News:
New CEO:
CANARIE (Canada's Advanced Research and Innovation Network) announced the appointment of Jim Ghadbane as its new President and CEO. Jim's appointment comes at an important time for CANARIE as the organization enters into the final year of its current mandate agreement with the federal government. Jim has led a number of strategic initiatives for CANARIE and has the experience and skills needed to make the organization a success. New CANARIE CEO
Government expectations:The Government of Alberta has identified its expectations of higher education with specific references to implementing collaborative information technology initiatives. Specifically, they are encouraging the use of shared data centres and cloud service initiatives. The stated purpose of this collaboration is to reduce administrative costs. Shared service in Alberta
New data repositories:The University of Guelph has created two new data repositories to promote open access to the University's research and to allow researchers to meet new funding requirements. These repositories are built in the Dataverse platform and are hosted by Scholars Portal. Significant effort went into the development of metadata to ensure improved discoverability and usability of the research. Research data at U of G
New video sharing service:
The University of British Columbia announced its new "UBC Video Share" service. Faculty can now upload, store, search, and share videos using the Kultura platform. The new system is fully integrated with UBC's Connect learning management system to enable instructors to share their educational videos and add them directly to their courses. UBC Video Share
Registration system upgrade:
Trinity Wester University is upgrading its registration system. Although many institutions upgrade their administrative systems at this time of year, this announcement is less formal and maybe a little more amusing than the usual IT systems upgrade note. Registration upgrade announcement
Response to last week's question:
During this period of financial austerity throughout the higher education system, do you see IT taking a renewed interest in production support processes? Without the money to do new projects, do you feel IT has a unique opportunity to concentrate on providing the best operational service possible?
Despite the difficulties in managing during a budget decline, there are always opportunities. Reducing IT investments in new projects is certainly frustrating. However, IT organizations traditionally focus concurrently on steady state operations and new innovations. With organizational attention typically focused on innovation, production support takes a back seat. But in the current fiscal environment, there are less distractions to the continuous improvement of operations. Now is the time to emphasize improved change control discipline, brilliance in the help desk and problem escalation processes, and pre-emptive performance and capacity management to ensure smooth uninterrupted services. Ultimately, all of these improvements lead to supremely excellent customer service. Now is a time of opportunity, not retreat.
Mark Roman
