ITPG Meeting Minutes August 23, 2001

Present: Arlene Allen, Eric Brody, Clayton Burnham, Glenn Davis, Doug Drury, Matt Dunham, Laurice Simmons Kennel, Bill Koseluk, Shea Lovan, Elise Meyer, Bruce Miller, Alan Moses, Larry Murdock, Kimberly Philpot, Brian Reynolds, Dan Ringwald, Fuzzy Rogers, Glenn Schiferl, Jason Simpson, Jamie Sonsini, Paul Valenzuela, John Vasi, Craig Welsh

Proxy Server

Currently the proxy server (run by IS&C) only provides access to Library resources and the Library provides end-user support. Two months ago faculty in Economics requested a proxy server to allow access to an Economics web server from off campus. Other departments could be allowed to use the server if the following criteria are met:

1. Departments must provide the end-user support.
2. A contact person must be identified.
3. Billing arrangements must be clearly defined.
4. Users must be authenticated by LDAP.

Any interested parties or further discussion should be directed to Jamie.

The Library suggested that the proxy server should become a campus-wide service and be core funded. They have made a budget request to the administration to that effect and they also included the option of having any core funding provided flow through the OIT to pay for this service.

Digital Divide Project

(From May 17 meeting: "Britt Andreatta and Bill Koseluk presented a proposal for addressing issues related to the Digital Divide, the differences in access to technology resources experienced by those from differing socio-economic backgrounds. A handout was circulated presenting five components of the program. Outside funding is being sought for support." [Subsequent to the ITPG meeting, the Executive Vice Chancellor agreed to fund the teaching of ID-15 and pledged to support the other components of the proposal, with the exception of the online modules.])

A multi-pronged proposal to address this issue was introduced by Bill Koseluk.

1. EOP identifies students on economic background and gleans out candidates for interdisciplinary course.
2. ID15 (Computing for Arts & Humanities) has been identified as a course long unused that could be adapted to fit this need. It is scheduled to start this Fall as a 2-hrs/week lecture and 2-hr/week lab course.
3. Guest speakers are to be used in class for 10-15 minute presentations. (Volunteers are needed; if interested, please contact Bill.)
4. Students will be identified for possible employment in information technology.
5. Campus needs will be evaluated in relation to student’s performance in the program for possible employment.

Software Depot

Starting with a short history of the Software Depot from inception to current date, Laurice Simmons Kennel reported that the Software Depot’s success has far exceeded their expectations, and is requesting additional funding as follows:

1. One-time funding of approximately $50K for development of management tools.
2. Permanent funding for additional FTE (either an AA or CNT).
3. Permanent funding for reeducation, i.e., travel, hardware for testing software, etc.
4. Permanent funding for an expansion of services.

Currently the program is run using .5 FTE, which leaves no backup process in place, and the workload demands more than the allotted FTE can provide. Additionally, no one is addressing campus License compliance. Strategic planning is necessary to bring the Depot into audit guidelines. It was pointed out that software license and volume purchase coordination is a system-wide problem with each campus handling it with a different approach. It was agreed that a working group be formed to further explore the issue as part of an unfunded or under funded issues list to be presented to ITB. Interested parties are to contact Laurice (simmonsl@ic.ucsb.edu, ext. 8398).

Changes to Microsoft Licensing

A handout was provided outlining the new pricing for Microsoft Licensing, the main point being a new annual “software assurance” purchase rather than just purchasing license upgrades when necessary. The Microsoft representative has been solicited to come to campus with a presentation; more information on this will be forthcoming. [Note: More information was posted on 9/5/01 at http://www.ic.ucsb.edu/~license/Microsoft.doc.]

AuthDir (LDAP directory)

Arlene Allen announced that the LAPD directory is swept nightly, 5 nights/week, for “expired” people. The implication is that if you expire, you can’t authenticate. After 120 days, the physical entry is deleted (data is archived for audit purposes, but not for re-establishment). In the instance of students who take a quarter off, upon their return they will be reinstated if they are within 120 days of expiring. Otherwise they are put in with a new UCSB network ID#. The directory is being run from a new site, but the changes will be transparent. Another issue raised was the campus perception that the LAPD is simply “the white pages” of a phone book, but it is actually a “password file," or authentication tool that must be protected and maintained.

Gartner Group Tickets

As part of the Gartner Group contract, the campus receives two free tickets that can be used to attend Gartner Group Conferences. Last year no one wanted to use the tickets. This year two organizations have already requested using the tickets. In order to share these campus resources fairly, organizations have a set period of time to make their requests (i.e., by August 30, 2001). If there are more than two requests, a lottery will be held. An alternate will be chosen in case those chosen are unable to attend. Organizations not selected this year get to have an additional name in the hat for them the following year if there is still a conference that they want to attend. If an organization used a ticket in the previous year, they can’t participate in the lottery for the next year if there are more requests than tickets. [Update: The one request submitted by the deadline was withdrawn, so the two tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis for the remainder of the year.]

Text Encoding Initiative

On behalf of Alan Liu, Elise Meyer sent out an email about the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) Consortium ( http://www.tei-c.org/ ). No one in the group had knowledge of related activity on campus although the Alexandria project was mentioned as a possibility.

UCOP Information Technology Accessibility Report

UCOP has requested a report from each of the campuses on the accessibility of Information Technology. This report will cover the areas of research that contributes to the development of accessible IT, initiatives to train scientists and engineers to address IT accessibility, and accessible IT that we are providing for our own faculty, staff and students. UCSB is looking for a co-coordinator for this project, and this coordinator may contact ITPG members during the information gathering process.

Web Surveys

1. What do we want to learn?
2. Can we learn it via web survey tools?
3. If so, what tool or service should we use?

UCOP New Business Architecture Initiatives

Excerpts from the KPMG Consulting reports regarding the E-Procurement and HRIS Initiatives were distributed. UCOP is proceeding with these projects at full steam. $100M might be taken off the top of UC’s budget to fund these and the campuses will be expected to use these systems.

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