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February 12, 2007

Filtering spam out of your inbox // Windows Vista at Lehigh (current status // Search plugins in IE 7 and Mozilla Firefox 2 // Blackboard changes // Information Literacy Web site expanded // LTS Strategic Planning online // Technology, Teaching, and Learning surveys // The Digital Library turns to crime

Filtering spam out of your inbox
Spam has become a major issue over the last few years. In order to help combat the spread of spam, LTS has enabled spam tagging using a device called SpamAssassin. When mail arrives at Lehigh, SpamAssassin determines whether a message is most likely spam. If it is, the message is tagged [SPAM] in the subject heading and then you receive it in your Inbox.If you receive a lot of spam and find it a nuisance to sort through it among regular email, consider using a filter to move spam messages elsewhere for review and/or deletion. For instructions on creating a spam filter in Mozilla, see: http://www.lehigh.edu/computing/docs/mozilla/seminar.html#filter
For instructions on filtering in other email programs, contact your computing consultant.


Windows Vista at Lehigh (current status)
Microsoft Windows Vista was recently released to the general public and is now available when ordering a new computer. Lehigh Library and Technology Services (LTS) is currently testing Vista with many critical University systems such as the portal, E-mail, Banner as well as wired and wireless networking. At the present time, there are many software packages and systems that do not work with Vista including the Install Software, LDAP, LTS Print Select, legacy Pocket PC operating systems as
well as connectivity problems with wireless networking. Therefore, LTS does not currently recommend the purchase of Vista for use on campus. When applications work satisfactorily, LTS will change the recommended operating system from Windows XP to Vista. Until then, please order new computers with Windows XP unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. If you have questions, please contact the help desk at 8-HELP or your departmental computing consultant. For more information regardingVista at Lehigh or in general please visit: http://www.lehigh.edu/helpdesk/docs/vista/index.html



Search plugins in IE 7 and Firefox 2
IE 7 and FireFox 2 both offer new ways to easily use your favorite search engines. You may have used Google or Yahoo search toolbars. Have you ever wished you could search your favorite database from a browser
toolbar? Go to http://www.lehigh.edu/helpdesk/docs/ie7/searchplugins.htm to learn how you can customize your browser search box to include many search tools and library databases. NOTE: LIBRARY-SPONSORED LICENSED DATABASES WILL WORK ONLY ON CAMPUS.


Blackboard changes
In January of 2007, Blackboard, Lehigh s Course Management System was upgraded. This upgrade brought important changes to some of the components to
Blackboard.Here are some of the most important changes:Discussion Board Changes to this feature include built-in grading capabilities, participation statistics listed in the performance dashboard, moderated discussion managed by students as well as
instructors, save postings as a draft, receive email notice of new postings, availability options (like other Blackboard areas), rate postings - allows users to rate the postings of their peers on a scale of 1 to 5, and copy forums to a different discussion board. Email - There is now a spell checker for email messages!Teams and Journals are now named Wikis and Blogs, respectively. The Digital Dropbox has been replaced with Assignments, which is a much more flexible way to collect documents from students, download them all at the same time, and provide feedback along with a grade.For more information on these changes, please go to http://cf1.cc.lehigh.edu/itresource and click on the Blackboard tab.



Information literacy web site expanded
If you have not seen it recently, you will be pleasantly surprised by the new look and design of the LTS Navigating Information at Lehigh Web site http://www.lehigh.edu/library/infolit/. The new site was rolled out at the end of December 2006 and offers improved, much clearer organization and usability. Use it to find the information literacy tools created specifically for faculty and students, link to academic integrity materials, learn about the annual research skills assessment as well as the entire information literacy initiative championed by LTS. The site is best viewed in IE, Mozilla Firefox or the Mozilla SeaMonkey
browsers.


LTS Strategic plan online
LTS has recently updated its Strategic Plan for 2006-2010. It is publicly available at the following URL: http://www.lehigh.edu/ltsplan. Contact Sue Cady at sac0@lehigh.edu or x84645 if you have questions.



Technology, teaching, and learing surveys
As part of our Middle States accreditation process, faculty and students will be asked to complete a survey on technology, teaching and learning within the next few weeks. This is a crucial part of our accreditation process and will help set future directions for the use of academic technologies on our campus. When you receive your survey, please fill it out -- there will be a prize drawing!



The digital library turns to crime
LTS has unveiled its tenth project, Villainy Detected : Crime and Consequences in Britain and America in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Lillian De La Torre's 1947 Villainy Detected served as an inspiration for the project title; her work is an example of the fascination with 18th and 19th century crime and its consequences. The materials demonstrate the continuing appeal of these topics and those who wrote about them. During this period in America and Britain, prison
and judicial reform was debated while writers analyzed and sensationalized the criminal. The site presents a number of these writings, mostly from Lehigh s collections, along with related essays by five Lehigh University faculty: Rosemary Mundhenk, Jan Fergus, Ian Duffy, Roger Simon, and Monica Najar. The Web site URL is
http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/crime/.