In Fall 2007, Podcast Central was implemented as the University’s online hosting service for audio and video files. As we continue to grow and enhance our services, we are limiting the scope of Podcast Central. Effective December 23, 2014, access to Podcast Central will be “Read-Only”.  Depending on the size and purpose of your presentations, media content will be uploaded exclusively using one of our umMedia Services (currently Ensemble and Mediasite).  A survey has been added to the umMedia page which will help determine which program will best meet your needs.  Please submit the completed survey, and a member of the CTL staff will contact you for a consultation. Meanwhile, we ask that you purge Podcast recordings that are no longer needed as we prepare for this transition.

Thank you,

Ellen

Please note the following holiday hours:

Recently, you may have received email messages asking you to upgrade, update, or confirm your email account.  These phishing messages often ask you to respond with your username and password, or to click on a link to a non-Memphis website and input your personal credentials.  Please be aware that these messages are not legitimate and can be disregarded.

Information Technology Services (ITS) will never ask you for your username and password via email or over the phone, or ask you to verify your account to keep it from being disabled.

If you receive an email message that has a suspicious link, or asks you for account details such as your username and password, you can report the message to ITS staff via email at abuse@memphis.edu or over the phone by calling the ITS Service Desk at (901) 678-8888.  Further information regarding keeping your University account safe can be found at http://www.memphis.edu/its/security/.

Thank you,

Ellen

ITS is offering a training session on IT Security September 8, 2014, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.  We encourage faculty and staff, especially those with administrative roles, to attend this training session.

Registration for the session is via our Learning Curve website at https://bf.memphis.edu/training/index.php.

Steps to register:

• Visit the site and click “ Manage your training”
• Login with your user name and password
• Under Registration on left menu, click “class schedule/registration”
• Select “View All” in the category dropdown box
• Scroll down to the Information Security session and click “Register”

Please report problems registering to the Service Desk at extension 8888.

Regards,

Ellen

Dear Students,

Information Technology Services (ITS) welcomes you to the University of Memphis, and wishes you a successful academic year.  We understand this is a hectic time for everyone as the semester begins. However, we wanted to take a brief moment to provide you with these important reminders.

We encourage you to review tips for protecting your personal information by clicking this link: http://www.memphis.edu/itd/security/personal-information-security.php.  Additional security information is accessible by clicking links on the right-hand side of that page.  If you receive any suspicious email, you may forward it to abuse@memphis.edu for analysis.

Please continue using the Service Desk to request technical assistance. For your convenience, you may use http://umhelpdesk.memphis.edu to submit your requests on-line or you may call the helpdesk at 901.678.8888. Once your helpdesk ticket is submitted, someone will follow-up with you as soon as possible.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Regards,

Ellen Watson

Chief Information Officer and Vice Provost for  Information Technology Services

The Center for Teaching and Learning in IT Services recently published a newsletter with valuable information on tools, resources and workshops to provide students and faculty with the latest teaching technology.

Read all about these exciting opportunities here.

IT Services is committed to providing these tools to make things easier for you!

If you need help, please contact the IT Service Desk at 678-8888.

Have a great semester!

Ellen

The University has been made aware of phishing attempts that target university employees.  These malicious activities are usually carried out via email messages that may contain enticing subjects such as mailbox warnings, offers of salary increases, etc.  The email messages may contain links that trick employees into visiting fake websites. These websites appear very similar to the institution’s real web sites and solicit information such as user names and passwords.  The goal, of course, is to trick victims into thinking they are logging into authentic websites.

Employees are urged to use caution when visiting any website that solicits your University of Memphis user name and/or password. University employees should visit the following website for additional information regarding email scams and related security topics: http://www.memphis.edu/its/security/e-mail-scams.php.

Employees who receive suspicious email may forward it to abuse@memphis.edu to confirm whether it is legitimate.

Regards,

Ellen

On Sunday, August 10, there was an unexpected outage on the eCourseware  (Design2Learn or D2L) system from approximately 2:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.  This prevented access for many users.  According to D2L, the cause was due to a power outage at their hosting facility.  Once power was restored, application and storage servers were verified and reconnected.

D2L is a third-party, cloud-based vendor that provides eCourseware to the University.  As such, ITS can work with them on expediting solutions, but unfortunately, cannot prevent such emergencies.

D2L is also contracted through the Tennessee Board of Regents, which limits our ability to affect service improvements.  However, there is currently a TBR committee exploring alternative course management providers through a formal request for proposal process.

Please note that the UofM MyMemphis portal does have a channel available in which ITS posts notices about potential service impacts.  You can also check here for service status “reminders”.

We regret any inconvenience that this may have caused users, and will continue to monitor service levels with D2L.  Thank you for your patience.

Ellen

Since 2010, the University of Memphis has collaborated in discussions with City of Memphis leaders to bring Google Fiber to our region.   Google Fiber, provides high-speed Internet connections that are faster than average broadband speeds.  Google is once again expanding its fiber network

Those wishing to advocate for consideration of Memphis as a site for Google Fiber may visit http://www.choose901.com/bring-google-fiber-memphis/.

We will continue to be engaged with city leaders on this issue and we are committed to further dialog.

Thank you,

Ellen

On February 4, 2014, President David Rudd issued invitations to members of the Redefining the University Library Committee, with the charge:

“Today’s University Libraries must face a rapidly evolving landscape from the changes surrounding information and technology that have occurred over recent decades. Managing the migration to digital information systems raises numerous challenges, and considerations requiring the collected wisdom of various constituents. The library’s traditional role as a repository for physical books and periodicals is changing, with important implications for space utilization, resource acquisition, and deployment of staffing.”

The purpose of the Redefining the University Library Committee was to propose a plan for how the University Library will flourish on that new landscape, and how to best position future directions for the programs, services and physical configuration of the University libraries. The committee’s recommendations for the library of the 21st century has considered best practices for serving the University community and for meeting both ideal configuration and realistic support models.

The committee’s substantive and visionary recommendations may be seen here in the final report presented to the President on May 30, 2014.

As chair of the committee, I would like to thank all of the committee members for their diligence, research, and thoughtfulness in the preparation of this report.  The members included: