InfoSERVI - Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

InfoSERVI

A Newsletter For In/ormation Senm'cs

(sstI(' Numb(·)':l· December 1995

From the Vice Chancellor's Desk

Having an in£ nnation infrastructure is not the criti cal ucces factor for U~I MA S but having a thriving IT-based culture, one that val ue s inter- haring and dis e mination of inf rm at io n i ~

indeed critical to real su ces . By technology-base we do not mean driven y techno logy per

.'Ie,

but we mus t regard technology a a prompter of prof und chang w it hin u. and we mu, t seek the opportunities offered by technology t direct change and 'hape our f ut ure.

Thus, a major challenge now fo r UNIMAS L the u e of availabl e infrastru ture to s upport and to direct hange in the teaching- learning and the training- ret ra ining proces es. How can c mputers and infonnation tec hnology (C&IT) help develo p course-an d I ami ng ware ? How can C&lT help us increase public

acccs. t ur potential offering. of

ours~

and training programme ? I low can we serve our clienu far from the phy. ical borders of ou r campu. ? More importantly, how can we mati ate our academic' and incTt:a. e their appreciation of IT to take advantage of the opporlunitie that C&IT can offer i n the delivery of their tasks?

These are 'orne o f the _____

probing question that we nee d to

reflect and act upon. To reiterate

Da!o' ZtMuwi wi!I! 'he Piko/ll IT IlIdlt\lry ;",hit'I'('mel/' !\lI'urtl/lJrUNIM;\S

whnt I have slre. ed at Illfolec:h 95

U IMAS, despite its youth, was conferrt!d the abo~e award together with llnin!r'siti

we must u, e technology now!

^Teknologi Mala~ia. Univer~iti 'ains Malaysia. Univl'nili Pertanian \In.luy,iu. !loti In..'ttitul Teknologi Mara, at the 1995 Computim ~-Pikom IT Indus!r Awurd Ceremony

, held at Shangri ts Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. 22 September.

This Issue's Focus InfoSERV online!

You can a.lso : urf internet and vi(!w In Issue No 2 of TnfoSERV. we high­

Ea y PAC ( Online Public

^{Info ERV 011 lhe UNrMAS} home paJ;t():,;

lighted AI and MIS as information

Acc ess Cata log) Available

http:J J www.unima.'Uny.

service providers. In Lhis issue we

present two other providers - the Centre

Campus Wide

tor Open Learning (COLI, and the Cen­ The above facility is now availabl

LTe for Applied Learning and Multime­ online. All networked users can

CONTENTS

dia (CALM). Due to space constraints, now access EasyPA remot Iy Vice Chancellor's Desk ... 1

ALM's services will be presented in a without having to visit

eAlS.

In CAIS/CNS Services Update . ... 2

two-part series. Other important high­ addition, seminars on EasyPA Nethics ... ... 3

lights include Network Ethics and the are being arranged for ' tudents ECIN ... 3

Engineering Computer Information Net­ and staff; (hose interested can COL ... 4

work (ECINI ervices update by eAlS/ sign up Notices are posted on the CALM ... 4 eNS presents the Lalest information on notice board in fronl. of CAIS

how to optimise the network services. building. Grab this opportunity!

UN/MA...• • I

CAl ICNS Services Update

nti-Virus Software

r

^lil' a1l i·\ II'II~ hurl\\ II" • IIvililahle in UNlMAS are McAfee, F·Prot and TBAV. Il removes almost all types of viruses, including I JiU • 1111 pn, VIm' fi!I IIlid ,\,1l;('·\1U8 LT. 'rs m y copy the file from ,AlSI NS's public directory. We hope to update you with It. '

III

I \t r;-iura II I Ih ' ,11111 virus :.ultware. 1 f you nlled help in using the software, please conlacL CAlSI 'NS

('q uisili n of IT t'quipmcnts

II. IlIlus/'H\i . I dlll('(J.july ·!).i the prucedur\! for Acqui'liliun afIT facilities was outlined. The rolluwing flow chart summarises

lill "III I pi IIl·I'Ullrt· Il)r qUick rd i .. rulct.',

ju.·tificalion

no I II ,I f IhL. ( l' l\l r,~1l lliL Dept

yes

comments

11 11'11 11> (11'1 [·'C; I:-;'~

cll' 'i ,WII utI ;;pl·eificlilion

'peclfication approval lile I· II 1111','

E·l\Iuil AliU!'It!s Add,' 'So

. ,Id"n"" I

I" ' lit

u,",ud In rl'prcsclll lIser~' I;-mall addresse of a comntitlee or of a group ..,1' . tufT. The purposE;' of Ih.lsl's

,I t' Lj'-.l'r i ll hendin~ "mewl (l·m il to a particulur group(S). Thus, .:i 'ndt!r~ may ^Olilit typing lengthy e-mail

1.!1!t". SI'" avutl"ll!t.· :In' ,I" roIll)w~"

ole III 't "11 111111 I .IIlY .1 kill fl'lll ikvl U 111 111 " TIl Y I'lll II III "11111111 ,1. 111\ Ilidl 1\, 11 1'" unilllil 11 1\'

JIId pn« 111 111 111, Ill'

descnptlOn

clldemic development comnultee any ll1tjUlry on academIC

Hny Ln4uiry on trainlng

member of majlis dekatt (VC, dves, dC.U1S, director-I majli d kans' p ronal assislunl..

senior manager, IlIUIIOgl:fS

members of ,Jaw l nkuasa Penguru~, n quuhl)' assurance I:urumil( e

ll:chmcal conuuitlt! uf i.uforma lloll services

Ii' I \I II ".11 10.' 1 pal ' Ill" ,1 1 i.I,~":-' addn'ss, please e-mail noc@ u nimas.my

i\Ltl'nl inll ti) lI,!i('I'S

l PI' '-, 11 (' ,..1 rll l1~h Iuvi!'l(,d not to tamper with any of th computet ),stem hardware omponent whkh is still

1IIIf1.'I' 11 .1f'! lill y \\ ilhuUl Juiul' l'un ent from AlSfCNS. The supplit"r will not be responsible if the system is

I'IIUI cI ttl 1II,.II\ IIH'lltln cll\l' ttl UM"'> lAmp ring and/or negligence, Your cooperation is much ppr eiated,

f \'/11t\. ' . :!

NETHICS: Net Ethical Issues

by ZaidahRDzak

The open exchange of ideas is integral to any university. However, an open net.work like the one we have on the NTM S campus, can be vulnerable to abuse or misuse which can interfere with the open channel. .JuSLlike a user of any other Infrustruclur~ (e.g.

roads and highways), a user on the information highway must also act responsibly. For example, the U,S. alional SCience Foundation Division of Network, Communications Research & Infrastructure states:

It is uoethkaland unacceptable to do any activity which purposely:

eeks to gain unaulhorised access to the resources of the Internet

• disrupts lbe intended use of the Internet

• wastes resource (people, capacity, computer) tbrough such actions,

• destroys the integrity of computer-baaed information, and/or compromi e the privacy of others

Therefore, let's nol:

• allow anyone talk us into "sharing" passwords

• play games. or do anything that violates the law - fraud, extortion, copyright., obsceniLy

• atlach huge multimedia fUes in our emalls and jam the network

• see if we can write programs to crash computer

• introduce computer viruses, Trojan borses, etc.

send forged electronic messages from the VC, Or assume that an email sent to us can be mad public

U is also interesting to note, that the University of Delaware requires users to pass an "Electronic ommunity i~z ^nship Examination" before they can use the University's central computing resources. Here's a sample of their quiz ltaken from U11IV rlnty's Home PageJ for you to test yourself:

1 You receive email from someone you have never met. Upon reading the message, you discover that it is u "'chain I tLer"· . email to 30 people asking ach of them to forward the message to 30 more people. What should you do about Lhis rn ssag^e! 2. You use a fnend's computer and like oDe of the games he has on his sysL m. So you make copy of i l and Lake il hack ~l)

your room Lo use on your roommate's computer. Later on, you tell yOUT friend whal you did, und are surpris d thai he I' angry wit.h you for "piraLing" a copy of the game. What should you say to him?

:1 . ,John X Smythe was born on July 27, 1976. He is ready Lo select. a password ror hi~ (:ompuler • It'CIIU¹¹ I. Which of' Ihe fo!luwi ng choi e' make the best passwords?

C john B 07'1.776 . Box"'7car D. j7x27 . E. boxcar

BTW, UNlMAH will soon introduce a Computer & Networki.ng ode u[C'ondul'.t. for u 'ers Lo uhide hy ''')

En gineering Computer and Information Network (ECIN)

The computer and mformation local area network (LAN) for the acully of li:ngine ring WHS c:-;whli,,,h 'd in AUgUHt W9!l. The netwurk. known as Engineering Computer and Informalion

N~lwork

or E IN ill sbllrt, is hosed on u wircl(:J;s lucHl ar" net wurk

Ledlnol~KY.

As a c.omplem nt to the

U~iversily's camp~s-widc wued-ne~wo~k,

RCIN is ?esi.gncd 10 suilthe

pn':':' ~,I .rl.'.qui~CI~:)~~~

01 the faculty bClng un a Lemporary Slte, It !:lIso proVIde' b 'ller solution for networking 111 envlrtlllmellis whIle mswllat cable can be ver expensive or prohibitive, a degree Ofmobilily is r quired and quick Inl:ita11a I IOn

i~

(il':;iruhlc EC1N is USl'd by th.c

Faculty to support teaching-learning activitie , re eaTch work. administration and general Cf)11111lUnicatllll1.'l such 01; ·11'( [relil IC mail Llnd me transfer. In addition. it provides a showcase of the lat l. trunsmis:>iuo

lechl1olo~y

^{ill local arl'U 11 'lwnrI( rllf the}

ludenl~

nd statT La use, investigate and research on. ECIN at UNIM S is the first wireless loculurect network to b ' JIlslallcd lid us 'd in lhis cuuntry.

I!:ClN IS mad up or fifteen per anal com.puters as cli(fnls und one server ill> the LA manager. ThiS Wln.!loss I.AN .."h~ws the users to milv/:

Lh~

per anal computers anywhere in lhe neLwork, up to .00 feet ill un open ullicp cllvironnwnl und uf.1lu j') 11111(:/;

with the use of a directional antenna for building-lo-huilding cornmunicullons. IL supporL"i dali.! r;,tl.t! of up LII

~

^{Mhps. which IS}

adequate for typical office applications. EC1N is designed Lo cmnply wilh lhe indw try tilulldard

"':I!:"~

^{HO:l. fd lu Ullsur:'}

cl)~PCJI~

ibilily with the eX1stm~ Ethernet LANs. Comparable lO wired Ethernet n Lwork, E('[N cun support flO Iil!hl Ut; 'rt; ( III khp!i) . .j(

medium user' (32 kbps), or 20 heavy users (64 kbps) Dnd with the advantage of being wireless lind mohile.

The operation of E IN is

bas~d

on Lhe prcad spectrum J'adio transmission technolug.v Spread ,'puct rum lechniquH illl:

valves breaking the data stream into many el ments, or chips. and preading the trun",miR:llm Ill' the chips over

l~l ' uVlld?!~ ~

b ndwidlh. This technique I>Illows multiple systems in the same location to be insLalled withuut mll'rnel work u\terferencc, I lC

'pn'ad pectrum technology also deals effectively wilh noise and weather interference. Il has ulIlatu secuJ'ilY realur 'S which ure of gr 'Ill importance 10 today's information technology application::;.

In order to promote the applications of E

m

und the awareness of il' technolugy, the I"aculty uf Engineering

hil~

^{l"C 'll11y} rorm~d an in1ere t group amongst the slatT and students. For those mler'ested to participul~ 111 this h'TOUP IIr W lind t)ut mure about ECIN, please email khair@feng.unimas.my

UN/MAS • .1

Centre for pen Learning ( COL)

Philm>oph.v

rl1t' ('('III rl' lor OJl 'II I.t'afllill!{ i.. ("lItl milled ,lllWilrdR Ihe uemoora tizatiOIl und mussific8tion of qualilY higher ducation.

Mi<;sion

I'hl' ('l'Il! r.' li,r C){I"II J.!'(lrllil1~'" Uli,,:illll i ' til prnvid leader~hip and SUpport Lo the Univer 'ity in th implementation of its open h'arllill~ illiti,lli\'('~ th,,)l\J.:h d,'slgn "rlligh quality . 'll~iJU!lruttional materials and d velopmentofcoursewares u ing lhe lalest lIIull illll'fll;1 1<,dutlJlugy :1Ilc1 lhl' pn'VISIOI1 uf well cuordinut d Supporl 'eJ'vices ^Illld delivery system.

(;(W/

Tilt, ~tlal ,tI III,' ('<'lItrl' ,:-; 1.11 .Id Ipl ;mel :;tl'p.ngthl.'n Ih' University's rolc as a cenLre of excellenc providing quality education thrlJlIl!,h tl~ "1"'11 I"llflllllg lIullallVl'S, It will Lry LO uthi ve lhis goal Lhmugh the foUowing objectives:

• prOlllrll' 11('xll>ll' <IIT!'S'; 101 puuple, whu by locuLion, circumstance or choice wish to undertake higher educallOn.

111,'1/ ,1St ' 11,'XlhilJl.Y .Ind il1nllvullOn 111 lh., pruvisiun of high quality h.igher ducation programmes_

,-xplt,il ,llId ,h'v,'ltI(J 1"l'i1l11llngil's 10 ~UPI urllhl- leuching-learning protes ,

~('rvl':I... ,'ull:-wlllllll hy JlI'<lVlullIg l'xf1crU, c fur op n und ili lance educaLiDn course developmenl and , rvic to oUler educa­

IIiHI d 1I1~lIlUlllln", ~DvprlllllPllt and Industry.

d"vI lop I Xp,'rlIS' ill n''''',ll'ch ill Lho chosen mchc areas of distance educaliun and/or IteJ'nalive delivery systems.

illdm'dly ^I'll hll 1Il"1' IItt' Il ,1I;i1in/.!-ltoarrdng proct'S' In thE; rUIl-Lune mud '.

Il('spon ,~ihi Iiiif'!;

'/'111' ,', IIlr<' lill' 01'1'11 !. 'UrJllIII-! ;'IS on!! tlf I Ill' !lcudl'mlic arm I)f the University, IS r sponsibl ror the rollowing:

11111.1, 111('111" :III £Ieg!'!'I' pmgrullllllt': Ihul lire nn'ered through thl' op 'n I~urning modo,

h I'rtlvld" s Irulllirig alld ,1dvlsllry ,.;('rVln',; to content t'1Cp 'I'ts/subject mall 'r pecialist.s and made available instructional design­

.'1-";,' dill,n; IlI'aphi(' Ilt'sih'llf'rs, and mulUlIIedia,

n

'!:Ialil'lts to assist in tit production Dr insLructiunally-sound I umingmal Iwi·, 1111'11111'11 11-.. , 11I1I~: 11 I'lIg'fI(1I1 lilt'S.

t I', lulu, (!S !l1"'1I It!HrI1ing Itwli'rials in u vuri(!ty uf flll'mat, prototyping, packaging and commercialising them ~o he-marketed

lO~r,,'I1i'r WII h ()PUII 1'tlrllilll-!' prUh'TlllllmCS,

"",,r

11111111

r

(IIJi,,'III')IIIIII, l'fH!I"c! songan@fc9,unim as,my

Centre for Appli ed Lea rning and Multintedia ( CALl\1 )

('M. 1 "Ilj'nl v llit/II-< 1111'.,rrnl1llt11l sr'I'V~ Wher ^{10 a CC.J!S8} information? demic equipment; ell Booking orMulti­

WI'S t" 1111 l N I ~I \S t;l)lIlnlUflltv ill par­ ~r LM'sptairl office is localed in Block media Theatre, rultimedia Laboralo­

IIl'ulnr Ih kr1\ly, l·i\I.M IlIlil'r Ihl' 11-11- S3 uJY5hown in the NII\'iA8 campus ries and Meeling Room; (3) Booking-of 101\11111-: 1""'1ul'lIlh ;.sk,'d qu ·",tilJlIstl·'i\Ql mjtP_ Two olher adjacenl blocks house Video confer ncing facility.

,11"1' .1I1tll','!-lsl'U variuus academic upporL racilities. For onl in booktngs mail

Blook 82 has a Mulliru dia p eng urus@calm.un i ma8,my or lhe W}HlI is CAL M'iJ role? / Theatre. an Audiovisual recurding stu­ rel>p >dive s rvice (Addresses in lhe ('/\1.1\-1 ,,1'1', r" ,It.ul''r11IC prtlgrHlII1lI 's diu, a Pholography l>tudio, ^Il Graphics n xl issue), All requests should be pr ­

\I'tlm :1111111111 II·dlllUIIlJ.{Y co u rs!!.',, unciul' d , ign ~tudio. a PrinlinglReprography booked, pr rerably THREE days prior Lit ('IlPlpll'IJU'III:II'V progralllllll', In un­ H!.udio. an Image Dank. an Audiovisual u> use, in order to ensure availability of dl,rr;radll,r!Ps; IIlcimullillll'di.t studws 1.0 Loan !.ore and a Mceting-cum_ ~mi­ facility, Procedures pert.aining to loan!

JI"Slltrntlll;Jlf' " ,,: \\1 ' " as It,t:hni('al ;J,It.! nar TClom, Only the audiovi ual and use ofpremi s mu t be adhered to and ,ulvi:-;lIl',V

,,"n

^ill'1'l In 1111' dlll/l 'lIlIS uf ,tp­ printi.ng sludios are still being devel­ thes are written atlhe back of Lhe re­

"Iil II ", !rill II/.! ,llld 1I111llillWdul. ( Al...M uped. spective booking Jorms.

aiho sUIII"lrl" l 1l\IAS slall' develop­ Three mulLlmedia laboratories Video conferenctng bookIngs

lllt'llt pi 1Jg'r:JiIlIlII undl'!' Mudul 4.11lf/lr lire locat d in Block S 1 and are avail­ must be made well ahead in advance lIIalio/l Jj',llIIol/l~.v (,,,11111" Purt 11- ubi for use by academic staffl11 mulli­ _as it involves external parties and cosl­

,\fult/111. 'dill media project developmenL. A Resource ing: al.. least. ONE week for locallna­

room,comprisingmultimedia authoring tional connection. und TWO weeks for tuols and literature. is located in Block international, Users shall advise CALM

ADVISOR 83 on details concerning the parly lo be

I r...ltlS Jr Data' Dr Zawawi Ismail EDITORIAL BOARD

Zahran H,lltm, 1ST (EdltOr-,n·ch,cf) Haillnahlllli Mohtl Khahd, CALM Ktlalfuddln ,\b Hamid FENG

il~ AlJang AtIlTlS(j, CAIS,CNS Lallfah Loh Abdullah, CAIS,eNS Maryarel Stmeny CAIS Pet. r Sungal1 COL

~i"i.llt Abdul ADzak, FIT Zakolrla Awang MIS

lMr\,....• • I

What services and how to order?

Presently vailabJe rvices and facili­

lies that can be accessed are limited to the rollowing: multimedia theatre, vid '0 coJ1fere.ncing, multimedia labs, graphics design, audiovisual loan. pho­

tography, image bank, dil,>"1Lal video editing, CD ROM prinlLng, and heavy duty pholocopying,

1'hree types ofbooking fonns !:ITe

avuiluble at lhe counter (II Loan ofaea­

connected to. -follows,

• dest.lnation and location ofstudio (rg VTM Skudai, VeL London, ThlekomB KL, etc),

• Lype ofsysl.cm leg OPT 384, CU12S.ARL 2MIJ, Pittllre7'l'l, et~l;

• neLwork teg llstellite. mlCT'OWllve, ISDN)

• pel1!OnnPl to conlacl ill desired loclltion

Itel/fAx/email)

CALM will then follow-up user re4uesLS with the network manager and advise users thereafter,

Note: mOre i"lormatimr in the next is,~l1e, I