morningsong: Comments

Comment on ""What's On Your Mind" Series"

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:50:42 -0500

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the quick response and link.

I think you might have found your culprit for low attendance. A quick straw pole of a few IT people in multiple areas yielded no one knowing about this presentation. Whether that is a fault of the managers or directors, I don't know. However, plenty of items like IT-Pro Roundtables, MacAdmins meetings, and NWoP meetings are announced via the NWoP list and I am sure many need permission to go to these too. I would suggest announcing there next time for maximum exposure.

Cheers,
Ed

- EDWARD JAMES SMILEY JR

Comment on ""What's On Your Mind" Series"

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:10:53 -0500

For both the Dr. Spanier and Dr. Brady lectures, I was out of the office at the scheduled time. Not usually the case, just bad timing.

The streaming video of Dr. Spanier's lecture is great, but the Adobe Connect presentation of Dr. Brady has such poor audio quality (extremely high gain and resulting distortion) that it's not usable. The video is also small and grainy, just an overall poor setup.

I'm very pleased that recordings are being made available to us. My feedback (to whoever is in charge of recordings) would be to stick with the streaming video delivery method used for Dr. Spanier's lecture. Thanks.

- Bill

Comment on ""What's On Your Mind" Series"

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:57:16 -0500

Ed,
We announced this series through several lists, but because people may need to get permission to attend, typically used list of directors or managers, and asked them to spread the word.

Try this link to see the video of Dr. Spanier's remarks:
https://streaming.psu.edu/media/?movieId=7529

- JEFFREY CARL KUHNS

Comment on ""What's On Your Mind" Series"

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:26:56 -0500

Actually I fall in either #4 or perhaps #0 as I did not hear about this event. I actively follow NWoP, which I thought is the 'official' vehicle for events such as these. Searched the NWoP archives and found nothing so I don't think I missed it there. Might I ask where this was announced? I would love to be on that list!

Also, using the handy Google to search for the recording brings me a site on TLT, which then takes me to a staff.its.psu.edu site which I do not have access. Could someone link up to the recording so people outside ITS can watch it?

Thanks,
Ed

- EDWARD JAMES SMILEY JR

Comment on "Communications Overreactions"

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:05:38 -0500

I agree - and in my role - I know all too well how true this is. While I think e-mail can be used effectively in the right context, it is indeed the worlds lousiest communications tool. The irony is that we've grown accustomed in some circles to communicating this way, without ever considering the human factor. While I'm usually pretty good about responding in a timely fashion, I've also learned to redefine exactly what timely means in certain contexts. Some e-mails can be answered right away and others cannot/should not be answered until one has had a relatively good night's sleep and some time to think. I do find that walking away to take a quick break and then picking up the phone after some time to think does wonders.

- KAREN M HACKETT

Comment on "Communications Overreactions"

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:41:25 -0500

I completely agree. I'm sure that we've all seen emails that sound completely rude, and then when you see the person they have a different tone.

I posted a blog entry a while back that was touching on this sort of topic - people having the wrong assumptions, assuming the worst, and letting their emotions drive their dialogs.

- Justin Elliott

Comment on "Communications Overreactions"

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 11:37:56 -0500

Don't have anything to add, only the point to underscore. Seeing the same phenomena and at least for me, in every case recently - it was the orthogonal filter "trick" at work. Take a deep breath, pick up the phone or grab a cup of coffee with a colleague.

- KEVIN M MOROONEY

Comment on "Communications Overreactions"

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:20:02 -0500

Those seem like fight'n words to me, partner.

- KENNETH GEORGE FORSTMEIER

Comment on "Communications Overreactions"

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:19:24 -0500

Those seem like fight'n words to me, partner.

- KENNETH GEORGE FORSTMEIER

Comment on ""What's On Your Mind" Series"

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:28:52 -0500

I ended up "fighting a fire" under reason #2, however I did watch it later. It's nice to see that he appears to understand our plight in IT, and genuinely appreciates and respects the work we do as a whole. It was also refreshing to see his truthful comments on where we stand as a University right now.

Thanks also goes out to the staff that made viewing this later possible. Kudos and congratulations! I watched it from my home over a not-really-the-fastest broadband connection and it streamed with absolutely no glitches in video nor audio. I know a LOT of commercial sites that can't claim that!

- JEREMIAH HILL

Comment on ""What's On Your Mind" Series"

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:12:46 -0500

I was there and really enjoyed it. I've had the chance to hear Dr. Spanier in a number of settings -- from the State of the University to small faculty meetings while I was in IST. I find him especially open and honest when speaking to smaller groups ... I felt this was the case at our session. He was candid and showed an amazing amount of respect for the work we do in ITS and IT in general at PSU. He is a well connected University President, so he knows the national issues very well. I never miss a chance to hear either he or the Provost speak.

I would suggest for future sessions a more intimate venue be used ... I know space is a real challenge, but finding something that makes it feel more informal would be great. The Foster Auditorium in the Library comes to mind as does the theatre in the Palmer. These are large-ish rooms that have a more intimate feel.

But with that said, I can't say how impressed I am that the President took time to come and talk with us. I am proud of the work we do and to see him take the time was really great. I also think having a series like this is a smart move -- it raises the stakes on us all. I appreciate the effort in making this happen ... I know it isn't easy to pull it off.

- Cole W. Camplese

Comment on ""What's On Your Mind" Series"

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:10:17 -0500

I have to admit, on the day of this "What’s on your mind series", I was "on the fence" trying to balance my workload with attending this session. I then assessed and determined that this was an opportunity to directly interact with the leader of a Big Ten University. We don't often get those opportunities. As such, I attended and was enlightened to hear President Spanier's honest, but positive outlook for the University in these troubled economic times as well as his respect, support and recognition of ITS's contribution to the University. Many thoughtful questions were presented to President Spanier during this session. I left the session feeling good about the work I do and that the contributions I make to the University are appreciated. I can only say, I’m glad I attended, plan on attending more, and I’m thankful to those who organized these sessions.

- RICHARD DENNIS DUMM

Comment on "ITS Budgets"

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:32:22 -0500

I believe you're right on regarding our position. What we have to remember is that we always need to be good stewards of our budgets and do the right thing for Penn State. We also have to remember that even with the most recent .75% cut this year. We have to make the right decisions with the 99% that's left!

- MARK CHARLES SAUSSURE

Comment on "Importance of Infrastructure"

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:45:38 -0500

This is an interesting proposal. It is much like the No child left offline program in the state of Kentucky. The governor announced this effort in 2005, would be interesting to see recent stats on this work. It is also joined by the ConnectKentucky effort funded by the state as well as business partners.

There is quite a bit of discussion about the middle class being wiped out because of technology. Would that be as likely if efforts such as this did receive funding. On the other hand, there are families who still struggle to heat their home and feed their children. Perhaps this shouldn't be a top priority. hmmm....

- Renee

Comment on "Importance of Infrastructure"

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:38:18 -0500

Jeff ... I find this to be an interesting proposal -- on so many levels. One that is becoming more apparent to me is the growing divide we have as it relates to educational opportunities. I am teaching outside the College of IST for the first time and am seeing new perspectives on very old issues. We talked all the time about the Digital Divide in IST, but in a way that made it feel very far away. Now that I am working with graduate students in the College of Education I am seeing these issues in a whole new light.

It is amazing that every time we start down the path of discussing the use of emerging/disruptive technologies for teaching and learning a decent segment of the class raises their hands and tells me to back up and consider the fact that not everyone can participate. I try to work around it, but for teachers the idea that only a handful of your students can truly participate in learning activities outside the school ... well, it is a deal breaker for them.

I wonder what we would do with the bandwidth? Could we pull our teachers and educators up to a level to where they would have the faculty development to truly take advantage of it? Clearly there are issues all of the place with this topic, but providing infrastructure to the home would empower a generation to participate in so many new ways.

- Cole

Comment on "Goin' Green"

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:29:47 -0500

I would like to suggest that we as ITS employees take responsibility for all the catalogs and junk mail we receive on a weekly basis. Contact vendors and have your name removed from mailing lists - most catalogs are online now and catalogs are not necessary. Or be sure only one copy is coming per department or building!

Many trade journals can be accessed online as well - investigate that possibility.

Recently I sent a suggestion to PSU HR suggesting that they come up with another way to more efficiently advertise their educational offerings (those colored, folded, sheets of paper in everyone's mail box). Beginning January 1 we seem to be receiving one sheet of paper in calendar format of HR offerings - KUDOS! (Kudos also to ITS Training for their 4-month format)

By encouraging departments and vendors to reassess their bulk mailings could result in less trucks (less gas, less emissions) being required to deliver and dispose of the unfathomable pounds of paper PSU handles each day!

Do this at home too!

- Debbie Pepple

Comment on "Goin' Green"

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:38:52 -0500

ITS may want to consider a more formal and more structured deployment of virtualization technology within ITS and across PSU.

Servers are critical to supplying computing services. In order to maximize availability, many organizations use multiple servers for the same (or closely related) functionality. Normally, these are left powered on with all other servers. Further, all servers must follow security update procedures, which require staff administration time.

Presently, the cost of a server is nominal, almost commodity, so services can more simply be provided by throwing more servers into racks. What gets lost in this simplification model is the support of that server (both the green and the staff) will be facing you tomorrow and as long as you have the server running on the network.

Especially disturbing is that many servers are grossly under-utilized. However, they continue to gobble green and staff resources regardless of their utilization.

Virtualization (e.g. VMware) is a technology which is mature enough to help reduce loss of green and staff resources. However, there is a learning curve cost to be paid. Normally, this learning is up to individuals, teams, or up to departments. A better practice may be to create a guided team of ITS virtualization experts that will work to minimize the learning curve.

- Greg Ritchey

Comment on "The Importance of Sharing"

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:39:16 -0500

You say:

There seem to be three main problems that cause this:
- difficulty in thinking broadly.
- difficulty in thinking long term.
- the ambiguity of many words and phrases.

Avoiding problem one is very important at Penn State. We need to think about the implications of everything we do to the broader Penn State. We need to make an effort to include representatives from those IT groups and administrative units not just as a matter of politics, but to endeavor to represent IT needs and requirements across Penn State.

By being wary of problem two, we avoid "one-offs" and think about interfaces, APIs, and systems that will exist to satisfy more than one problem.

Dealing with problem three speaks to the heart of some of the work we are doing with workflow. We need to set controlled vocabularies. We need to be consistent across systems with these vocabularies and nomenclature to encourage reusability and foster unexpected "mash-ups" of information.

- JimLeous

Comment on "Apple Harvest"

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:37:57 -0500

Don't forget that Apple stock split in early 2005....

Eric

- Eric Aitala

Comment on "Apple Harvest"

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 07:52:41 -0500

These are good points. I do recall when Steve came back to Apple he went into a mode of slashing products to get a single 2x2 grid -- consumer and pro on one axis and desktop and portable on the other. The simplification of the product line allowed them to, in Steve's words, "innovate through the downturn." Just as most of the other tech kings laid people off, changed course, and spent money in product lines, Apple increased its R&D budget so they would be ready with a battery of new and innovative products on the other side.

There are lessons to be learned in that strategy for us -- our users depend on powerful and stable services from us. We may not need to be the fastest to "market" with them, but it seems critical to me that we do deliver stability. I wonder, however, as expectations in technological advances approach the levels as in the consumer space if our audiences will expect faster releases from us? IF that is the case, we need to continuously find new ways to have things "cooking in the labs" that we can release, test, and decide upon. I love the failing wisely perspective -- it makes for an innovative culture internally and provides lots of opportunities to work with our audiences.

BTW, I remember all the doom and gloom around Apple. If you remember correctly, right before Apple bought Next there were some serious rumors that Be OS would be the basis for Mac OSX. Funny how it all works out.

- Cole