INFORMATION SERVICES
March 2005
return
to Information Services
Announcements from the Bulletin, Today, Notification-L
03/30/05, Message 2 - New E-mail System - Presentation Today
Come hear plans for a new e-mail and calendar system for Macalester from
4:30 - 5:30 p.m. today, March 30, in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall.
The presentation will be repeated at noon Tuesday, April 5. See
www.macalester.edu/email/. [Bulletin Flash]
03/29/05, What About E-Mail? - Wednesday
Come hear plans for a new e-mail and calendar system from 4:30 to 5:30
p.m. Wednesday, March 30, in the John. D. Davis Auditorium. The
presentation will be repeated at noon Tuesday, April 5. See www.macalester.edu/email/ [Bulletin]
03/29/05, A Telecomm Tip: Leaving Messages Quickly
Did you know you can leave a message for someone without ringing their
telephone? From any on-campus phone, dial 5666, then an extension. (This
does NOT work from off campus.) You will go directly to the person's
voicemail greeting. To speed things up even more, you can press the #
key to skip their greeting (unless an extended absence greeting has been
recorded).
If you have any phone or voice mail questions that you'd like to see
answered here, call Telecommunications at x6566. [Bulletin, also 4/1]
03/29/05, Spring Cleaning for a Fresh Start
We in CIT are looking forward to a fresh start this summer with a new,
improved e-mail server and client and we hope you are too! While we work
behind the scenes preparing for the migration, the best thing you can do
right now is some spring cleaning of your e-mail account. Having a
leaner e-mail account (i.e. fewer messages) will not only help make your
migration to the new system quicker and easier, but will also make your
experience much more pleasant.
The coming weeks would be a great time to go through your mailboxes and
delete old messages that you no longer need. It would be wise to
download your large attachments to your computer where you can find and
use them. Why not delete the out-of-date messages from your "sent mail"
folder? If you would like advice on sorting or archiving old e-mail
messages, call the Computing Help Desk at x6525. [Bulletin, also 4/1]
03/29/05, Message #1 - Telephone Message Indicator Problem
It seems that Friday's phone system upgrade inadvertently turned off
voice message indicators. The problem was fixed at approximately 10:00
AM today, March 29. If you experience any further voicemail
problems, please call Telecommunications at x6566. [Bulletin Flash]
03/23/05, Phone System Downtime on Friday
On the morning of Friday, March 25, there will be a phone system
upgrade. This will cause some intermittent downtimes to our campus
phone service throughout the morning. All services should be restored
by noon at the very latest. Being it is a college holiday and spring
break, this should affect very few of us. However, I do apologize for
any inconvenience it causes to those that will be here. If you have any
questions, please call Telecommunications at x6566.
[Bulletin Flash]
03/18/05, Office Productivity User Group: Come!
The Office Productivity User Group is scheduled to meet from 1:30 - 2:30
PM in Humanities 302 on Thursday, March 24. This month's topic is
PowerPoint Animation. Find out how to make text, clip art and your own
photos do more than just appear on the slides. Also the photo album
feature will be covered. Everyone is welcome and there is no sign-up
necessary. [Bulletin, also 3/22]
03/18/05, Phone System Downtime 3/25
On the morning of Friday, March 25, there will be a telephone system
upgrade. Accomplishing this upgrade requires some intermittent downtimes
to our phone system. This means that, a few times throughout the
morning, there will be no phone service for a few minutes. All services
should be restored by 12:00 noon at the very latest. Because this is
both a College holiday and Spring Break, it should affect very few of
us. However, please share this information with others in your areas
that may be on campus that morning.
If you have any questions, please call Telecommunications at x6566. [Bulletin, also 3/22]
03/15/05, On-Line Banking Scams
Recently there has been a deluge of spam messages purporting to come
from banks, especially Washington
Mutual and Regions
Bank. The messages usually warn of compromised accounts, announce
software upgrades, or even threaten account closure unless you respond.
These messages are "phishing," attempting to get you to reveal sensitive
data such as your account number, credit card number or Social Security
number. Obviously you should not respond at all, certainly not with
such information.
(Washington Mutual and Regions are real banks - and both have published
extensive information to help their customers distinguish scams from
actual on-line transaction capability. See
www.
wamu.com/personal/welcome/security.htm#emailscam and www.regions.com/
personal/email_fraud.html.)
These spams cannot be stopped at the source: scammers jump from vulnerable
server to vulnerable server all over the world, staying just long enough
to send many thousands of e-mail messages. However, you can set filters
that will catch Washington Mutual and Regions Bank messages - we recommend
automatically moving such messages to a folder outside your Inbox for
occasional review. This is a safety net, in case a legitimate message gets
caught. For more information on filtering your e-mail, check these documents:
Setting rules in Mulberry:
www.macalester.edu/cit/docs/xplatform/mulberry3/
mulberry3filters.pdf
Setting PMDF filters:
http://mail.macalester.
edu/caution.html [Bulletin, also 3/18]
03/11/05, A Telecomm Tip: Your 'Forward' Key
You probably have a button on your phone labeled 'Forward.' Ever used
it? Don't know what it's for? Using it properly will "forward" your
calls directly to voicemail, or to another on-campus extension, without ringing
your phone. This is a great thing when you will be away from your desk.
It's a courtesy to your callers, so they don't have to spend their time
waiting for your phone to ring 3 or 4 times before going to voicemail.
It's also respectful of your co-workers, since they don't have to listen
to your phone ring when you're not there.
To activate call forwarding:
1. Press the forward key
2.A. enter 6666 (if you want your calls to go directly to your voicemail box) -OR-
2.B. enter the four-digit extension to which you want your calls forwarded
3. press the forward key.
The forward key should now have a solid triangle next to it.
To cancel forwarding, press the forward key again. The triangle should
disappear. If you have any questions, please call Telecommunications at
x6566. [Bulletin], also 3/15
03/04/05, A Telecomm "Did You Know?"
Your Staff/Faculty Directory has a section that lists the departments
alphabetically, followed by the members of that department. Did you
know that you can get that same information in our on-line directory?
From the home page (www.macalester.edu), click on Directory, then type
in a department name (i.e. Computing) and search. The department
information, followed by a listing of the department members, should pop
up.
If you have any telephone or voicemail questions that you'd like to see
answered here, just call Telecommunications at x6566. [Bulletin, also 3/8]
03/01/05, New E-Mail System: Current Status, Call for Feedback
The task force that will select Macalester's new e-mail system has been
hard at work, and has reached a point where community input is vital.
The new e-mail system will have a fast, reliable, attractive Web client.
With all of the new system's features integrated and available in a
single Web browser window, we think most people will want to use the Web
client. But for the supported 'native' client on the Windows platform,
we have been looking closely at two options: Microsoft Outlook and
Mozilla Thunderbird.
Each of these two options offers some unique services and disadvantages.
It is absolutely critical that you understand these options, and then
tell us your preferences. Since CIT will only be offering support for
the Web client and a single native client, your feedback is crucial in
making the choice.
The task force's current report - updated February 25 - is posted on
their Web page, here:
www.macalester.edu/email/
This page also links to the on-line discussion forum, and it is here
that we want and need the benefit of your opinions:
http://webboard.macalester.edu/~infoservices. [Bulletin], also 3/4
03/01/05, Call for Proposals - Classrooms of the Future XI Symposium
The College of St. Catherine will host the 11th annual Classrooms of the
Future Symposium on Tuesday, May 24. Sponsored by the Associated
Colleges of the Twin Cities, the theme is "Applications for Today".
All faculty and staff are invited to submit proposals for the COTF
conference sessions as well as the pre-conference workshops on May 23.
Talk with your colleagues about:
[return to Information Services ] [CIT homepage] [Library homepage] [Media Services homepage]