Information Technology at Indiana University: News In Focus

IT@IU Podcast: Elinor Ostrom Keynote Address at GIS Day 2009

Elinor Ostrom, 2009 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, discusses “Using GIS and Remote Sensing to Study the Effects of Diverse Institutions” at this year’s GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day Keynote Address on November 18 in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center at Indiana University. Get the video file (MP4/317MB). Subscribe to IT@IU Podcasts.
-- Posted 19 November 2009

Universities Add Their Own Search of Google Books

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the HathiTrust partnership has created a tool to search the full text of 500,000 volumes that are part of Google Books and the HathiTrust Digital Library. The search tool is able to list every page that contains a user's search term. IU is among the consortium that jointly launched the HathiTrust.
-- Posted 19 November 2009

IU opens Office of Engagement in Evansville

IU has announced the opening of its newly created Office of Engagement in Evansville. The new office will provide southwest Indiana with a 'front door' to IU, directly connecting the region to the university. By serving as a gateway for the community to access IU's resources, the office will enable the university to play a greater role in contributing to economic development in that region.
-- Posted 18 November 2009

USA Today makes new e-Edition available at IU Bloomington

IU has announced a cooperative agreement with USA Today to make the top-selling newspaper available through its "e-Edition" to students, faculty and staff at the Bloomington campus. The e-Edition, delivered by 5:30am (ET), will be available for free and is an exact replica version of the printed edition of USA Today.
-- Posted 18 November 2009

IU receives NIH grant to improve healthcare in East Africa

A $1.3M grant to IU from the National Institutes of Health will establish the East African Center of Excellence in Health Informatics. The new center will connect the expertise of one of the world's foremost informatics programs at IU and the Regenstrief Institute with one of the leading academic medical centers in East Africa at Moi University and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital to increase the capacity for electronic health records in one of the worlds' poorest regions.
-- Posted 17 November 2009

IU partners with Internet2 to showcase cyberinfrastructure at SC09

At SC09, the 23rd consecutive Supercomputing Conference taking place this week in Portland, Oregon, Internet2 will host four ongoing demonstrations in its booth. IU is providing its network visualization tool developed at the IU Global Research Network Operations Center which supports the Internet2 Network. Worldview is an interactive, 3D network visualization system designed to show real-time network utilization across multiple networks. Worldview converts Internet2 Network utilization data and displays it in a stunning, multi-touch-capable display.
-- Posted 17 November 2009

Geoffrey Fox named among “People to Watch”

2009 has been a year to remember for Geoffrey Fox, Indiana University computational scientist. And according to HPCwire, the popular computing publication, in 2010 Fox will be someone to watch. Fox has been named one of the high performance computing "People to Watch in 2010" by the online magazine. The annual list recognizes "the most influential, interesting and promising personalities having an impact on the world of High Performance Computing."
-- Posted 17 November 2009

Peebles recognized as distinguished scholar, IT leader

Christopher S. Peebles, Indiana University professor emeritus of anthropology, has been awarded the Thomas Hart Benton Mural Medallion by IU President Michael McRobbie. Recognized for his prominent achievement and dedicated service, Peebles is a distinguished expert on the ancient past whose contributions to IU's high tech present and future also are recognized with this honor.
-- Posted 17 November 2009

The Chronicle highlights Kuali

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the adoption of Kuali community source software by universities and colleges. Kuali systems are results of collaborative work among higher education institutions to build systems that meet their collective needs. Indiana University is a founding Kuali partner. IU VP for IT Brad Wheeler comments in the story. Wheeler is also Kuali Foundation Board chairman.
-- Posted 16 November 2009

Universities launch Open Library Environment

A group of leading academic research libraries is partnering in the Kuali Open Library Environment project to develop software created specifically for the complex business management and workflow operations of academic and research libraries. This initiative will enable libraries worldwide to join a community dedicated to pioneering library capabilities to manage their increasingly digital resources and collections.
-- Posted 16 November 2009

IUCAT in Facebook

Facebook users can now use IUCAT, the statewide online catalog of the IU Libraries, within the popular social networking site. Find books and electronic journals, print and online journals, DVDs, CDs, class reserve items, and more. See IUCAT in Facebook.
-- Posted 12 November 2009

Data Center, Innovation Center to be featured on Weekly Special

IU recently dedicated the IU Data Center and the IU Innovation Center, two anchor buildings for Bloomington's evolving technology corridor. These will be featured on the "Weekly Special," airing on WTIU at 8pm on Thursday, Nov. 12, and 10pm on Friday, Nov. 13. Video podcasts of "Weekly Special" segments are available on iTunes and via RSS.
-- Posted 11 November 2009

New IU Innovation Center dedicated

Indiana University's Innovation Center, a new $10 million home to university researchers and private start-up companies, was formally dedicated today (Nov. 9) by IU President Michael A. McRobbie. Considered an anchor for the new technology corridor developing along the 10th Street site and planned to expand north along the Ind. 45/46 Bypass, the center will complement a range of life science and technology-based enterprises locating in the area, including the new IU Data Center and the recently-funded Cyberinfrastructure Building that will house many of the University Information Technology Services staff.
-- Posted 9 November 2009

NSSE survey: Students who use IT are more engaged

A national survey released today shows that a variety of colleges and universities have shown steady improvement in the quality of undergraduate education, as measured by students' exposure to and involvement in effective educational practices. Students whose classes used course management technologies scored higher on benchmarks, as did students whose experience included interactive technologies, such as collaborative editing software, blogs, simulations, and virtual worlds.
-- Posted 9 November 2009

Kelley School’s news site uses social media approach

IU's Kelley School has been experimenting with social media in the form of blogs, Facebook groups and Twitter feeds in recent years. The latest development is a redesigned web page called Kelley 360.
-- Posted 9 November 2009

IU Data Center: The Story

The story of the IU Data Center from the need to its future uses. (85MB)
-- Posted 9 November 2009

Supercomputing & Research Technologies in the New IU Data Center

Pervasive Technology Institute video series (68MB)
-- Posted 9 November 2009

IDS: IU begins switch to Umail

The Indiana Daily Student reports on the migration of all undergraduate student email accounts to Google-powered Umail for those who have not yet voluntarily moved their account to either Umail or Microsoft-powered Imail. Charles Rondot, manager for university communications for UITS, comments in the story. Both systems offer expanded services and an IU email address for life.
-- Posted 6 November 2009

VP Wheeler on Inside INdiana Business

Now that IU's new Data Center has been formally dedicated, IU VP for IT Brad Wheeler will appear on Inside INdiana Business this weekend to discuss its role as part of a much bigger technology push.
-- Posted 6 November 2009

Dedication of the new Data Center

Evoking IU's late president Myles Brand as one of the first to "clearly see the emerging importance of information technology for higher education," IU President Michael McRobbie formally dedicated IU's new $32.7 million Data Center. The facility protects such assets as the supercomputers Big Red and Quarry and the Bloomington hub of Indiana's statewide I-Light network. Watch the archived video of the dedication. Also: IU VP for IT Brad Wheeler will appear on Inside INdiana Business this weekend.
-- Updated 6 November 2009

IU Data Center dedication ceremony live stream

Can't make the dedication ceremony? Watch the live stream.
-- Posted 5 November 2009

Video about the new Data Center

Watch a video documenting the construction, move-in, and statistics of the new IU Data Center -- Bloomington. Produced by the Pervasive Technology Institute at Indiana University.
-- Posted 5 November 2009

Online H1N1 vaccine reservations

A web site for IU Bloomington students and employees to reserve a free H1N1 flu shot will be up and running Friday (Nov. 6). IU has yet to receive any H1N1 vaccine but those making reservations will be the first to receive it. IU employees and students currently eligible to make reservations are pregnant women, households with children younger than six months of age, students and employees through age 24, health care and emergency medical services personnel, and people 25-64 with a chronic medical condition that creates a higher risk for complications.
-- Posted 5 November 2009

Nov. 18: Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom to keynote GIS Day

From environmental research to market tracking, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mapping technologies impact countless public and private enterprises. On November 18, IU will celebrate GIS Day to show how geography and GIS technologies make a difference in our lives.
-- Posted 4 November 2009

Kuali Financial System 3.0 & Kuali Rice 1.0.1 now available

The Kuali Foundation has released the Kuali Financial System (KFS) 3.0 and Kuali Rice 1.0.1. These releases represent the culmination of many years of collaborative work among higher education institutions to build a financial system that meets their collective needs. Indiana University is a founding Kuali partner.
-- Posted 4 November 2009

IUPUI Music and Arts Technology recital

The Dept. of Music and Arts Technology at IUPUI will hold its graduate student recital this month, titled “The Colors of Music”: Monday, Nov. 30, 7:30pm; ICTC 152, 535 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis. Free and open to the public, the recital will include performances by 17 graduate students in the masters of music technology program on the IUPUI campus. The Master of Science in Music Technology program brings new and emerging digital arts technology to students as they relate to a new discipline defined as music technology.
-- Posted 4 November 2009

Minority Engineering Advancement Program

Working with the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, the Indiana University Pervasive Technology Institute created this video about the important work going on in the school's Minority Engineering Advancement Program. The program looks to engage and excite young students in the area of technology advancement.
-- Posted 4 November 2009

IU IT communicators win SIGUCCS awards

IU's IT communicators won a Best of Category award and four Awards of Excellence at the 2009 Special Interest Group on University and College Computing Services (SIGUCCS) conference in St. Louis, Missouri. The SIGUCCS awards go to leaders in the field of IT communication in higher education. Several of IU's Awards of Excellence went to campaigns and products focused on communicating to students about IT, a goal outlined in the latest IU IT strategic plan, Empowering People.
-- Posted 3 November 2009

Chronicle: IU to try "crowdsourcing"

IU AVP for Support Sue Workman discusses the idea of adding crowdsourcing to IU's support arsenal in this column by Jeffrey R. Young in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Crowdsourcing in this context would allow IU computer users to answer each others' support questions in addition to support professionals. Young also goes into greater depth in his column about the whole notion of crowdsourcing and its value.
-- Posted 2 November 2009

Provisioning Above-Campus IT Services: Supply and Demand

This online-only EDUCAUSE Review article supplements the print and online article "Above-Campus Services: Shaping the Promise of Cloud Computing for Higher Education," by IU VP for IT Brad Wheeler and Shelton Waggener, associate vice chancellor for IT at UC Berkeley. They describe three supply-side models of cloud computing and what they mean for individual and institutional consumers.
-- Posted 30 October 2009

Above-Campus Services: Shaping the Promise of Cloud Computing for Higher Education

In this EDUCAUSE Review article, IU VP for IT Brad Wheeler and Shelton Waggener, associate vice chancellor for IT at UC Berkeley, describe the idea of "above-campus services" as a better way to frame IT service aggregation (cloud computing) for higher education -- that efficiency in IT services can best be achieved "at a higher level of aggregation, beyond a single institution." Offering three models for aggregating IT services, they argue that campus leaders should embrace a consortium sourcing model (e.g., Kuali, Sakai, HathiTrust) where institutions are both the means of supply and the source of demand.
-- Posted 30 October 2009

IU to help create Facebook for scientists

IU has received more than $1.8M from the National Institutes of Health to collaborate on a $12.2M, seven-university project designed to network researchers around the country. While the proposed new networking system will contain authentication mechanisms to protect sensitive data and intellectual property, it is being described as a Facebook for scientists. IU's portion of the project is led by Katy Börner, Victor H. Yngve Professor of Information Science and director of the Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center at IU. Co-investigators with Börner at IU are Ying Ding, an assistant professor of Information Science, and Robert McDonald, associate dean for library technologies at IU and associate director for the Data to Insight Center at the Pervasive Technology Institute.
-- Posted 26 October 2009

HathiTrust launching full-text library of books

Information Today reports that by mid-November, the HathiTrust Digital Library will have a full-featured, full-text search service for 4.3-5 million items. The searches will retrieve bibliographic citations and page references, including those for in-copyright books. IU was among the 12-university consortium known as the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and the 11 university libraries of the University of California system that jointly launched the HathiTrust.
-- Posted 22 October 2009

IMU computers now available 24/7

The Indiana Daily Student reports on IU's decision to keep parts of the Indiana Memorial Union on the Bloomington campus open 24/7. A main factor was to keep the new Student Technology Center available to students 24/7 like the Information Commons in the Wells Library. Students must be able to show a valid IU ID during the hours of 2am to 6am.
-- Posted 22 October 2009