members of the campus community and individuals with a registered Temporary Affiliates (TAF) account could access SmartSite. This tool allows a maintainer to grant guests access to an individual SmartSite without giving them access to other UC Davis computing resources. The new tool is expected to be open to all users soon.
• Computing accounts and UC Extension accounts retained in SmartSite: The SmartSite team recently changed how SmartSite receives student and faculty computing account information. Before the change, Gradebook records for inactive students were not viewable. The SmartSite team changed the process so that all accounts are viewable and accounts will not be deleted. The SmartSite team also changed the UC Davis Extension program to include all open campus students, past and present, which allows SmartSite to display past academic records to faculty these members as well. Contact: Kirk Alexander, kdalex@ucdavis.edu; Web site: smartsite.ucdavis.edu

Computer Lab Management

Smart Phones survey reveals interesting data

IET-Computer Lab Management (CLM) is investigating how the increasing use and capabilities of Smart Phones (i.e., iPhone, Blackberry, Samsung Instinct, Palm Treo, etc.) will affect how clients can interact with campus services.

The survey results reveal that Smart phones are used heavily for making phones calls, checking email, viewing Web pages, and texting/IMing. The phones are used less often for reading documents, connecting to Moobilenet, and listening to music. They appear to rarely be used for taking notes in class, listening to class podcasts, or recording lectures.

As a result, it appears that Smart phones use will reduce the likelihood that students will bring their laptops to campus. The smaller-size factor and phone capability appear to be driving the change. This trend may be accelerated and supported by ensuring campus applications (SmartSite, MyUCDavis, Moobilenet, etc.) work well with Smart Phones. Other possible improvements would be to support compact Bluetooth keyboards so Smart phones could be used for note taking and printing. Contact Tim Leamy, 752-0242; Web site: clm.ucdavis.edu/pubs/survey/student-w09-2.html

A–V Engineering installs multi-media, document cameras

IET’s Audio-visual engineering team completed the installation of multimedia in the Robert Mondavi Institute for one large lecture hall, five labs, and a conference room. The multimedia added includes Extron control systems that are user-friendly for faculty and lecturers in all rooms. The team also completed the installation of 20 new document cameras in the Registrar general assignment classrooms. This is an ongoing project, with IET eventually scheduled to install document cameras in each of the 126 Registrar rooms. In addition, IET completed the installation of multimedia in the Med Sci 180 lecture hall and Hunt Hall, room 110. Contact: Joe Kelley, jrkelley@ucdavis.edu

Night Crew registrar room maintenance

The number of Registrar general assignment classrooms increased from 123 to 126, with a projection of 128 rooms in fiscal year 2009/10. Even with an increase of equipment in the rooms requiring more testing and maintenance, the amount of staff to repair, maintain, and test the equipment remained the same. In addition, the number of times the rooms are visited for preventive maintenance and repair and on-time room readiness for the next day has increased.

The IET maintenance crew’s ESP reporting has become more efficient with increasingly accurate metrics. These results are predicated on the fact that Quick Response calls are streamlined through one person during the day and night shifts. IET staff performs an immediate followup in the classroom with faculty when there is a problem reported. This is an automatic courtesy call for the next scheduled class, which increases classroom visit stats, but serves the faculty well. Contact: Contact: Joe Kelley, jrkelley@ucdavis.edu; Web site: iet.ucdavis.edu/rooms/classrooms.cfm

TV studio assists recording of class review sessions

IET’s ATS unit assisted in the TV studio recordings of mid-term and final review sessions for Andreas Toupadakis’ Chemistry 2B class. The 90 minute review sessions were provided to students before exams as an ondemand Webcast. The Webcasts were extremely popular and received more than 4,000 requests with over 650 GB of bandwidth usage. The popularity of on-demand Webcasting has increased and over the last six months; IET has seen on average, 586 GB of bandwidth usage with over 1.3 TB of content streamed in March 2009. Contact: Paul Ver Wey, paverwey@ucdavis.edu

Cooperative Extension for the Better Process Control School

The IET-ATS unit videotaped and provided amplified audio services for a four day short course conference/ seminar for Diane Barrett and the Cooperative Extension for the Better Process Control School. This federally mandated processing course will be converted into 16 online modules using Adobe Presenter and PowerPoint. The modules will also contain an on-line testing/quiz function. Future production plans include converting the English modules into Spanish Modules.

IET also recorded the second of three Energy Efficiency Center seminars with the main theme “The Roots of Energy Efficiency...How California Changed the Way the World Uses Energy”. The series explores California’s rich past, and promising future, as a global innovator of energy efficient technologies and policies. The seminars are currently being edited for UCTV and will appear on the Energy Efficiency Center’s and Chevron’s Web sites. Contact: Paul Ver Wey, paverwey@ucdavis.edu; Web site: eec1.ucdavis.edu/news

Collaboration leads to installation of dedicated fiber in TV studio

IET’s ATS and Communication Resources units worked together with AT&T to install dedicated fiber and encoding equipment for a TV1 circuit/video hub service linking the new television studio to Sacramento. The AT&T circuit will allow for live broadcasts of events/interviews with major media networks in Sacramento, California, and internationally. Contact: Paul Ver Wey, paverwey@ucdavis.edu

Recording and simulcast for Law Review, Picnic day, etc.

During the first quarter of 2009, IET’s ATS unit provided video, audio, and Webcasting services for various campus projects including:

• Law School: Provided a recording and simulcast of the 2009 Law Review from the Moot Court Room at King Hall. The Law Review panel examined the career of US Supreme Court Justice, John Paul Stevens. The video feed overflowed to locations in the library and central hall and the audio feed was distributed to a C-SPAN television crew.
• Picnic day: Provided audio services and equipment to twelve event venues for Picnic day 2009. Highlights included multiple sound systems for the grandstand and Picnic day parade along with a large sound system for the Silo main stage.
• Intercollegiate Athletics: Completed 19 partnership productions for Intercollegiate Athletics as part of the Daktronic’s Video Board service at the Pavilion. 2009 events include men’s and women’s basketball, wrestling and gymnastics.
• First National Symposium on Food Systems and Sustainability: Videotaped, Webcast and provided audio feeds for the First National Symposium on Food Systems and Sustainability for the Agriculture Sustainability Institute. The national event was held at the ARC Ballroom and Webcast live to 150 remote sites throughout the country.
• Institute of Government Affairs: Recorded, Webcast, and provided audio support for a debate sponsored by the Institute of Government Affairs entitled: Stimulus SmackDown: Can Deficit Spending Save the Economy? The on-demand Webcast has streamed over 4800 requests.
• Economic Stimulus in California: Provided audio and AV support for the Office of Government and Community Relation’s panel on Economic Stimulus in California. The production, which was identical to the Board of Regents set-up, included 18 microphones, data projector and four 32 inch monitors. Contact: Paul Ver Wey, paverwey@ucdavis.edu

IET continues to provide faculty and staff graphic design and video support

Over the past four months, IET-ATS has provided graphic design and video support for the following projects:

• Catalyst Magazine design: Designed a 20 page, full color 8 x 11 magazine, entitled “Catalyst” for Donna Justice and the School of Education. The new magazine features alumni news, school highlights, student activities, and donor news. The first press run will include up to 10,000 copies.
• Trauma Prevention Program: Developed and designed a campaign for the Trauma Prevention Program at the UC Davis Medical Center. The safety campaign funded by Kohl’s Department stores and the UC Davis Medical Center (UCDMC) Children’s Hospital consists of brochures, stickers, tattoos, t-shirts, and booklets that teach parents and children about bike safety, helmet safety and car seat installations and safety.
• Cancer Center: Designed and created a 4’ x 8’ poster for the UC Davis Cancer Center and Dr. de Vere White. The poster and PowerPoint presentation highlights efforts of the Virtual Tumor Board, which virtually brings together five hospitals to pool knowledge, share research and discuss difficult cases. The poster was so well received that additional copies have been requested by the Cancer Center for display at UCDMC and satellite offices.
• Nutrition 10: Designed and created a series of animations and PowerPoint slides for Dr. Liz Applegate to visually represent how good and bad bacteria work in the digestive system. Dr. Applegate used the animation and PowerPoint slides to help students in her Nutrition 10 course to visualize a very complex and difficult concept.
• School of Veterinary Medicine: Created 55 illustrations from photographs for Dr. Steven Crow and the School of Veterinary Medicine. The illustrations were included in a training book/manual on proper techniques for handling animals, collecting blood and giving injections. The book is widely used by veterinarians and their staff.
• Mind Matters Newsletter: Photographed a series of pictures for the center spread of Mind Matters, a newsletter created by the Mind Institute and The School of Education Newsletter.
• School of Medicine 2009 Match Day: Photographed and documented the School of Medicine 2009 Match Day. Match day, hosted by SOM Dean Claire Pomeroy, is a ceremony/celebration where fourth year medical students learn where they will continue their internship and residency education. Contact: Paul Ver Wey, paverwey@ucdavis.edu

iTunes U sees increase in usage

The IET-ATS programming group continued to provide development and production support to the iTunes U program. During the first quarter of 2009, ATS staff uploaded 154 new video and audio files. Development continues on automation of the processing sequence. During this same period of time, 11 new feature albums were created as well as 11 courses. Course content in iTunes U has proven to be the most popular content for viewers. iTunes U usage has been climbing steadily since UC Davis started posting academic content – rising to 14,000 downloads per week during March, 2009. Contact: Charlie Turner, cjturner@ucdavis.edu

Webcasts considered to increase communications and cut down on travel

The IET-ATS programming group designed and developed a prototype Web application for the UC Seminar Network. The application is being designed jointly with Dr. James Carey, Chair of the University Committee on Research Policy (UCORP). The committee proposes to create a network to Webcast the hundreds of seminars presented each week in the 10-campus UC system. This enterprise would increase intra-, inter- and off-campus seminar access, reduce travel, augment outreach, and generate digitized records. The UC Seminar Network would establish a precedent for the creation of an international research seminar network, and create new opportunities for enhancing the exchange of scientific information such as linking published papers to archived videos of author’s presentations. Contact: Charlie Turner, cjturner@ucdavis.edu

IET maintains campus podcasting system and sees an increase in usage

In the first four months of 2009, IET’s podcast system delivered course content to 6,284 students, faculty, and staff. Faculty in 18 different departments created 61 new course podcasts and uploaded 870 individual course lecture recordings. The largest users of the system continue to be faculty in the departments of Psychology, Biology, and Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. Collectively, students have downloaded 151,661 lectures from the podcast Web site since January 1, 2009. Contact: Charlie Turner, cjturner@ucdavis.edu

Colorectal cancer screening survey

IET-ATS has been providing programming support to Dr. Anthony Jerant, Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the UC Davis Medical Center. Dr. Jerant receives funding from the National Cancer Institute to develop effective and resource-efficient methods of enhancing patient self-efficacy for healthrelated tasks, evaluating the influence of patient personality characteristics in health care and clinical research, and understanding and mitigating health disparities. ATS is developing the Colorectal Cancer Screening Survey using an open-source survey software package that allows incorporation of branch questions, audio, animations, and videos. Contact: Charlie Turner, cjturner@ucdavis.edu

Food Science 3D immersive learning environment (FDA)

IET-ATS programming personnel are designing a new software system for Dr. Paul Singh, a professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at UC Davis. Dr. Singh is funded by the US Department of Agriculture to develop computer-based immersive learning platforms of three food processing plants (brewery, dairy, tomato cannery) that will provide highly engaging content for learning food science. Contact: Charlie Turner, cjturner@ucdavis.edu

Almagest multimedia database is migrated to new servers

During the first quarter of 2009, ATS programmers upgraded and migrated the Almagest multimedia database to new servers. Almagest is a tool for teaching and learning that can manage and store media, create and display digital lectures and presentations, as well as annotate and contextualize data for teaching. The upgrade required a migration from the Solaris operating system to Red Hat Linux. Almagest is currently used on the UC Davis campus by the FAZDD project in Vet Med, as well as five courses in the Art History department. Contact: Charlie Turner, cjturner@ucdavis.edu