Green Computing Initiatives

Educase Quarterly's most recent issue includes a large section on green computing. There are some articles of particular merit. UC Berkeley stands to make a lot of progress in its goal to reduce emissions to 1990 levels if there is an effort in IT to reduce energy usage and improve sustainability.

• "Three Approaches to Green Computing on Campus"1 provides a general view of sustainability efforts on various campuses around the US. The three approaches are: Reforming power management strategies to reduce power usage when computers are in use or idle; Migrating E-Mail and other data onto externally hosted large scale(and significantly more energy efficient) databases(for example moving campus email to Gmail); and using technology to reduce physical transport requirements. The approaches go from very straightforward to a little more abstract, but there are obvious reasons that IT should play a large role in increasing sustainability on campus. Which segways into the next article:
• "Bottom Up and Top Down: Making IT a Key Part of the Campus Sustainability Effort"2 Similar to the previous article, the article makes the case that IT is a place where major gains in sustainability can be achieved with minimal effort. Therefore, IT should play a key role in campus sustainability efforts. It also introduces the concept of server consolidation which in addition to the administrative benefits, the energy usage reduction is significant. The Article also includes a discussion and example of E-Recycling initiatives.
• "Green IT Best Practices at the University of Michigan"3 This is a case of campus wide IT services embracing sustainability, it includes many of the ideas mentioned in the previous articles, with more implementation specifics.

The rest of the issue can be found here.

-Robin
1. Thompson, John T. "Three Approaches to Green Computing on Campus." Educase Quarterley. Vol. 23 no. 3.

2.Dennis Cromwell, Kristin Hanks and Sarah Engel. "Bottom Up and Top Down: Making IT a Key Part of the Campus Sustainability Effort." Educase Quarterley. Vol. 23 no. 3.

3. Stuenkel, MaryBeth."Green IT Best PRactices at the University of Michigan." Educase Quarterley. Vol. 23 no. 3.

Universities turning their email and other services over to outside companies

The Chronicle of Higher Ed writes about universities turning their email and other services over to outside companies such as Google and Microsoft, in some cases saving $1 million. However, there are concerns about "whether outside companies will safeguard student grades and sensitive research, and keep colleges from violating federal privacy laws."

Many at Berkeley use Google apps and gmail. Is that direction we should go in? What are the concerns? Are the tradeoffs acceptable?

Read more!

CleanTech's report on the environmental impact of the Kindle

A new report on the lifecycle assessement of the environmental impact of the Kindle vs paper...

"Only time will tell if electronic book readers are to become a new standard in the future. But the Cleantech Group takes an in-depth look at the environmental impact of the devices in its recent lifecycle analysis.

"The new study finds that e-readers could have a major impact on improving the sustainability and environmental impact on the publishing industry, one of the world’s most polluting sectors. In 2008, the U.S. book and newspaper industries combined resulted in the harvesting of 125 million trees, not to mention wastewater that was produced or its massive carbon footprint."

Continue reading a synopsis of the study...

More on the Kindle at Arizona State

Will everyone get on the same page? Can they even find the same page? Some info that might be relevant to an LCA study here.

This Could be the Year of e-Textbooks (Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/9/09).

Dianne

UC Berkeley policies on use of copyrighted materials

Some of this is relevant for the study of the use of e-Readers and downloads of copyrighted materials...

http://technology.berkeley.edu/policy/online.html#copy

This site seems even more comprehensive: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/copyright/

Dianne

Download Over a Million Public Domain Books from Google Books in the Open EPUB Format

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 11:05 AM

Posted by Brandon Badger, Product Manager

Over the years, we've heard a lot from people who've unearthed hidden treasures in Google Books: a crafter who uncovered a forgotten knitting technique, a family historian who discovered her ancestor once traveled the country with a dancing, roller-skating bear. The books they found were out of copyright and in the public domain, which meant they could read the full text and even download a PDF version of the book.
More>

Sony's Kindle rival

Sony's rival to the Kindle -- different models with varying prices, uses AT&T's wireless network...

Sony has committed to an open e-book standard, meaning its Readers can show copy-protected books from a variety of stores, and the books can be moved to and read on a variety of devices, including cell phones.

Sony also announced Tuesday that the Readers will be able to load e-books "loaned" from local libraries. A library card will provide access to free books that expire after 21 days.

The library connection "would seem to be something Amazon would never embrace, so that could be a key differentiator," said Richard Doherty, director of research firm The Envisioneering Group.

Read the full story here: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090825/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_sony_e_books

How Students, Professors, and Colleges Are, and Should Be, Using Social Media

How has the use of technology, especially social networking, changed the way that faculty and staff interact in the classroom, how college admissions staff review files, and how potential employers review applicants? This Chronicle of Higher Ed article is an interview with S. Craig Watkins, an associate professor of radio, TV, and film at the University of Texas at Austin, about the new age of social networking and media, and what it means for the classroom of the future. His soon-to-be-published book, The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future.

Printing links

• Dartmouth's GreenPrint: http://www.dartmouth.edu/comp/resources/equipment/greenprint/.

• UC Davis' wireless printing: http://wirelessprinting.ucdavis.edu. Note: On the left side of the page, you’ll see there’s an FAQ, as well as one-time, step-by-step instructions, etc. There are six computer labs to which the print jobs can be sent – all of which are in the core area of campus, close to most academic buildings. Some more background: Pilot conducted in September-October 2006 – see brief article at http://technews.ucdavis.edu/news2.cfm?id=1394. Service launched in October 2006; 825 jobs in first three months - http://technews.ucdavis.edu/news2.cfm?id=1433. Close to 2100 jobs in Winter 2007 - http://technews.ucdavis.edu/news2.cfm?id=1480.

• Our library: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/services/copying.html#printing. Scanning too!

Technology for Social Science and Humanities researchers on campus

Here goes...this could be the direction of some of the project proposals...

http://ls.berkeley.edu/?q=arts-ideas/archive/new-technologies-open-doors-humanities-social-studies-scholars

Dianne

The direction of webcasting -- see what ETS is working on. You'll recognize Mara. On the top of the Berkeley website today.

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/07/28_matterhorn.shtml

Dianne

Kindle and accessibility

This article/posting describes some of the issues around the Kindle 2 (the newest one) and accessibility. There are zoomtext features and text-to-voice, but the buttons for navigation might be a problem, it's not clear (to me) how the annotation works, and (the killer), it's up to the publisher to make the content accessible! Also, at Arizona State, a lawsuit! Still...

http://asyourworldchanges.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/amazon-kindle-arizona-state-accessibility-what-a-mess/

Dianne

Basic productivity skills?

Is this something to consider in STWG? What's your experience?

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3889/students-may-not-be-as-software-savvy-as-they-think-study-says?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Dianne

Open AirBears

Open AirBears is a community supported and operated wireless network. Open AirBears uses open source software and commodity hardware to construct a flexible, inexpensive wireless network. For background information, please see the Open AirBears Overview presentation.

Open AirBears is primarily based on two open source projects: the Berkeley Wireless System and the Circe Captive Portal.

Open AirBears is a joint project of Information Services and Technology (IST) and Residential and Student Service Programs (RSSP) at UC Berkeley.

Check out their site

Princeton University will use Kindle e-reader to use less paper

by Mark Mueller/The Star Ledger

Saturday May 09, 2009, 7:19 AM

PRINCETON -- Princeton University has a problem with paper. It uses far too much of it. Last year alone, campus printers spit out 15 million pages. Amazon.com, the huge online retailer, has a splashy new version of its Kindle electronic reader, one that's twice as big as its predecessor and that allows users to make notations and highlight words or passages on its digital pages. Read More

Princeton Kindle Pilot Website

Microsoft Office 2010: Free

The full Office suite is now available for free, similar to Google Docs all applications (word, excel, powerpoint) will be hosted online (in the clouds!). Give it a try and see if it completes with the Office desktop experience!

http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/

Cheers,

Josh

Microsoft BPOS: Managing The Cloud

source: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cloud-computing-bpos,2313-9.html

Editor’s Note: For background on this article, check out the first article in this series, Microsoft’s BPOS: Cloud Computing’s Silver Lining?

Here’s the truth: a ton of documentation has been written around Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), Microsoft’s cloud-based messaging and communication platform. Most of this documentation is very succinct and worth reading as you dig into adopting BPOS services. But when it comes to managing BPOS, the admin has a remarkably easy job. Yes, there are elements of the platform that can require some serious technical skills, particularly in the LAN configuration and large-scale migration stages, but in terms of application and user management, BPOS is an admin’s dream. All of the heavy lifting is performed back in Microsoft’s data centers. By and large, the admin has only two tasks: adding users and assigning services to those users. Read More

What is a Netbook, anyway?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10061318-1.html

October 8, 2008 10:55 AM PDT
What is a Netbook, anyway?

by

Dan Ackerman

Who doesn't love a nice Netbook?

It's taken the computer industry a little while to fully embrace the charms of the under-sized Netbook, although with big players such as Dell and Lenovo on board, as well as major retails like Best Buy and Amazon, these small laptops are more popular now then anyone could have anticipated. Read More...

UC president proposes plan to address fiscal crisis

UC president proposes plan to address fiscal crisis
Graduated furloughs would reduce pay and working days.
Yudof letter details furlough plan
Video explains ration ale behind proposal

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

BWRC is a pioneer in a new wave of university-industry-government partnerships. The Center is focused on forging deep relationships with leading wireless companies so that industry can rapidly transfer new technologies and university researchers can benefit from industrial experience. BWRC provides an environment for research into the design issues necessary to support next generation wireless communication systems and expand the graduate research program in the wireless segment. The research focus is on highly-integrated CMOS implementations with the lowest possible energy consumption and advanced communication algorithms. Components are fabricated using state-of-the-art processes and evaluated in a realistic test environment. Center membership provides access to faculty and graduate students involved in a large interdisciplinary research effort with a modest investment. The critical-mass combination of UC Berkeley researchers, government funding agencies and leading companies in their respective areas has the potential of making truly significant advances possible.

BWRC consists of 60 graduate students and 12 faculty engaged in pre-competitive public domain research into the design issues supporting next generation wireless communication systems. Application areas of interest include: improved spectrum utilization, cognitive radios, ultra-low power sensor networks, advanced a/d and d/a converters, RF/mm-wave circuits and low-power digital circuits. Proof-of-concept prototypes are designed using BWRC's unique design flows and fabricated using state-of-the-art processes. The Center includes a complete laboratory for circuit and system evaluation from DC to 110 GHz.

• A Brand New Wireless Day (Jan Rabaey's BEARS'09
  Presentation)
• Overview of BWRC (Slide presentation, in PDF)
  
• Tour of chips designed at the BWRC (Slide presentation, in PDF)

News Hour Piece on Cloud Computing (Video)

As Data Needs Grow, 'Cloud Computing' Concept Gains Traction
A high-tech solution to a real world computer problems is gaining traction: "cloud
computing" or storing data and programs on the Internet. On Thursday's NewsHour, Spencer Michels reports on the concept. In this Web extra, Google CEO Eric Schmidt gives his take. Video

UC San Diego First Public University to Provide Its Own iPhone Application

UC San Diego First Public University to Provide Its Own iPhone Application

A top-10 educational download for iPhone this week

June 12, 2009

By Rex Graham

UCSD map information via the new UCSD iPhone application.

The University of California, San Diego this week became the first public university in the nation to offer an iPhone application that provides mobile access to the latest information about its courses, faculty, athletics and even videos from the university’s YouTube channel.

The free application will be most helpful to students, who will be able to touch the screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch to access a wide variety of information about UC San Diego, including current and next-quarter course listings, an interactive campus map that pinpoints the location of each course’s classroom, and the ability to telephone, email or send a text message to instructors teaching any course of interest.

“It’s going to provide so much information in such a sleek interface that it’s going to add a whole new dimension to students’ day-to-day experiences on campus,” said Elazar C. Harel, assistant vice chancellor of administrative computing and telecommunications at UC San Diego. “By the end of the year, many of the students will also be able to use the application on a wider variety of handheld devices and use those devices to listen to audio podcasts of previous lectures while they’re going to that day’s class.”

Information about this application and download instructions can be found at http://iphone.ucsd.edu. By the end of 2009, a Blackberry equipped with multi-touch capabilities will operate the same application.

UCSD video information via the new UCSD iPhone application.

The new application was developed for UC San Diego in only two months by TerriblyClever Design, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup company formed by two Stanford University undergraduate students. Harel said the TerriblyClever team was able to make a variety of improvements to an iPhone application that had been developed previously for Stanford and Duke University.

“Students are excited about the new application and their emails and Facebook and Twitter messages have resulted in more than 2,100 downloads of the application the first two days it was available,” said Emily Deere, executive director of the Administrative Computing and Telecommunications Applications Group at UC San Diego. “We were caught off guard when our application shot up to one of the top-10 educational iPhone downloads of the week.” Read More