Daily Bulletin

Open house on the work of IST

Computing courses More news from IST: Five short computing courses will be offered in December for faculty, staff and students. There is no charge for these courses. The following courses are being offered: Introduction to SPSS/PC Creating Business Diagrams Using Visio Introduction to Microsoft Project 98 Creating a Web Page for Your Course Web Resources for Your Course Web Pages More information (and the course registration form) can be found on the Web.

An open house based on the statement will be held this morning in Davis Centre room 1302, starting at 10:00.

Technology is changing so fast that IST hasn't been able to provide the kind of support it had intended to, the statement makes clear. "The pace of change is not completely under our own control," it adds. It gives some context for the work of IST in supporting a large part of UW's computing activities, including the campus network, administrative computing, the major central systems, the "electronic workplace" and telephone services.

The "sliding window" analogy explains the biggest challenge: new technology keeps coming along, and while IST is trying to understand the "bleeding edge" of brand-new ideas, it's also trying to manage the "trailing edge" of well-established systems that may already be obsolete. "Priorities and timelines" are essential, the statement says, calling for "sustainable systems and technology" and a commitment to some standards rather than an attempt to support everything. It says UW should "make a transition to NT Workstation as the primary desktop environment."

Says another section: "UW finds it difficult to articulate and set priorities on an institutional basis in a way that allows IST to prioritize resource allocations. IST staff find ourselves in a situation of being forced to pursue too many simultaneous new initiatives. . . . The rapid penetration of systems and technology into departments has outpaced our implementation of a multi-tiered support model."

Today's talk will use the directions statement and moving-window analogy as "a framework for presenting information on recent successes, current activities, and future goals. It will include most of the major information systems and information technology projects underway and planned for the near future."

A day to 'buy nothing'

"Buy Nothing Day is a one day moratorium on consumer spending," says a bulletin from WPIRG, "in order to reflect and take action on the impacts of our consumer society. It's a celebration of simplicity. . . .

"Instead of watching their generation, media, and even University selling out, volunteers at the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group have organized a People's Plaza in the basement of their Student Life Centre. The Plaza has over 10 stores endorsing trading, sharing, and learning without and about over-consuming.

"Stores include a coffee shop, food court, bank, bike shop,and video, grocery, and clothing stores. Some stores give away free food and coffee, others advocate local alternatives for community currency, gardens and affordable food, while others will inform people about fair trade, sweatshops, bike repair, car cooperatives, nutrition, and how to deconstruct advertising.

"During Buy Nothing Plaza hours, there will be speakers discussing the perils of advertising and economics in our sponsored life, fair trade, community gardens, resource use, and healthier, simpler lifestyles."

Local volunteers are wanted

• Court liaison, court watcher: Community Justice Initiatives is looking for volunteers to attend court and watch for court cases suitable for mediation. As a court volunteer, you would maintain contact with the Crown Attorney's office and summarize court proceedings. You must be an assertive person who has good communication and listening skills. This is an excellent change for you to learn about court processes and the legal system. Please call for all the details.
• Be a snow gnome: Volunteers are needed to help raise awareness about the importance of snow removal. Gnomes will make a one-time commitment to shovel snow; the call for Gnome duty will come from a team leader after the first significant snowfall of the season. The only requirement is the ability to shovel snow and complete the task within 24 hours. This is a great opportunity for friends or family to do a good deed together.
• Outreach/office assistant: Needed to assist the Literacy Council with poster/brochure distribution, computer work, answering phones, and mail outs. This is a great opportunity for you to develop skills in many areas; the position description is flexible according to your interests. As a volunteer, you should have good communication skills, be personable and dependable. Call for more details.

What's happening on the weekend

The Touring Players are back to the Humanities Theatre again today, with three shows (10:00, 11:45, 1:30) of "Franklin the Turtle". Watch for school buses. Also in the Humanities Theatre, on Sunday afternoon: 12:00 and 3:00 events for the Association for Community Living.

The staff association craft sale continues today from 10 to 4 in the Davis Centre lounge.

Today from 4:30 to 7, and tomorrow from 1 to 5 p.m, the fine arts department holds its open house and miniature art sale in East Campus Hall. Some 600 miniature (four-by-five-inch) artworks "by faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the department" will be for sale at prices that start at $15, with the proceeds going "to enhance departmental programs and to purchase equipment for student use". There's also a chance to tour the department's studios and see what kind of work, an order of magnitude larger than "miniature", fine arts students are doing these days.

Michael Higgins, dean of St. Jerome's University, will speak at 7:30 tonight about his new book Heretic Blood: The Many Loves of Thomas Merton. Location: Siegfried Hall at St. Jerome's.

The drama department's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" continues tonight and Saturday night at 8 in the Theatre of the Arts. Tickets are $10 (students $8) from the Humanities box office, 888-4908, or at the door.

The UW Curling Club will hold its fall bonspiel tomorrow at the Kitchener Granite Club.

The UW Choir, along with the University of Guelph Choir, will present its end-of-term concert on Saturday night. "Rejoice! Christmas Classics of Brass and Choir" starts at 8 p.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church on Willow Street in central Waterloo. Tickets are $8, students $5, from the UW music department (based in Conrad Grebel College) or at the door.

Sports this weekend: the men's basketball team is in a tournament at Wilfrid Laurier University; the women's volleyball Warriors are off to Sherbrooke for a tournament; and the hockey Warriors have two games. Tonight they play at Ryerson, and Sunday at 2 p.m. they host Brock at the Columbia Icefield.

Invasion, and the rest of the news

The Hildegard Marsden Co-operative Day Nursery held a toy and craft sale in the Davis Centre last week, and guess what: when cleanup time came, nobody could find one of the tables rented for the event from a local firm. "Someone borrowed the brown, folding eight-foot table," says a plaintive note from supervisor Alicia Smith. "We don't wish to see our hard-earned fundraising efforts go to pay for a lost table." Anybody who's seen it should give her a call at ext. 5437.

It might be worth checking today's issue of Imprint for your name. "Final Exam Survival Kits" will be available for distribution starting Tuesday, says Diane Hernandez of the Student Ambassador Association, and to find out whether somebody's ordered a kit for you, you should see the list that will appear in Imprint today.

"The UW Apartments Community Life Association invites you," says a memo here, "to our first annual Christmas Craft and Bake Sale. It will be held on December 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 159 University Avenue. Come and browse through the handicrafts our tenants are offering for sale." The association was started just last spring, and has been sponsoring movie nights, guest speakers and a Kids' Craft Corner.

Also on Tuesday, December 1, comes a talk of unusual interest, sponsored by UW's InfraNet Project. David Yach of Sybase Inc. will talk about the firm's experience in managing a huge web site for the 1998 World Cup of soccer, which set the record for most hits in one day (73 million), most in one hour and most in one minute. Yach will speak at 2:30 Tuesday in Davis Centre room 1302; InfraNet at ext. 5611 is taking reservations.

On Thursday of next week, Ramona Bobocel of UW's psychology department will give the 18th annual Faculty of Arts Lecture. Her topic: "Justice in the Workplace -- The Many Facets of Fairness". Location, Humanities Theatre; time, 7:30 p.m.; admission, free.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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