Parallel Sessions Abstracts 36-40 Wednesday, 10:00-10:45

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Session 36: The Portal is dead, long live the portal

Location: MDCL 1105

This presentation will cover how the University of Victoria moved from a branded portal and a web site, to a single web site with integrated portal functionality. We’ll cover the challenges, and successes of the new system, and some of the governance, content and infrastructure work that was needed to bring it all together.

In 2006 UVic rolled out its first enterprise portal. Even at that point the concept of a portal seemed a little antiquated. The portal was an end point, it had its own brand, and while a number of things were in the portal, there was not a lot of value for the users.

In 2010, UVic rolled out a new portal. More than just a portal, it :

Session 37: DIY to CMS: Modernizing SFU's Web Presence

Location: MDCL 1307

Simon Fraser University is on a mission to modernize the institution's web presence. The historic pattern of web content support around the university has been a few richly resourced islands of activity amid a sea of DIY. With the deployment of Adobe's enterprise CMS, we are taking the university's web sites to a new level, including marketing, academic, research and even individual student sites. We are developing a "pyramid" of scalable, federated content authoring support for this inherently manual activity, experimenting with providing information analysis and design resources from within IT. A paradox is that as the tools get easier, people want to achieve more, the support challenges shift, and new skills are needed. The challenge is to raise the bar without drowning the support. This session will discuss how SFU has undertaken to address all these moving parts to successfully deploy an enterprise class Content Management System.

Session 38:"Peering" Into the Future

Location: MDCL 1305

CANARIE is currently delivering several new network services to meet the needs of Canadian researchers, educators and innovators. The Peering project aims to address the need for provincial advanced networks and their members to reliably access Internet Content Providers (CPs). The IPv6 project aims to provide CANARIE’s network partners with the training and support they need to transition to IPv6. And CANARIE’s Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research (DAIR) Program provides Canada’s high-tech innovators at small and medium-sized companies with access to a robust R & D environment where they can develop, validate, test and demonstrate their products and services. The objective of the DAIR program is to provide digital entrepreneurs with an opportunity to speed time to market while sparing them the cost of building an R & D infrastructure themselves.
This presentation will provide an overview of these CANARIE projects, including timelines and expected benefits for a wide range of CANARIE users and stakeholders.

Session 39: The Evolution of Adaptive Technology within The Commons atMemorial University

Location: MDCL 1110

In 2004, Computing and Communications along with the Queen Elizabeth II Library opened the doors to The Commons. Initially adaptive technology was not part of The Commons; however it soon became apparent that it should. Adaptive Technology (AT) plays a very important role with regards to our services and how we deliver them. This presentation will look back at how the technologies, services and partnerships have evolved over the last 7 years in response to the needs of clients with physical and/or learning disability. In addition I will examine various pitfalls we have faced, and discuss some of our plans for the future with regards to AT.

Session 40: The use of the Computer Systems Validation process as part of a Project Management Framework

Location: MDCL 1309

Computer Systems Validation, a formal Quality Assurance process most commonly found in regulated industries like pharmaceuticals and clinical research, is the documented process of ensuring that a computer system operates consistently according to its design, and performs in compliance with functional, technical, regulatory and user requirements. University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) recently implemented a Veterinary Management System (StringSoft) and tasked the Information Technology Services department with interfacing it with the University of Guelph Animal Health Laboratory's Lab Information System (Sapphire) and OVC's Medication Dispensing System (Omnicell). The project presented a complex blend of requirements outside the traditional norms of teaching and research, demanding a quality-focused approach to planning, requirements management, implementation and change management, while meeting long established expectations to be as responsive as ever. This presentation looks at how we used the Computer Systems Validation process to assure quality in delivering to a complex set of requirements.