ITAC Meeting Minutes

September 11, 2014

I. Announcements

The Research Computing organization hosted a Docker today at the RENCI center.

II. Agenda Items

4:05- 4:20 – OpNet, Annual Usage Update, Bob Johnson, Daniel Frederick (10 minute presentation, 5 minute discussion)
What it is: OpNet is a network tool used for monitoring and troubleshooting network traffic. OpNet is a deep inspection tool used to troubleshoot systems and network issues.  
Why it’s relevant: We will provide an annual disclosure on OpNet usage and how this has led to more network transparency, as well as better checks and balances.

  • OpNet was recently purchased by Riverbed
    • Troubleshoot Internet connections for packet loss (Sakai)
    • Investigate top hosts to validate traffic
    • Map out applications – Discover what servers are talking to each other
    • Troubleshoot end-user response time
    • In a non-intrusive mode – it’s able to focus on what a single application does or more broadly what a group of servers does.  The information is stored for historical analysis. 

 Questions and Comments:
Q: Is the access to this tool monitored by someone other than the operators of the too?  Yes

4:20- 4:45 – Student Technology Assessment and Trends, Julian Lombardi, Susan Lynge (15 minute presentation, 10 minute discussion)
What it is:  A Student Technology Assessment was conducted for the ’13-14 academic year to assess the types of devices students were bring on campus, preferred Operating Systems and other technical behaviors.
Why it’s relevant:  We will review the results of the technology assessment. Additionally, to put the freshman data into broader perspective, we will provide insight to trends that we have been able to glean using tools available to OIT, such as SourceFire.

  • CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research Program) Freshman Survey questions related to technology:
    • Do you own a handheld device that enables web access – Apple is a dominance
    • What type of mobile phone do you routinely carry? – Apple devices
    • What OS do you use on your primary computer? 99.6% of students reported they were planning to purchase a computer prior
    • Of the devices you own, which do you consider primary? Laptops are primary, with phones second. 
    • Have you had experiences editing media (video, audio, images) for courses or otherwise? 65% reported yes.

Questions and Comments:
Do we have any figures on how that has changed over time? We will once we receive the information from the COFI data, which was received today.
Does that count for someone who crops pictures on their iPhone?  Yes, since images is included.

  • Have you ever taken an online course to completion? 35% of the students answered yes.
  • Top Web applications from SourceFire in Data Transferred:
    • YouTube, Facebook, iTunes, Dropbox, Akamai, Google round out the top 5.  Netflix was removed since it was between 58 and 86TB of data transfer. All together there was 136 TB of data transfer for 30 days
    • Top Browsers: in 2011, IE was the top browser.  However, in 2013, Chrome rose from 19% to 36%. While IE fell from 41% to 20% and Firefox dropped from 20% to 17%
    • Top Operating Systems from DHCP from August 15, 2014:  The top # devices were iOS for Faculty  
    • Students: iOS devices were the top.
      • #Devices Undergraduates registered  - approximately 2.5 devices per student
      • #Devices approximately 1.5 devices per student
      • Staff: iOS devices, with windows devices following in a close second.

Questions and Comments:
Are these devices that have been seen?  Yes.

  • OS Platform – iOS represents 74% of the total mobile devices
  • OS Platform by Affiliation – All three categories have mobile devices –
  • The data only represent University networks

4:45- 5:00 – IT Heat Map, John Board (10 minute presentation, 5 minute discussion)
What it is:  OIT, along with the Security Office have collaborated to create an IT Security Heat Map that identifies top risk items.
Why it’s relevant:  We will review the 2014 updates and discuss how the process has been changed to create and identify the top risk items.

  •  The upper right quadrant are the bad things.  For IT – risks around information technology were separated from IT security.
  • Risks around Information Technology –
    1.  Complexity and integration of IT systems
    2.  International expansion: We are aggressively expanding abroad, along with a whole new category of happenings for Duke as a result.
    3. Aging infrastructure or deferred refresh of IT systems.  When will we have to perform a base refresh of the network components?

Questions and Comments:
Where did this list of 10 items come from? We started with a previous list from the last time this exercise was performed and was tailored based on the issues IT staff deal with on a day-to-day basis.

  • IT Security Risk –
    • Failure to detect attacks
    • Inconsistent application of security controls – Whereas the central IT organizations apply standards for protecting sensitive data, there may be a high likelihood of
    • Poor decisions or practices around sensitive data protection
    • Traveler security awareness – loss of sensitive information and/or compromise of access to Duke University
    • We are trying to identify the best mitigating strategies for these issues to protect against those that are highly probably and highly impactful

 

5:00- 5:25 – Duke Digital Initiative (DDI), Shawn Miller, Elizabeth Evans (15 minute presentation, 10 minute discussion)

What it is:  The Duke Digital Initiative (DDI) is a multi-year program of experimentation, development and implementation using new and emerging technologies in support of the university’s teaching and learning mission.
Why it’s relevant:  During the past 10 years, the DDI has funded explorations of iPads, iPod Touches, Poll Everywhere, WordPress, VoiceThread, various video technologies and more. For the past 2 years, attention has focused on supporting MOOC video development and on creating the Videos in Teaching and Learning (ViTaL) program to develop a peer-support, self-service Duke Community for education video. DDI will soon announce a new call for faculty proposals to explore a variety of new and emerging technologies that may be important to teaching and learning in the near future.
DDI turns 10 this year – Just as the iPod is going out. About 10 years ago, Duke embarked on an effort to get technology in the hands of students and faculty by issuing iPods to incoming freshman.  Multiple IT organizations across campus worked together to determine what the devices would be used for.  Over the years, DDI has rolled out other programs such as flip cameras and WordPress.  Over the last 2 years, DDI has assisted us with MOOCs and in helping video become more commonplace in the learning and teaching environment at Duke. 
Several areas in the Call For Proposal
Educational Video with Lightboards as the selected technology; where the speaker can face the audience while writing on the board at the same time. 
Maker Technologies – with 3d Printing as the focus technology. We are interested in proposals in disciplines that traditionally have not been known to use this technology such as archaeologists replicating a dig, etc.
Wearable Technologies – The technology of focus is Google Glass – wearable textiles, with a focus on teaching and learning
Gaming – Repurposing a game designed for entertainment for teaching and learning purposes.
Other Opportunities
Conferences about innovative technology – Eastcoast Gaming Conference, Neuro Gaming, South by Southwest.
Other programs DDI offers: VITAL – Videos in Teaching and Learning –
DDI has rolled out a new website by embracing some new technologies, including a blog, a graphic timeline, connecting blog entries to projects,