By Alon Nudler and Job Mertens
In this day and age, technology has managed to influence just about every aspect of our daily lives, from work to social conventions. Technology is not any less prevalent at our university. Here, we have a vast network of services at our disposal. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of UCR semesters we sometimes overlook the people behind the network, those who set up the systems and keep them running. I sat down with Alon Nudler to discuss current projects and goals of UCR’s IT team:
Would you like to introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Alon Nudler, and I work for the IT team at UCR. I’ve been asked to share some of our upcoming work with you today.
How long have you been a member of the IT team?
I became part of the IT team at the beginning of last semester. There was an open position at the time and since I’ve always had a knack for technology, I applied. UCR hired me and four others in an attempt to revive the idea of a student-run support desk. The team currently consists of six students and Nick Boots, UCR’s main IT worker.
What does working for the IT desk include?
Essentially, we are available for any IT-related issues on campus. If a student needs to reset their UCR password, a member of staff can’t get a program to work or management needs assistance during a multimedia presentation; we’ll help them out. Most of our work hours are spent answering specific IT-related questions and looking after the UCR network.
Speaking of the UCR network, is it true that there has been some issues recently?
Ah yes, I had a feeling this would be brought up. While we would love to have a simple answer, the network at UCR is rather complex. The biggest issue is that when UCR was founded, it made sense to establish our network at the HZ. Because of this, most of the network’s control and supervision takes place there, and by extension at Delta, the provider. When problems, such as Koestraat’s Wi-Fi resetting, occur, we can witness a disturbance in the network. Sadly, we do not always have the tools to solve it. However, rest assured, we are trying to change this!
How exactly are you trying to change this?
I can’t reveal too much, but I can say that UCR is planning on expanding its IT capacity. The IT team is going to play a central role in this transition. You may have already noticed an increase in IT response across campus, via Facebook or Eduroam posters. I can also confirm that a new system for reporting problems to the IT desk is soon to be launched. This system promises to be mobile-friendlier compared to the current one, and will allow us to keep track of the state of our technology in a better way. Finally, we have already begun collaborating with Huib, the head of facilities, to figure out how to take control of our network. So far, the planning of this initiative looks very promising.
Sounds very professional. Is there anything else you can tell us about the IT team at UCR?
For the coming semester and beyond, pay attention to what we put out. You can do so by liking our Facebook page(ICT Helpdesk University College Roosevelt). We are hoping to update the majority of the system at UCR, and while change is sometimes difficult, we should stay hopeful that things will improve. Moodle and posters are just the first step, we have much bigger goals for the future, but we’ll leave that talk for another time!
Job Mertens, Class of 2019, is a Politics and Law Major from Ijmuiden, The Netherlands
Alon Nudler, Class of 2020, is a Chemistry Major from Israel
Sources:
Image Source: retrieved from the IT group Facebook page
