Celia's

http://connect.educause.edu/eq

EDUCAUSE is an online education quarterly journal for those involved in information technology services in university and college settings. The journal can be received by members in print or online, until 2009, when it will only be available online. On the right hand side of the page are links to recent comments made by members about the journal's articles and features, allowing a visitor to be privy to the current practices and daunting problems that information technology staff are grappling with on university campuses. By clicking on "Browse Archives" at the top of the page, visitors will be directed to the complete past issues of EDUCAUSE from 2000 to the present. Clicking on "Contribute" at the top of the page, visitors can read the guidelines for contributions, including what to avoid writing about, as well as suggestions for what to address to help their chances for acceptance. Visitors shouldn't miss reading the current issue of EDUCAUSE, which is available for free on their homepage. [KMG] Scout Report

The emergence of the networked information economy is unleashing two powerful forces. On one hand, easy access to high-speed networks is empowering individuals. People can now discover and consume information resources and services globally from their homes. Further, new social computing approaches are inviting people to share in the creation and edification of information on the Internet. Empowerment of the individual -- or consumerization -- is reducing the individual's reliance on traditional brick-and-mortar institutions in favor of new and emerging virtual ones. Second, ubiquitous access to high-speed networks along with network standards, open standards and content, and techniques for virtualizing hardware, software, and services is making it possible to leverage scale economies in unprecedented ways. What appears to be emerging is industrial-scale computing -- a standardized infrastructure for delivering computing power, network bandwidth, data storage and protection, and services. Comsumerization and industrialization beg the question "Is this the end of the middle?"; that is, what will be the role of "enterprise" IT in the future? Indeed, the bigger question is what will become of all of our intermediating institutions? This volume examines the impact of IT on higher education and on the IT organization in higher education. iLibrarian blog

Entire book

 Table of Contents

©2008 EDUCAUSE ISBN 978-0-9672853-9-9

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Higher Education and Information Technology

The Globalization of Higher Education

Accountability

IT Governance

Open Information, Open Content, Open Source

Scholarship in a Cloudy World

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Guide to Bluetooth Security (PDF; 3.9 MB)
Source: National Institute for Standards and Technology

To improve the security of Bluetooth implementations, organizations should implement the following recommendations:

Organizations should use the strongest Bluetooth security mode available for their Bluetooth devices.

The Bluetooth specifications define four security modes, and each version of Bluetooth supports some, but not all, of these modes. The modes vary primarily by how well they protect Bluetooth communications from potential attack. Security Mode 3 is considered the strongest mode because it requires authentication and encryption to be established before the Bluetooth physical link is completely established. Security Modes 2 and 4 also use authentication and encryption, but only after the Bluetooth physical link has already been fully established and logical channels partially established. Security Mode 1 provides no security functionality. The available modes vary based on the Bluetooth specification versions of both devices, so organizations should choose the most secure mode available for each case.

Organizations using Bluetooth technology should address Bluetooth technology in their security policies and change default settings of Bluetooth devices to reflect the policies.

A security policy that defines requirements for Bluetooth security is the foundation for all other Bluetooth-related countermeasures. The policy should include a list of approved uses for Bluetooth, a list of the types of information that may be transferred over Bluetooth networks, and requirements for selecting and using Bluetooth personal identification numbers (PIN). After establishing Bluetooth security policy, organizations should ensure that Bluetooth devices’ default settings are reviewed and changed as needed so that they comply with the security policy requirements. For example, a typical requirement is that unneeded Bluetooth profiles and services be disabled to reduce the number of vulnerabilities that attackers could attempt to exploit. When available, a centralized security policy management approach should be used to ensure device configurations are compliant.

Organizations should ensure that their Bluetooth users are made aware of their security-related responsibilities regarding Bluetooth use.

A security awareness program helps users to follow security practices that help prevent security incidents. For example, users should be provided with a list of precautionary measures they should take to better protect handheld Bluetooth devices from theft. Users should also be made aware of other actions to take involving Bluetooth device security, such as ensuring that Bluetooth devices are turned off when they are not needed to minimize exposure to malicious activities, and performing Bluetooth device pairing as infrequently as possible and ideally in a physically secure area where attackers cannot observe key entry and eavesdrop on Bluetooth pairing-related communications.

Permalink Docuticker

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has hundreds of different research units, and the Information Systems and Innovations Group recently joined with other departments to form the new Department of Management. Both academic units have sponsored a wide range of guest speakers and scholars over the years, and this website lets interested parties watch these talks at their leisure. All told, there are over twenty five talks currently available, and they include Ricky Burdett's talk on "Social Aspects of Urban Form", Leopoldina Fortunati's "Discussing the Meaning of the Mobile Phone", and Danny Quah's "Digital Goods and New Economy". Visitors can also chime in with their two cents via the weblog discussion thread that resides under each video. [KMG]
Scout Report

http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/informationSystems//newsAndEvents/videoArchive.htm

Background and updates about this project that "charts the landscape of emerging technologies for teaching, learning and creative expression and produces the ... annual Horizon Report." Downloadable reports available back to 2004 (some in other languages). Includes related links. From the New Media Consortium (NMC), "an international ... not-for-profit consortium of over 260 learning-focused organizations dedicated to the exploration and use of new media and new technologies."
URL: http://www.nmc.org/horizon
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/26508

Annotation copyright LII.ORG 

eIFL_Newsletter_JULY_AUGUST_2008.pdf

 

• 1. eIFL-related News
  • Kyrgyzstan under the eIFL Spotlight
  • Future gazing - let's share our vision for the eIFL network
  • Announcement about upcoming elections to eIFL Advisory Board
• 2. Upcoming eIFL Events in July-August 2008
• 3. Update on Negotiations Programme
  • Ongoing negotiations for 2008
  • Series of training events
  • Publisher meetings in South Africa
  • eIFL collection and analysis of data
• 4. Update on eIFL-IP
  • Road test at the Mortenson Center: “Copyright for Librarians: a Distance Learning Course”
  • “Interesting times for intellectual property” says new WIPO chief
• 5. eIFL-OA News
  • Open Access Awareness Raising workshop in Georgia
  • Study visit of repository managers to Ukraine
  • Open Access: Exploring Scholarly Communication – a workshop in Moldova
• 6. eIFL-FOSS Programme
  • Account of first eIFL FOSS ILS workshop

 

Scholarly technology group (stg)

This is the website of the Scholarly Technology Group (STG). The group is part of the computing and information services at Brown University; the group, focusing particularly on humanities and the social sciences it supports the development and use of advanced information technology in teaching; academic research; and scholarly communication. This resource provides: details about the group; a comprehensive listing of projects which includes an outline of the project aims and when available a link to the current project website; a list of STG publications including articles, books and presentations, many with online abstracts; a search facility and information about the faculty grants program sponsored by the computing and information services. Intute.ac.uk
http://www.stg.brown.edu/

The U.K.’s Guardian, in association with the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc), has published a special supplement titled Libraries Unleashed featuring 18 articles on libraries and technology. They have categorized the articles into the following topic areas:

• Colleges, universities and the digital challenge
• Learning spaces
• Library 2.0
• New business models
• Digitisation
• The new user
• Librarians

iLibrarian blog

Low-tech Magazine refuses to assume that every problem has a high-tech solution. A simple, sensible, but nevertheless controversial message: high-tech has become the idol of our society.

Low-tech Magazine is written by Kris De Decker (Barcelona, Spain). I was working as a freelance journalist for traditional news media from 1996 to 2007. This website would not be possible without Vincent Grosjean (London, UK) and Shameez Joubert (Grahamstown, South Africa), who edit my texts until they are free of mistakes and bad English.

Low-tech Magazine brings in-depth articles, once every one or two weeks. You can subscribe by feed or email. Links to interesting articles on other websites are posted daily (filed under "Found", right column). You can subscribe to them via lowtechmagazine's StumbleUpon page.

Recent articles: 

• Leave the algae alone
• Why bottled water is good for the environment
• Life before television
• The ugly side of solar panels
• A world without trucks
• Reinventing the wheel
• Download, print, fold, paste

Most read:

Sara de Freitas writes a chapter for Volume 3 of the Becta research report, Emerging Technologies for Learning, discussing educational trends, issues, and potential uses of virtual worlds. Other interesting research from this volume includes:

• Growing up with Google - what it means to education, Diana Oblinger, EDUCAUSE
• Mobile, wireless, connected - information clouds and learning, by Mark van’t Hooft, Kent State University
• Location-based and context-aware education - prospects and perils by Adam Greenfield, NYU
• ‘If it quacks like a duck…’ - developments in search technologies by Emma Tonkin, UKOLN
• Interactive displays and next generation interfaces by Michael Haller, Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences
  iLibrarian  blog
  

iPod generation - UK - April 2007

This summary of a report from Mintel may be useful for anyone researching the so-called iPod generation. (The full report has to be bought from Mintel). "This report examines the iPod Generation – a group of tech-savvy, connected consumers who have largely grown up in the PC age, and for whom the Internet is an integral part of everyday life. This generation is set to have a huge impact on the UK, not only when it comes to music and MP3s, but also across the economy as a whole – the banking sector, travel and tourism and the wider leisure industry." It covers home and family; finances; career; Internet usage; the environment. From Intute.ac.uk
http://oxygen.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen/display/id=273617

Top 60 Little-Known Technology Web Sites

From : iLibrarian blog January 29th, 2008