Academic Computing Committee
Meeting Minutes
February 12, 2007
Members Present:
University Senate
Representative: J. Alvares, R. Wolfson
Faculty Representatives:
Administrative
Representatives (Academic Deans): M. Mallery [Library
Administrative Rep.], M. Heller [CHSS Administrative Rep. proxy], S. Poger [CEHS Administrative Rep.], J. Youn
[CSAM Administrative Rep.], R. Salomon [SBUS Administrative Rep.], E. Harris [CART Administrative Rep], P. Kahn (proxy for Associate Vice President
for Information Technology)
Non-voting Members Present:
J. O’Brien, OIT; T. Devlin (Academic Coordinator of Education Computing
Network)
Guests: J. Minier
Absent:.
R. Xing [SBUS Faculty Rep]., A.
Pemberton [CART Faculty Rep.], D. Stevens [Undergraduate Student Rep], A. Mohiuddin [Graduate Student Rep.], J. Donadeu
[Graduate School Administrative Rep.], VACANT [Undergrad. Student
Rep.], VACANT [CEHS Faculty Rep.]
Presiding: M. Kasner, Chair
Reporting: M. Mallery, Secretary
Distribution: ACC Web at http://frontpage.montclair.edu/acc/
Convened: 3:10 p.m. [Library
Special Collections Room]
Adjourned:
4:50 p.m.
1. Call to Order: The
meeting was called to order at 3:10 p.m. when there was a quorum.
2. Minutes: Minutes for the
Jan. 22nd meeting were approved with two amendments. Salomon proposed and
Heller drafted the following amendment to the Survey Subcommittee section of
the Jan. 22 ACC Meeting Minutes, which was approved by ACC members:
***
The attached Chair's
Statement presents a thorough discussion of the competing interests that exist,
including the perception that establishing a central software licensing
authority would allow MSU to realize savings.
***
Shapiro will post the
Chair's Statement to the ACC Web site as an addendum to the January 22nd
Minutes.
3. Announcements: Mallery announced that the room for the March 5th ACC
meeting is UH5013 in University Hall from 3PM to 5PM. Thank you to Patty Kahn for reserving this
room for the ACC. Mallery
will send out email to the ACC listserv to remind members of the room change.
Salomon reported that SBUS
is in discussion with Dell to use the D620 laptops for the pilot project where
all SBUS students are required to have a laptop. SBUS is in the second year of this
project. Salomon also noted that SBUS is
working with CompUSA to provide a Digital Signing System on the first floor entry
with two 32” LCD displays, which are accessible via the Web for updating. This signage project could go campus-wide.
Wolfson announced that OIT is testing the Video Furnace
project, which features distributed-tv across campus
with a Tivo-type interface, and the ability to record
and show parts of videos in classes.
4. Reports
• Chair's Report: Kasner reported
that he had not heard a response from the CEHS Dean on the ACC request for a
faculty representative. Poger volunteered to follow
up with CEHS Dean to request appointment or election of an ACC faculty
representative from CEHS.
Kasner summarized the Chair's Statement that he had
distributed via the ACC listserv and addressed three ACC issues:
a) re-imaging
computers/workstation integrity
b) standard
software build, and
c) campus-wide (or more
limited) licensing of software.
Kasner noted Chapel's responses to him via email on the
question of central software licensing, in particular, where Chapel noted that
all software must be purchased through a single account, which may decrease the
flexibility that single purchaser currently exercise. Heller noted that MSU could follow the model
of Rice University, where faculty have the option of buying through the group
purchasing account with the bulk discount, or purchasing individually, as may
be necessary for a grant project.
• Deputy Chair's
Report: Youn
reported on preliminary findings of his investigation into the feasibility of
MSU having central licensing with one vendor, such as Adobe. After discussion of Youn’s
findings and the widespread use and individual licenses for Adobe Photoshop on
campus, Salomon moved that
***
Joe Youn
will investigate the number of points available at MSU to qualify for an Adobe
license, speak to Joe Reilly in Procurement, and investigate the feasibility of
running a pilot project for procurement of software through the Academic
Computing Committee.
***
Wolfson seconded; and ACC members unanimously approved the
motion. Heller noted that if this project is successful, other software that
would be good targets for central licensing might be: FileMaker, EndNote, as well as Apple applications. Youn added that
Microsoft also has a licensing program with bulk purchase discounts.
• OIT Report: Kahn distributed the Lifecycle Lease Schedule
and Expiration Chart for the OIT campus equipment Lifecycle Replacement
Program. After discussion, Kahn said
that she would find out more information, such as equipment maker and model, in
order to expand the LLSE Chart, and send it to the ACC listserv, and she will
also send out an electronic copy of the Lifecycle Lease Schedule and Expiration
Chart to the ACC.
Kahn distributed the OIT
“Proposed Changes to Anti-SPAM Service: Quarantining Messages Ranked 80% or
Higher” document for ACC comment. After
discussion, the proposal was tabled until Kahn provided further information on
open questions, such as Kahn said she will verify if users
opt-out of Anti-SPAM service, do they see 100% of your email and report to ACC
listserv. Also, Kahn said she will
report back to the ACC on the following questions:
1) What is the frequency
that Anti-SPAM email alerts are sent out?
2) Why do some people at MSU
receive the email alerts and some do not?
3) Why does it take so long
to login to the Anti-SPAM system?
4) Can the ACC drill down
and get more information on the statistics for SPAM receipt between 82% and
84%?
Kahn reported that MSU has
announced its partnership with Medical Missions for Children to host a digital
video library, the Global Video Library of Medicine. Kahn distributed copies of
the online news release at: http://www.mmissions.org/news/article.html
• Ad Hoc Committee Reports:
a) Learning Management
Subcommittee (LMS) – Kahn reported that the LMS will meet in February and focus
on constructing a rubric for evaluating building blocks for course management
systems at MSU. As follow-up to the ACC
request, Kahn said she will send an email to the MSU technical support
community to remind them that faculty should renew their bookmarks in BlackBoard.
b) Survey Subcommittee: Kelton provided
via the ACC listserv the rough draft of the Survey on campus-wide technology
support and service satisfaction that he worked on with Steve Johnson of Institutional
Research. Heller (as Kelton’s
proxy) asked that the following motion be made and voted on:
*****
Motion to approve the
Campus-Wide Survey and move to the University Senate
for consideration.
Whereas, the ACC has
reviewed the Campus-Wide Survey, and
Whereas, the ACC supports
the idea of a campus-wide inquiry into the
satisfaction of the campus community with service and support of
technology,
and
Whereas, the ACC believes
the current iteration of the survey vehicle is
appropriate for gauging campus-wide user satisfaction, and
Whereas, any changes to the
survey vehicle as it currently exists should be
first reviewed by the ACC,
Therefore, it is moved that
the survey vehicle in its current iteration be
forwarded to the University Senate for consideration and the
ACC urges the
University
Senate to approve this survey in its current form.
*****
After discussion, the ACC
approved the motion unanimously. Devlin asked that Kelton
report back to the ACC on the results of the Survey.
5. Old Business
a) MSU Policy on Responsible
Use of University Computing Resources:
After discussion of the
proposed policy and review of the ACC online discussion Kelton
has posted on the CHSS wiki at: http://newton.montclair.edu:8080/kelton/tiki-index.php?page=Responsible+Use+Guidline
, Kasner moved that:
***
The ACC recommends to the
Faculty Senate that they form a committee of MSU faculty, staff, and
administrators to develop a new set of MSU Guidelines for Responsible Use of
University Computing Resources, coordinated from the 2001 Guidelines and the
newly proposed Policy, and include in this document procedures for implementation
and enforcement of this policy.
***
The ACC approved the motion
unanimously. Youn requested that all ACC members
forward emails with comments on the Guidelines to Kasner
to be included in the February 21st Faculty Senate discussion of the proposed
MSU Policy on Responsible Use of University Computing Resources and the ACC
recommendation.
6. New Business:
a) Statistics Package -
deferred to next meeting.
b) Endnote - deferred to
next meeting.
7. Adjournment: The meeting
was adjourned at 4:50 PM.