Report Writing

Posted on by Michael

I finished a new report this morning about 1am.

We ran a system-wide test of our campus Emergency Alert system and I had 18k+ lines of data to play with. Metrics, oh lovely metrics — how do I measure thee?

Anyway I threw our new layout onto the report and found a cute (and crazy simple) way to do some to-scale bar graphs. That made me pretty happy cuz it really helps the report.

I’ll probably pull another data load tomorrow and that little report can go to Presidents Staff. I have some other research to do as digging through the data has caused me to ask some new questions.

From a high-level IT perspective, making a summary report for a bunch of data seems like lame — but I really enjoyed it. Couldn’t tell you why, but I did. I’m real pleased with the result. I hope they want more metrics that I can program into that report…

Gliffy.com

Posted on by Michael

Yesterday, while pursuing some CSS bar graphs, I found Gliffy.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Visio. I actually own an older copy which I’ve enjoyed using in the past. So was pleased to find a Flash program (for free I might add) that had much of that same functionality.

Here is my master work: UCS Office

The snap-to-grid feature didn’t work as well as I had hoped. Objects didn’t seem to line up super well, and even while moving an object I wasn’t allowed to line some objects up.

However, overall I was very pleased with Gliffy. Even Visio isn’t really designed to be used for architectural drawings, so this is really fine. The templates provided were pretty good (though I couldn’t find a bookshelf … seriously). Again – was very impressed with the overall look and feel and functionality.

Now if only I could find a good reason to use it…

Lately? Sheesh…

Posted on by Michael

Presentations
So I’ve probably given 10+ presentations during the last few months. They have ranged from training a few users on a specific topic to new Nursing Students to holding a campus-wide Forum that we video-taped (more on this later). After doing so many I’ve begun to “document” my presentations so that I have 3 or 4 stock presentations that I can modify based on audience or time. I used to be embarrassed by public speaking (as most people are) but I’ve found a confidence in doing this type of thing. On at least one occasion I think I felt a little over-confident and did a “shoot-from-the-hip” presentation — but wasn’t particularly pleased with the overall presentation. So the prepared, modifiable presentations should serve me well.

Pawprint
The afore-mentioned Forum included students, staff (of all types) and faculty. We discussed the new web template (which can be seen here). We also worked with campus members to rename the security model we use to now be called “Pawprint”. You can see Pawprint’s new logo on the previous link. The other primary value of Pawpring is that as we continue to bring systems into this security model and simplify access to WOU systems through that one login — we can implement Single Sign-On (SSO). SSO allows campus members to login to the Portal (and if chosen) then the Portal will login to Mail/Calendar, Blog and WolfWeb. We are currently in-process of expanding this to include the Forums and Moodle (online.wou.edu). Overall Pawpring simplifies access to WOU systems to all campus members.

Meetings and Conferences
I feel as though I’ve driven more for work lately than I ever have. Recently I’ve attended conferences from Portland to Eugene on a relatively frequent basis. The travel will continue for some time: I have another 1-2 conferences in the next month still to attend. In the meantime I’m learning lots.

Move-In
This was the first year since 2001 that I was not responsible for the technical (computer) aspects of the Fall Move-In (when students return to campus).
It was kinda weird, but I think we all lived through it. Kudos to John who managed this process well this year.

Portal
As mentioned before, the new web layout is available and was applied to the WOUPortal. This new layout was design in conjunction with Stewart but designed by the Developer Team (functionally, not aesthetically). We hope to roll this layout to many other pages that UCS has developed.
Also, Single Sign-On is the name of the game. The goal is to integrate all Pawprint-enabled systems to the campus Portal Single Sign-On. This is going to take some work, but we are making a little progress each week. An RSS tool is coming soon, along with additional improvements to the Portal.

Dining Menu
Campus Dining now has a dynamic web-menu and a nutrition calculation tool available. Very neat stuff. Needs some polish, but very neat.

Unix
I’m also learning Unix. Slowly. I really just need 50 hours/day and a 60-hour work week, but since that’s not gonna happen I’m learning what I can as I have time. I hope to take some classes in the near future regarding Solaris and will continue to do self-study via Ubuntu.

Instructional Technology

Posted on by Michael

This is a technology overview from UCS (University Computing Services) at Western Oregon University.

PAWPRINT:

The username and password that faculty/staff/students use to login to most WOU systems is called the Pawprint account. Here is the Pawprint’s logo:

If you see a webpage with the logo, you’ll know to use your Pawprint account to login to it. WOU users can change this password at any time by visiting AccountLookup (https://wou.edu/accountlookup).

For most WOU users the first time that the Pawprint account will be used is to gain access to a WOU computer. You can login to any PC, Mac or Thinclient on campus with your Pawprint account. A Thinclient is a micro-computer that is used in many WOU computer labs.

REMOTE ACCESS:

One very powerful tool that UCS offers is called Remote desktop. From any PC (on or off campus), you can click START, RUN and type in “mstsc”, and click OK (Remote Desktop can be downloaded by Apple computers at MacTopia). The Remote Desktop Connection window will open. Type in “ts.wou.edu” and click Connect.
You’ll be prompted for your username. If your username is “smithb”, then you would type in “mash\smithb” and then type your password. The Remote Desktop window will then contain what we call a Terminal Server session. You can access your drives and many programs from the Terminal Server. You can logoff anytime by click START, LOGOFF.

DRIVES:

After logging into a WOU computer, users will have access to the following drives:

H
The H Drive is a users’ personal drive. Personal and/or work files can be stored here and are only accessible by the specific user.

I (Faculty/Staff only)

The I Drive is a departmental drive. Primarily faculty/staff will use this drive to share files with other members of their departments.

J (Faculty/Staff only)
The J Drive is a shared drive. Departments use this drive to share information between departments.

K (Student/Faculty only)
The K Drive is a class drive. Faculty and students can access this drive to post syllabi, homework, or turn in assignments.

Other drives may be assigned based on the user.

TECH SUPPORT:

For assistance, UCS provides a Service Request Desk from 8am-5pm Monday-Friday. They can be reached at 88925 or by emailing ucshelpdesk@wou.edu. This is similar to a “Help Desk” in that you would contact for technical assistance. If they resolve your technical issue(s) over-the-phone (although they often can), they will document whatever problem/question that you have and route that information to a UCS technician. Our technicians get that information and will contact you to help resolve the issue/answer your question.

WIRELESS:

Wireless access is available in nearly every area of campus. A few residence halls do not have wireless access, but nearly every other building and public outdoor area has wireless access.  Student fees automatically all students to access wireless.  Faculty/Staff can register for free wireless for free:
https://wou.edu/wireless

PORTAL

To access WOU’s online systems, you will want to start at the Portal. As expected, you access the Portal using your Pawprint account.  Once logged into Portal, you are automatically logged into the following WOU systems (a URL may be included below to access one of these systems directly):

Google Apps – [Portal only]

  • Email, Calendar, Documents, etc…

WolfWeb – https://wou.edu/wolfweb

  • Class list, registration, pay you bill, address information, grades, etc…

Moodle – http://online.wou.edu

  • Online course information.  Many faculty will post schedules, assignments and syllabi.

Library – https://wou.edu/provost/library/portal/

  • MyLibrary, Summit & ILL (Inter-Library Loan).

Forums – https://wou.edu/forums

  • Information for carpools, things for sale, etc…

WOUAlert – [Portal only]

  • Campus Emergency Alert System.  Use this tool to update your emergency contact information.

Some Faculty/Staff will also have access to the Banner system via the Portal – https://wou.edu/bannerINB

You can access these systems inside of Portal by click their icons in the upper right-hand corner.

The Portal system also includes programs and tools developed locally.  These will display in channels that can be opened/shut and moved around.  New channels continue to be created, so check back from time-to-time for new channels.

Floppy Disks/Drives: End of Life

Posted on by Michael

I’ve recently created this Policy blog for WOU & UCS Policies and possible explanations.

Today I’ll be covering the end-of-life support for floppy disks and drives (hereafter referred to as FloppyTech).

As you should well know, FloppyTech has a maximum storage capability of 1.44 MB. Many ages ago (before I was born) FloppyTech was a tried and true technology allowing simple, though perhaps slow, transfer of files from one computer to another (also called a “Sneaker network“). Though relatively stable, FloppyTech quickly became a slow and limited data storage/transfer mechanism. Larger hard disks, (wireless) networks and flash memory became the standards for data storage/transfer.

Then came Windows XP. Here’s a feature for you: Pop a windows 9x floppy into an XP machine and what do you get? Corruption! Hear that sound FloppyTech? It is the sound of inevitability…

Thus came the beginning of the end for FloppyTech.

PCWorld stopped making them.

People decided they were useful no more.

Imation stopped making them.

Dell even stopped selling them (you can special order them). It’s a brave new world, and it is FloppyTech-less.

Most importantly, UCS no longer supports FloppyTech at WOU. Floppies are not to be used for anything (storage / transfer / etc…) and UCS does not support their use. Flash drives are cheap, fast and durable (seriously, try washing a floppy). Obviously, anything truly important needs to be in two places, but flash drives are a much much better alternative to FloppyTech.

So for all you FloppyTech users out there – stop using them! Your data is screaming for its life. Your computer doesn’t like it’s floppy drive. Upgrade. You have only to lose your chains.

Apple iLife

Posted on by Michael

For those of you who are frequent readers, it may strike you as odd, that I’d be writing about Apple. My disdain for Apple’s marketing campaign is well-known (though perhaps poorly blogged). However, I’d like to blog about my latest (and really only) experience with iLife.

As my wife and I recently had a child, I had a new expression of celebration on Mother’s Day. I had never celebrated the motherhood of my wife before, so I was looking for something thoughtful, unique, loving and that was distinctly me.

So I purchased a Mac Mini sometime ago. I instantly installed Windows onto it using BootCamp and had only run Windows after that point. After selecting multiple still images of my wife and child (some including me) I copied those to my NAS. I booted into the Apple side of my Mini, and used iPhoto to catalog the images, then iTunes to rip some music to files. I then used iMovie to put the images to music we both have enjoyed. Finally I used iDVD to load my movie into a DVD menu with a picture of my wife and child. Sum total, I spent about 2 hours to learn and use the applications and finally burn the DVD to a DVD+R.

Honestly, she loved it and was a feat I would have never attempted on a PC. Why? The iLife suite is all integrated with itself. iMovie can pull images from iPhoto, music from iTunes and create transitions, text, etc… iDVD loads files from the logical place the other apps put them and allows easy drag-and-drop access. I was very pleased. I began to understand the allure of Apple’s iLife suite and the cute single-mouse-button using applications and tools.

PC users are now aghast at my “review”. How could a known PC addict and proponent support Apple openly? I’ve never argued that Apple wasn’t good at what it does. Graphics, movies, and integrated tools like blogging, web info posting etc… – Apple accels at these. However, the world is not based on blogs, pictures and movies (though owners of Blogger, Myspace and YouTube would argue with me). Money is created through business. Business is still based in spreadsheets, documents, and databases. iLife is all well and fun. But I’m interested in a larger scope of computing as a whole. Unix rules the server world (sorry Mr. Gates). Windows rules the desktop environment. Apple rules the art and graphics world – though honestly each competes somewhat in other markets. So I applaud Mr. Jobs for creating a viable, functional set of applications that non-computer junkies can really use. But I’m interested in so much more that I’ll keep my PC.

Dream weaver

Posted on by Michael

So, I was recently asked by a department to setup a tutorial on how to login to a WOU Terminal Server and use Dreamweaver to build a website. No sweat.

The day before the presentation, I was asked by the department if I wanted them to make photocopies of my handouts. Handouts…..hmmm…. I remember those…yeah.

So then I decided I probably should have handouts. Having *ahem* not yet created the tutorial (or learned to use Dreamweaver myself yet) I decided that I could do more than handouts, and make a powerpoint. Then I had the fabulous idea of making the presentation INTO a webpage – and build it using Dreamweaver – two birds with one stone… and all that.

For the record, I hand-code all my HTML. Some people would call that being 3l33t, but really I’m just a huge fan of having absolute control.

Anyway, for those interested, I posted the Dreamweaver Tutorial to my P Drive. Now any WOU campus member can follow the instructions, login to a WOU Terminal Server from anywhere in the world, use Dreamweaver to build a page and post it to their P Drive.

On a personal note: I was driving to work recently and heard a song by Gary Wright called Dream weaver. That was super creepy. I wasn’t around in the 60’s or the 70’s, so folks my age constantly hear ‘new’ things for the first time (which have been around for decades). I hadn’t really heard the word(s) Dream-weaver until Macromedia used it for the name of a program. But it was a song LONG before. Interesting how life is cyclical, eh?

Nonpartisan

Posted on by Michael

I’m genuinely nonpartisan, but it must be mentioned that someone came to campus this last Saturday and created quite a stir.

This person could be described as either famous or infamous.

It’s not my job to pass judgment, and by no means am I political. But someone mentioned that they saw this and I had to blog it:

I’m really not sure if they are in support or not. But it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen all week.

OK, I lied. I will get political for a minute.

You know what I’d like? I’d like someone to run for President who hasn’t been bought (and sold) by “Big Oil”, the Detroit Three, the NRA, and every other lobbyist group out there with money and an agenda.

Demo-licans
Republi-crats

Wow are we confused…

I’d like a president who can balance his/her own checkbook.
I’d like someone who loves their spouse and takes good care of their kids.
I’d like someone who has personal integrity and does what is right when no one is looking.
I’d like someone who understands how this country was founded, why and understand the terrible price we paid to keep it.
I’d like someone who was more willing to use money to feed children, the needy and helpless – instead of maintaining status quo with the Fat Cats.
I’d like someone who would take care of our country first, before trying to save other countries.
I’d like someone who could give our youth a hope and a future.
I’d like someone who is more concerned with our economy and the environment than our standing army.
I’d like someone who will keep the government out of my house, let me raise my kids the way I think is best (within appropriate moral law), and not try to dictate every action, thought and desire I have.
I’d like someone who doesn’t think that legislating the majority to fix the tiny percentage of the minority is the perfect solution to every problem.
I’d like someone who isn’t so concerned about Political Correctness that they are scared of their own shadow.
I’d like someone who is offended by people cowering to the vocal 1% who are ‘offended’ at EVERYthing and can’t seem to get along with ANYone.
I’d like someone who know that the official language of the United States is America (not to be confused with English), and that the US is a melting pot of cultures, but that we have our own culture here. Feel free to join in, but expect to learn English, to celebrate Thanksgiving & Christmas and watch baseball on TV. Eat an apple pie – it’s good for you!
I’d like someone who says that right is right and wrong is wrong.

So maybe I’m young and idealistic. Maybe more of us should be.

Anyone wanna comment?
I dare ya 😉

I’ve never seen a candidate like this. It’s too much glitz and glam. Too much dump poop on the other guy. It’s suits and limos and Secret Service.
Really? Does anyone of US live that way? Why can’t the president be one of us? Someone who understands the lower class, the middle class AND the upper class? Wouldn’t that be weird?
I’m ready for weird.

Keep moving forward

Posted on by Michael

Ever see Meet the Robinsons? Basic premise: Boy is kidnapped by a timetraveler and taken to the future where he eventually learns that his inventions have formed the future. His motto was “Keep moving forward”, which was an excerpt from a quote by Walt Disney. Whoever did the advertising and promotion for this movie, should be court-martialed. The movie is excellent and great for all ages.

But I digress. The point is that UCS has undergone many many changes. Travis left, leaving a vacancy. We hired Clayton to do the sysadmin work, and he has been great! I took the managerial roles that Travis preformed by recently assuming the Assistant Director role here in UCS. We have kept moving forward. Joe left, but Brian has taken his position and is moving forward, full steam ahead.

I guess I’m just really pleased to see that we can lose a good deal of our technical expertise, and maintain working systems and processes. Now we’ve turned a corner. We can start building, and the future is bright. I foresee us taking larger and better steps, allowing us to do more with less than ever before. The programming team is working on some new topics, which will allow us to function more efficiently than ever.

This is probably one of my more inane blogs, but much has happened, and I haven’t written much lately. Hopefully I’ll get back into the habit soon.

Loss

Posted on by Michael

I’m sad to say goodbye to Alex.

We’ve already said goodbye to Joe and Travis. It sucks and we’re gonna miss him.

Now it’s time to hold things together. Our teams were a little overwhelmed before, and now we’re covering for missing coworkers. Hiring is in process, and as those searches are successful, we’ll rebuild the team again. I’m excited to see where we are going as a department. It’s kinda slow now, and we’ll probably be in a holding pattern for awhile, but when we recover our full strength, we’ll continue on. And it’s a good road.

I’m gonna miss young, innovative minds like Alex’s. I’m not a fan of technology for technology’s sake, but I am into innovative, creative and out-of the-box ideas. Thanks Alex for everything you brought to us. 🙂

And so, now we look to the future. Here we come…