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BlogsBlogs are a great way to expand your professional persona, share your experience at events, and publish ideas. Our blogs provide an easy way to participate in the higher-education IT community. Log in today and get started!  Cybersecurity Education & AwarenessCreated by Rodney J. Petersen (EDUCAUSE) on September 19, 2004
The Security Task Force’s strategic goal associated with Education and Awareness is “to increase the awareness of the associated risks of computer and network use and the corresponding responsibilities of higher education executives and end users of technology (faculty, staff, and students) and to further the professional development of information technology staff.” Recognizing “awareness”, “training”, and “education” as part of a “learning continuum” (see Schou, Frost, and Maconachy), the Security Task Force is primarily focused on cybersecurity awareness and training. We also seek to work collaboratively with our academic partners, including the Centers for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, the NSF Advanced Technological Education Centers, the Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education, Association for Computing Machinery, Computing Research Association, and other academic programs or associations committed to cybersecurity training, education, professional development, and research. Initiatives under this strategic goal are developed and implemented by the Education and Awareness (E&A) Working Group of the Security Task Force that is co-chaired by Mark Bruhn (Indiana University) and Kelley Bogart (University of Arizona). In January 2004, the working group convened at a workshop in Baltimore, Maryland, to develop a set of recommendations and associated tasks to improve cybersecurity awareness in the higher education community. The recommendations included, among other things, steps to help colleges and universities observe Cyber Security Day in April 2004, development of a cybersecurity awareness toolkit (CD currently in development), and plans for National Cyber Security Awareness Month in October 2004. The E&A working group also contributed to the legislative testimony that I delivered in April 2004. Because of our focus on awareness, the Security Task Force is a supporter of the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) - a unique partnership among the Federal government, leading private sector companies, trade associations, and educational organizations. The NCSA aims to educate Americans about the need for computer security and encourages computer users to protect their home and small business systems. EDUCAUSE is also the home to the new executive director of the NCSA. The Security Task Force is addressing the professional development needs of security professionals through the EDUCAUSE & Internet2 Security Professionals Conference. The 3rd annual conference will be held on April 3-5, 2005, in Washington, D.C. This year, the combination of a full-day pre-conference seminar, half-day pre-conference seminars, and a half-day post-conference seminar will permit more training opportunities than in the past. The E&A working group is also exploring how it can support and promote training and professional development at the regional, state, and campus level, too. If your institution has cybersecurity awareness initiatives underway or if you are doing creative things in this area, I would appreciate it if you would drop me a line (rpetersen@educause.edu) so I can learn more about your efforts. Additionally, I would encourage to provide more information about your cybersecurity awareness program by completing the information requested as part of the Effective Security Practices submission form. More cybersecurity awareness resources are available in the new online Resource Center.
Welcome To Rodney's Cybersecurity BlogCreated by Rodney J. Petersen (EDUCAUSE) on September 18, 2004
Welcome to this blog space that will contain news and insights based upon my work in the area of cybersecurity. As the coordinator of the EDUCAUSE/Internet2 Computer and Network Security Task Force, I gain first-hand insights into the efforts of colleges and universities across the country. Additionally, my office location in Washington, D.C., and my participation in the public policy arena along side of government and industry gives me inside information that I can use to communicate timely information to the higher education community as well as to advance our cause in Congress and with the federal regulatory agencies. The Security Task Force has been pursuing goals in the following areas that I will provide some updates on in subsequent posts: 1) Education & Awareness, 2) Standards, Policies, and Procedures, 3) Security Architecture & Technical Tools, 4) Organization and Information Sharing. For more information about the Security Task Force and our related activities, visit http://www.educause.edu/security/task-force.asp. Also, additional resources on cybersecurity are available from the Cybersecurity Resource Center. If you have any questions or comments regarding items posted to this blog, please email me directly at rpetersen@educause.edu
School of RockCreated by Steven Worona (EDUCAUSE) on September 16, 2004
It all started a year ago with Napster at Penn State: A major university attempting to combat what it considered an unacceptable explosion of illegal file-sharing by instead "site licensing" the content and distributing it to the campus community. Today, 15,000 of 72,000 eligible students have signed up for the service, and the number is growing rapidly. Learning from Penn State's success, many other campuses are making similar deals with an expanding number of providers. In one case, the university is throwing in a free iPod. Here's a selection of recent news articles:
And here's some op-ed commentary from p2pnet:
Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing representatives from two such campuses on EDUCAUSE Live!: Russ Vaught from Penn State and Chuck Powell from Yale. The similarities and differences are worth hearing about. At Yale, for example, the primary motivation for the project was allowing faculty to provide video and music to students for class work in an especially efficient way. "Entertainment" was a bonus, and there's a user charge to sign up for it. No subsidy. At Penn State, on the other hand, while academic use of their Napster system isn't impossible, the driving force was President Graham Spanier's goal to displace the KaZaAs and Groksters with an alternative authorized by the music industry. Streaming and tethered downloads are free to the consumer at Penn State, with funding derived in part from student activity fees. Another difference worth noting is support for Macintoshes: Yes at Yale, No at Penn State. The archive of our 60-minute discussion is available online, along with Chuck's and Russ' slides. And if you're attending the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference next month in Denver, you can get the story straight from the source, and other similar stories from their own sources, at these sessions:
See you in Denver. Steve This message reflects the opinions of the author, and not necessarily those of EDUCAUSE or its members.
Multiplayer, mobile educational games for your PDA - 'Live Long and Prosper!'Created by Cyprien P. Lomas (The University of Queensland) on September 15, 2004
Eric Klopfer and his team at MIT have created several educational games for handheld computers. The games run on Palm handheld computers and are designed to encourage individuals and groups to interact, learn and to have fun at the same time. In Live Long and Prosper, participants explore genetics concepts. Students start off with a set of genes which they must alter by wandering the room and finding people to mix genes with. 'Mating' is accomplished through the sharing of data over the InfraRed port and results in a brand new set of genes. Individuals with the best gene combinations live the longest. This application provides an engaging method to model scientific principles outside of the lab and is one of a handful listed on the MIT Participatory Simulations Site.
More Coverage of Laptop RequirementsCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on September 9, 2004
The Christian Science Monitor balances questions about the pros and cons of laptop requirement trends in colleges.
New Study on Open Source Policies of Federal Gov'tsCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on September 8, 2004
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is in the process of producing what looks like a fairly comprehensive analysis of federal government policies on Open Source Software [PDF]. For more information visit
GlobeTrotter - Portable/Bootable USB2 Linux Hard driveCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on September 7, 2004
LaCie and Mandrakelinux introduced a really interesting device last week. The GlobeTrotter provides a working build of linux for any computer that can boot off USB2. At $219, it seems like a really compelling idea that could work really nicely in an academic setting.
Locative Media: portable computers, GPS and ubiquitous internet accessCreated by Cyprien P. Lomas (The University of Queensland) on September 5, 2004
This one day session on 'Locative Media' looked like a very rich introduction exploring the what, how and who of locative media. Sponsored by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the session featured presentations exploring creative aspects of the use of very portable computers, ubiquitous internet access, GPS and the integration of data with spaces. The program page is rich with descriptions of (and links to) projects that illustrate the power of mapping data to spaces.
Quinnipiac University & Laptop RequirementsCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on September 3, 2004
Quinnipiac University is requiring all incoming freshmen to purchase notebooks. Unlike the plan by Massachusetts state colleges mentioned in a earlier posting, Quinnipiac's FAQ states that "The purchase of the D600 Latitude is mandatory for all incoming freshmen in Fall 2004. A similarly configured machine from another vendor is not an option." It goes on further to suggest that Microsoft Windows XP Profession is platform. 1,350 freshman are set to purchase the $1,725 laptops, but language in the FAQ suggests that this might not be rigidly enforced noting that they will not support other computers or operating systems.
E-Portfolio project to blend in blogs and social networking technologiesCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on September 3, 2004
Ben Werdmuller and David Tosh are working on an eportfolio project the builds on a hybrid of weblogging, e-portfolios and social networking. It is scheduled for an alpha launch in late September/early October. The two also appear to have collborated on a community site for eportfolios. The site houses some of their research, a blog, discussion forum and links to other related materials. Browse the Resource Center for other information about e-portfolios and weblogs.
Open Exchange GPL'dCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on September 2, 2004
Open Exchange, the engine behind Novell's SUSE LINUX Openexchange Server, shows a lot of promise. Netline announced yesterday that the standards-based, open source groupware application is now available on your favorite flavor of linux. As licensing costs grows along side demand for greater enterprise integration, OpenExchange could prove an interesting alternative to some of the leading commercial groupware packages.
Microsoft Uses Internet2 to Deliver SP2Created by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on September 2, 2004
Government Computer News reported that Microsoft's link to the Abilene backbone became operational this week. Researchers plan to montior the impact of distributing SP2 downloads via the Internet2 infrastructure.
Cornell to develop open source publication management systemCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on September 2, 2004
Mellon funds intiative to transform Project Euclid into DPubS (Digital Publishing System), an open source, "general-purpose platform to support electronic publishing of scholarly literature." "DPubS will support peer review, have extensive administrative functionality and be operable with other open source repository systems such as Fedora and DSpace." It is slated for delivery in 2006.
A small opening in the DMCACreated by Steven Worona (EDUCAUSE) on September 1, 2004
Yesterday a court ruled that it's OK to reverse-engineer a garage-door opener in order to make one that works the same. Well, sure, why wouldn't it be? And what does that have to do with copyright law anyway??? See my blog for the answers, and see this blog from the Computing Research Association for a report on the new ruling. CNET's coverage is here. Quick summary: Although copyright law gives a lot of rights to a copyright holder, those rights are balanced by another set of rights retained by society ("society" means "the rest of us"). The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 tilted that balance radically in favor of the copyright holder by creating an "anti-circumvention" rule. Under that rule, if a copyrighted work has been protected against access or copying by some technology, then it's illegal to "circumvent" that technology even for what would otherwise have been a legal purpose. This produces the Catch-22 situation where you may have the right to use a copyrighted work in a certain way, but it's illegal to access the work in order to exercise that right. Congressman Rick Boucher has introduced legislation, HR107 or the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (DMCRA), that would remove this inconsistency. Despite yesterday's court decision, HR107 is still needed, because the decision was very narrowly written (that is, it may or may not apply to things other than garage-door openers), and because other courts might not decide the next case the same way. Steve This message reflects the opinions of the author, and not necessarily those of EDUCAUSE or its members.
Massachusetts state colleges require laptops of studentsCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on August 31, 2004
The Boston Globe reported today that three Massachusetts state colleges will require students to purchase laptops. The article did not state if the Massachusetts government would require a certain operating system or if the program was born from substantive evidence suggesting that laptop computers increase student learning. The article did; however, cite potential cost savings for the colleges through reduction of public computers throughout the campus.
Walking through Ancient Athens using gaming environmentsCreated by Cyprien P. Lomas (The University of Queensland) on August 30, 2004
Students at the University of British Columbia are bringing new dimensions to their Classical Studies lessons by building, sharing and exploring simulations of ancient spaces. Michael Griffin and his fellow students have re-built the Parthenon and other elements of the Acropolis of ancient Athens by 'hacking' the Unreal gaming environment. These simulations permit the exploration of spaces that have been pieced together from pictures, stories and theories. Students have unlimited degrees of freedom to explore the Acropolis as it may have orginally existed. The walkthroughs (which are amazing) can be found at Ancient Spaces.
Update on CALEACreated by Wendy Wigen (EDUCAUSE) on August 26, 2004
I attended a meeting yesterday to review the NPRM with other concerned organizations. The general feeling around the table was:
On a positive note: The FCC read our comments and made note of them in the NPRM: "We note that establishments acquiring broadband Internet access to permit their patrons to access the Internet do not appear to be covered by CALEA (assuming they were otherwise "telecommunications carriers" under CALEA). Examples of these entities include schools, libraries, hotels, coffee shops, etc. See e.g., American Association of Community Colleges et al. Comments at 15-20 (discussing the deterrent effect and cost of potential CALEA obligations)" (Pg 29 Footnote #133 of the NPRM) BTW: We are referred to as the American Assoc... because they were the first in the list of our 13 coalition partners.
C|Net Coverage on Internet2 and ShibbolethCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on August 25, 2004
C|Net recently resumed coverage of Internet2 progress. As Internet2 begins getting more airplay, it will be interesting to see how demand develops.
O'Reilly To Make Custom TextbooksCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on August 25, 2004
O'Reilly's SafariU Even More Than It Appears by Tim O'Reilly -- O'Reilly's upcoming SafariU custom textbook project is more than it appears: it allows educators to build custom books using the Safari back end. Read More At: Media giant, Bertlesmann, tried a similar model some time ago with BookTailor . It had a focus on travel books, but closed shortly after I ordered a compilation on Travel to France from them. I suspect that the folks at O'Reilly have a much better shot - better timing and better target market.
Apple's Rendezvous Available for Mac, Linux and WIndowsCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on August 25, 2004
Rendezvous is an open protocol which Apple has submitted to the IETF. Rendezvous is designed to enable zero-configuration networking and discovery of networked resources. For more information, check out ...
Technorati gets more fundingCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on August 25, 2004
Another sign that blogs are big. A Business 2.0 blog posting, suggested that Technorati has recieved more funding. Between google buying blogger and this, one has to believe that the inflow of capital forming around blog technologies is going result in new and interesting ways to exploit the blog phenomena. And blog software will improve along the way. In the post-dot-bomb era, one wonders if a great blog bubble that is forming that will burst in four our five years, but I hope not. It will definately be interesting to monitor.
Recent Activity Open Source/Standards Activity in the United NationsCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on August 25, 2004
Microsoft has recently withdrawn from a U.N. standards group. C|NET reported that Microsoft program manager, Dave Welsh, wrote to officials of the U.N. noting that:
The article goes on to suggest that both Microsoft and SAP withdrew over concerns regarding the intellectual property contributed to the iniative. http://news.com.com/2100-1013_3-5321782.html In related news, a different UN sub-group is helping developing countries use open source software. http://www.builderau.com.au/program/work/0,39024650,39130641,00.htm
"Untested GPL may be at center of IBM-SCO suit"Created by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on August 24, 2004
A countersuit filed by IBM will bring the legal validity of the GPL into question ... a concern raised in Steven Weber's excellent book, The Success of Open Source (pp 212-213). This will be a case to watch and could have significant impact on the viability of copylefted FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software).
Student Blogs for Teaching/Learning, E-Portfolios and Alumni EnagementCreated by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on August 21, 2004
Someone recently mentioned to me the challenge of getting students to blog. The post below makes an interesting point. I wonder if blog technologies shouldn't be a more fundamental part of the student experience. Many (most?) universities offer students web space, but I wonder if it wouldn't make sense to offer them blogs, by default instead.
"Students Cite Net Gain in Doing Homework Online"Created by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on August 21, 2004
I suspect that this isn't news to anyone, but here is what eMarketer makes of a recent survey of students and their online study habits.
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