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Technology

Brand New Videocameras!

This summer, the Library purchased several new additions to our AV collection, including Kodak PlayTouch flash memory digital camcorders.

These lightweight, easy-to-use models can upload digital footage quickly to a computer.  You’ll need to supply your own SD memory card, available for cheap at Best Buy.

Wheelock students may check out these cameras, along with the rest of the Library’s AV equipment collection (digital voice recorders, digital cameras, and the older miniDV tape videocameras) for 7 days at a time.  If you ever need help operating AV equipment, get in touch with Jeff Pearson, Library Technology Specialist, at jdpearson@wheelock.edu or 617-879-2223.

Also, suggestions for new equipment are always welcome!


Changes in the Printing System

After tracking the usage in the print management system this past year and getting feedback from you, we have made some changes:

  • The print allowance for each student is $30 (the equivalent of 300 b&w prints) for each semester.
  • The allowance will be reset each semester; unused allowance from the fall will not carry over into the spring.
  • The pricing of b&w and color prints will remain the same: $0.10 for b&w and $0.50 for color.
  • The cost of double-sided printing will decrease.  The second page of a double-sided print job will decrease to $0.07 for b&w and $0.40 for color.

We will not be granting an automatic allowance increase upon request as we did during the trial period last year; only a small percentage of students printed in amounts that exceeded the allowance.

  • Once the allowance is exceeded, printing can be paid for with Fenway Cash.
  • We will consider an increase on a case-by-case basis when there is a determined need.
  • Look for other technology enhancements coming in the future. Improved computers and printing capability are already being installed in all the residence halls.

If you need assistance in using the print system or in learning how to print double-sided, please contact the Library Service Desk. Instructions are also available on the Library webpage http://www2.wheelock.edu/wheelock/Library/Printing.html.


New York Times Still Free

On March 28th, the New York Times’ website enacted a paywall.  Formerly free to all, the site’s content will now be limited to 20 articles per month for non-subscribers.  For a detailed FAQ about the new policy, click here.  The 20-per-month limit does not apply to articles linked through blogs, Twitter or Facebook.

For Wheelock students, staff and faculty, unlimited access to the Times from 1980-present is still available.  While the Library does not have a digital subscription directly through the NYT site, we do subscribe to a variety of databases that offer full content.  Click here for a list of these databases and their coverage ranges (Though not included on the list, access is also available through Massachusetts Newsstand).  You can also find this list by searching for “New York Times” in our Full-Text Journal Finder.

Viewing article titles on the NYT site is still free, so if you find something you’d like to read, accessing it through a Library database will save on your monthly quota.  If the article dates before 1980, we’d be happy to find it for you via interlibrary loan.

Please contact us or visit the reference desk if you have any questions!


QR What?

These images have begun to appear all around the Library.  You may be wondering:  What the heck are these?  We have all been to the supermarket to buy groceries and watched the scanners add up our totals.  The registers are reading the barcodes printed on every item.  Those codes carry between 12 and 40 characters of data.  Think of the QR code (Quick Response) above as a barcode on steroids, one which can potentially carry upwards of 4,000 characters.  This includes a number of different types of data, anything from a simple line of text, a contact for your address book, or a date for your calendar, to a link on YouTube, a PayPal “Buy Now” button, or a link to Face Book.  The QR code itself is not a simple line but a two-dimensional “print based hypertext link” (http://www.qrstuff.com/qr_codes.html).  To read these codes requires some version of a smart phone, with a camera and QR reading software.  One of the best free readers is by i-Nigma (http://www.i-nigma.com/Downloadi-nigmaReader.html) which lists all of its versions as well as the long list of supported devices. Other readers may be available as apps for your phone, just search for “QR reader” in your app marketplace.

Our QR codes in the Library are mostly links to people or departments on Wheelock’s website.  A couple are contact details for a person and one or two will bring up a blank email message.  As we experiment with QR codes you will begin seeing them for other uses around the Library. Let us know what you think! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at librarytech@wheelock.edu or 617-879-2223.

Jeff Pearson


Spyware, Mal-ware, and Viruses: Relentless Adversaries

Spyware, mal-ware, and viruses: no matter what you call them, they’re nasty and are out to attack your computer. While they range in seriousness from the merely annoying to the truly nefarious (attempting to steal personal information such as banking and credit card numbers), they can all seriously damage laptops and desktop machines. So, it’s good to have an answer to the question:

How do you prevent viruses from being installed?

  • Create another user with “Resticted Privileges.” Logging on to a computer with a user that cannot install software helps keep “the bad stuff” out.
  • Keep Windows up to date. Most viruses and spyware are written to exploit Microsoft Windows–this runs most of the computers. Installing updates when alerted helps close these vulnerabilities.
  • Use a reputable Antivirus/Antispyware program. There are many excellent programs on the market, some for a cost and others for free. Here is a link to help evaluate your needs: http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,4796,00.asp. Again, keep it up to date!

If all of your preventative measures fail and your computer exhibits tell-tale signs of virus/spyware activity such as very slow Internet browsing, numerous pop-ups, or the inability to connect to the Internet or restrictions on where you can go, come see us!
You also email librarytech@wheelock.edu or call us at 617-879-2223.



By the Numbers
 The numbers quoted below are from Lavasoft’s site, a reputable antispyware company, and they are staggering.

100 – 150 million
Estimated number of PCs on the Internet
that are under the control of hackers.

63%
Percentage of people that accept End User License Agreements
without reading the text, according to a Lavasoft poll.

2,286
Number of people who responded to a Lavasoft poll
that they have been a victim of a phishing attack.
With a total of 4,966 people answering the Lavasoft survey,
nearly half of those surveyed have been scammed by a phisher.

15-60 minutes
Estimated timeframe for how often Zlob Trojans update
and change in order to avoid detection, according to Lavasoft researchers.

http://www.lavasoft.com/support/spywareeducationcenter/spyware_statistics.php