Hump day, OIT guidance, and remote research re-start

[Bill Maurer]

    Dear all,

    Hump day! You have been reporting mostly smooth sailing; practicing
    being unlicensed therapists for students adjusting to our new reality
    (and a big thank you for doing so); some connectivity glitches; and
    some struggles in learning the ways of Zoom and YuJa. Three cheers to
    Janet DiVincenzo, our faculty remote learning coaches, and all our other
    support staff for helping us continue to adjust.
    
    The Office of Information Technology has issued some truly helpful
    guidance in the past 24 hours: on using the VPN most effectively while
    we work from home (which will be particularly relevant for staff working
    with financial or other confidential information), and on making your
    Zoom meetings more secure. If you are not reading their zotmails, please
    take a look at what you've been missing. I've asked OIT to post their
    recent zotmails on their website so check oit.uci.edu later for that.
    
    We are an institutional member of COSSA, the Consortium of Social
    Science Associations, and COSSA has been assembling a lot of helpful
    research-related material you may find of interest. Please visit
    https://www.cossa.org/resources/covid-19/
    
    And those of you fascinated by the social science-side of
    the manipulation of online, networked communication--like
    Zoombombing--might want to sign up for this webinar being
    held by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard this Friday:

    https://shorensteincenter.org/event/webinar-zoom-bombing-media-manipulation-sociotechnical-vulnerabilities/
    
    If you can't tell from the preceding paragraphs, I am starting to think
    about how we can best support our research mission now. We got through
    Finals (remember that? feels like last year). We're in the middle of
    Week 1 of instruction. So far, so good. I want to direct more of my
    attention now to supporting our research activities. There are, ahem,
    obvious limitations. Stay tuned for more updates.
    
    My own day was filled with our weekly Associate and Assistant Deans
    check-in, where I learned that Global Connect, our educational partnership
    program bringing international affairs to local schools, is up, running,
    and going strong in this new "remote" environment--well done! Graduate
    enrollment looks good so far for Fall. The undergrad scholarship selection
    machine is about to ramp up. Then it was on to some staff matters, money
    matters, and academic personnel business. My colleague Joan Donovan and
    I recorded a podcast with the Filene Research Institute on the role of
    credit unions in getting out trusted, local, and relevant information
    to their communities during this pandemic. And then more emails. So
    many emails.
    
    And, of course, we are in a pandemic. Don't forget to visit
    https://uci.edu/coronavirus/ for campus updates. The campus coronavirus
    response center can field general questions or concerns at 949-824-9918,
    and covid19@uci.edu.
    
    Best wishes to everyone at mid-week!
    
    Bill