Faculty Staff Handbook VIII

Faculty-Staff Handbook

VIII. Computing Services

VIII.A. General Information
VIII.B. Computing Policies

Computing Services, located in the Computer Center Building, provides central computing and networking support to the entire University community.

Major computing equipment includes IBM central hosts, Sun and Intel application servers, advanced Sun workstations and personal computers linked through a high-speed, campus-wide communications network. To assist students and faculty in the use of information technology, Computing Services' staff manages a Helpdesk, provides a wide array of central applications, consults and advises on computer software and hardware problems, distributes Web-based documentation and maintains an extensive software library.

Open PC laboratories (called "PODs") for student use are located in the "Information Commons" in the University Library, and in Science II, Science III, Academic A, the Center for Academic Excellence and some residence halls. Residence hall rooms are wired to provide high-speed ethernet connections for all students living on campus, and student residence hall consultants provide support for students in each residence hall. Dial-up connections and various internet services are available to off-campus students and staff, and a campus-wide wireless network serves mobile campus users.

All faculty, staff and students receive a free e-mail account and disk space for a personal web page and network storage upon enrollment, and all students are encouraged to use the computer as an appropriate and flexible tool for liberal arts education. All general classrooms have basic audiovisual equipment and Internet connections, more than 80 percent are "laptop ready", with permanently installed data or video projection equipment and approximately 20 percent offer full multimedia capability. The campus is fully networked and the University is a member of the Internet2 Consortium.

With these resources, students, faculty and staff find that information technology enriches many aspects of the curriculum, and IT solutions to new challenges are readily available.

The goal of Computing Services is to provide an effective, efficient, and reliable service for existing resources, and to provide leadership in the adoption of new technologies for use in teaching, learning and administration. Computing support has become a key element in Binghamton University's program to keep administrative overhead low through the development of on-line information systems. The provision of technical support to academic programs is critical to meet curriculum and research needs.

Academic Support services Binghamton's research and instructional programs by assisting faculty and students to achieve their goals. An extensive library of applications software is available. The five major areas of support are:

planning and teaching short courses and seminars;
consulting or advising on computer software and hardware problems;
writing and distributing manuals and other documents for user assistance;
installation and maintenance of software packages;
acquisition and supervision of hardware and related facilities for student access to computing.

Short workshops are provided throughout the year by the Technology Training Center to instruct faculty and staff on the use of common software productivity tools and web content creation. These workshops provide an introduction to users from which they can proceed on their own. Online user documentation in the form of manuals, tips, videos and guides are available at http://training.binghamton.edu. News announcements are placed on the front of the Information Technology Services website. Persons wishing to subscribe to this news can use their favorite news reader and subscribe to the RSS feed at http://its.binghamton.edu/rss.xml.

The Administrative Information Systems group is responsible for the development, maintenance, and general support of all administrative information systems on the campus. Services provided to the user community include:

Problem/System Analysis
Programming Support (Software)
Production Control Services
Data Entry
Technical Support

The Administrative Information Systems organization is designed to support project development activity as well as the existing production system environment. Development teams are responsible for new systems and maintenance of existing systems in cooperation with the using office personnel. Production Control and Technical Support groups provide job scheduling, data entry, accounts management and database support.

The application support groups described above are supported by the Systems Programming and Operations groups. The Systems Programming group installs, adapts, and maintains the basic computer operating systems for the mainframes and servers. The Operations group is responsible for 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operation of all equipment. Operations manages a Helpdesk which handles questions and service calls from students, faculty and staff during normal business and some evening hours. In addition, the Operations group maintains the campus data network and supports a repair facility for University-owned computers.

Use of Binghamton's computing facilities requires a valid user ID and password. Account holders are bound by the Acceptable Use Policy at (http://computing.binghamton.edu/policies/), which governs use of the campus network and computing resources. Misuse is considered a misappropriation of resources, and is often also a violation of state and federal law, and such use may lead to University disciplinary action and/or arrest.

For more information regarding campus computing and the services offered, visit http://computing.binghamton.edu.

http://computing.binghamton.edu/policies/