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IT News

Category: Communications

IT newsletter has ended; use K-State Today instead

Posted on by Betsy Edwards

This is the final article for the IT News newsletter (formerly InfoTech Tuesday) at K-State. In early May, information technology news began transitioning to the K-State Today venue (website and email) for employees. The move is essentially complete, and readership on the IT News website is now down to single digits.

  1. To see the latest IT events, deadlines, and announcements, go to the K-State Today website and read the “Technology” section (or use the Technology RSS feed).
  2. To get K-State Today’s daily newsletter email, send a subscription request to vpcm@k-state.edu. Email subscription is open to all, according to Erinn Barcomb-Peterson in the Division of Communications and Marketing.
  3. To find archived IT newsletter articles, use the IT News issue archive (Aug. 19, 2008-June 28, 2011) or the older InfoTech Tuesday archive (Dec. 14, 2001-Aug. 19, 2008).

This ends almost 10 years of the InfoTech Tuesday weekly communications channel at K-State.  The newsletter’s final subscriber base was more than 6,000.

InfoTech Tuesday began publication in December 2001 as a joint effort of the Information Technology Assistance Center (iTAC) and the now-defunct Computing and Network Services. It provided 50 issues per year of IT news for K-Staters and the public, with two weeks off for spring break and the Dec. 25-Jan. 1 holiday break.

Questions about the now-defunct IT newsletter may be sent to executive editor Rebecca Gould (ragou@k-state.edu, 785-532-4928) or managing editor Betsy Edwards (betsy@k-state.edu, 785-532-4932), who both provided primary support throughout the newsletter’s existence.

IT questions heard at New Student Orientation and Enrollment

Posted on by Rebecca Gould

Students and parents always have a host of questions about computing during New Student Orientation and Enrollment. Below are a few asked over the first several days.

1. What do I need when bringing a computer to campus?

K-State Information Technology Services provides minimum requirements when bringing a computer to campus. There also are minimum recommendations when buying a new computer. See the 2011-2012 computer recommendations website.

Continue reading “IT questions heard at New Student Orientation and Enrollment” →

QR codes (+ free tools): Quick access to all kinds of data

Posted on by Betsy Edwards
Image of QR code for K-State IT Help Desk URL
QR code for the website of the K-State IT Help Desk

K-Staters may have noticed some funny-looking images of black-pixeled boxes popping up around campus lately, notably in Hale Library. So, what are they used for and what can you do with them?

These are “QR codes” or Quick Response codes (also known as QR barcodes). This technology allows the public to access information fast through graphical links.

QR code readers

To access the information behind a QR code, you first need to download a free QR reader to your smartphone and then scan/capture (take a picture of) a QR code. (Some smartphones may come with a QR reader already installed.) Here are a few that seem to work well:

  • For the iPhone, RedLaser is a free, general purpose barcode reader app.
  • For Android smartphones, Barcode Scanner is a free app that has received positive feedback.

For more choices, do a Google search for “QR code reader”. Continue reading “QR codes (+ free tools): Quick access to all kinds of data” →

Reminder: IT News email moves to K-State Today starting May 3

Posted on by the editors

Today is the last time email from “K-State IT editor” will arrive in 6,000+ inboxes with the latest IT news headlines for subscribers on and off campus (including about 5,600 K-State employee addresses). K-Staters are reminded that the weekly email from the INFOTECHTUESDAY mailing list is being eliminated and, instead, a link to the IT newsletter will be posted in K-State Today, the university’s online publication for employees.

Students and non-K-Staters may ask to receive K-State Today’s daily email by sending a request to vpcm@k-state.edu, according to Erinn Barcomb-Peterson in Kansas State University Communications and Marketing.

Continue reading “Reminder: IT News email moves to K-State Today starting May 3” →

IT word changes according to Associated Press

Posted on by Betsy Edwards

In March, the Associated Press announced its major changes in word styles, including IT words. This is a “big deal” for IT words that have remained unchanged for decades in a field where technology changes frequently and fast. (Some words, like “e-mail”, have remained unchanged for 20+ years.)

New IT word styles include:

  • cellphone (formerly “cell phone” as two words)
  • email (formerly “e-mail” with a hyphen)
  • smartphone (formerly “smart phone” as two words)
  • website (formerly “web site” as two words)

Continue reading “IT word changes according to Associated Press” →

AccessTech: Text-To-Speech bringing text to the ears

Posted on by Jason Maseberg-Tomlinson

 

K-Access logo.
 k-state.edu/dss/k-access

 

As I mentioned last month, one of the most basic needs for accessibility is readable text. For many students with disabilities, accessible text allows the computer to read documents out loud.  This is extremely helpful for students with learning disabilities, visual impairments, and also for students who speak English as a second language.

All students benefit from being able to search for terms, highlight text, and annotate readings; searchable PDF files make this possible.  Audible text can be a lifesaver for many people.

Many of us have scanned articles to PDF files. Did you know that there are two kinds of scans?

Continue reading “AccessTech: Text-To-Speech bringing text to the ears” →

December 2010 issue of Axio Quarterly (K-State Online newsletter) now online; first HTML e-mail released

Posted on by lmueller

The 16th issue is now available on the Axio Learning website. Inside this issue are articles about the keynote presentation of the Axio Conference, flexbooks, and how to launch a videoconference.

Axio Learning at the Office of Mediated Education produces this newsletter for K-State Online users and other Axio members.

In this issue:

Spotlight: EDUCAUSE Quarterly releases 2011 publishing schedule

Posted on by Shalin Hai-Jew

Faculty and staff who work in IT in higher education are encouraged to consider submitting articles to EDUCAUSE Quarterly, one of the leading peer-reviewed online journals in this field.

This journal features quarterly themes but also invites general-interest articles to run throughout the year. Articles should run between 500 – 5,000 words, and multimedia elements are highly encouraged — to maximize the use of the Web and Internet capabilities. Publication guidelines and more are available online, including planned themes and submission deadlines (see below).

Continue reading “Spotlight: EDUCAUSE Quarterly releases 2011 publishing schedule” →

Spotlight: Digital "poster sessions" for online conferences

Posted on by Shalin Hai-Jew

An online conference consists of live, interactive sessions with individuals or groups of speakers and worldwide participants who share information with each other. A recent value-added aspect to such conferences are digital poster sessions.

Poster sessions in typical conferences are static materials presented in a graphical and textual way to share discipline-related information. The topics for poster sessions may align along a particular theme.  However, most of these are contents related to the conference but which may not have been central enough to fit on the main agenda (which may be very competitive).

IOCScreenshot


Some themes of this conference are Technology Tools; New Models in Instructional Design; Privacy, Authenticity and Identity; The Missing Literacies; Green Education / Initiatives; Student Affairs & Technology; Managing Growth; and others.

2010ConferenceThemes

Continue reading “Spotlight: Digital "poster sessions" for online conferences” →

Live “communication access real-time translation” (CART) of an online conference

Posted on by Shalin Hai-Jew

With organizations moving to online conferences (to save on travel, housing, and per diem costs), many are using the services of captioning and reporting services that provide communication access real-time translation (CART).

CART refers to real-time transcription of spoken contents and sound effects-to-text translations. (Closed captioning refers to the provision of a textual equivalent of sound information — whether or not the event is live.)  This translation service ensures accessibility of the real-time events for a range of web-conference participants.

Jeanette Christian of 20/20 Captioning & Reporting (based out of Topeka, Kan.) provided the following responses in a Q&A about CART recently. This company was contacted after they provided CART services for an international academic conference. This company has provided real-time reporting for more than 23 years and has been providing remote CART services for close to 11 years. Its real-time writers are located across the U.S. and can provide 24-hour services seven days a week to locations in the U.S. as well as international.

2020ClosedCaptioning

www.2020captioning.com/index.php

Continue reading “Live “communication access real-time translation” (CART) of an online conference” →