Speical Issue: UC Davis and New Business Architecture

Imagine a Web site smart enough to know you by your first and last name. A Web site smart enough to give you access to the information, documentation, and tools that matter to you. Smart enough to protect your privacy and the university's resources. And smart enough to leverage emerging technologies to streamline and simplify your job.

In this special issue of the IT Times, we introduce you to an initiative that promises to make this vision a reality for all of us. The UC Davis New Business Architecture, or NBA, was indeed officially launched last September when the MyUCDavis Web portal was identified as the foundation for the development of a campus enterprise portal from which students, faculty and staff will be able to access a range of administrative, business, and academic resources.

To help us introduce the NBA, we've asked various members of the campus community to share their contributions and thoughts about the development of our Web portal.

How to keep your computer from turning

So, it's already a month into 2K1 and so far no enigmatic extra-terrestrials or big black monoliths have shown up. Many newspapers have written stories comparing the Kubrick-ian imaginings of 2001: A Space Odyssey to our present-day reality, and the verdict is pretty unanimous: the movie is still way ahead of its time in almost every category. However, there is one aspect of that gorgeous sci-fi picture that is in full effect the world over: the whacked-out computer.

IT-Express: a Desperate Student's Testimonial

Like the family cat, presidential elections, or even significant others, computers can be extraordinarily fickle. One moment, they're happily ferrying your email, spell-checking your paper, and accompanying you toexotic Web sites without the slightest peep. But the minute you change the slightest setting or do anything out of the norm, they'll hiccup and throw a fit. The fact of the matter is that a computer can give you all sorts of headaches if you don't know what you're up against.

Want your email fix over Winter Break? Here's how...

Add email to the list of things you both love and hate. Sure it's great when all you're doing is writing to friends or family, perhaps even enjoying the latest joke lists being forwarded your way. But how much more often do you find your inbox littered with irrelevant blathering by corporations trying to sell off their wares? So with Winter Break coming up, you have a decision to make: continue checking your email while you're away, putting up with all the good and the bad, or leaving it all behind and worrying about what you might miss. Whatever the case, Information and Educational Technology's here to help.

Advanced Technology Projects

*\tAdvanced Technology Projects At A Glance (PDF) (4/02)

Technology Infrastructure Projects -- * Enterprise Directory Services Implementation Project * Enterprise Directory Services ATP * Portal Performance and Reliability * Windows 2000 Active Directory * Implementation Workgroup * Wireless Networking * Workflow Infrastructure

Security Projects -- *Common Authentication * Electronic Credit/Debit Card Transaction Project *Firewalls and Network Security * Incident Response * Mobile Computing Authentication

Video Technology Projects -- * Video Conferencing Over IP * Video Services and Distribution

Other Resources

*\tTechnology Infrastructure Forum (TIF) *\tAcademic Computing Coordinating Council (AC4) *\tAdministrative Computing Coordinating Council (AdC3)

Remote Access Pilot

Starting December 1, UC Davis will be conducting a pilot test of Pacific Bell's Internet provider service. Any UC Davis faculty and staff member who lives outside of the local 530 dialing area may participate in the pilot. UC Davis plans to test this service for three months in and around the cities of Sacramento, Roseville, Fairfield, Vallejo, Vacaville, Oakland and Berkeley. Participants must agree to submit weekly surveys about Pacific Bell's service and use this pilot as the primary dial-in connection to the Internet for three months. This service will be free for the three-month pilot; users will be expected to pay a fee if Pacific Bell becomes the campus's remote access provider. Registration for this pilot is ongoing, on a first-come first-served basis. To apply, fill out the form on the Web at http://access.ucdavis.edu/pilot2000.cfm.

Introducing IET Mediaworks

The Instructional Technology and Digital Media Center recently held a campus wide "Name The Center" contest to come up with a new name. The center integrates the Arbor as well as services previously provided by Illustration Services, Instructional Media and the Center for Advanced Information Technology (CAIT) into one unit under the Office of the Vice Provost, Information and Educational Technology. "Given this combination and the emerging nature of instructional technology, I thought a new, slightly different name was in order for the center," Dr. Harry Matthews recently declared. "It should validate our presence as a part of the whole IET organization, but also reflect our slightly different administrative structure."

Name Change Clarifies Organization's Purpose

\t?As of mid-November, the Division of Information Technology (IT) was officially renamed Information and Educational Technology (IET). The name change is in keeping with the Administrative Unit Review (AUR) report issued last year which recommended the recruitment of a Vice Provost for Information and Educational Technology. The new name is intended to further clarify the organization's role in support of instructional technology and, more generally, the campus's mission. A transition plan has been developed to implement the name change in official communications, including the IT Times (starting with this issue), business documents, publications, and Web pages. IET's homepage will remain accessible via http://it.ucdavis.edu/. As with major organizational changes, IET anticipates this effort will take some time. The goal, however, is to make it as transparent to clients as possible. If you have questions or comments resulting from this name change, please send them by email to vpiet-info@ucdavis.edu.

Get cheap and funky online!

Oh the delights of the holiday season - turkey, mistletoe, fudge, warm fires. Doesn't it make you want to teleport through time to that excellent day after finals, the Dec. 16, when you can snuggle down by the fire with someone special?

What do I do with my dying computer? Give it CPR.

Behold every student's nightmare: you are in the midst of pounding out a research paper on your iMac, when the computer freezes, and won't restart. Or maybe the months (or years) of using your printer as a beverage coaster have finally taken their toll, and now your History assignment will only print as two lines of text in a language that hasn't been spoken in two thousand years. Sound familiar? Sadly, these scenarios are pretty similar to those many of us have faced during our time at UC Davis. In fact, computer equipment failure can seem a lot like acne or a bad date: an unfortunate but unavoidable fact of life.