Harvard IT Summit - 2011

Please note:  Due to venue capacity, event registration is now closed.

The CIO Council at Harvard University will host the inaugural Harvard IT Summit in Cambridge, MA, on June 23, 2011. We are excited to work with the Center for Digital Education, an external research institute specializing in higher education technology trends, to offer the Summit. This full-day event is designed to provide an opportunity for members of Harvard’s broad IT community from schools, museums, libraries, research centers and administrative groups to come together to discuss technology trends, innovations and best practices in administrative, instructional and research computing.

Keynote speakers in the morning plenary session will include:

• Drew Faust, President, Harvard University
• Anne Margulies, UCIO, Harvard University
• John Palfrey, Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources, Harvard Law School 

After the morning plenary session, Harvard faculty and staff will present on a wide variety of IT projects and initiatives and share their challenges and lessons learned. External industry practitioners will participate in an exhibition space and lunchtime educational sessions in CGIS to share information and demonstrate on industry trends and practices. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided, and there will be a closing reception in CGIS at 4:00 p.m.

We encourage participants to discuss the Summit via Twitter. #hitsummit

Thank you,

CIO Council

Agenda

SANDERS THEATER, 45 Quincy Street

8:00 a.m. – Registration and Morning Refreshments

9:00 a.m. - Tamara Rogers, Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development

9:15 a.m. – Anne Margulies, University Chief Information Officer

9:25 a.m. – Drew Faust, President

9:35 a.m. – John Palfrey, Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources, Harvard Law School

Registration will move to CGIS for concurrent sessions

CENTER FOR GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (CGIS), 1730 Cambridge Street
and
SCIENCE CENTER, 1 Oxford St.

11:00 a.m. – Exhibit Area Open

11:00 a.m. – Concurrent Sessions 1

High Performance Distribution for Harvard Video, Mobile and the Gazette
Science Center Hall B

As Harvard's online traffic increases, performance improvements are at the center of the University's web and multimedia efforts. Larry Bouthillier and Chris Traganos will discuss the tools and services used to rapidly distribute and scale content online optimally via content delivery networks. They will discuss the operational and performance implications of online video, traffic spikes on the Gazette and other services that are supported by a distributed network of servers around the world.

Larry Bouthillier, Media Technology Architect, Harvard University IT, Infrastructure Services
Chris Traganos, Web Developer, Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

View Presentation Slides:  Deck #1 and Deck #2

Searching for Search Solutions
CGIS S250 

An intuitive and easy-to-use search functionality is a critical component in many online applications. Apache Solr is an open source enterprise search platform that is widely used in the industry and is increasingly being used within Harvard. Examples of how Solr has been implemented to provide effective search functionality to users in projects involving course materials, library resources and course catalog data will be discussed. In addition, examples of other search solution strategies will be discussed.

David Heitmeyer, Senior Software Architect, Harvard University IT, Academic Technology Services
Randy Stern, Manager of Systems Development, Harvard University Library, Office for Information Systems

View Presentation Slides

Leveraging the LMS: Collaborating with Faculty on Course Design
CGIS S050

A learning management system (LMS) has the potential to be more than an electronic syllabus, providing a dynamic, information-rich space that supports deep learning. Learn how a team of faculty, educational technology and knowledge and library services staff developed an academic support model and four levels of course demonstration sites during the implementation of a new LMS at Harvard Business School.

Meghan Dolan, Curriculum and Information Research Specialist, Knowledge and Library Services, Harvard Business School
Carla Tishler, Director, Program Innovation, Educational Technology Group, Harvard Business School
Deb Wallace, Managing Director, Baker Library Services, Harvard Business School, Knowledge and Library Services    

View Presentation Slides

Knowledge Services: A Mission Critical IT and Library Function at Harvard
CGIS S010

Knowledge Services is an IT-enabled function that supports the creation, collection and dissemination of knowledge. A panel consisting of the heads of the library at four schools at Harvard – HMS, HBS, HLS and HKS – will define what Knowledge Services is and describe why it is critical to the achievement of Harvard’s mission of teaching, learning and research. Each panelist will summarize how his/her school is developing knowledge services and the critical role that IT has in the process.

Mary Lee Kennedy, Executive Director, Knowledge and Library Services, Harvard Business School
Dr. Issac Kohane, Professor of Pedriatics and Director, Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Don Oppenheimer, Associate Dean and Chief Information Officer, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
John Palfrey, Librarian and Professor of Law and Special Advisor for Information Technology, Harvard Law School

View Presentation Slides

From 4 to 40,000 Students: Managing Change and Growth in Distance Education at the Extension School
CGIS S001    

The distance education program at Division of Continuing Education (DCE) has supported 40,000 students since the first four students took a distance course in 1997, the program's first year. Almost everything has changed during this period: teaching models, student expectations and, of course, the technology. During this session, we will review some of the major changes in the program, the planning processes we have used to manage change and growth and how designing for change has become an integral part of our approach.

Len Evenchik, Assistant Dean for Distance and Innovative Education, Harvard Division of Continuing Education
Bill Robinson, Ph.D., Software Architect and Manager of Software Development, DCE Distance Education Program, Harvard Division of Continuing Education

Improving Web Visibility, Publications and Data Sharing with Scalable Technologies
Science Center Hall D

We'll present two of the software products implemented at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) – how we develop them and how they are used. Our open source products, OpenScholar and Dataverse Network, allow researchers at Harvard and beyond to post, distribute and organize their publications, gain web visibility and publish data sets. The talk will be divided into the following sections: 1) IQSS Software and How It Supports Research, 2) Tools and Good Practices in the Software Development Process, 3) Scholars at Harvard, 4) Use Case: Harvard Election Data Archive, 5) Use Case: Beyond Social Science Data, the Astronomy Dataverse.

Richard Brandon, Web Developer, The Institute for Quantitative Social Science
Mercè Crosas, Director of Product Development, The Institute for Quantitative Social Science
Ellen Kraffmiller, Technical Lead of Software Development, The Institute for Quantitative Social Science    
Maxwell Palmer, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Alberto Pepe, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

View Presentation Slides

Building a Cohesive Enterprise Collaboration Strategy at HBS
CGIS S020

Learn how Harvard Business School executed a cohesive enterprise collaboration strategy that uses SharePoint to integrate its collaboration, blended learning and content management platforms, while ensuring high availability and a consistent user experience, in a cost-effective manner.

Michelle Doherty, Intranet Product Manager, Harvard Business School, Information Technology Group    
Astride Lisenby, Senior SharePoint Engineer, Harvard Business School, Information Technology Group

View Presentation Slides

Perspectives on Scholarly Annotations in the Media-rich Digital Age
CGIS K050
CGIS, 1737 Cambridge Street, Knafel Building, K050

Since antiquity – and until recent times – scholars produced and relied on handwritten annotations made in the margins of printed text for their studies and teaching. But nowadays, the prevalence of electronic text and the recent exponential emergence of other digital media formats has introduced new challenges to the annotation paradigm. This panel will offer different perspectives on how scholars are adopting new innovative models for annotations in their research and in the classroom.

Paolo Ciccarese, Biomedical Informatics Research and Development, Instructor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Philip Desenne, Academic Technologies Senior Product Manager, Harvard University IT, Academic Technology Services
Daniel Donoghue, Professor of English, Department of English, Harvard University
Leonard Muellner, Director for IT, Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University / Professor of Classical Studies, Classical Studies Department, Brandeis University

Creating Great Client Experiences with Microsoft SharePoint 2010 for External Marketing Websites
Science Center Hall A

Harvard Business School (HBS) Information Technology Group's Web Team and a guest from HBS Executive Education will discuss experiences in migrating www.exed.hbs.edu to Microsoft SharePoint. This website has huge amounts of actively-managed content targeted to executives of Fortune 200 companies. Our presentation will show how we improved work flow processes for one of HBS's key businesses. We will offer insights on creating successful client experiences, focusing on the value of in-person communication and iterative improvements.

Rebecca Dornin, Web Technologist, Web and Intranet Team, Harvard Business School, Information Technology Group
Mary Fowkes, Senior Project Manager, Web and Intranet Team, Harvard Business School, Information Technology Group

View Presentation Slides

Introduction to Agile Software Management and its Impact on Software Development
Science Center Hall C    

Since its introduction 10 years ago, the Agile project management methodology has been embraced by software development teams around the world. Learn what the Agile methodology is and what some variations are, and how it changes the roles of project manager, business analyst and developers. Hear from a developer about test-first development, iterative development and its benefits and challenges.

Carolyn Brzezinski, Project Manager, FAS, Office of the Registrar
Robert B. Davis, Senior Software Engineer, FAS, Office of the Registrar

Noon – Lunch and Exhibitor Educational Sessions
CGIS, 1730 Cambridge Street, Concourse Level

Next Generation End-User Computing
CGIS S050

End users, be they faculty, students or parents are asking for different solutions from IT organizations. They want to use different platforms and to have complete access 24 hours a day from anywhere they happen to be. This poses many challenges in terms of security, support and application development. This session will provide a glimpse at the future of end-user computing, including topics such as collaboration, mobility and security.

Matt Bator, Virtualization Strategist
Ted Collias, Virtualization Sales Specialist

The Benefits of Desktop Virtualization in Higher Education
CGIS S250

Universities today are increasingly turning to virtualization to streamline the management of computing environments, reduce costs and deliver a rich learning experience to students. However, there are key infrastructure issues that need to be addressed as one looks at virtualization from the IT Department all the way to the edges of the campus and beyond.  Join VMware for this session to discover how this technology can benefit your organization today.

Rick Falci, Senior Systems Engineer - Specialist, End-User Computing - Desktop Virtualization, VMware

Service Oriented Architecture
CGIS S001

The Governance Interoperability Framework (GIF) is an open, standards‐based specification and set of technologies that describes and promotes interoperability among components of a service‐oriented architecture (SOA). Organizations are seeking interoperability between components of SOA — management, security, integration, composite applications and business intelligence — and the Business Service Registry (BSR). The registry becomes the 'system‐of‐record', providing
visibility into all aspects of an SOA and richly describing services. GIF dramatically improves SOA visibility, governance and lifecycle management. This session will provide an overview of GIF and how you can use it to truly deliver on the promise of SOA.

Hewlett Packard

1:30 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions 2

Virtual Desktops: Managing Legacy Applications
CGIS S050

Virtual desktops have great potential. When combined with the ability to centrally create, deploy and manage the technology, it is very powerful. The FAS Office of the Registrar's Systems Operation Group and FAS IT Security has teamed up to leverage the power of virtual desktops. The technology used is MokaFive. This presentation will detail how the FAS Registrar's Office is using MokaFive to solve some of the IT challenges of managing a legacy application.

Esmond Kane, Information Security Specialist, Harvard University IT, Security Services
Jeffrey Lee, Application and Support Specialist, FAS, Office of the Registrar
Albert Pacheco, Systems Operations Manager, FAS, Office of the Registrar
Michael Trenc, Senior Systems Administrator, FAS, Office of the Registrar

Experiences with Custom Web Applications at Harvard
Science Center Hall C

Harvard is a major purchaser of enterprise software, but also has developed a number of custom software products. Panelists will discuss their experiences developing, maintaining, supporting and enhancing various web applications at Harvard. We'll explore some of the history of why and how these applications exist, and talk about the benefits and challenges of custom software development within the Harvard environment.

Andrew Malone, Senior Systems Operations Analyst, FSS Sponsored Systems, FAD, Systems Solutions
Colin Murtaugh, Senior Software Engineer, Harvard University IT, Academic Technology Services
Shannon Rice, Senior Product Manager for Academic Technology, Harvard University IT, Academic Technology Services

Simulations at Harvard Business School: An Overview
CGIS S001

Experiential learning is an important part of the HBS curriculum. Learn about HBS’s suite of simulations that allows students to test out strategies while role playing within a structured environment. Built on faculty research, HBS sims are used in the MBA program and in Executive Education to engage learners and enhance the classroom experience.

Carla Tishler, Director, Program Innovation, Educational Technology Group, Harvard Business School

The Harvard Video Core Project
Science Center Hall A

The Harvard Video Core project will institute a Harvard-wide video-conferencing infrastructure allowing for any standards-based IP video-conferencing in and out. We will demonstrate different uses of this technology, including a demo from a conference room at HLS and a classroom in Maxwell Dworkin. The Video Core project will include such services as bridging, scheduling, recording, storing and email notifications. The technologies involved could allow for working from home, cross training, cross teaching and the ability to join in meetings or a class practically anywhere in the world. Currently, Harvard is heading the Telepresence/Quilt Collaboration – a group of 20 universities from around the world, who are working together on video-conferencing technologies. Harvard Video Core project includes SIP registrar, H.323 registrar, MCU’s, recordings, streaming and interoperability.

Michael Cardoza, Senior Network Engineer, Harvard University IT, Infrastructure Services
Darby DeChristopher, Manager of Media Services, Harvard Law School

High-performance Computing and the Next Generation of Novel Applications at HMS
CGIS S250

This presentation will provide an overview of Orchestra, the Harvard Medical School's 4000 core high-performance computing facility, our enterprise storage offering and numerous innovative applications that connect researchers to accelerate science.

John D. Halamka MD, CIO, Harvard Medical School and BIDMC, Professor, Harvard Medical School

From Admissions through Executive Ed: Web-conferencing and the HGSE Experience
CGIS S354

For the past four years, the Harvard Graduate School of Education has been using the web-conferencing tool Elluminate extensively in courses, executive education and within departments. Our well-established service partnering with end users on planning and delivering sessions is time- and resource-efficient – while implementing an easy-to-use, flexible tool with multiple academic and administrative uses – has also been a smart financial decision. Most important, Elluminate has helped our community successfully extend its reach beyond the traditional walls of a classroom or meeting space.

Gino Beniamino, Instructional Technologist, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Susan Geddis Eppling, Instructional Media Developer, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Jason Gorman, Instructional Designer, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Kristin Lofblad Sullivan, Manager of Instructional Technology, Harvard Graduate School of Education

View Presentation Slides: Deck #1 and Deck #2

Research Computing in the Cloud
Science Center Hall D

This presentation explores the benefits and challenges of cloud services for research computing. We look at how the availability of resources in the cloud simplifies the path for the researcher to try out new ideas more quickly than ever before. We discuss recent and future projects among Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences (IQSS) and its collaborators to integrate cloud resources into the research workflow. In particular, we describe our approach to adapt the Research Computing Environment (RCE) to use Amazon EC2 compute nodes.

Len Wisniewski, Ph.D., Director of Technology Services, The Institute for Quantitative Social Science

The Future of Learning Management Systems at Harvard and Beyond
CGIS S010

Since 2006, 87 percent of Harvard courses share the same learning management system (LMS) for course websites. iSites has become one of the busiest and most widely used platforms at the University. Over 60,000 Harvard ID holders log into the system each calendar year. Yet the centricity of the LMS to the teaching enterprise has been challenged at Harvard and beyond by the emergence of easily accessible social software, the rapid evolution of the cloud and the evolving expectations and demands of faculty and students. This talk examines trends in LMS in higher education and discusses how the model of a single, shared LMS across multiple Harvard schools must evolve over the next three to five years in order to strengthen the academic experience of faculty, staff and students. How is iSites used by the 5,500 Harvard courses it supports each year, and what do these usage patterns tell us about the future of online tools for teaching and learning? The audience will be asked to help grapple with this challenging question, and to help articulate the kinds of online tools/capabilities that will be most important to support Harvard teaching over the next three to five years.

Paul Bergen, Director, Harvard University IT, Academic Technology Services

Harvard Library Lab
Science Center Hall E

Harvard Library Lab offers infrastructure and financial support for individuals to innovate, cooperate across projects and make original contributions to the way libraries work. Nineteen projects have been awarded grants so far. The Library Office for Scholarly Communication manages the program and utilizes technical expertise from the Library Office for Information Systems and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The presentation will discuss the collaboration and demonstrate projects.

Ann-Marie Costa, Assistant, Harvard College Library
Sebastian Diaz, Senior Systems Administrator, Berkman Center for Internet and Society
Reinhard Engels, Digital Library Software Engineer, Harvard Library, Office for Scholarly Communication        
Sue Kriegsman, Program Manager, Harvard Library, Office for Scholarly Communication
Cheryl McGrath, Head of Access Services, Harvard College Library
Jesse Shapins, Teaching Fellow, Instructor, and Associate Director, Graduate School of Design and metaLAB (at) Harvard

View Presentation Slides: Deck #1 and Deck #2
Video Demo
Project Information

2:45 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions 3

Risk Management at Harvard University
Science Center Hall D

A panel including Risk Management and Audit Services (RMAS), School senior management, a School general risk manager and an IT risk manager will discuss risk management at Harvard. Through discussion and open dialogue we will cover: the importance of the risk management initiative, the risk management structure and responsibilities, the link of risk management to strategies, the benefits and challenges of risk management, tools available for performing risk management and an overview of the UCIO risk assessment process.

Mary Ann Bradley, Associate Dean for Administrative Operations, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Ben Gaucherin, Chief Information and Technology Officer, Harvard Law School
Gail McDermott, Director, Risk Management and Audit Services, Central Administration, Financial Services
Amanda McDonnell, Manager of Strategic Planning, Risk Management and Audit Services, Central Administration, Financial Services
Rick Mills, Executive Dean for Administration, Harvard Medical School
Eileen Sullivan, Controller, Harvard Business School

View Presentation Slides

Preserving Web Content at Harvard and Worldwide
CGIS S020

Much of the content in support of current and future research is now found only on the web. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that content that exists today on the web will still be there five years from now, or even tomorrow. This presentation will introduce attendees to the challenges of collecting and preserving web content, and how Harvard and others worldwide are addressing the problem.

Andrea Goethals, Manager of Digital Preservation and Repository Services, Office for Information Systems, Harvard Library

Using Geographic Information Systems to Transform Teaching and Learning
CGIS S050

This panel will look at four Harvard schools' uses of GIS to help map out concepts and contents across varied disciplines. The panelists will discuss how the use of GIS-driven materials impacts the curriculum at their schools; what affordances GIS brings to such varied disciplines; how GIS brings materials to life in new and engaging ways; and how else GIS can be used to inform the teaching and learning environment across Harvard at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Amy Cohen, Director of Educational Technologies, Harvard School of Public Health
Paul Cote, Geographic Information Specialist, Lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Jeff de Beer, Director, Application Development, Education Technology, Harvard Business School
Wendy Guan, Director of GIS Research Services, Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis

View Presentation Slides

Strategic Agility: Building a Reusable Data Integration Framework
Science Center Hall A

What is changing in Enterprise Data Integration at HBS? Data integration is moving away from point solutions coding. While traditional data interfaces are hardcoded solutions that are specific to one use, a data integration framework is intended to define the components of a reusable information architecture where publishing and consuming updates across the enterprise are based on common Business Entity Objects. This presentation will describe efforts at HBS to build a reusable data integration framework.

David Aznavoorian, Director, Database Services and Information Security, Harvard Business School, Information Technology Group
Matt Siano, Principal Database Engineer, Harvard Business School, Information Technology Group

View Presentation Slides

Course Building and Worldwide Community on Harvard Business Publishing’s Education Website
CGIS S040

When determining the material to include in a syllabus, educators take two first steps: confer with colleagues and visit publishers’ websites. Harvard Business Publishing's (HBP) Education website is unique in joining a comprehensive catalog of management courseware with a community platform for reviewing content, discussing pedagogy and building courspacks. We will look at the Content Builder application, our site’s community tools and our integration with eLearning program vendors and learning management systems.

Jim Dooling, Director, Higher Education Technology, Harvard Business Publishing
Ellen Gandt, VP, Higher Education Sales and Marketing, Harvard Business Publishing
Denis Saulnier, Director, Higher Education Learning Services, Harvard Business Publishing

View Presentation Slides

Virtual Collaboration: From Wikis and Mind Maps to a "Giant" iPad
Science Center Hall C

Two librarian/technologists will lead a discussion about virtual collaboration with Harvard faculty, students and staff on innovative tools for research, teaching and learning. Examples will include ConfluenceWiki, Mindjet, VoiceThread, the Annotated Bibliography Tool and RefTouch. General discussion will follow on the challenges/opportunities of managing virtual collaboration and conducting assessments. Attendees will be asked to share their own experiences and identify critical needs.

Kimberly Hall, Ph.D, MAEd, MA, Learning Technologies Manager, Teaching, Learning, Curriculum Solutions, Harvard Law School Library
Michael Hemment, Ph.D., Head of Research and Learning Technology, Harvard College Library
Karen Storin Linitz, J.D., MILS Manager, Teaching, Learning,Curriculum Solutions, Harvard Law School Library

Using Technology to Differentiate Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program
CGIS S250

In close partnership with HBS' Advanced Management Program (AMP), the Educational Technology Group helped redesign one of Executive Education’s oldest and most renowned programs. With projects ranging from big (creation of a mobile app) to small (migration of a tool from paper to web-based) and everything in between (development of multimedia cases, implementation of iTunes U), the differentiation of AMP through technology has helped it maintain its position as Executive Education's premier program.

Curtis Hermann, Senior Multimedia Engineer, Harvard Business School, Educational Technology Group
Thomas Ryder, Creative Director, Harvard Business School, Educational Technology Group

Mobile Applications to Improve Teaching and Learning
CGIS S010

This presentation will focus on the use of mobile applications to improve teaching and learning. Speakers will give a brief overview of how their specific schools are delivering content to phones and tablets. Topics include leveraging device functionality, driving intellectual collaboration and delivering learning materials ranging from text-based cases to multimedia. Q and A will follow. The speakers will represent HBS, HMS, FAS and GSE.

Jason Alvarez, Director of Educational Technology and Software Development, Harvard Medical School
Elizabeth Hess, Managing Director, Harvard Business School, Educational Technology Group
Kristin Lofblad Sullivan, Manager of Instructional Technology, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Katie Vale, Director of Academic Technology Group, FAS IT

View Presentation Slides:  Deck #1 and Deck #2

Supporting Highly Technical Courses
CGIS 0001

In SEAS, the technical requirements for computer science and engineering courses often push well past typical academic computing service offerings. For such courses, the lines between research and instruction can be blurred. We present a few interesting challenges from such courses, and discuss how these needs can be better addressed.

Robert Parrott, Director of Academic and Research Computing, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

4:00 p.m. – Reception
CGIS, 1730 Cambridge Street, Concourse Level

5:00 p.m. – Adjourn

Location

Sanders Theater
45 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS)
1730 Cambridge Street
South Building
Cambridge, MA 02138

Directions and Parking

Parking is extremely limited on campus on weekdays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Public transportation is very convenient and highly recommended. The Harvard Square MBTA station is the hub for many bus lines and the T (the subway) on the Red Line. Alewife is the closest stop that has ample parking with access to the T right into Harvard Square.

Additional information is available on public transportation:  Schedules and Maps

Campus Map