The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: data

  • Out of the clouds into the box

    Out of the clouds into the box

     

    By Charlotte Rutigliano

    After spending the summer testing different data cloud services such as Dropbox, Box.com, Microsoft Onedrive, and Google Drive, Chief Information Officer for Information Technology Services Anna Kircher has said the university has selected Box.com.

    According to Kircher, the university wanted to have this new system completely rolled out by the Fall 2017 semester. However, while they were conducting pilot tests over the summer, they found they still had questions with Box.com.

    “We still had some questions, like how long would it take students to upload/download files when they’re in a large class,” Kircher said. “Also how will it look for students to access the files from Canvas.”

    This fall, ITS and the university will be doing more pilot tests with Box.com to see if the new system will have functionality in the classroom.

    Kircher said that around 12 classes and five hundred students will participate in this fall’s pilot tests.

    “There will be two basic groups for the fall pilots, geospatial (GSP) courses and courses that will require large video and audio files,” Kircher said,

    Most student concerns surrounded security and storage limitations.

    Students currently have 200 megabytes available to them on the user drive provided by the university, and around 15 gigabytes within their Google accounts, which includes Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos.

    According to Kircher, security is one of Box.com’s biggest concerns, because they often work with clients who require high levels of security.

    “One thing students won’t have to worry about with Box.com is space, using Box will give students unlimited space for files,” Kircher said.

    Kircher said the university’s new goal for rolling out Box.com school wide is the spring semester of 2018, which will improve file storage for all students.

  • HSU’s head is in the clouds

    HSU’s head is in the clouds

    By Charlotte Rutigliano

    HSU has been discussing making the switch to the cloud network over the last year, in hopes to improve file access for students and increase storage space.

    Anna Kircher, who is the chief information officer for Information Technology Services, said currently students have 200 megabytes available on the user drives provided by the university, and about 15 gigabytes available through their school google account, though those 15 gigabytes include Gmail, Google drive and Google photos.

    “The university is at the point to either move to the cloud or buy more servers,” Kircher said. “It’s cheaper and better to move to the cloud then to buy more hardware.”

    Kircher said moving to a cloud network would allow for larger individual students files and office collection files.

    Switching to a cloud network may sound like a good idea to some, but for students like junior marketing major Jessica Rocha, it raises concerns.

    “I do have concerns about the safety and privacy of things stored in the cloud,” Rocha said.

    Kircher said the university has been spending a lot of time talking about security.

    “Two of the most important things to us are making sure that students only have access to their own files,” Kircher said. “And two, that this new system would not be hackable.”

    Kircher said the university will most likely decide the vendor based off of the level of security they offer.

    According to Kircher, who said the technology services budget is not going up, it would be less expensive to switch to the cloud network, though the end cost would depend on the vendor that the university chooses to go with.

    According to Kircher there are four different vendors that the university is looking into for switching to their cloud network, Drobox, Box.net, Microsoft One Drive, or Google.

    This switch would take place over the summer to be fully available in the fall of 2017.