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By J.D. BIERSDORFER, Gadgetwise

Q.
What is “extended support” for Microsoft Windows XP and do I need to worry when it’s supposed to stop next year?

A.
Microsoft has a defined period of time for things like help-line calls, warranty claims and security updates for the hardware and software it sells. This period of time is called the Support Lifecycle Policy and is supposed to give customers a firm idea of how long they can expect Microsoft to provide services for a product before the company considers it obsolete. Microsoft’s current policy states that its Windows operating systems will each receive a total of 10 years of support. The first five of those years are “mainstream,” in which that version of Windows still has all the telephone support options available (including some free help by phone along with paid technical-support calls), security updates and some development work for requested features and design improvements.

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/qa-extending-and-ending-support-for-windows-xp/

The higher education community continues to make significant progress toward addressing the problems of distance education state authorization through the development of a state authorization reciprocity proposal. The Commission on the Regulation of Postsecondary Distance Education, a joint effort of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) and the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO), recently released its final report, Advancing Access through Regulatory Reform: Findings, Principles, and Recommendations for the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA).

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Advantages offered by the internet and current technologies are widely recognised and actively adopted in education.  Students, for example, will often choose and be expected to use their own devices to share ideas, problem solve and carry out research.  Despite the opportunities on offer, risks such as internet safety must be managed appropriately.

Colleges and universities are legally obliged to provide a safe learning environment for staff and learners.  Reasonable steps must be in place to prevent foreseeable harm.  What steps are ‘reasonable’ will, of course, depend on particular circumstances.  The age of learners, any characteristics that make a learner more vulnerable in the online world, and the availability and accessibility of the environment are all likely to need careful consideration.

In my role at Jisc Legal I work closely with colleges and universities to offer relevant and practical guidance on e-safety.  As part of Safer Internet Day, here are my top 5 tips to help ensure you meet your duty of care:

1.  Be pro-active, don’t wait for something to go wrong

• Always consider risks and where appropriate, take reasonable steps to minimise them
• Establish and share fair rules of acceptable use, procedures and sanctions
• Raise awareness of good e-safety practice.

The National Education Network’s e-safety audit tool can help you to assess current practice at your college or university.

2.  Make someone responsible for e-safety within your college or university

Arguably everyone is responsible for e-safety, but having a named person in place means advice will be readily available and activities and responses will be co-ordinated and consistent.  Ideally, your e-Safety Officer should be a senior member of staff with child protection training.

3.  Use Jisc Legal’s policy checklist and template to write your e-safety policy

Ensure your policy reflects current technologies and the use of social media. It’s important that it is clear, relevant and easy to understand for your learners and staff.

4. Respond immediately and fairly to any breach in policy

It is important that learners and staff understand the importance of internet safety. Any action taken in response to an incident, including an investigation or sanctions imposed, should be proportionate and documented in line with your procedures.  Any criminal activity must be reported to the police.

Have a look at the Janet website for some useful guidelines on dealing with computer crime.

5. Support all your staff and learners to be e-safe

Regular training will help staff deal with concerns and reinforce good practice.  Education on managing relevant issues, such as privacy, will help learners to safeguard their online presence.  Bear in mind though that specific guidance for more vulnerable learners may be appropriate.

Training resources and other useful links are available on the Kent e-Safety Officer’s blog. The Information Commissioner’s Office also provides advice on how young people can protect personal information.

You can also read about how Jisc is supporting colleges and schools with raising awareness of internet safety standards.

I hope you’ve found my tips helpful. For further help, why not have a look at Jisc Legal’s Supporting Safer Internet Day page on our website.

So why should universities devote effort to caring about application programming interfaces (APIs)? I work at Jisc as a programme manager and have recently been involved in work that could provide some answers as to the benefits of APIs.

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are nothing new. In fact, Google web trends show searches for the term API have been on an increase since their records began in 2004.  However, I would argue that there are still potential benefits to universities to be wrung from this venerable technology.

The simplest definition of an API is ‘an interface to a website or software that is designed to be used by developers not by end users’. It allows developers to access the data inside the website or software and use that data in other websites or other pieces of software.

Allows an easy transfer of data around your institution and with partners
The modern university has a mind-boggling array of software, hardware and websites. They also work in an increasingly collaborative environment.  To ensure the smooth running of the university and for ease of collaboration, it is essential that data can flow between the systems that make a university tick. APIs offer a route to addressing the problem. Read some examples of how institutions have used APIs to move data between systems.

Provides automation for laborious tasks
Data sharing between systems can often be difficult and can sometimes require the manual processing of information to take it from one system and to another. APIs offer potential cost savings in the process of moving data. There will be an initial set up cost for the API, but in the long run they should offer a more efficient and more scalable option than manual data processing. This should not only provide cost savings but should also allow the exploration of new opportunities which arise when working at a greater scale.

Improves attraction and retention of students
Universities operate in an increasingly competitive environment; they need to attract students. A university’s brand is an important element in attracting students. APIs could offer opportunities to ensure a university’s brand is well represented in social media and other websites where potential students are likely to be looking. An way of using APIs to help with retention would be developing smartphone applications. These could make it easier for students to settle in to life at the university, for example the recently developed NewcastleUniversity App.

These are all big issues for universities and APIs offer the promise of big rewards. But big rewards rarely come easily. However, when thinking about APIs we are fortunate that there is a wealth of good practice in successful implementation on the web and in enterprises. The report which I have been involved in writing offers some useful case studies and examples that people can follow when implementing APIs. It also includes some practical pointers on management and planning issues that need to be taken into account if APIs are to be implemented.

So, while APIs are sometimes viewed as some kind of young web 2.0 upstart, I would argue that they are a mature technology with a long history of solving exactly the kind of challenges every university is facing. I’d love to hear how you are using APIs – please do tweet @andymcg or comment below I’d also like to hear if you think I’ve got it wrong and that APIs are in fact old hat with newer technologies emerging that can offer better ways of
addressing these problems.

Read Andy’s team blog

The amount of requests received by universities and colleges under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, Data Protection Act and Environmental Information Regulations continues to increase year on year. And so, as a consequence, do the costs and time associated with responding to these requests.

I know that many larger universities and colleges, and those who have found themselves in the FOI spotlight, have already invested in their own systems to help them log and track the requests they receive. However, I’m also aware that there are many more universities and colleges out there for whom the business case did not stack up. They were unable to invest in specialist software, but are now finding that their existing, largely manual, processes are struggling to keep pace.

As part of my role at Jisc infoNet I have been working to develop a possible solution to the management of these requests. I’ve helped create the Information Request Register; this is an Excel based tool which has been developed in conjunction with FOI practitioners from a number of universities. The register offers assistance to universities and colleges, allowing them to:

• Centrally coordinate requests received under different access regimes
• Manage requests with limited staff resources, therefore reducing cost
• Automatically calculate the appropriate deadline of a request response
• View ‘at-a-glance’ visual prompts as to the status of each request
• Use readymade reports which enable providers to view the current state of requests or analyse them during a given period
• Customise the system to meet their specific requirements.

Lastly, another benefit of the register is that it provides information for the annual Information Legislation and Management Survey. The survey’s results are widely accepted as the definitive source of data about the impact of information compliance legislation on the sector, but it takes considerable time and resource for people to submit their data each year. The register collects the data needed for the survey as you go. So, rather than representing a significant body of work each January all that is required is for you to copy the relevant worksheets to a new file and email it to us, and the job is done.

Now that’s what I call a win-win situation!

I hope you decide to give the InformationRequest Register a try and do let me or my colleague Teresa Tocewicz know how you get on as any feedback would be appreciated.

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