Workshops

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

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

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

Workshop Session A 11:00–11:40
A1 Raspberry Pi demo Daniel Bates, CU Computer Laboratory  
11:00
QS

A demonstration of the Raspberry Pi computer: a credit-card-sized, ARM-powered machine which costs less than £25. Although the device was originally intended to help with the teaching of Computer Science in UK schools, the benefits that cheap computing could bring to other areas have left many excited and eager to get their hands on one.

We'll explore the whole process from setting up a Raspberry Pi from scratch, through to a selection of available software, and what the device is like to use.
A2 Secrets of the University Card – MiFare Christopher Hoskin, St Antony's College;
Matt Noonan, OU Business Systems & Projects;
Alison Honeyford, OU Business Systems & Projects;
Maureen McNaboe, OU Student Administration		  
11:00
CC		 From June 2012, the University Card will have a new addition – a MIFARE DESfire EV1 chip! Find out the background to the project, and how you can make use of this technology in your unit.
A3 The challenge of integrating the networks of 3 University Museums Anjanesh Babu & Jonathan Moffett, Ashmolean Museum  
11:00
LS		 How the Ashmolean, Pitt Rivers and University Museums, in cooperation with the Computing Services, implemented a joint Firewall and set up cross-museum wireless access, via a Fortigate 200B cluster, Aerohive Access Points and many Gliffy diagrams.
A4 Using Social Media to communicate better Kate Lindsay, Manager for Engagement and Discovery, OUCS  
11:00
ME		 This workshop will look at two areas in which Social Media is being used by Oxford University.  Carolyne will focus on external and strategic communications, including those with alumni and prospective students, while Kate will share some experiences of campaigns she has undertaken using social media as part of the work of the OUCS Learning Technologies Group.  There will be an overview of what has worked well and how things might be done differently if repeated.  The session will focus mainly but not exclusively on use of facebook and twitter and will consider the currently social media use landscape, sharing tips on best practice for maximum impact.
A5 From CRM to XRM – Developing new applications in MS Dynamics 2011 Ben Walker, OU Business Systems & Projects  
11:00
ML		 BSP has recently implemented two projects using Microsoft's Dynamics CRM 2011 (The new Fees and Funding website and a Nursery Place Management System for Childcare Services). Microsoft have extended the capabilities of Dynamics way beyond that of a traditional CRM system to that of a general purpose application development platform. The presentation will give an overview of the capabilities of the Dynamics platform using these two projects as illustration.
A6 IT Purchasing Group Stuart Forster, OU Central Finance Purchasing Team  
11:00
BR		 A summary of the IT Purchasing Group, its purpose and projects that have been worked on so far, with a particular focus on the successes achieved around Administrative PC’s & Laptops and VMWare Site Licensing, demonstrating the benefits provided to University departments.
Workshop Session B 14:10–14:50
B1 Information security / PGP whole disk encryption Jonathan Ashton and Mark Duller, OUCS  
14:10
QS

After many months of negotiation with several departments of the University, we are finally close to having an official University Information Security Policy. In this session, Jonathan and Mark will begin by giving a brief update on all matters related to information security including the latest on the policy and information security toolkit, an update on the current infosec project, the future of information security within the University and the University's new Cyber Security Centre. They will then talk specifically about data security and a trial service of PGP Whole Disk Encryption which is currently being run across the University. This session is relevant to anyone who is interested in general information security issues and particularly to those interested in using whole disk encryption within their units.
B2 Lessons learned from IPv6 Day Jon Warbrick, CUCS  
14:10
CC		 8th June 2011 was 'International IPv6 Day'. On that day various big players (Google, Facebook, Akamai, ...) enabled IPv6 access to their services to see what would happen. Various UCS services run by the Online Services Division joined in on this experiment. In the end almost nothing happened, so the day can be considered to have been a success. This talk will cover what we learnt while actually enabling IPv6 on production services, what actually happened on the day (including some of the things that did go wrong around the edges), and what this might all mean for a wider deployment of IPv6 in the future.
B3 Using assertiveness to improve communication in the workplace Jonathan Wyatt, OU Learning Institute  
14:10
LS		 The philosophy and practice of assertiveness is based on the principle of equality and respect for others and encourages the individual towards self and mutual respect. It is a way of behaving and communicating that offers constructive skills and strategies to improve relationships with colleagues, family and friends. Participants are invited to work encouragingly and supportively together so that everyone can contribute and get the most from attending. Depending upon the time available the workshop will include: defining what assertiveness is, and is not; the main types of behaviour and their impact on others; skills and strategies in asking and refusing; and an opportunity to practice.
B4 New digital initiatives at the Bodleian Christine McCarthy Madsen and Michael Popham, Bodleian Library  
14:10
ME		 This session will provide an update on a number of new projects and services within the Bodleian, all of which aim to transform the ways that readers discover, use, and repurpose the Library’s rapidly expanding digital collections. We would also love to hear your ideas for how we could make even better use of this wealth of digital data.
B5 What does it really mean to be Green? – Oxford’s Quest for Sustainability Jenny Ekelund, OU Estates Directorate  >
14:10
ML

What does it really mean to be green for the University of Oxford?

  • Is it increasing recycling in departments?
  • Minimising energy use in our buildings?
  • Or championing video-conferencing?
  • Does it count if we can’t measure it?

In 2012, the University published its first standalone Environmental Sustainability report, setting out its performance to date in the areas of energy/carbon emissions, travel, water consumption, sustainable buildings, waste, biodiversity and sustainable procurement.

This presentation will outline the University’s approach to managing its environmental impacts- explaining what the drivers are, how we’re doing, and how we can make the biggest difference in the future.
B6 Extron TouchLink Configurable Control Systems Craig Stonall, Extron  
14:10
BR		 This Control Systems seminar will address the typical AV System Control Challenges you may be facing today. We will introduce our configuration-based control line-up, including the new 7” TLP touchpanels and the MediaLink for iPad app that address these challenges. We’ll explain what elements are important in a User Interface, since is the most visible component of an AV system. Furthermore we will show some examples of what touch panels fit in certain applications. We will conclude the seminar with an overview of our resource management software and a preview of some key features of our upcoming Global Configurator Professional release.
Workshop Session C 15:00–15:40
C1 It's NOT always the network but when it might be … Troubleshooting '101' Henryk Glogowski, OUCS  
15:00
QS		 A basic outline of simple network troubleshooting using the OSI model. Topics covered, working up the first three layers of the OSI 7-layer model are: Layer 1 (Hardware), Layer 2 (Ethernet, VLAN’s & STP) and Layer 3 (subnets & ping/traceroute). We might also, time and interest permitting, have a quick look at CDP/LLDP & SNMP.
C2 Mobile Oxford – past, present and future Tim Fernando, OUCS  
15:00
CC		 Tim will talk about the development of Mobile Oxford and the open source Mollyproject, describing some of the methods, tools, problems and successes in delivering the University's mobile web service. There will be details on tools that are used by the team for development, as well as description of the agile style of working in the office. An overarching theme of a vision on how to develop mobile services from across University departments will also be explored.
C3

The Oxford University Electronic Archive Project

 Sarah Lawson, National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit  
15:00
LS		 Recently PICT funded a pilot project to look at the possibility of creating an electronic archive for the University of Oxford. The aim of the project is to ensure that there is a safe and secure solution to preserving our electronic files and “stuff” that most departments and colleges are happily building up on their “Spinning” discs. The workshop will present the work of the project to date, model some solutions and ideas for a future service and offer a chance to discuss your views, experiences or ideas on electronic archiving.
C4 The Freedom of Information Act: The story so far and future developments Max Todd, OU Council Secretariat  
15:00
ME		 I will provide an overview of the FOIA; summarise the University’s experience to date and outline possible new developments, in particular the impact of the Protection of Freedoms Act, which was enacted on 1 May 2012.
C5 Developing and integrating student systems for the collegiate University: the next twelve months Victoria Brown & Alison Rothera, OU Student Administration and Mark Dyson, Lady Margaret Hall  
15:00
ML		 The Student Systems Programme is improving support for student administration across the collegiate University, initially through the implementation of Tribal SITS:Vision. By August 2013 the Programme will have replaced the Oracle Student System (and a module to support graduation ceremonies will go live by Sept 2012); improved interoperability and data sharing between systems (including interfaces with college and department systems); and planned a subsequent programme of developments to improve or replace the range of other student systems. In this session Alison Rothera, the Director of the Student Systems Programme, with Victoria Brown, Head of Process and Change Management, will report on progress and outline the programme of changes to student systems envisaged over the next 12 months. Mark Dyson, who is seconded to the Programme as Technical Analyst, will report on the outcome of consultations and the initial development of a technical specification for data interfaces between SITS and local systems. Information on the Student Systems Programme can be found at http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/ac-div/studentsystems/.
C6

What's new in WebLearn 2.8?

 Adam Marshall, OUCS  
15:00
BR

WebLearn v2.8 was released in May 2012 and introduced Oxford to a number of significant enhancements including:

  • migration of the Oxam database in WebLearn
  • site templates
  • user-requested improvements to sign-up too
  • new web service interfaces for Mobile Oxford to exploit
  • and much much more
Workshop Session D 16:10–16:50
D1 Chewing the CUD: Practical use cases Nigel Brown, OUCS;
Julia Marshall, OU Humanities Division;
Mark Dyson, Lady Margaret Hall;
Nick Letellier, OU Business Systems & Projects		  
16:10
QS		 The Core User Directory (CUD) Service is going live! This session includes a description of the CUD service, and looks at some of the ways in which people have been using data from the CUD service, straight from the mouths of some CUD consumers.
D2 A day in the life of Janet Network Operations Tim Kidd, JANET Operations Director  
16:10
CC

Tim will cover some of the issues behind the scenes that have to be dealt with so that the academic community can continue to use the Internet. Tim has overall responsibility for customer engagement and the provision of the services (including the IP network and the JANET services that are provided over the network and security services).  
D3 Delivering Agile projects – Sprints, Scrums and Burndowns…. Sara Passmore, OU Business Systems & Projects  
16:10
LS		 This session will outline the principles of Agile methodologies, the different types (DSDM, Scrum), and how they contrast with more traditional software delivery methods. We will also explore how to make this work in the University context, where projects can be Agile but still deliver an appropriate level of governance, and explore some case studies from BSP on recent successes.
D4 High Performance Computing Andrew Richards, OeRC  
16:10
ME 		Research is increasingly dependent on computational infrastructure in order to collect, store, manage, compute and visualise data associated with all stages of a research project. Whether addressing all of these aspects or just part, the need for an integrated research computing infrastructure to support existing research and enable new and innovative research is essential. High Performance Computing (HPC) in Oxford exists not just within the Oxford Supercomputing Centre, but within many departments. Together, through the HPC-SIG, we are collectively working to share knowledge and to engage with researchers in a common way. The local SIG also acts as a gateway to the national HPC-SIG, and to HPC activities being delivered at the regional, national and international level.
D5 Coping with Cookie legislation Tom Anstey, OU Institute of Molecular Medicine  
16:10
ML

The issue of website cookies hit the press in May 2012, about one year after the law actually changed.  There has been a great deal of information, both good and bad about the whole issue.  This session aims to give some clarity if there was any doubt, and to improve the way we deal with the rights and needs of visitors to our websites.

The second half of the workshop will take the form of a panel session with the panel composed of:
Tom Anstey, Jon Ashton (OUCS, InfoSec), Geoff Hemmings (OU Legal Services Office), Alison Prince (Bodleian Libraries) and Jon Warbrick (CUCS, Online Systems Division)
D6 OxFile: Large file transfers made easy for Oxford John Ireland and Rob Hebron, OUCS  
16:10
BR

This workshop will look at OxFile, the web file exchange service that makes easy work of exchanging files that are too large for email.

OxFile was launched in April 2011, and has been used in place of hand-delivered DVDs of medical images, couriered harddisks with research data sets, and many other time consuming and frustrating file transfer schemes. It can be used to send or receive files with both Oxford and non-Oxford users.

We will look at how the need for this service was identified and responded to; how the service was developed; and look at how this service can be used to make life easier, including several new features added in Version 2 of the service.