IT fair helps students with computer woes

Bold signs and bright balloons attracted students and faculty Wednesday to browse the Indiana Memorial Union's Frangipani Room for University Information Technology Services' fifth annual Making IT Happen! event. \nThe program offered a chance to learn about all the technology resources available on campus, as well as enjoy free food and prizes.\nFreshman Bethany Chestnut was intrigued by the commotion. \n"I saw the signs outside and thought I'd see what there was to look at," she said. "So far, I'm very impressed by what they have, but there is still so much I haven't seen."\nRepresentatives from different IU campus resources such as the Main Library and School of Informatics, as well as IU partner corporations such as Apple, Dell, Sony and Verizon were available to answer questions, demonstrate how to acquire programs online and promote new hardware and software. \nChristine Fitzpatrick, deputy communications officer for the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, believes the event is a great opportunity for students to learn about the technology services available on campus.\n"This event gives us, the new UITS, a chance to get people here and put a face on the services, but then also offering an interactive one-on-one environment, a way for you to find out what's available if you are a student here at IU," Fitzpatrick said. "We want to get that information to you early enough so you can make use of it."\nMark Lynch, manager of Software Distribution of IUware was available to educate and inform those interested about available software. Much of the software can be acquired for free for the first six months, then it can be purchased on CD at the IU Bookstore. Other programs can be downloaded at the IUware Web site, http://iuware.iu.edu.\n"The two biggest softwares that students get are Microsoft Office and Windows," Lynch said. "In addition to that are Visual Studio and Windows and Macintosh versions of Office."\nLynch said in the past IU was able to distribute free copies of Microsoft Office to students, but Microsoft has restricted rights to duplicate its software. As a result, IUware now gives every new freshman a CD at orientation that describes how to go online and retrieve the software themselves.\nOne interesting tool on display and available for IU students, faculty and staff was the John-e-Box. It is a portable 3-D device developed at IU by those involved in the UITS advanced association lab, Fitzpatrick said. \nThe device appears as a giant television screen and can be viewed both with the naked eye or through 3-D glasses.\nIn addition to representatives of IU services and partner corporations, student showcases demonstrated how IU students have taken advantage of the resources offered to them. Two of these showcases included cultureU and INFUSE. CultureU is a Web site created to promote culture among college campuses, according to the IU Web site. The site includes cultural information regarding photography, music and painting. The site also offers students the chance to get their work out in the public's view with the possibility that a third party will become interested. \nINFUSE is an inquiry collaborative field learning system that uses TabletPC. It was created to encourage scientific learning for middle and high school students. The system provides students with the ability to organize, analyze and collect data. \nMaking IT Happen! kicked off in Bloomington, but will visit the other Indiana campuses in upcoming weeks.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Megan George at mrgeorge@indiana.edu.