The Uni Shop's Logo

All that aside, I’ve got to ask an important question – given the time taken, the fuss made and the money kicking around could Estates not have come up with a better logo? I mean, it’s not like we’ve got an entire faculty full of art and design students or a whole staff department focussed on marketing. Let’s have a little competition. Who can come up with something better in 10 minutes?

Now, back to ICT and what’s going on. Our shiny new development server has mostly turned up, and we’re currently kitting it out with the wide range of software we use to develop and manage our projects. Once that’s done we hope to burst onto the scene with a shiny new URL and a whole load of bits of things we’re working on for you to prod, look at and go “ooooh pretty”. We’re hoping to call this ‘Labs’, or at least something along a similar theme (we think it might be a bit close to ‘Learning Lab’) and use it for all the bits and pieces that are being tried out from the ‘official’ side of the University – new timetable tools, easier ways of doing things, work-in-progress site replacements and so-on.

First out of the door will be CWD and Posters, with a few more bits and pieces we’ve been working on in our secret computing laboratory (MAB, first floor, north-west plate) coming soon after.

Next up, Posters. We’re still waiting for our new development server on which the Online Services Team can develop, stage, test and show off our latest inventions. Once that’s up and running you’ll be able to have a go at breaking it and we’ll be open for feedback. Posters will also be the first production University site (albeit beta) to use our new CWD 2.0, and will also be providing data as RSS in the initial release, with JSON and XML further down the line. The ability for groups such as student societies to add posters, along with a streamlined online approval process, will be in place ready for once Posters leaves beta.

The observant of you will have noticed the mention of CWD 2.0. This is something that we’ve been working on as an open secret for quite some time, and is the first real change in the appearance of the University’s online services in many, many years. It is a completely new web template, sporting (amongst other things:

• A fresh new look, built to be easy on the eye, easily recognisable and easily navigable.
• Improved site-specific branding, letting you know where you are within the University’s online systems.
• Faster loading and rendering of pages, making use of cleaner code, shared resources and standard frameworks to let you work faster.
• Future-proofed design using HTML5 with progressive enhancement to bring shiny new features where available, and degrade gracefully where not.
• Browser compatibility for all major (and several minor) browsers including IE6 (Officially supported that is, the site works even in older browsers).
• Dedicated mobile designs tested with Opera Mini, Internet Explorer Mobile, Mobile Webkit (iPod touch/iPhone) and Symbian browsers.
• Accessibility features to the very latest standards and best practices baked in at the ground level and enforced in all content.
• Improved navigation around and between sites using standardised elements which work the same way every time.
• A new site directory to help you find what you’re looking for faster.
• Hooks for advanced features such as single sign-on and integrated messaging.
• The first inklings of integrated, University-wide search.
• A complete new set of guidelines on how to write web content, keeping it consistent and easy to use.
• In-house support for the new design, so web authors aren’t left to flounder helplessly on a sea of HTML.

We’ll be rolling CWD 2.0 out as quickly as possible to sites once it’s finalised and properly documented, starting with Posters, Print From My PC and LUNA. Other online services currently using the ‘Gateway’ design will be upgraded as part of the Online Services rolling upgrades. Once again as soon as our development server is up and running, we’ll be letting you prod, break and feed back about the new design.

But wait, there’s more! Alex and myself are also kicking around even more ideas, including improved timetabling, room-booking services, uses of new RFID-enabled ID cards, the beginnings of single sign-on for the University’s Get Satisfaction service… the list is endless. We’re calling these things ‘Labs’ (Sorry Google, but Lincoln Labs sounds awesome) which basically means “we think it would be cool, but it’s not officially supported, isn’t a high priority and may suddenly disappear into the ether and never be heard of again”. We want your ideas and suggestions, and we’ll pick up the best, most popular or most interesting and see what we can do.

All my rambling aside, I spotted a brilliant post from the BBC Internet Blog on searching the BBC. In short, their new Search+ trawls the entire BBC looking for what you’re after, and then decides what’s most relevant within context. Data representation and organisation is a big area of interest for me (the Cybernetics part of my degree has a huge focus on knowledge representation), and searching is an area in which the University, to put it bluntly, sucks.

Bits and pieces work on their own, for example the Library Catalogue searches the library fairly well, and the Phone Search tends to find who you’re looking for. Blogs has a search, although it does skim over a few things. There’s also Portal, which has a search function which alternates between sometimes giving you something relevant and sometimes picking random, outdated and irrelevant content from 5 years ago.

What’s needed is something a bit like the Awesome Bar in Firefox, simultaneously looking at a myriad of sources to find something relevant and presenting it to the user. In short, a single box in which you could type “Portal” and find the Portal, or “Nick Jackson” and find my directory entry, or “Somerville” and find his book on software engineering, or “help” and be taken to our support pages. Something which simultaneously scrubs across any data source we care to let it at, returning data as fast as possible.

Thoughts? Opinions? Do you want a single ’search the University’ box with options to narrow your search, or would you prefer to have to start by specifying what you’re after?

This blog post, however, isn’t about a new login system. It’s about the current one being weird, specifically email.

Today I logged in to my email over the web using Chrome, and I shoved in my username (withouth “NETWORK/”, which is only a necessity because Internet Explorer is retarded when it comes to users not being in the domain it’s currently visiting) and password. It let me log in and worked perfectly, until I wanted to visit an external link in one of my emails.

Apparently the bit of OWA which forwards you to external URLs has logins handled differently to simply viewing your emails, and I don’t have permission to access it. No click-through of URLs for me.

Thinking this might be a byproduct of OWA not working properly in anything but Internet Explorer, I perform my ritual dance of protection and ready the talisman to ward off broken box models. I hit the email site, and log in.

Without “NETWORK\”.

It takes me a moment to realise what just happened, but it appears that the combination of IE8 and Windows 7 isn’t as retarded as previous incarnations. As in it doesn’t automatically specify a domain to authenticate against unless you tell it.

Click-through links in email don’t work, but it appears that one of our great enemies as ICT may be on the way out. I look forward to the last time I ever have to say “Just put NETWORK\ in front of it and it’ll work. Because that’s what fixes it.”.

Whilst I’m tempted to staple this notice to the front of the helpdesk and watch confused students ask “will you really set us on fire?”, it’s actually better to deal with stupid questions by documenting your response, on the basis that the universe never ceases to provide a constant stream of the terminally confused, people who don’t bother to read the dialog box which pops up with important information and clear instructions, and people who believe that the helpdesk are there to actually operate the computer on their behalf.

Based on actual feedback from real people, we can now target which bits of the support documentation get a thorough massaging from my HTML wizardry tomorrow. First up will be the updating stuff, specifically dealing with fringe cases of updating anti-virus packages we’ve not fully unblocked, and dealing with a situation which is terrifyingly un-fringe where computers have been so badly infected that Windows Update, and all anti-malware updating, has in fact been damaged beyond repair.

Next, renewing anti-virus subscriptions. Some undoubtedly clever marketing wizard many years ago thought “hey, wouldn’t it be awesome if our software just stopped working every year unless you pay us again?”. Sadly this is now standard practice amongst a lot of commercial anti-virus packages, and it’s a key feature of ‘trial’ packages which come installed with a lot of new computers. The problem is that we don’t unblock the renewal pages at the moment, meaning that people need hand-holding through the process of removing the ‘dead’ software and installing our recommended free alternatives or we need to provide a way for people to spend money.

There’s a collection of people who are convinced they can’t access Blackboard, or their timetable, or the library catalogue, or indeed any other University system. This is just wrong, so we’re making it clearer that all University provided services will keep working even if they’re not ‘logged in’.

Some users have managed to perform strange feats of choosing software which we really weren’t expecting to see, and as such haven’t added to the ‘approved software’ list. Whilst not wrong, some more esoteric combinations of software aren’t recognised as valid even though the user has indeed installed anti-virus and anti-malware. Instructions to give the helpdesk a ring and get the software added to the lists should plug that gap.

A few people are convinced that they know better, and that they don’t need updates (which make their computer run slower and take up loads of space) or anti-virus (because they know how to keep themselves safe). I have a few choice words for users like this, running along the lines of “you’re wrong” but with a bit more… colour. Either way, it’s tough. Logging in to the network includes implicit (and – when you register – explicit) agreement to the AUP, which makes running an updated operating system and anti-virus/anti-malware compulsory. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to use corporate desktop machines or do without the internet.

Updates will be pushed tomorrow, and we’ll see how it affects the feedback we receive. Personally I’m in favour of the support method of donning bright green t-shirts saying “ICT” on the back and wandering around the courts until someone asks for help fixing their internet. Either that or we get punched in the face, but I’m hoping the former.

The anonymous, free-form feedback box. A single box with no prescribed questions, no survey-style questioning, and no requirement to tell us who you are (although the option is there for you to leave an email address or phone number in case you’re happy for us to get back in touch). The result is somewhat more than we expected – usually feedback mechanisms get maybe three or four responses a week, we’re currently getting in the region of 20 to 25 a day.

Most of the feedback is little to no use – we have a wide assortment of “rubbish”, “useless” and “crap” comments. A few responses seem to be from people with broken apostrophe and shift keys (“its rubbish” or “i dont see y ur doin this”). A couple have broken exclamation marks (“!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”). However, despite this noise we’ve been able to glean a few things which we wouldn’t have been able to from simply relying on the helpdesk or by asking carefully selected questions.

Keep ‘em coming, although remember that every time you say “crap” without letting us know why God kills a kitten.

I already know the people in my apartment. The University connected us through Facebook and a few of us went out for the night before we even enrolled.

I had my timetable, accommodation, Students’ Union Guide and University Handbook all emailed to me – I even enrolled online.

I knew the competition for places was tough because of the University of Lincoln’s reputation. The facilities are fantastic, award-winning buildings right in the heart of the city.

People here think outside the box. We’ve already had lectures in some cool places. All the buildings seem to have really sociable spaces, comfy chairs, places to meet and interact. It is a 24-7 place, totally wi-fi and networked.

Our lecturer has been doing joint research at a partner university in India. She is at the forefront of her subject and she’s teaching me!

Next week we have got workplace practitioners coming to talk to us and I have even had the careers people asking me about my ‘mobile portfolio of skills’ and how I might develop them. I have got an idea for a business so I am going to talk to the people at Sparkhouse, the University’s enterprise incubator.

All this in the first few weeks.

Cool, awesome, great… you’ve invented the student of 2010 two years late!

Well, sort of. A few things will genuinely take many years to build up to, such as establishing partnership links and building the University’s reputation even further. Others, like the omnipresent wifi and revamping spaces with beanbags and such (Learning Landscapes, and the Building blog which hasn’t been updated in months), will take time and investment to achieve. A few, however, should be in place already (or not far off). Wifi everywhere, 24-7 services, online enrolment (or at least better detail management).

Still, let me put forward an idea for what I’d like to see in readiness for “The Student of 2010″, ready for those arriving in September. It’s part what we’ve done already, part what we’re doing right now, and part in the pipeline. Obviously it’s written from the point of view of ICT, which seems to be a key driving force in the strategic plan anyway.

The week before I arrived in Lincoln I got an email from the University, with information about my first week, the University and SU handbooks and a link to the University’s quick start website. I logged straight in and was taken through a few simple steps, setting up my computer account and confirming my details before I’d even set foot in the city. Next, I got to take a look at my plans for Freshers’ Week – they’d given me a calendar with things like enrolment and my welcome lecture already filled in, and then asked me about my taste in music before suggesting some great gigs and events in the evenings, in places I didn’t even know existed! I chose a few I liked the look of and it dropped them straight into my calendar for me.

At the end of the form, they suggested I download their free app for my iPhone. Built in timetable, events list, phone book, even a map with directions not just to the right building but even to the door of the room – all connected to my personal account. It knows where all the best bars in the city are, where the nearest cash point is, and even how much it costs for a kebab at my local takeaway! I also got a printed copy of my week planner (complete with my evening entertainment) and a ‘quick card’ which it told me to print out and hold on to for when I arrived.

When I got there, everybody at Lincoln was really friendly. All the staff and student helpers were wearing bright t-shirts and big name badges; people from accommodation services to help me move in, ICT support walking around to help me connect to the free internet and secure my computer, people from my faculty to say hello, the works. When I asked an accommodation guy for directions to my room, all he had to do was scan my quick card with a barcode reader and he knew exactly who I was, and exactly where I was staying.

All the problems I experienced were dealt with really quickly. I posted a few on the University’s support community and got answers in minutes, even from staff at close to midnight! I had to ring the helpdesk to fix a small mistake on my unit choices, but they took my ID number and promised to get back to me when they’d updated it. It was only an hour or so before I got a text message from them, since they knew my phone number from when I filled in the quick start!

So far everything seems really joined up.

And the amazing part? All the technology and expertise we need to do this by this September is already here. Bring on the future.

I’ve also been mucking around with quick concepts for a set of posters, reflecting the ‘fresh’ ICT style you may have seen in the Gateway 2 mockups. Sadly the change.lincoln.ac.uk address doesn’t exist (And 1st February is an arbitrary date, nothing’s actually happening then) but I can dream. See what you think.

'Changing...' poster for LUNA Phase 2

Other things that happened today are good:

• I updated the jQuery framework which lies behind LUNA and PFMPC to the latest version, giving several speed increases which will be completely unnoticeable for most people but which make my benchmark tools very happy.
• I updated some of the CWD CSS to fix a niggling bug in IE6 and improve appearance on browsers supporting the CSS3 specification. This brings CWD to version 1.3.7.
• I updated the HTML in PFMPC from CWD 1.2 to 1.3, bringing more cross-browser goodness, better semantically valid navigation, improved printing and a liquid layout to make best use of bigger screens.
• I hacked some regex into the game console registration pages in LUNA, which now forces people to enter a valid MAC address when they’re registering. Unfortunately they have to enter uppercase letters (a true MAC address can be either) to keep our network access software happy, but tomorrow may include fixing this so some clever JavaScript converts it to uppercase for them.
• I’ve got a server to play around with where I can put a nice LUNA feedback page.
• Kirsty has managed to do some more work on the ICT team blog, so I’m seeing if this post will cross over successfully.

In other LUNA nonsense, working out which combination of technical features to use to let people provide feedback on Phase 2 changes (the compulsory anti-virus and anti-malware) is proving challenging and may lead to a new server being temporarily put together just for handling the feedback. I’m going to push for a LAMP stack, but since Lincoln is a Windows shop I’m not holding my breath.

Finally, balls are rolling on my posters project – a meeting for scoping and specification is booked where key parties can bang heads together until we get something reasonable before I begin doing hardcore implementation stuff.

Now, back to JSON.