The University of Michigan Herbarium is home to some of the finest botanical collections in the world. Founded in 1837 and growing ever since, their 1.7 million specimens of vascular plants, algae, bryophytes, fungi, and lichens, combined with the expertise of the faculty-curators, students, and staff, provide a world-class facility for teaching and research in systematic biology and… Read More »
Over the past several years, LSA Technology Services (LSA TS) has had to be nimble and spin up new services that could perhaps be better accommodated and scaled centrally. In late 2022, LSA TS opened discussions with Information and Technology Services (ITS) about migrating the LSA TS-managed load balancing services to ITS-managed hardware. Load balancing refers to efficiently… Read More »
In 2019, leadership from the Salesforce Recruitment Org, which included several schools, approached the ITS Salesforce Center of Excellence (SFCOE) and Student Life Technology Solutions (SLTS) to discuss merging the Salesforce Recruitment Org with Student Life’s Student Org. Conversations took place at both the leadership and technical levels, leading to the conclusion that merging the two Salesforce orgs… Read More »
Slack has announced a significant redesign to the organization and layout of workspaces, which will roll out to U-M Slack on November 14, 2023.
We are excited to announce the creation of the Collaboration & Productivity Community of Practice! Collaboration and productivity services (like Google Workspace, Slack, Dropbox, and more) are widely used and critically important across the university community. They support cooperative work through real-time collaboration and discussion, shared access to resources, and the facilitation of day-to-day tasks, like the creation… Read More »
On May 16, the Michigan Medicine and U-M Health West radiology departments launched a remote emergency imaging interpretation service. Michigan Medicine’s dedicated emergency radiologists now interpret all overnight and weekend urgent/emergent diagnostic radiology exams for U-M Health West. This provides a vital service to patients who receive emergency room care or are admitted to U-M Health West. Together,… Read More »
Schedule Displays are now available for order through the Tech Shop. Schedule Displays are small, interactive touch panels that allow users to see what meetings are coming up in a specific space. These Schedule Displays are compact and simple to install. Licensing is covered at no additional cost. All you need to do is purchase the display and… Read More »
Learn how ITS Teaching & Learning collaborated with ITS Digital UX and DISC teams to bring a crucial Canvas app up to current technology standards and meet the needs of faculty and course administrators.
We are excited to invite you to join us on our Michigan IT Slack workspace on the U-M Slack Enterprise Grid. Michigan IT Communities of Practice have been using the workspace to communicate with their members in public channels since December. You can find them by searching for “cop” in the Browse channels area. The Hacks with Friends… Read More »
Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) recently launched Microsoft Teams across Michigan Medicine, for use by faculty, staff, and learners. This secure digital workspace brings together conversation and content into one platform, enabling more efficient productivity, cloud-based convenience, and collaboration across Michigan Medicine. The Teams launch is a major milestone of Michigan Medicine’s broader Microsoft 365 effort. Teams is a powerhouse app, seamlessly combining chat,… Read More »
U-M Google classic Sites is going away soon. If you have any sites you’d like to keep, convert them to new Google Sites as soon as possible! Learn more.
The ITS Summer Internship Program is looking for impactful projects for our 2021 cohort to invest in this summer! As we enter the seventh year of the program, interns have made a difference in many areas of ITS and the Michigan IT Community through cohort projects. Some examples from 2020 include: Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) website redesign… Read More »
For this month’s tip, I am sharing an open source Google Docs alternative: Etherpad. You can install your own instance of it, or can use one of the many free available online options listed below. If you would like to collaborate with someone who does not have a Google account, only need a temporary collaborative document, or would… Read More »
As our work and education continue to move online, it is important to become acquainted with each videoconferencing service the university offers. Moreover, with the announcement of the retirement of BlueJeans in May 2021, consider an option for day-to-day meetings that’s already available at your fingertips: Google Meet. Google Meet is a G Suite for Education videoconferencing core… Read More »
U-M School of Information (UMSI) faculty and PhD students are presenting nearly two dozen papers, posters and workshops at the 2020 ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) October 17-21. Two UMSI researchers have earned an honorable mention designation for their paper, and three more received the conference’s Diversity and Inclusion Recognition for their research. UMSI researchers were also… Read More »
While we continue to work remotely, many of us continue to build and present information visually using PowerPoint or Google Slides via Zoom screen sharing. Beautiful.ai is a quick, automated way to create visually-appealing presentations with features like automatic alignment, instant color palettes, well-designed templates, and a huge image library. To present, you may simply screen share and… Read More »
Google Chat will be replacing classic Google Hangouts in Gmail. Google Chat is an evolution of classic Hangouts, adding additional features that let you chat with individuals, send group messages, and engage in team-based collaboration with rooms across the entire university community and externally. Starting July 15, 2020, Google Chat will become the default option for direct (one-to-one)… Read More »
As of December 31, 2020, Google will no longer support Google Cloud Print, Google’s beta, cloud-based printing solution. Beginning January 1, 2021, devices across all operating systems will not be able to print using Google Cloud Print. It is recommended that you find an alternative print solution and migrate your print services by the end of 2020. One alternative, MPrint, is U-M’s printing… Read More »
Google has announced they will be transitioning Google+ over to an updated service called Google Currents. Starting on July 6, 2020, you will begin to lose access to Google+ and all existing communities will begin the transition to Currents. No action is required by you or your team. Google Currents is a rebranding of Google+ with an updated… Read More »
Google has announced they will integrate Google Meet into Gmail, making it easier to create a session and stay connected right from your inbox. This feature is currently only available in Gmail on the web but is coming soon to the Gmail mobile app. According to Google, this feature should begin showing up in U-M Google on April 30 and… Read More »