Security Equipment Maintenance - 1/10 - 6AM-7AM

ITS will be performing maintenance on some of our security equipment on Wednesday, January 10th from 6AM - 7AM. This maintenance will affect software access to many machines across the campus, select banner users, and certain Manhattan College internal services. 

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact ITS by emailing its@manhattan.edu.

Web Theme Updates applied to Self-Service

Updates to the web theme have been applied to Banner Self-Service.  As a result, Faculty and students can expect a more modern experience better aligned to Manhattan College branding standards.  Additionally, the updated web theme incorporates responsive elements that enable a better experience for mobile users.

Brand-Aligned Styling

Responsive Design / Mobile-Friendly

Promoting Digital Accessibility in Support of Global Accessibility Awareness Day - May 2018

Thursday, May 17, 2018 marks the seventh anniversary of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), the annual worldwide event to encourage people to learn about digital accessibility.  In that light, we'd like to provide the Manhattan College community with some introduction to this topic, along with some suggestions as to where we can all begin to insure a digitally inclusive and accessible environment at Manhattan College.

What is Digital Accessibility?

Digital accessibility is the practice of insuring that all people, including those with disabilities, can access and use our electronic resources and communications.  It encompasses common elements such as: 

• Websites
• Software
• Computer hardware and software
• Videos
• Documents
• Presentations
• Mobile devices

Who benefits? 

Accessibility, usability, and inclusive design are all closely related. While the main focus of digital and web accessibility is people with disabilities, accessibility also benefits people without disabilities, including:

• people using mobile phones, smart watches, smart TVs, and other devices with small screens, different input modes, etc.
• older people with changing abilities due to aging
• people with “temporary disabilities" such as a broken arm or lost glasses
• people with “situational limitations” such as in bright sunlight or in an environment where they cannot listen to audio
• people with low literacy or not fluent in the language
• people using a slow Internet connection, or who have limited or expensive bandwidth
• new and infrequent users

Standards

The current standard for accessibility of web and web-delivered content is the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. Web “content” generally refers to the information in a web page (HTML) or web application, and includes text, images, videos, etc.  An HTML webpage however, is just a document format, and the core steps needed for accessibility are the same regardless of whether your document is in HTML, Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, or another document format.

Who is Responsible for Accessibility?

Everyone!  Accessibility is a shared concern and responsibility.

Manhattan College is currently developing practices that ensure we build accessibility into tools and services.

Any website, learning management system, or other software product, however, is only as accessible as the sum of its parts.  Almost every employee has some part in contributing, uploading, and publishing digital resources, the most common and ubiquitous being documents in Word and PDF format, as well as some basic HTML created using WYSIWYG editors.

So how do we get started?  Each application one uses for document creation contains tools that enable the creation of accessible documents.  Using these tools is the single simplest and most important step in creating accessible documents.

So in support of #GAAD, Manhattan College ITS is encouraging employees to begin to take some simple steps to make your documents accessible.

• Use (built-in) Headings
• Use Lists
• Add Alternate Text for Images
• Use Descriptive Text for Links
• Use Tables Wisely (and for Data) and Markup Appropriately
• When Exporting to PDF, Understand How to Preserve Accessibility

Creating Accessible Word Documents and PDF's

Making Word and resulting PDF's accessible does not require a lot of time. It is best to focus on how you create you original Word document, rather than to trying to later make the resulting PDF accessible.

• Use the built-in style settings in Word to make documents easier to navigate. Microsoft's Make your Word documents Accessible topic provides step-by-step instructions and best practices for making Word documents accessible.
• If you are creating a pdf from your Word or any Office document, you will need to add accessibility tags to your document before you save an accessible pdf version of your document. Create Accessible PDF's from Word Documents provides instruction on adding Accessibility tags to PDF files before saving as a pdf. Note: Do not print to PDF. This method of creating a PDF does not preserve the document’s accessibility features.
• If you you prefer a video, the 3 Minute Video: Word 2013 & 2016: How to Make an Old Document Accessible gives you instructions on how to make an old document accessible in four easy steps.

Note on PDF's created by scanning.  If scanning a document that contains text, be sure to always select the option that provides for OCR (Optical Character Recognition) results. Scanning software may provide an OCR choice or similar such as "text", "text and graphics", "document", or other description option.  Better yet, create your pdf directly from your document creation application, following instructions and best practices for making your original document accessible.

Remember that if you need help, ITS provides support and assistance.

Other Resources for learning more about digital accessibility:

• New digital accessibility tips video launched for Global Accessibility Awareness Day
• Web Accessibility Perspectives: Explore the Impact and Benefits for Everyone - Overview of common disabilities that effect how user's interacts with a computer. Explains how web accessibility can benefit more then user's with a disability.
• Simply Said: Understanding Accessibility in Digital Learning Materials
• Getting Started with Accessibility Video
• Essentials of Digital Accessibility

Coming Soon: Digital Jasper Card on IOS and Android Smartphones

Mobile Jasper Card

Be on the lookout for a mobile version of the Jasper Card!

Slated for released soon after Spring Break, the digital version of one's Jasper Card will be available on IOS smartphones via Apple's native Wallet / Passbook app.  Users with Android devices can view the Jasper Card passbook pass via the recommended Pass2UWallet app.

The mobile version of the card, which will also show users their Dining Dollar and Jasper Dollar Balances, will be accepted for payment at certain point-of-sale locations on campus that are newly-equipped with optical scanners.  Payment is through existing channels. The mobile version of the card can also be used for access at certain locations on campus.  Beacon and bluetooth technology will notify mobile card users when they are in proximity to a location that accepts the mobile version of the card.

The card idea was initially proposed and investigated by ITS Student Interns last summer as part of their development of an IOS student app.  The mobile card was then developed separately by the students and ITS staff to function similar to a stand-alone store card.

Stay tuned for more on the impending release.

RESOLVED - Wired Network Leo Outage 4/28/15 10:10AM

The wired network in Leo is currently not functional.  We are working to resolve the issue.  During the troubleshooting period the Wireless network may work intermittently.

This outage was resolved as of 11:35 am.  An accidental network loop was found and corrected.

manhattan.edu circa 1997 #TBT @ManhattanEdu

What a Manhattan College student saw in 1997........  (try the links)

Welcome to Manhattan College Home of the Jaspers

About Manhattan CollegeProfile | History | President's Report | Campus Guide & Locale | Catalogs | Web Directory

SRC

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MANHATTAN COLLEGE - RIVERDALE, NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. 10471 - 1-800-MC2-XCEL

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This web site is maintained by the Manhattan College Computer Center.
Please send comments, suggestions, or problems to: Cindy Duggan, Academic Support Administrator.
URL: http://www.manhattan.edu/ Last updated: March 18, 1997

JasperNet Single-Signon Pages Sport New Look; New Hardware Architecture

Manhattan College ITS will be rolling out an update to its JasperNet Single-Signon system today, April 21, 2014. The update consists of new service pages with enhanced functionality, running on new more robust hardware infrastructure.

New features include:

• A link to the start.manhattan.edu JasperNet account management self-help utilities, including:
  • Password Resets (automated - or via helpdesk call)  / Forgot my Password
  • Account Activation for New Students and others
• Link to ITS webpage to get Help / Assistance
• Links to Responsible Use and Annual Copyright Disclosures
• Any Site-Specific Messages
• Major Web Servers: Status
• Link to ITS System Alerts / Notices
  

Your Comments and Suggestions are appreciated to help continuously evolve and improve this.  As always, we invite you to TellITS. Alternatively, you may call the Client Services Help Desk @ X7973 to report any issues.

Heartbleed Bug

The following is an update to the Manhattan College community regarding the recently discovered Heartbleed software bug - http://heartbleed.com/

ITS has been working with our software vendors to investigate our exposure to the recently identified Heartbleed bug that affects OpenSSL software - one of the most common cryptographic libraries used to secure Internet communications such as secure websites (via https://) and VPNs.

The majority of our "production" systems such as www.manhattan.edu, Banner, self-service, SSO, Moodle, etc were never vulnerable to the flaw based on the version of software installed on these systems.  Some "test" systems with limited access were vulnerable, but patched by Tuesday AM.  Additionally, ITS is taking preventative measures to update software and configurations on all systems running OpenSSL cryptographic software as a precaution.


What do I need to do?  Be aware of scams!

In the coming days, you may be notified by various services related to your social media, banking, or other accounts potentially affected by the Heartbleed bug.  Take these notifications seriously and consider changing your password on these services.   Currently, no action is required for your JasperNet account.  If this changes, the campus community will be notified.

Be aware of scams!  With the legitimate notices will come "phishing" scams from illegitimate sources asking for your username, password and/or other personal information.  ALWAYS verify the legitimacy of these types of messages and NEVER give your password or personal information unless you are certain that you are dealing with a trusted service.  Tips on how to avoid phishing scams can be found here:  http://www.phishing.org/scams/prevent-phishing/

Weather Events and Alerts: ITS Implements Fix to Ensure that Users Always See Updated Content on MC Homepage

During last week's back-to-back weather events, some folks reported seeing an older "weather alert" message on the college's home page: www.manhattan.edu.  To add to user confusion, the alert did not contain the date.

The "weather alert" messages were actually being updated and expired as intended, and were in sync with those sent out by the college via the e2Campus system.

The display of older "unrefreshed" web page content being seen by some users was a result of either server or browser caching,  a technique typically used for web pages whose content changes very infrequently. With caching, page contents are usually saved somewhere, and then delivered quickly to a user's browser when requested.  And because the page content is not expected to change frequently,  a user's browser does not need to frequently check to see if there are updates.  Caching makes subsequent visits to the same website or webpage faster for users, and can also dramatically improve server performance.

If a website or webpage has been updated since your last visit, however, your browser should see the update and then load the new content instead of the old cached content.  In some cases, this doesn't work as expected and your browser displays the old information instead - as experienced by some users last week.

After users reported this issue, ITS implemented a fix on the server side such that a user's browser now will check every 5 minutes to see if there is any new content on a webpage.  This may decrease server performance a bit for web content editors, but should not in general impact users viewing the website.  Content editors, if severely impacted, should report the issue so that we may fine-tune.

In addition, the character limit for the alert message was increased, ensuring that there is space to include sufficient message details.

Perhaps this fix can be tested during the next weather event? We await your feedback!