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Documentation on how to change the dates for the page “registrars-calendar” in the Registrar site.

• First, you need to edit the blocks that pull in the calendar information itself on the “registrars-calendar” page.
• To do so, in the Registrar site’s left hand folder navigation, select the folder blocks, then select the folder calendar-registrars.
  
• Once you’ve selected the folder, there are three blocks you need to edit.
• Select the courseregistrars-fall block. Hit Edit to edit the block.
  
• You need to edit the Feed URL to update it to the accurate dates. The feed URL will read as follows:

  http://calendar.wesleyan.edu/feeds/get_parms?categoryid=17|110|116&sdate=MM/DD/YYYY&edate=MM/DD/YYYY

• Do not change any of the parameters in this Feed URL other than the date. Change the values after “&sdate=” to be the beginning date of the fall you wish this calendar to reflect, and change the “&edate=” to the ending date of the fall semester you want the calendar to display.
• A accurately configured Feed URL example for the fall semester is below:

  http://calendar.wesleyan.edu/feeds/get_parms?categoryid=17|110|116&sdate=08/20/2013&edate=12/31/2013

• Next, select the courseregistrars-spring block. Also hit Edit to edit this calendar feed.
  
• You need to also edit this Feed URL to update it to the accurate dates. The feed URL will read as follows:

  http://calendar.wesleyan.edu/feeds/get_parms?categoryid=17|110|116&sdate=MM/DD/YYYY&edate=MM/DD/YYYY

• Do not change any of the parameters in this Feed URL other than the date. Change the values after “&sdate=” to be the beginning date of the spring you wish this calendar to reflect, and change the “&edate=” to the ending date of the spring semester you want the calendar to display.
• A accurately configured Feed URL example for the spring is below:

  http://calendar.wesleyan.edu/feeds/get_parms?categoryid=17|110|116&sdate=01/01/2014&edate=05/31/2014

• Next, you need to change the actual titles of the calendar to display on the page. To do this, select the block spring_header first.
• Hit Edit, and in the content editor change the text to the accurate and updated date. Be sure not not edit or adjust the table itself but only change the year date.
  
• This will change the title of the spring section of the calendar to the new date. (In the above example, “Spring 2014″ will display on the page.)
• To change the year date for the Fall header, you need to navigate to the calendars folder and select the actual registrars-calendar page. Hit Edit.
  
• Edit this page and change the year date in the content editor—make sure you hit submit.
  

Microsoft has recently released a software patch fixing a serious vulnerability in their Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser. The patch is available for installation via Windows Update. Most Wesleyan PCs are configured to automatically install this patch at 6PM this evening, but the process requires that machines be rebooted to activate the patch. PC users should reboot their machines tomorrow morning to complete the installation process. Until your machine is patched, we advise using Firefox or Chrome Web browsers.

Please note that only PCs running Windows are affected by this issue. Mac and Linux machines require no action.

For more details on the vulnerability, visit: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2014/05/01/updating-internet-explorer-and-driving-security.aspx

Wesleyan has launched the newly redesigned Ricardian Explorer website. You can visit the site here: www.wesleyan.edu/re.

WesFiles went off line for about 20 minutes from 10:40 to 11:00 am.  ITS has resolved the issue.  Xythos Drive users who were working on documents should save their files again before continuing. If you have any trouble saving your file, contact your Desktop Support Specialist and do not close the file.

This is a quick documentation on how to add, delete, or modify the Notable Alumni page in the About website.

Alumni images upload:

• Remember that the image on the right hand side of every row needs to be first configured to the dimensions 58px x 75px (w x h).
• You can upload these images first to the images > notable folder.
  
• documentation on how to upload an image
• tutorial on how to upload an image

To add a new row:

• Determine where you want to add the new alumni information.
• Right click on a row, then hover your cursor over the “Row” option in the list that appears.
  
• You can either select to “Insert Row Before” or “Insert Row After”, depending on where you want to add new information.
• You can then add your text and insert your image.

To delete a row:

• Determine which row you want to delete.
• Right click on the row you plan to delete, then hover your cursor over the “Row” option in the list that appears.
• Select “Delete Row” to delete that row.

News about the Heartbleed security threat continues to circulate.   Many users in our community have contacted ITS asking for advice about changing passwords and whether they need to change their Wesleyan password.  While ITS continues to believe that our risk for exposure was very low, we have systems that use OpenSSL and responded accordingly as soon as news of the potential exploit became public.

ITS will not be mandating a password change.  However, ITS does strongly recommend a password change for those who use the same password for Wesleyan and other services (such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, etc).  While remembering passwords can be challenging, there is a considerable risk using a single password for everything.  Furthermore, regular password changes are always a good idea and certainly an incident such as this is a good reminder to us all.

Another Internet security story has made the headlines. This new threat, referred to as Heartbleed, exploits a vulnerability in an application in widespread use called OpenSSL. Many of you may have heard about this on NPR or in the news. Here is a link to a good explanation of this issue:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/04/08/300602785/the-security-bug-that-affects-most-of-the-internet-explained

ITS reacted swiftly to the announcement of this threat. We swept all servers and, within 24 hours of this coming to light, completed patching systems by noon on April 8. Our concern for Wesleyan usernames and passwords is very low.

However, there is reason to be concerned about social media sites who were reported to be slower to react. ITS suggests you change your password for social media accounts as a precautionary measure. If you use the same password for multiple sites, we strongly encourage you to change your password on all of them.

This link offers a clear explanation of affected sites and their current recovery status. http://on.mash.to/1kLRfST

Additionally, if you are responsible for managing a Wesleyan social media page, please make sure to change its password.

Event-specific details for printing Psychology posters for Spring 2015:

Deadlines:

• If you are presenting at the NSM poster session, Jen needs your poster document by 9 AM on Tuesday, April 14.
• If you are only presenting at the Psychology poster session,  Jen needs your poster document by   9 AM Wednesday, April 22.
• The sooner the better.

Poster Submission and Printing Information:

• Means of submission to Jen Platt (jplatt@, x2132, Usdan 138):
  • Preferred method is WesFiles. See  instructions at: http://wesfiles.blogs.wesleyan.edu/how-to/email-collaborators/
  • Email
  • FlashDrive
• Poster Payment and Pick-up:
  • The department will pay for posters submitted before Jen’s deadline.
  • The department will not pay for posters that have to be redone. Check your work!
  • Do not pick up your poster yourself. Cathy Race will pick up all posters and have them set up at the poster session.
• Formatting:
  • All students must include their title and adviser’s name at the top of their posters
  • Posters must be 40″ wide and 30″ high
  • A poster submitted larger or smaller than these measurements will be automatically resized. This may affect the outcome of the poster, so please be attentive.
  • Final review of poster with adviser should be at least two days before deadline.
• Acceptable file types:
  • PDF (preferred)
  • TIFF
  • If you need to convert a PowerPoint file to PDF, you must do it on a PC for the end result to work right. If you try to do this on a Mac it may automatically reduce the size to 8-1/2×11.
• Additional instructions:
  • Include a cell phone number and email address where Jen can reach you in case of problems.

Resources for tips on scholarly poster design and creation:

• North Carolina State University has an extensive tutorial at:

  http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters

  This site covers many aspects of poster design in detail and with helpful examples of what and what not to do.

• A compact set of instructions for various platforms is available from the University of Alabama at:
  http://www.as.ua.edu/undergraduateresearch/presenting-your-work/making-posters/

Slide show incorporating tips from the site above as well as from

• http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/infolit/poster.html
• http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/infolit/templates/umich_posterguide.pdf (PDF download)

ITS experienced a hardware problem overnight that affected email for a large segment of our community between approximately 2:30 and 7:30 am.  Email was not lost in this time and was delivered when services were restored.  Other services affected by this issue were the card swipe system/cash registers and EMS.   All services are back online.