Ravi Blogs about IT Topics

I have been meaning to write about a lot of things during the past few weeks, but I have been busy with a lot of things both at work and at home. Our family is visiting my sister-in-law and her family in Jupiter, Florida and I wanted to capture some of my thoughts before I [...]

I am sure that everyone is getting ready for the Thanksgiving holidays and planning for the special family gatherings on Thursday. We have always hosted Thanksgiving at our house and invite a lot of friends. There are some regulars who are like family to us. And yes, we do cook Turkey, but our Thanksgiving is [...]

Many of you may have read the news item in Friday, Nov 14 issue of Argus titled “ITS hopes to connect WebMail to GMail” . It is well written. However, it says “ITS is also consulting other schools that have already made the switch to G-Mail, such as Northwestern University and Trinity College, about technology [...]

Those of you who read the student blog Wesleying (I often read it myself) may have seen a recent post titled “Open Letter to ITS Management”, where Sam DeFabbia-Kane ‘11 discusses various points relating to ITS communications as well as issues surrounding network connection speed. I have tried to address several of the points raised [...]

University Communications and the New Media Lab have been pretty busy over the past couple of months working on many new ideas and initiatives. The long term goal (by next summer) is to have an “integrated communications strategy” where the message about Wesleyan is clearly communicated using all different communication outlets. While University Communications is [...]

You all received a communication from John a few days ago about the current financial conditions. It referred you to the “Securing the Future” page by President Roth and other relevant links. The global financial crisis, the financial markets, and the pressure this creates on our ability to fundraise all contribute to the problem at [...]

I attended EDUCAUSE annual meeting in Orlando last week. Before that I participated in a panel discussion organized by NITLE on cloud computing where I explained the discussions that are going on at Wesleyan about Google Apps for Education. I will be writing about the decision to move student email to Google Apps with an [...]

I gave a talk at the NITLE West Coast meeting in Portland, OR on Wesleyan’s Electronic Portfolio. Most of my talk consisted of describing the genesis of the Electronic Portfolio project – the Curricular Renewal Legislation that the faculty passed in April 1998 and doing a show and tell of a student and faculty portfolios. [...]

I guard all my photos with the highest level of care that they deserve. I am sure most of you do. The “born digital” photos are the easiest to manage in that you download them to your laptop or desktop. I have also been systematically scanning the negatives and photographs from very early on. Now [...]

We went to Washington DC this past weekend to visit our son Vivek when I really put the iPhone to maximum use. It is a brilliant device. My only gripe is its battery life. Since Vivek is living in Washington area only for a short time, the apartment he is renting is really minimal. He [...]