Workshops

Room key: (1st Floor, level with the plenary room, the Quadrangle Suite, except where noted)

BR: Boardroom (2nd floor)
CC: Christ Church (2nd floor)
HS: Heritage Suite
LS: Landmark Suite
ME: Maurice Evans Lounge
ML: Manor Lounge
QS: Quadrangle Suite

The exhibition area is on the ground floor, connected to the main level by a large staircase near the entrance.

01 WebLearn: new developments including the survey tool Adam Marshall, OUCS pdf
HS
15:00		 Adam will talk about new developments with WebLearn, the University's VLE, focusing upon the new Survey tool and other tools that help in the delivery and administration of Teaching and Learning.
02 Barcoding the Bodleian Katherine Ferguson, SERS pdf

HS
16:10

The Bodleian Library will soon be moving millions of its books and journals to a new Book Storage Facility near Swindon but before that can happen the physical items must be barcoded and checked against the catalogue. This session will give an overview of the related building and barcoding projects, with particular reference to the data and software involved.
03 Green ICT - Practical Steps for IT Staff Rob Bristow, JISC pdf
ME
15:00		 This session will outline the main issues surrounding Green ICT, exploring both the environmental costs and the opportunities that ICT presents. The session will describe the range of JISC's current activities and will highlight the range of existing outputs for JISC funded projects that will be of practical use to this audience.
04 IT Governance, Risk Assessments, Policies & Compliance we don't need to bother do we? Sarah Lawson, NPEU pdf
ME
16:10		 The issues surrounding IT governance and looking at Risk and Policies is becoming a hot and demanding topic for many IT professionals. More and more regulations, standards and audits are demanding higher levels of risk Management, documentation, Standards, Policies and what seems like piles of paperwork. How far do IT Officers need to go to comply with these, should we bother, what are the possible consequences of non-compliance? A Discussion workshop to look at these issues and to find ways to help each other out from under the paperwork piles!
05 Web Authentication with Shibboleth - a View from the Flat East Jon Warbrick, CUCS slides:pdf
slides¬es:pdf
ML
14:10		 Shibboleth, as a way to authenticate people to web sites, has been around in the UK for several years and yet many people don't know what it really does and some people still haven't heard of it. This session will take a quick look at the web authentication landscape, briefly consider what Shibboleth is and how it fits into this landscape, and take a look at what it has, is, and perhaps one day might be used for within the University of Cambridge.
06 ISBP 2010: What became of the Conditions for Connection

Miranda Llewellyn, ODIT
Jonathan Ashton, OUCS

pdf
ME
14:10		 This workshop will discuss the Information Security Best Practice exercise currently being carried out across the University. Jonathan and Miranda will describe the progress made so far and present an opportunity to discuss further plans. This will include the motivation behind the project, the results of the Information Security Best Practice self-assessment exercise, the influence of best practice documents such as ISO IEC 27002/27001 and an outline of the plan for the next 12-18 months The session will be kept relatively informal with questions, comments and discussions encouraged throughout. The session will be relevant to all ITSS particularly those with an interest having a say on university policy, Information Security Management, IT Governance and ISO 27001/27002.
07 The Shared Data Centre Project

David Birds, OUCS

  
ML
11:00		 The University is currently building a new shared data centre for use by Colleges and Departments within the University. It will be managed by the Data Centre Operations Team at OUCS. The facility is currently under construction and ready for fit out in early 2011. It will be run very similar to a commercial co-lo (colocation) centre. Clients will be able to rent space for their own kit or use virtualised services provided by OUCS. It will be on a cost recovery basis, not for profit. It is being built with the latest energy efficiencies and has an initial projected working life of 20 years.
08

Implementing VoIP: A tale of two cities.

 Gordon Ross, CU Telecomms
Alan Hillyer, OU Telecoms		  
LS
14:10		 When updating to a new modern VOIP phone system, both universities pick the same solution and offer similar facilities but implement it in a different manner.  What were the driving forces behind the two approaches and where are we now?  A reflective review of the two implementations and of moving forward in a collaborative environment.
09 What do we want? - finding out what researchers need from IT Bruce Beckles, CUCS
David Spence, OeRC		  
ME
11:00		 Despite the fast pace of change in the IT world, IT support services have a reasonably good understanding of what's required in terms of IT support for "office use of IT" or "everyday use of IT". Our understanding of what's required from IT support services for academic use of IT, particularly researchers' use of IT, is much less good. In this session we look at some results from interviews at Cambridge and Oxford with pratcicing researchers and their support staff that explored their IT needs. We'll also talk about how you can do this sort of exercise yourself, as well as how to analyse and interpret the results. This session is presented by the University of Cambridge Computing Service in conjunction with the Oxford e-Research Centre.
10 Using WebEx Jemima Spare, OUCS  
HS
11:00		 Webex is a web conferencing service that gives participants the tools to seamlessly collaborate and share information. With Webex, you can share presentations, applications and your entire desktop with colleagues from around the world.
This session will give a demo of how WebEx works, and will show how participants can collaborate together. WebEx incorporates different WebEx ‘centers’ – Meeting Center, Training Center, Support Center and Event Center; this session will look at how and why these can be used in different situations. We will also discuss tips on the best ways to optimise WebEx and potential gotchas.
11 ITILv3 - an introduction and overview Tony Brett, ITS3, OUCS  
LS
16:10		 This workshop will give an overview of the key concepts in IT Information Library (version 3). We'll consider service management and delivery; the service lifecycle and its five stages; and the ITIL functions, roles and processes; further reading and accreditation.
12 The Digital Economy Act and what it means for UK HEIs Andrew Cormack, JANET UK pdf
CC
16:10		 The Digital Economy Act 2010 was passed in April "to make provision about the online infringement of copyright", and is likely to come into force early in 2011. Andrew Cormack will discuss what the Act may require of universities and colleges, how this relates to existing copyright protection measures under the JANET AUP, and what we may need to do to comply with it.
13 Mobile Oxford and the big changes in computing you need to know about! Stuart Lee & Tim Fernando, OUCS  
CC
15:00		 Tim Fernando of Mobile Oxford (http://m.ox.ac.uk) will be talking about the latest trends in the mobile computing industry and the development of mobile applications with experiences drawn from Mobile Oxford and its open source framework named 'Molly'. Tim will provide an overall look at the market and industry detailing the big changes we are experiencing, especially the trends to provide location based services as well as providing predictions as to what will likely affect you in the next two years. There will also be a section on how to get involved with Mobile Oxford, be it hosting a webcam or getting your department/college's services available through it.
14 iPad Deployment in Education Stuart Anderson, Senior Systems Engineer, Apple UK  
QS
11:00		 Discover the powerful options for application development and deployment including device management for Apple's new iPad
15 Green Desktop Computing in Oxford Robert Zachlod, OUCS
Howard Noble, OUCS		 Intro
Ashmolean
Estates
Maths
Stats
LS
11:00		 The green desktop computing initiative is being run by computing services (OUCS) in collaboration with the Sustainability team in Estates to help departments, colleges and other groups reduce IT-related energy consumptions. In this workshop we'll update you on the progress of the green IT team at OUCS and hear from IT Support Staff at Statistics, Maths, the Ashmolean and the Oxford Man Institute about how they they have gone about changing the management of their IT infrastructures. The session will also give you a short practical introduction on how you can quickly start your own initiative so help your groups save money, and reduce its environmental footprint.
16 Why Is My Mac So Insecure? The Mac OS X Security Myth Exposed Marko Jung, OUCS
James Partridge, OUCS		 pdf
QS
14:10		 Windows is more secure than people believe, and Mac OS X is more insecure than your users ever imagined. It's easy for Mac users, who aren’t under constant attack from hordes of malware, to assume that their computer is perfectly secure "out of the box", but of course there’s much more to OS X security than that. In this session we will discuss the facts and fictions of OS X security and explain the basic things you need to know about keeping your and your Mac users' machines secure.
17 What is new in VMware vSphere 4? Jon Hutchings, OUCS
Marko Jung, OUCS		 pdf
ML
15:00		 Many vendors are now offering cloud operating systems and promise to support delivery of the next generation of flexible and reliable IT, securely and with low risk. In this session Jon and Marko will present major changes since VMware ESX 3.5 and discuss how you could benefit from them, with this new model of service delivery.
18 Open data, linked data Panel chaired by Janet McKnight, OUCS pdf
HS
14:10		 With the launch of data.gov.uk and the opening of the Web Science Institute, open data, linked data and the semantic web have been very much in the spotlight. This workshop will give an introduction to the principles of open data and a brief overview of some open data initiatives already happening across Oxford University. We'll then open up the discussion to give you a chance to debate some of the pros and cons with a panel of open data practitioners from various departments including Zoology, Classics, Environmental Change, OULS and OUCS.
The panel will include: Neil Jefferies (Bodleian Libraries), Sally Rumsey (ORA & BRII project), Howard Noble (OUCS), Graham Klyne (Zoology).
19 VMWare on a Budget Charlie Crichton, John Peachey and Jeremy Chalk, ComLab pdf (*)
CC
11:00		 Live demo of how easy it is to setup a VMware ESXi server and schedule/manually backup and restore live virtual machines using free VMWare tools. Our motivation was to help the Oxford Vaccine Group to provide various production services. A virtual server with a good warranty and some resilience was required, as well as resilient and redundant storage. Find out how we quickly set up a system for running clinical studies without breaking the bank.
(*) See also notes in the (restricted) ITSS wiki
20 Assistive Technology - IT support for disabled users Sheena MacRae, CUCS  
BR
11:00		 The seminar aims to raise awareness of the role of IT for users with a range of disabilities, with particular reference to the rise of Upper Limb Disorders. Identifying a potential problem is relatively easy, changing a users approach to poor working methods is much harder. There are a number of software and hardware solutions to the problem such as ergonomic input devices and voice recognition software but putting together the right package for each user can be tricky. At Cambridge we have established a cross-departmental strategy to solve the problem.
21 IPv6 - what:you've:always:wanted:to:know::1 Bob Franklin, CUCS
Guy Edwards, OUCS
Guy:pdf
QS
15:00		 The IP addresses we've grown familiar with are going to run out in the next two years; IPv6 is the networking community's solution to this. This talk covers the basic differences between IPv4 and IPv6, design ideas, what it might mean to you and why you should start thinking about it now rather than in 2012.
22 Beyond 24x7: High Availability in Higher Education John Ireland, OUCS presentation:pdf
notes:pdf
ML
16:10		 Have you ever found yourself being asked for round-the-clock IT when you've only got a small team, a small budget, and your main users are only in the office from 9am - 5pm? This workshop will explore practical techniques in matching service delivery and customers' reliability expectations, taking in both service management and technical points of view.
23 Virtual IT training (Riding on the back of IT support) Amber Miro, London School of Economics
 pdf
LS
15:00

London School of Economics adopted the use of remote assistance technology already being used to deliver end-user IT support to provide short and effective training sessions for staff at the point of need. This has realised a significant return on a very modest investment, by making the most of technology already being used elsewhere. This session will describe the evolution of use as well as the benefits of remote assistance technology for training. There will also be a short demonstration of virtual IT training in action.
24 Approaches in managing desktops Jon Holgate, Clinical School Computing Service;
Rob Smith, CUCS; and Espen Koht, Darwin College		  
QS
16:10		 Every institution has different requirements for the way they manage user desktops - some lock users down tightly while others give them a great deal of flexibility. The architects of three different approaches within Cambridge discuss their systems and the strengths and weaknesses of them.
25 Desktop Management by ICTST ICT Support Team (ICTST), Oxon pdf
CC
14:10		 Desktop Management can be split up into five core services: helpdesk infrastructure; application packaging and deployment; image building and deployment; anti-virus systems; operating system patching; asset and license management. This workshop will summarise desktop administration using Altiris tools. It will also cover client initiated PC imaging, application packaging/deployment and a recent project to develop PC images for the Libraries and the Development Office.