Office of Information Technologies

http://www.oit.umass.edu/

The Office of Information Technologies (OIT) provides telecommunications and general computing and networking services to University students, faculty, and staff.

Computing facilities include personal computer labs and classrooms located across campus, central host computers running the UNIX operating system, and a system that provides network disk storage. Most of the approximately 325 computers in the classrooms and labs have been deployed within the last three years; about 80 percent are Windows-based, and 20 percent are Macintosh-based. iMacs are also available for email and Web browsing. All the facilities support access to email, the Internet, and the Web. A wide range of applications offer word processing, desktop publishing, statistical analysis, spreadsheets, graphics, scanning of images or text, and creation of personal Web pages.

The Assistive Technologies Center is a collaboration of OIT, the Library, Learning Disabilities Support Services, and Disability Services, and is open to any member of the University community or Commonwealth of Massachusetts who has a disability defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act and requires an accommodation such as scanning assistance, screen readers, text enhancements, and text enlargers.

Student residence halls have direct high-speed Ethernet connections to the campus network backbone. Students can also use dial-in connections to the campus network from on or off campus. OIT supplies software for making these connections at little or no expense to students, distributes software that has been site-licensed for the University community's use, and supports an online directory of all campus-assigned email addresses (students, faculty, and staff). In addition, OIT develops, implements, and supports the information systems used for registration, billing, financial aid, and admissions.

For a half-yearly $30 fee, students have access to these facilities and services, including 30 Megs of disk space for storing email messages, and 100 Megs of disk space on the UNIX host computers for Web and other files. The IMAP email service supports accessed from email clients on a personal computer as well as through a Web interface.

OIT provides extensive assistance, consulting, and training services to members of the University community. During semesters, the Help Desk is open for 10 hours per day, four days per week, and 8 hours for two other days.

The Help Desk is backed up by Software Support, which can consult on more difficult questions. Hardware Support can diagnose and repair most computer equipment on a fee-for-service basis. The "Online Help" at www.oit.umass.edu/help/ provides a tailored search of one of the most extensive and varied collections of online documentation of any university.

OIT offers workshops each semester and during January and summer breaks. There is a modest fee for the workshops; some also have a charge for course materials.

Students may contact the Help Desk before coming to campus for further information about OIT services. The telephone number is (413) 545-9400; the Help Desk Web site is: www.oit.umass.edu/hds/hd/; and the email address is: help@oit.umass.edu.

Many courses include Web pages, online discussions, and email as integral aspects. The University Library catalog and book availability information are accessible through the Web. Academic departments conduct major research on computer-related subjects, and the campus is a full participant in Internet 2.