In support of the University's academic mission, Academic Computing provides technology expertise, resources, and services directly to students and faculty, and to other organizations that in turn support aspects of the mission. Academic Computing provides information on the use of technology in teaching and learning environments; operates and manages classrooms, public and multimedia computer clusters in Meyer Library and a computer cluster in Tresidder; provides faculty-specific computing resources through the Academic Technology Specialist program and Academic Technology Lab; provides technology support to Stanford University Library services; operates and manages residential computing clusters and services; and supports the Stanford course management system.
The Academic Technology Lab (ATL) is a resource center for faculty, instructors and TAs interested in using multimedia to improve teaching and learning at Stanford University. ATL consultants provide training and support for the development of instructional materials including interactive presentations, videos, DVDs and web sites. Faculty also receive assistance integrating technology tools into their courses. In addition, ATL staff provide consultations for web-based forums and online learning management systems such as CourseWork.
ACD is the call management/queuing technology that distributes incoming calls in the order of arrival to the first available agent. The system answers each call immediately and, if necessary, holds it in a queue until it can be directed to the next available call center agent. Properly managing calls can be key in providing excellent customer service and the ACD system provides you the tools you need to efficiently manage incoming calls.
AFS is a distributed file system that enables cooperating hosts (clients and servers) to efficiently share file system resources across local and wide area networks. At Stanford, IT Services uses AFS to provide and maintain a campus-wide file system distributed among fifteen servers and three terabytes of usable disk space, which is backed up nightly. This stable, distributed system is where the University's main web site and linked files are hosted.
When you get a full service SUNet ID, you get a Stanford UNIX account that comes with 200MB of AFS disk space for storing web pages, text files, computer programs, and other forms of electronic information. This space is also referred to as disk quota or sometimes just quota. IT Services provides online forms for requesting additional space allocations or the larger Research Disk Space service, which utilizes non-AFS resources for massive storage needs.
Stanford has negotiated a partnership with Apple to supply pre-configured desktop and laptop bundles at specially discounted prices to faculty and staff making institutional purchases (i.e., for Stanford-owned equipment) or to students, faculty, and staff for personal purchases. If the bundles don't suit your needs, you can still get special, low Stanford pricing when ordering from the full Apple catalog using the online stores linked from the purchase program web site.
The Disability Resource Center (DRC) offers a wide range of assistive technology resources and services, including the Assistive Learning Technology Center (ALTeC), Alternative Format Production Facility (AFPF), an equipment and software loan library, and various assessment and training services.
Stanford's Academic Technology Specialists work in alignment with the University's commitment to excellence in education and its general vision to improve teaching, learning, and research by developing and implementing new technologies. Academic Technology Specialists provide faculty and staff with department level consulting and advocacy in the effective uses of information technology for education.
Authority Manager is a web application that gives Stanford managers a central location to manage the systems authority their employees need to work the PeopleSort SA, HRMS, and Oracle Financials systems. The Authority Manager maintains the authority registry, the master record of who can do what.
The Axess web site serves as a gateway for many users to access the systems and information they need in their roles at Stanford. Students use it to view course offerings, enroll in academic classes, check grades, and maintain address and academic information. Employees use it to access information about working at Stanford. Faculty and academic advisors use Axess to post grades, review advisee records, and confirm class schedules. Administrators use Axess to complete transactions related to financial aid, graduate financial support, class scheduling, student record updates, and to manage employment, payroll, benefits, and job records for employees. Stanford uses PeopleSoft systems for human resources management and student administration. The Axess web site is the gateway to these systems and the STARS training registration system.
IT Services provides data backup and recovery services for desktop machines. Your local IT support staff or an IT Services consultant (for a fee) will install and configure the client software on your computer. Once configured, the software will automatically back up your system at a specified time each workday. If you accidentally overwrite or delete a file, you can recover it yourself using the client software. File recovery is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Bible sheets are mechanical drawings of campus communication and conduit systems that allow Department IT Contacts, as well as Facilities Project Managers, to locate telephone and network wall outlets, closets, and cables. Bible Sheets are viewable online via CNSCAD, a tool provided by IT Services. For security reasons, use of this tool is restricted to University employees.
BigFix Enterprise Suite is an operating system patch management service that allows system administrators to manage the testing and distribution of critical security updates to Windows PCs.
The Bioinformatics Resource provides computer resources for biomedical research at Stanford. Groups that sign up for a yearly membership are provided access to a wide variety of hardware and software.
A blog, or web log, is a frequently-updated web site arranged chronologically. Stanford provides licensed copies of Movable Type, a blog management application, to Stanford departments and community members. IT Services accommodates Movable Types installation in assigned AFS spaces where CGI Service is enabled. Movable Type offers extensible architecture, management tools, and the ability to create multiple static or dynamic sites, whether for blogging or general web site creation and maintenance.
The Stanford Bookstore Computer Store sells equipment and software to students, faculty, and staff at educational discounts. The Bookstore also provides manufacturer-authorized repair and upgrade service and can arrange for special software licenses for University departments.
ATV is Stanfords academic cable TV service, provided by IT Services in classrooms, conference rooms, and offices. Offerings include Stanford-specific programming designed to enrich the academic experience, as well as a variety of educational and entertainment programming. For special events, IT Services can provide satellite downlink services at most campus locations to bring a live feed for group viewing. You can choose from among four levels of service.
STV is an optional, University-operated cable television service that adds a layer of entertainment, sports, news, and cultural programming to the educational channels that are provided free of charge in all student rooms and residential lounges. STV requires a paid subscription.
Stanford’s university-wide calendar system provides an online personal agenda and the ability to schedule meetings and events with other users. Stanford Calendar is accessible via the web, integrating Webmail, Address Book, and Contacts in a single page. Stanford Calendar is provided free of charge to faculty, staff, and students. A SUNet ID is required for access.
The Stanford ID Card serves as an identification card, an electronic key, and a debit card, allowing you to enter and access secured facilities, exercise privileges to which you are entitled, and make purchases against funds deposited in a StanfordCardPlan account. The Stanford ID Card is supported by IT Services' Campus Card systems.
Stanford contracts with AT&T to provide cellular phone services for faculty and staff professional needs. University and Hospital departments can order online and charge services to their department account. For personal purchases, faculty and staff are eligible for discounts via the Corporate Family Plan.
Discounted cell phone plans are available to all Stanford affiliates through a special AT&T Sponsorship Program negotiated by the University.
CTL provides assistance to faculty in integrating technology into their teaching, including consultations on course design and technology, use of course management systems, formative assessment of the pedagogical effectiveness of technology, individual and departmental assistance in the introduction of new technologies, and workshops on teaching with technology.
CHaMP, managed by IT Services, has established a centralized maintenance contract with several vendors to provide support services at a reasonable cost to the campus community. The CHaMP Program manages the administrative end of the maintenance contracts while vendors provide the on-site service. Departments and labs pay a flat monthly rate for their covered hardware, and when a covered piece of equipment requires service, participants call the vendor directly to arrange a service call.
The Change Management System provides a mechanism for the creation, approval, scheduling, and notification of change requests related to IT systems hardware and software at Stanford. Managed by IT Services, the system is used by numerous campus IT providers to ensure that standardized methods and techniques are implemented for efficient and prompt handling of IT changes to minimize the likelihood of disruption, unauthorized alterations, and errors.
The Stanford CGI (Common Gateway Interface) Service enables users to run programs on the web server to provide dynamic content, collect user input, and offer services otherwise unavailable on the normal Stanford Web service. CGI is available, by request, to any user, group, or department with assigned AFS space.
Many classrooms across the Stanford campus are equipped for multimedia presentations and technology instruction.
Public computer clusters are available to members of the Stanford community at a variety of campus locations, including the Residential computer clusters, and those in Green and Meyer Libraries, Tresidder Student Union, and Terman Engineering.
Green Library has a number of computing clusters available for faculty/staff/students to use during normal library operating hours. Cluster machines can be found in the Information Center (IC), Media and Microtext, Social Science Resource Center (SSRC) Reading Room, and Lane Reading Room. Macintosh users can find an iMac cluster located in the IC. For those of you needing to scan docs, pictures, etc., a scan station can also be found in the IC. More information about the cluster and available software can be found here:
SULAIR’s Academic Computing department and Business Affairs’ IT Services department both provide a range of custom-tailored consulting services. Academic Computing’s Academic Technology Specialists provide faculty and staff with department level consulting in the effective uses of information technology for education. Academic Computing’s Consulting and Multimedia Services group (CAMS) is a media resource and service center that consolidates faculty, student and staff consulting on the second floor of Meyer Library. A number of groups within IT Services' Client Support help faculty and staff to identify unmet needs and assist them in the delivery of proposed solutions. Other services include personalized IT orientations for new faculty, coordination of Stanford's annual IT Open House, facility design for construction projects, and usability analysis, design, testing. Social Science Data and Software (SSDS) is a group within SULAIR that provides services and support to Stanford faculty, staff and students in the acquisition of social science data and the selection and use of statistical and qualitative data analysis software.
IT Services Computer Resource Consulting (CRC) provides for-fee computer support to Stanford schools, departments and institutions. CRC offers clients the time- and cost-saving advantages of having their own departmental IT support without having to manage IT staff themselves.
The Technology Support for Courses web site guides you to services that bring technology to the physical classroom/lab and helps you create and use online virtual learning spaces.
CourseForum is an open source discussion tool available through CourseWork, Stanford's course management system. Anyone with access to CourseForum can post topics. CourseForum is ideal for collaborative projects because it supports private forums and forums for specified user groups. Its search feature allows instructors to find student-specific postings that can then be printed for grading. CourseForum synchronizes with CourseWork's course enrollment information, thereby eliminating the need to add users to the forum manually.
CourseWork is Stanford's course Web site development and distribution system. Using CourseWork, instructors and TAs can set up a course web site that includes a course home page, a syllabus, announcements linked to email, a schedule, course materials, assignments, a gradebook, a discussion forum, and a sign-up tool for events such as lab sections, office hours, or field trips. CourseWork is designed for faculty with little web experience, who can use it to develop their web site quickly and for experts, who can use it to organize complex materials and link them to web communication tools. It is available for all Stanford courses.
Replaced by IT Services Site.
The purpose of the Curriculum Web Portal is to support every Medical School course via the Web, both administratively (handouts, scheduling, basic course information, etc.) and with content-based learning tools (animations, interactive quizzing, streaming video, etc.). Access to the full CWP is available to registered medical students, graduate students, and School of Medicine staff.
IT Services provides consulting and assistance with databases and database vendors, as well as hosting and support. For information, please submit a consulting request to the Stanford IT Help Desk.
Data specialists provide services and support for finding and getting data in electronic format for social science research. SSDS resources include ICPSR: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, Roper Center for for Public Opinion Research, Data Extraction Web Interface (DEWI), and data on CD-ROM.
Stanford has negotiated a partnership with Dell to supply desktop and laptop bundles at specially discounted prices to faculty and staff making purchases of Stanford-owned equipment or to students, faculty, and staff for personal purchases. If the bundles don't suit your needs, you can still get special, low Stanford pricing when ordering from the full Dell catalog using the online stores linked from the purchase program web site.
The online directories web page allows you to look up contact information and find personal or group web pages for Stanford faculty, students, and staff.
Two options are available for hosting and managing online discussions for Stanford courses: CourseForum and Stanford (Usenet) Newsgroups.
Remote SUNet Access over DSL provides a high-speed network connection and Stanford IP address to a faculty or staff member's home or off-campus location. The connection is comparable in performance and ease-of-setup to the one in the subscriber's Stanford office. DSL subscriptions are available only to faculty and staff and must be requested and paid for by the subscriber's department, at the department's discretion.
Academic and industry groups at Stanford use eCommerce to provide online registration and collect fees, dues, and contributions for events and conferences.
With Enhanced Call Processing (ECP), you can allow your callers to dial one number and be offered a menu with programmable options. ECP is a Stanford voice mail system add-on available to University, Hospital, and Clinic departments, as well as individual faculty and staff.
EdTech, within the Lane Medical Library, provides a highly coordinated set of educational planning and support services including the Curriculum Web Portal (CWP), educational multimedia development, classroom technology support and video services, faculty technology training, and learning space scheduling and planning.
The email.stanford.edu web site provides all you need to know about the free @Stanford email account included with every regular full service SUNetID. Among the topics covered are how to obtain and set up Stanford-supported email applications, how to set your vacation (autoreply) message, how to fight viruses and spam, how to create and manage mailing lists, and how to use your @Stanford email account when youre off-campus. The site also links to resources for system administrators hosting local email services.
Stanford University's Ergonomics Program provides employee training, evaluation of workstations and work practices, and implementation of ergonomics control strategies.
Essential Stanford Software is a suite of applications, from anti-virus to web browsers, provided free of charge to faculty, staff, and students via the Web or CD-ROM.
The Formage script was created to allow for easy-to-build, secure form-based data collection on Stanford web sites. Although Formage is still in wide use, IT Services now supports standard CGI-based forms in AFS space and will eventually withdraw the Formage service.
Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections, located on the second floor of the Mitchell Building, provides access for current faculty, students, and staff to geospatial data, digital map services, and geographic information systems (GIS). In addition, the library provides ongoing GIS reference and research consultation.
GroupSpace locations are publicly accessible, collaborative workspace environments for the Stanford community located in Meyer Library’s first floor lobby, Toyon Hall’s Moose Room, and the Freshmen and Sophomore College in the Sterling Quad. GroupSpaces are equipped with TeamSpot, which allows increased productivity and collaboration through plug-and-play document and information sharing. The sharing occurs across the users' laptops when connected to the GroupSpace environment, along with the ability to open documents on one of two 40" LCD screens. Document editing using the LCD panels is collectively controlled.
The Humanities Digital Information Service (HDIS) collects, prepares and delivers online text and image collections to Stanford students, scholars and researchers. HDIS is part of the Humanities Resource Group of the Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR). Located in the Lane Room, on the second floor of Green Library's Bing Wing, HDIS provides both walk-in services related to its own programs, and support for other electronic resources delivered in the Lane Room. Access to the HDIS electronic text library is available from the service's Web site and is, with a few exceptions, restricted to members of the Stanford community. HDIS also offers a number of online image collections, many of which are available using Luna Insight databases and clients. See instructions and downloads on the HDIS web site.
The helpsu.stanford.edu web site is Stanfords central online help request form used for various (mostly IT) services. The system behind the HelpSU form front-end allows schools, departments, and central offices to track user service requests. Other support groups at Stanford also use HelpSU for tracking their work. The software currently used for the HelpSU system is Remedy Help Desk.
The HelpSU for Consultants web site provides resources for support organizations that use the HelpSU system to receive and track help requests.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and its regulations (the Privacy Rule and the Security Rule) govern the way certain health information is collected, maintained, used, and disclosed by Stanford University, Stanford Hospitals, and their benefits plans. The HIPAA at Stanford web site includes complete policy information and privacy statements, answers to frequently asked questions, and web-based training modules for Stanford employees and affiliates.
IMAP is a service that stores all of your email on a central IT Services managed server, giving you access to all of your messages, old and new, at work, at home, or anywhere a web browser is available. You can use IMAP with your favorite email program by making some basic changes to the program. With some limitations and additional cost, IMAP can support group accounts that allow multiple users to access the email in a single mailbox, each using his or her own SUNet ID and password.
Stanford University is one of over 200 member universities leading the Internet2 project. In cooperation with research leaders in industry and government, the Internet2 universities are developing advanced, high-speed networks and a new generation of research and teaching applications that will exploit greatly expanded network capabilities. Access to Internet2 is provided automatically whenever a user at one Internet2 site addresses a resource at another Internet2 site.
Stanford has contracted with iPass to provide fee-based, remote connectivity service with access to wireless hotspots, wired broadband, and dial-up. Using a client interface on your Windows or Macintosh PC, iPass consolidates Internet service providers into a single global virtual network. iPass can auto-detect Wi-Fi networks and auto-configure your Wi-Fi network interface card, and also supports both home and Stanford wireless networking. Note: iPass is available for Stanford faculty and staff only; it is not available for students.
This page is Stanford's gateway to self-help information about computing, telephone, and other services. It contains links to answers for some of the most commonly asked IT questions at Stanford. Under its self-help menus, you'll find links to information about connecting to the Internet, wireless access, getting a SUNet ID or changing a password, purchasing a computer or obtaining software, signing up for phone service, computer security, and more. You'll also find links to information about some of the most commonly used online applications at Stanford, such as Axess, Oracle, and Kronos.
The Stanford IT Help Desk is the University's central support service for IT, especially in the areas of systems trouble, network connectivity, and the use of supported desktop applications (Essential Stanford Software). The Help Desk teams provide two stages of support to faculty, staff, and students: an attempt to resolve problems or answer questions within ten minutes or, if quick resolution is not appropriate or achievable, assignment to a consultant for in-depth assistance.
Co-sponsored by IT Services and SULAIR, this annual fall quarter event is designed especially for faculty and staff but also draws a number of students. Representatives from about 30 campus-wide technology service groups reserve booth space to meet attendees, answer their questions, and distribute literature, samples, and souvenirs.
Kerberos is the heart of Stanford’s campus-wide network security infrastructure and is integral to the authentication services provided by components of Essential Stanford Software (esp. Stanford Desktop Tools) and by Stanford WebAuth.
Kronos is used for employee time and leave reporting and is available through Axess. Procedures for time and leave reporting are determined by schools and departments; an online form is predominantly used. Some faculty members use Kronos to review and approve time for their staff.
The mission of the Stanford University Language Lab is to provide resources, facilities, and support for language instruction and learning to the entire Stanford community. Resources range from materials in over 90 languages, to specialized learning and teaching equipment and facilities, to materials development, support, and consulting services for faculty and TAs.
Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) provides a wide variety of search tools for research and instruction needs. These include Socrates (Stanford's online catalog) and other catalogs, databases, e-journals, and e-books, and a Stanford version of Grokker.
The IT Services Software Licensing group negotiates and manages software licensing University-wide. The groups web site provides an extensive list of available software. If you don't find what you need on the list, staff will help you find the best alternative source.
Stanford University Linux is a hardened version of RedHat Linux designed to protect against hackers/crackers while integrating your Linux system into the Stanford computer environment. Note: The Stanford IT Help Desk does not provide support for SULinux.
IT Services provides email distribution services that allow you to set up a mailing list addressed as listname@lists.stanford.edu. You can manage lists via a web-based tool that allows you to view your lists, request new lists, add/remove members, approve subscription requests, and change list properties.
If you are a faculty or staff member in a University department outside the Medical Center (where local network support is provided centrally), your LNA is a member of your staff who is available to provide a network address for your computer and any help you may need with network hardware and software. LNAs, in turn, receive the support and assistance they need from IT Services network operations consultants. (If you are a student living on-campus, network support is provided by an RCC Resident Computer Coordinator. See separate listing.)
The LNA Guide web site defines policies and procedures for LNAs and provides a set of technical documents about SUNet, NetDB, and network support tasks.
The Office of Information Resources and Technology (IRT) provides information technology and knowledge management services in support of the School of Medicines clinical, research, and educational missions.
The My IT Services Site, linked from Axess, allows students to place orders for telephone and cable TV service, review current subscribed services, view and print monthly statements, print a payment coupon, and use a look-up tool that estimates the cost of a long distance call based on the location being called.
MySQL is the world’s most popular open source database management system, frequently used in combination with the PHP programming language to build dynamic, interactive Web sites. Stanford’s MySQL Database Hosting service, provided by IT Services, makes accounts and storage space available for Stanford departments and official University groups and services to develop and maintain their own MySQL databases and applications.
NetDB is a database tool used primarily by LNAs (local network administrators) and IT Services staff to assign and manage IP addresses for computers and printers. The information in NetDB is loaded into two important Stanford network services: DNS and DHCP. For more information, consult the LNA Guide at the following URL:
IT Services provides academic and administrative departments with highly reliable network equipment and centralized, expert monitoring and support at a cost-effective price. The net-to-jack model is not available for adoption today, but may still be supported in some locations. Departments looking for internal and external network infrastructure support are directed now to the Net-to-Switch service.
For academic and administrative departments that adopt the Net-to-Switch model, IT Services provides highly reliable network equipment and centralized, expert monitoring and support at a cost-effective price. While IT Services is responsible for everything from infrastructure planning to quick-response troubleshooting, the department’s Local Network Administrator (LNA) maintains control of active port patching in the network closet.
The Network Connections page on the Stanford web site provides general information for students, faculty, and staff about how to connect to SUNet (the Stanford University network) and the Internet from on-campus and off-campus, as well as links to configuration instructions and networking resources.
IT Services On-call Services provides support for the desktop, server, network, hardware, and software needs of departments and faculty/staff individuals. On-call consultants deliver rapid response, informed expertise, and consistently high-quality technical solutions.
The Gateway to Financial Activities web site provides overviews, quick steps, resources, training information, bulletins, and application-launch links for Oracle Financials, ReportMart2, and related administrative systems.
The OrderIT Site is a web-based tool available for authorized users in schools and departments to view monthly IT Services statements, request services, and view online service information. (Formerly called the IT Services Site.)
The Organization Manager is a Registry application used by designated school, department, or organization members for maintaining the contact information that appears in the printed Stanford Directory for their organizations.
The Stanford Paging System is available to faculty, staff, and students affiliated with the Stanford Medical Center. Services supported by the system include SmartPage: a web-based tool for sending pages and looking up pager IDs.
Stanford uses the PeopleSoft application for its Human Resources Management and Student Administration system. Administrative users, students, faculty, and academic advisors use the system via the Axess site which is the portal into the PeopleSoft application. Back-end links to and from PeopleSoft enable information to be shared across systems including the Registry, Oracle, Kronos, ID Card, Parking & Transportation, and others. The PeopleSoft service site contains information about the system, how to create reports, and links to PeopleSoft training opportunities.
SULAIR and IT Services provide printing services for the Stanford community at public computing facilities and Tresidder Memorial Union, and in University residences for students. Printing equipment is networked and linked to your StanfordCardPlan account (see Card Services).
The pubsw software tree contains over 500 free and site-licensed software packages installed in AFS for multiple versions of UNIX. It is available to any machine at Stanford running a supported version of UNIX and capable of mounting AFS.
If you are a student living in on-campus housing, your Resident Computer Coordinator (RCC) supports your in-room network connection, provides consulting services, and manages your computer cluster. Because RCCs are students too, they do not provide support 24 hours a day. RCCs are supported and managed by the Residential Computing group within SULAIR.
Registry applications (e.g., StanfordYou) give users direct access to appropriate data without requiring access to source systems. Registries create and manage a common source of accurate, consistent data about people, organizations, and services across the University.
Creating reports based on data in the Oracle Financials system is done primarily via the ReportMart3 web portal and its integrated tool called Business Objects. For more information, follow the link below and navigate to Overview:Oracle Financial Reporting.
For a list of reports, follow the link below and navigate to Oracle Financials Report Types and Uses, and select Capital Equipment and Capital Projects
Creating reports based on data in the PeopleSoft Student and HRMS system is done primarily via the ReportMart web portal and its integrated tool called Brio Query.
A variety of IT safety services and training opportunities are provided by the Department of Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S), the principal health and safety office at Stanford University.
The Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL) conducts scholarly research to advance the science, technology, and practice of learning and teaching. Established in 2002 as an independent center of excellence at Stanford University, SCIL is housed in the new Wallenberg Hall, a state-of-the-art testing ground for technology applications in the classroom.
The Secure Computing web site provides security alerts and information for the entire Stanford community. The site includes computer security information specially tailored for three Stanford roles: personal computer user, system or network administrator, and administrator, department head, or principal investigator.
The Secure Email service is designed for members of the Stanford community who plan to use email to transmit Protected Health Information (PHI) in accordance with the HIPAA guidelines. The most frequent use of this service will be from the Stanford School of Medicine.
The Information Security Office and IT Services provide central network and computing security services that include blocking traffic at the campus network perimeter and at firewalls, preventive scanning, automated and streamlined systems for incident response, and timely notifications and alerts.
The Computing at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center web site is a comprehensive gateway to computing resources and information for SLAC visitors and employees.
SmartPage is a web-based tool that allows faculty, staff, and students affiliated with Stanford Medical Center to use paging services via the web, including sending pages and looking up pager IDs.
The SmartPanel is a technology-enhanced classroom control panel that allows instructors and presenters to control the rooms projection system and select from installed audiovisual inputs (e.g., slide projectors, VCRs, cable TV, etc.) or connect their own playback devices or computers.
Social Science Data and Software (SSDS) is a group within SULAIR that provides services and support to Stanford faculty, staff, and students in the acquisition of social science data and the selection and use of quantitative and qualitative analysis software. SSDS staff provide these services in a variety of ways that include consulting, workshops, a reference library and help documentation.
The Software Licensing group within IT Services serves as a clearinghouse of information for all software available on campus. The group’s web sites — including the Software at Stanford search portal — list software available on campus and how to obtain it, use it on campus computer clusters (e.g., centrally managed distributed UNIX systems and Library/ResComp Win/Mac clusters) and, if the software is not available on campus, how it can be obtained.
Speaking of Computers, an e-newsletter published at the beginning of Fall, Winter, and Spring Quarters for the academic community, provides information about campus computing and technology activities and resources, including articles about new and updated e-resources, and new and ongoing services, projects and courses.
The SpectraLink Pocket Telephone (PT) system plays an important role in the Hospital/Medical Center setting, where cell phone use is not allowed. The PT functions as a mobile desk phone, allowing Medical Center personnel to place and receive calls on their Stanford line while away from their desk.
Faculty or staff may sponsor someone for computing services, as long as the person to be sponsored meets basic eligibility requirements. Some sponsored services or resources carry a monthly charge. For these services, the sponsor must have expenditure authority for a current University account. Other services are free and require only that the sponsor be regular faculty or staff. Sponsorships are maintained via the Sponsorship Manager web application (see next entry).
Sponsorship Manager is a web application that allows Stanford faculty and staff to sponsor computing services. In Sponsorship Manager, anyone with a SUNet ID can view sponsorship information and faculty or staff can sponsor individuals or accounts for services.
Social Science Data and Software (SSDS) is a group within SULAIR that provides services and support to Stanford faculty, staff, and students in the acquisition of social science data and the selection and use of quantitative and qualitative analysis software. SSDS staff provide these services in a variety of ways that include consulting, workshops, a reference library and help documentation.
Stanford Answers is a centrally-hosted web knowledgebase service that provides members of the Stanford community with easy access to consulting solutions and self-help information. Currently, the Stanford Answers self-service web site covers desktop computing and other information technology topics supported by Stanford’s IT Services department. It also answers questions about many off-the-shelf computer products. IT Services invites Stanford organizations that provide support services and assistance to the Stanford community to adopt the Stanford Answers support analyst tool as a way to improve the consistency, accuracy, and timeliness of the support they provide to clients. Note: the support analyst portal can only be viewed by support personnel in the organizations that have adopted the Stanford Answers tool.
The StanfordCardPlan is a pre-paid debit plan that enables students, faculty, and staff to purchase goods and services from on-campus locations. The Plan, an option for your Stanford ID Card, makes your on-campus, day-to-day financial activities more efficient and convenient. The StanfordCardPlan is administered by the Student Financial Services Office.
Stanford Network Self-Registration combines a web-based self-registration application and a “health check” tool to be run on the registering computer. Self-Registration is available only where a department has chosen to “opt-in” to the service. While making the process of network registration easier, its use can also improve desktop security and network records accuracy. To find out if Self-Registration is available in your department, contact your Local Network Administrator (LNA).
StanfordWhat is a web application that allows anyone with a SUNet ID to look up information about devices (computers, routers, etc.) and subnets on SUNet, the Stanford University Network.
StanfordWho is the online directory of Stanford students, faculty, staff, and affiliates. The application supports a public view and a Stanford-only (authenticated) view. Anyone with an active SUNet ID can be listed in the directory, control their privacy, and update their contact information in StanfordYou. Future plans for StanfordWho include the ability to search for organizations (schools, departments, clubs) and view their memberships.
If you have an active SUNet ID, you use StanfordYou to maintain your contact information and the privacy settings that determine if you are included in StanfordWho and/or the printed Stanford directory. You can also use StanfordYou to change your SUNet ID password, create SUNet ID aliases, and maintain your email account settings.
STARS, available through Axess under "Training Registration," helps faculty, staff, and visitors find and register for the training they need. Stanford students use this tool to find and register for non-academic training such as Tier I/II/III lab safety. Managers use STARS as a centralized, University-wide tracking tool for compliance and training administration. STARS is not connected to the Stanford University academic course registration system or CourseWork.
Software consultants provide services and support in the selection and use of popular data analysis software such as SPSS, SAS, and Stata.
IT Services provides data storage services that meet Stanford’s needs at all levels — individual, departmental, and institution-wide (enterprise). To start with, a standard allocation of AFS storage space is provided at no charge to all full-service SUNet ID account holders. Building from there are three tiers of fee based storage, each priced per gigabyte for maximum flexibility. Solutions range from high throughput and highly-available storage for production databases, to low-cost storage for web content, text files, images, computer programs, and other shared or archived data.
SUMMIT (Stanford University Medical Media and Information Technologies) is a center in the School of Medicine dedicated to putting Stanford University at the forefront of medical and life-sciences education through the innovative use of information technology in research and curricular project development.
SUNet consists of local networks within buildings and a backbone network that connects the local networks to each other and to networks off-campus. In all campus buildings, IT Services provides and supports the data communication infrastructure. In academic and administrative buildings, IT Services provides training and support to approximately 400 local network administrators (LNAs) and offers local network support for a fee (see Net-to-Jack Service). In student residences, the Residential Computing group within SULAIR supports students in their use of network services.
The SUNet ID is a unique, 3-8 character account name that identifies you as a current member of the Stanford community with access to the SUNet (Stanford University Network) computing resources and services. Your SUNet ID appears in your Stanford email address (sunetid@stanford.edu), your Stanford web page URL (www.stanford.edu/~sunetid), and its your unique identifier and/or login ID in many of Stanfords online systems. The SUNet ID web site allows new users to request a SUNet ID and existing SUNet ID holders to check their status, reset their password, or access related ID and authentication information.
SUPAD (Stanford University Personal Administrative Desktop) is a set of configurable web pages where Stanford University administrative staff can launch administrative applications, view action items, and access the administrative and personal links they use most.
Technology Assist by Students (TABS) is a Stanford volunteer student organization that provides web design and programming services for non-profit and student groups. Its central aim is to connect Bay Area non-profit organizations and schools in need of technological assistance with the immense skill base of the Stanford community. TABS also puts on a series of weekly, on-campus workshops in web design and programming open to anyone in the Stanford community.
Available to the entire Stanford community, the TBA program matches you with an expert instructor for a one-on-one tutorial. You choose your own learning objectives, register for a 90-minute training appointment, and bring your own documents, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, or web pages to learn how to troubleshoot them. Fees are based on 90-minute sessions and can be covered by STAP, department, or Hospital Tuition Assistance funds.
TeamSpot collaboration software is available at GroupSpace locations in Meyer Library’s first floor lobby, Toyon Hall’s Moose Room, and the Freshmen and Sophomore College in the Sterling Quad. TeamSpot allows increased productivity and collaboration through plug-and-play document and information sharing. The sharing occurs across the users' laptops when connected to the GroupSpace environment, along with the ability to open documents on one of two 40" LCD screens. Document editing using the LCD panels is collectively controlled.
Tech Briefings are informal, interactive seminars on computer-related topics of interest to the Stanford community. These sessions are intended for power users and those with IT responsibilities, but are open to everyone: faculty, staff, and students. No registration is required. No fee.
The Tech Express is a series of user-friendly, brown-bag sessions on computing at Stanford. These sessions, led by knowledgeable IT Services staff, are intended to meet the needs of Stanford staff, but are open to everyone, including faculty and students. No registration is required. No fee.
Information about residential service packages.
The Stanford telephone system accommodates more than 43,000 lines serving the core campus. For University and Hospital/Clinic departments, IT Services provides a wide range of business telephone services, from calling cards and 800 toll free numbers to advanced call routing and voice over IP (VoIP).
For a quarterly “telecommunications fee,” Stanford provides phone service — including the telephone itself — in every student room or apartment.
TIPS is a broad-based organization for achieving administrative productivity gains. TIPS' primary goal is to advise on and influence the development and implementation of administrative procedures that support the needs of the schools, departments, labs, research centers, institutes, student- support organizations and other academic and administrative units that TIPS represents. Coordination and support services for TIPS are provided by IT Services.
The IT Services Technology Training web site includes a current list of instructor-led and online IT training opportunities offered by IT Services.
The UNIX Computing Resources service provides UNIX and Linux facilities for general and research computing to anyone with a full-service SUNet ID. It consists of a Remote Computing facility run by Information Technology Services and two public computer labs administered by the School of Engineering; one of these is located in the Terman Engineering Center , and the other in Gates Computer Science.
Usenet is a computerized message system that spans the globe. Similar to a computerized bulletin board but much larger in scope, Usenet has thousands of discussion areas, known as newsgroups, about everything from computers to politics to recipes. Thousands of articles are exchanged every day. Newsgroups that begin with su are used by Stanford student, staff, and faculty organizations to exchange information and opinions about university-related matters.
Stanford Video, a division of the Office of University Communications, offers broadcast quality production services to the entire Stanford community. Services range from audio recording to news feeds to webcasting.
The Stanford Virtual Host Service lets you replace a long, unwieldy URL with one that is shorter and/or more descriptive of your web site content. These virtual URLs, also called vanity URLs, help people remember how to get to your web site and make it easier for them to type its URL into their browser.
Stanfords VPN service allows any Stanford affiliate to connect to SUNet remotely from any available network connection almost anywhere in the world: including from home, from many hotels, and even from within some company networks.
Wallenberg Hall (Building 160 at the front of the Main Quad), is home to the Stanford Center for Innovation in Learning (SCIL). By providing the resources to explore how technology and educational environments affect learning, Wallenberg Hall serves as the conduit for new knowledge that travels from laboratory to classroom and back again. Wallenberg Hall classrooms and the Peter Wallenberg Learning Theater are available for the use of the entire Stanford community and may be reserved for teaching and non-academic events.
WebAuth is a comprehensive system for authenticating web users that was developed to protect Stanfords web sites in AFS space, but can be used in other environments that use Apache web server software. WebAuth relies on a login server that establishes a users identity on their first attempt to access a protected web site. Once the user has logged in to the login server, their identity is carried in a cookie and they will not need to enter their password again until their credentials expire, even if they visit other protected web sites.
WebEx is a commercial software product with an easy-to-use interface that allows colleagues to meet online to discuss work and share files and applications in real-time. WebEx services include online meetings, web conferencing, video conferencing services, and remote PC desktop access. WebEx host software runs on Windows, MacOSX, Linux, and Sun Solaris and is available from Software Licensing to Stanford faculty, staff, and students — at a specially-negotiated monthly rate. (The host software is only required to initiate and manage activities: individual participants need only a web browser and/or phone to use WebEx services).
The Stanford Webmail service allows you access your email on the web from multiple locations, whether you are traveling or just want to check your email without being tied to a desktop computer. The Webmail service uses a combination of open source and open standard technologies based on the Apache Web Server and the IMP Webmail Client.
Google is Stanford University's official search engine. The Google appliance provides quick and useful search results, advanced search features (including searching for PDF, .doc, and .ppt files and displaying them as HTML), powerful search administration, and easy integration into web sites.
Stanfords web services are available free to all members of the Stanford community. These services are part of the main campus computing infrastructure and are handled by a server called www.stanford.edu. The Stanford Web Service site includes important usage policy information, step-by-step guides to getting on the Web, and details about features available in Stanfords AFS web space.
The Windows environment at Stanford is supported in a variety of ways. There are two different web sites that provide information and links to support resources:
Wireless networking allows Stanford faculty, staff, students, and sponsored visitors to access SUNet resources securely from locations where wiring is not available.
Workgroup Manager is a web application that gives Stanford community members a place to define groups of community members for use in various online applications, including web authentication. Though the name workgroup may imply usefulness only to faculty or staff, workgroups can be helpful to, and maintained by, anyone with a current SUNet ID.
SULAIR offers Scholars' Workshops throughout the regular quarters on topics such as EndNote and how to find e-journals. Workshops offered by Social Science Data and Software (SSDS) cover a variety of topics that include: SSDS services and resources in general; ways to locate datasets; and how students can plan during the early stages of their research or use quantitative software in their projects, from statistical analysis of large datasets to the graphical display of summary information. Workshops also demonstrate how qualitative software options available at Stanford can help researchers organize and analyze interviews, field notes, photographs and other types of data.