ITSC Session Recordings Now Available Here
The 11th annual Spring IT Staff Convention will be held on Friday, May 20th! The semiannual IT Staff Convention provides a phenomenal opportunity for networking, learning from peers in IT at Penn, seeing what other groups at Penn are doing with IT, and creating connections that last far beyond the convention itself. We have content for everyone involved with IT - local support providers, sysadmins, developers, information security gurus, social media mavens, data analysts, new hires, and seasoned staff.
This spring's convention will once again feature our traditional convention format with 17 sessions covering the breadth of things we are doing in IT at Penn, covering topics that include:
- Information Security
- Big Data
- Classroom & Learning Technologies
- Enterprise Systems and Projects Overviews
- Novel Uses of Technology on Campus
- etc.
We'll have a mix of open-ended, moderated discussion sessions, panel discussions, and more formal presentations (with Q&A), as well as our vendor fair, and “Hack-a-thon” partner event. The convention will run for most of the day: lunch will be served and a reception will wrap up the day's activities.
Follow us on Twitter @PennITSC for updates!
The IT Staff Convention is part of a series of programming organized to facilitate information sharing and collaboration across campus. Please take the short Special Interest Group Survey, located in the last tab, below. This will help us to improve the Interest Groups and the overarching system of collaborative efforts.
Keynote 9:45am - 10:45am |
Session 1 11:00am - 12:00m |
Session 2 1:15pm - 2:15pm |
Session 3 2:30pm - 3:30pm |
Session 4 4:00pm - 5:00pm |
The Network Architecture of Human Thought | Apps for Teaching and Learning | IoT & Penn | Campus Scale Firewalls: A New Experience for Penn | Keeping Up With Wifi |
Django at Wharton | IT Supplier Risk Assessment: The High Bar of Entry for Penn’s IT Suppliers | That's Not How We Do Things: Information Security and Working with Outside Contractors | Classroom Lecture Capture & the Emergence of Panopto | |
Cybersecurity & Internet Stewardship | Wharton Project 365: How to Migrate 2200 Accounts in 3 Days Without Losing Your Mind | There's an "i" in "Collaboration," But It's Lower-Case: The CDWG | Cloudification @ Penn | |
Data Visualization | Annual Information Security Wrap Up | Publishing, Preserving, and Promoting Open Access Scholarship at Penn through ScholarlyCommons | The Equine Imaging Acquisition System | |
Wharton GSRs Re-Invented | The New PMO |
Early Registration @ 9:00am to 9:45am
Breakfast and coffee will be available during Early Registration. Food and Beverage will not be allowed into the Auditorium during the Keynote Presentation. Coffee, tea, soda, and water will be available throughout the entire convention. Registration will continue throughout the day in the Forum.
Keynote @ 9:45am to 10:45am
Human thought is predicated on a complex architecture of
interconnections that enable information transmission between distinct
areas of the brain. Yet gaining a fundamental understanding of this
architecture has remained challenging, largely due to insufficiencies
in traditional imaging techniques and analytical tools. In concerted
efforts to address these challenges, neuroscientists have begun to
combine recent breakthroughs in non-invasive brain imaging techniques
with the conceptual notions and mathematical tools of network science
– leading to the emerging field of network neuroscience. I will
highlight early successes in this field leading to fundamental
understanding of healthy human thought, its development over
childhood, and its alteration in psychiatric disease and neurological
disorders. I will close by commenting on current frontiers and future
potential in health care, business, and education sectors.
Session 1 @ 11:00am to 12:00pm
Format: Group Presentation
Apps are all around us. They change quickly and continuously. Student, faculty and staff perspectives regarding new apps can differ, especially around issues of usability, privacy, security and reliability. We discuss lessons learned from library iPad lending about how faculty integrate apps in academic disciplines. We demonstrate a small set of apps recommended for students preparing for STEM exams and how these apps enhance conceptual thinking and application of course content. We share how apps help tutors and service providers to assist Penn students. Presented by Donna Brown (Director of the Tutoring Center), Rashmi Kumar (Specialist in STEM Learning (Weingarten Learning Resources Center-VPUL) and Anu Vedantham (Director of the Weigle Information Commons, Penn Libraries).
Format: Presentation
Learn how Wharton Computing and WRDS are leveraging Django to deploy next generation web apps.
Several topics will be discussed during this presentation. We will start with the selection process used to decide on Python and Django as a language / framework pair. We will look how a suite of tools was chosen for developers to use, with different options available for different developers. Methods for supporting robust hosting environments on site and in the cloud will be shown. Finally, we will discuss what benefits to collaboration have begun to appear in this new ecosystem.
We will close with a demonstration of some of the developer suite of tools, and a discussion on how this entire process can benefit the University as a whole.
Format: Presentation
The rate of growth of the number of Internet-connected devices, colloquially referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT), is an accelerating train that left the station some time ago, and shows no sign of slowing. Rapid technological progress has given manufacturers of all sizes a remarkable ability to easily build new connected devices or retrofit existing products to turn them into IoT nodes. Yet this ease of entry yields its own problems for the Internet in general. Manufacturers are able to cheaply and easily build connected devices with little apparent incentive to incur the opportunity costs associated with the securing those devices and maintaining that security over the life of the product. This creates the potential for the overall degradation of Internet utility for all stakeholders, including those only seeking short term benefits. Such an occurrence would serve to dampen the innovation in and use of IoT devices, and significantly damage the continued sui generis success that is the Internet.
To mitigate this existential risk to the continued health and growth of the Internet, I propose a theory of Internet Stewardship— a distributed, decentralized, cooperative model that incorporates a shared duty to establish, maintain, and follow basic cybersecurity standards. This model is based upon game theory and social contract principles, organized around the concept of the Internet as a global public good, and places an emphasis on the endogenous formation of institutions in order to seek equilibria and minimize free rider incentives, while maintaining a system of measured, mutual restraint.
Format: Presentation
As the school’s focus shifts to data-driven decision-making, the ability to present information in a clear and beautiful way is paramount. Attendees of this session will leave the presentation with a knowledge of the principles of good design, strategic use of preattentive attributes, and a working understanding of Tableau Software, one of the most popular products for visualizing data. No previous data visualization experience is required!
Format: Presentation
One of the most popular and scheduled spaces in all of Wharton's facilties are the Group Study Rooms (GSRs). Wharton Computing wanted to refresh the rooms in response to how students were using them and had to overcome some challeneges: how to take a room offline, getting student input, and coordinating it all. Learn how they did it, and how students input shaped the course of the project from start to finish.
Lunch @ 12:00pm to 1:15pm
Lunch will be served in the Forum. There will be various catered options, including a vegan option. As with the rest of the day, soft drinks, coffee, tea, and water will all be available.
Session 2 @ 1:15pm to 2:15pm
Format: Panel
The "Internet of Things" session will cover a variety of IoT devices, and their uses on campus at Penn. A cross campus panel will discuss how the specific devices are being used in their groups and how it is affecting them. Nathan Cockrum of Business Services will discuss electronic locks being deployed in the college houses. William Krebs of SEAS will discuss the Singh Center's clean room interlocking system. Daniel Brutus of School of Medicine will discuss the use of ultra sound devices on AirPennNet. John Breen of ISC will discuss the experiences of the IAM group within ISC with freezers and locks on Penn’s network.
Format: Presentation
In any given year, Penn changes out more than 200 IT suppliers, primarily in the software and professional services categories. Penn conducts more than $100M of business with over 650 IT suppliers annually. Purchasing Services will present an overview of IT supplier risk assessment: contracting, SPIA, financial solvency analysis, and credit reporting are just some of the processes employed to evaluate the overall risk profile of suppliers to the university. Attendees will gain a heightened awareness of why supplier risk assessment is important, learn how a risk assessment can inform a successful contract negotiation, and how it can be integrated as part of IT projects that involve suppliers across campus.
Format: Group Presentation
Wharton's Project 365 team will discuss how they planned, tested, and re-planned the School's migration to PennO365. Topics covered will include support planning, communications, knowledge sharing, and the importance of tapping into University resources.
Format: Presentation
Bob DeSilets of ISC's Information Security team will cover the biggest and best security stories of 2015 and what they mean to you, as well as a review of the top tools you don’t know about (but should).
Session 3 @ 2:30pm to 3:30pm
Format: Panel
As Penn moves to adopt a more defensive network security posture through the increased use of inline inspection, filtering, and blocking capabilities, these panelists will reflect on where we have been, where we are, and where we aim to go. Deploying, operating, and governing these capabilities at campus scale is novel at Penn, and there are challenges and risks associated with them that are technological, organizational, and cultural.
In this session, you will learn about project status, governance concepts, and implementation plans. Take this opportunity to join an ongoing conversation about a change that is sure to reverberate for years to come.
Format: Panel
Sometimes it makes sense to call in outside expertise to get the job done. However, you may find that you and the contractor for developing an app, a website, or a cloud-based service have very different ideas about how to accomplish it. In this panel discussion we’ll talk about some of the things you should consider when you are thinking about hiring an outside contractor, including evaluating the sensitivity of the data; ensuring that custom code or a recommended platform is not opening up a security vulnerability; how to evaluate third-party online services; and ensuring adequate protections for Penn in the contract.
Format: Group Presentation
Working on Multi-Entity Documentation Projects without Compromising Your Organization's Interests:
The Courseware Documentation Working Group (CDWG) formed in 2015 to unify Canvas documentation efforts at Penn. Consisting of support staff from different schools using the Canvas learning management system, the CDWG has conducted a University-wide evaluation of existing Canvas documentation, as well as a survey of Canvas users, to develop protocols and best practices for Canvas documentation across schools that honor and fairly represent the differences among them. This session is for anyone who would like to learn how to collaborate on a multi-school or program documentation project for a shared platform.
Format: Presentation
Come learn about the new PMO and our services! We are excited to share our new comprehensive approach to project management which will enable us to excel at projects of all sizes. As an integral part of ISC’s Shared Services Group, the PMO provides consulting services to assist with the planning, management, and delivery of projects and programs.
Format: Presentation
As more funding agencies move toward open access mandates and scholars increasingly want to share their work online, the need to find appropriate places to store, preserve, and share this work has also grown. ScholarlyCommons, Penn’s institutional repository, is one answer to this challenge. Since its inception over 11 years ago, ScholarlyCommons has accrued over 26,000 objects and received over 10 million downloads from a global audience. Its materials range from faculty publications to ETDs, data to videos, OERs to student work; and with unlimited storage and the ability to support any file type, the possibilities are endless. In addition to storing previously published materials, ScholarlyCommons can be used as a publication platform to create peer-reviewed journals and manage conferences. Please join repository manager Sarah Wipperman to learn more about ScholarlyCommons and the services it offers.
Snack Break @ 3:30pm to 4:00pm
Snacks will be served, during a thirty minute break before the final session. Beverages will continue to be served, as they have been throughout the convention, as well.
Session 4 @ 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Format: Open Discussion/Presentation
Come to this interactive discussion on some of the changes to the wireless network over the last year, and hear about some of the exciting technology that is coming down the line over the next year.
Format: Panel
Event and lecture recording has become a commonly requested service across campus. Over time, several solutions have emerged, but Panopto has recently become the standout solution. Come see a cross-campus panel talk about their experience with classroom lecture capture in various arenas, and their experience with Panopto.
The panel includes Jimmy Lieu, of Wharton, who was responsible for deploying Panopto in Wharton classrooms; Bill Cohen, of the Kleinman Center, a School of Design affiliate, who manages a Panopto recording rig as an end user; and Alison Diehl, of ICS's Classroom Technology Services, who can speak to the use of Mediasite in Central Pool Classrooms, and how Panopto came to be the frontrunner when evaluating a move to a new solution.
Format: Panel
More and more, we're seeing the replacement of in-house solutions with Software as a Service (SaaS), cloud-based solutions, in the world of IT, including here at Penn. In this session, we will be discussing the "Cloudification" of Penn, by representing several SaaS solutions that have been implemented around campus. We will be discussing the pros and cons of using a cloud-based service, as well as lessons learned. Matt Sullivan from ISC Client Care will be talking about the roll out of the LastPass password management solution. Michel van der List from ISC's Emerging Solutions team will be speaking to cloud services from a university-wide perspective, including items such as Amazon Web Services. Robert Williams, from SEAS, will discuss the use of Google services and applications throughout SEAS.
Format: Presentation
A new robotic-aided imaging modality allowing for acquisition of CT studies, fluoroscopy studies and 360 degree digital radiograph images in standing horses will be discussed. This new imaging modality will be used to highlight the IT challenges associated with large imaging data sets including image acquisition and reconstruction, image storage and retrieval and image sharing and distribution across both the clinical environment as well as with patient owners and outside collaborators.
Reception @ 5:00pm to 7:00pm
After the convention, please stick around for the reception, in the Forum. Food and beverages will be served.
The UPenn IT Staff Convention Hackathon will focus on creating working examples of Shibboleth and CoSign in Django and Drupal. The implementation details for each solution will need to be documented along with the pros and cons of each approach. Everyone is welcome to participate.
The Hackathon will tentatively take place in the Forum and will take place during session two and session three, 1:15pm-3:45pm. People are, of course, free to continue working on items during session four if they wish.
Never participated in a hackathon before? Not a coder? No problem! We will need many more skillsets to help with writing clear, easy to use documentation, as well as people to test possible solutions and offer feedback. It is fine to just stop by, and ask questions or just observe as well!
During the convention, we will be hosting a vendor fair, while lunch is being served, in the Forum. The vendors will be available to talk about their products and answer questions, so don't hesitate to approach them while taking a short break during the day.
Vendors in attendance:
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Dell
- Lenovo
- Amazon