Provided

Via videoconference, Anne Margulies, CIO at Harvard University, joins Cornell CIO Ted Dodds for the "keynote conversation" to open the 2014 IT@Cornell conference.

You call the computer support person because you have a problem. But IT professionals have their problems, too. The Cornell IT community gathered to discuss them (and to get better acquainted with each other) June 18 at the annual IT@Cornell Community Conference convened by Ted Dodds, CIO and vice president for information technologies.

Rather than a keynote speech, the event opened with a “keynote conversation” between Dodds and Anne Margulies, CIO at Harvard University. Margulies participated via videoconferencing, introduced to the audience by a rolling robot at the front of G10 Biotech. They reviewed some shared problems, including “disruptive innovation,” such as new forms of online learning that are changing education; the importance and difficulty of collaboration; and the need for more innovative approaches to administrative work. Comments from the audience indicated that users are split between old-timers who may still be uncomfortable with computers and younger “digital natives” who expect more.

Following the keynote was a panel of Cornell administrators and faculty members discussing what they want from IT.

Susan Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, wants better access for students to the information they need, while Mary Opperman, vice president for human resources and safety services, wishes for better ways to put information in the hands of decision-makers. Robert Buhrman, the John Edson Sweet Professor of Engineering and senior vice provost for research, would like to streamline the bureaucratic reporting required of researchers, which he said takes up 30 percent of their time.

Edward Baptist, associate professor of history and co-instructor with Louis Hyman of American Capitalism: A History, one of Cornell's first four MOOCs (massive open online courses), said MOOCs will not replace classroom instruction, but he hopes they can be a good way to deliver content. Samuel Bacharach, the McKelvey-Grant Professor of Labor Management, director of ILR's New York City-based Institute for Workplace Studies and director of ILR's Smithers Institute, looked for a definition of the relationship between IT and the development and delivery of a course.

In afternoon breakout sessions, participants discussed their specialties, exploring such topics as Cornell business processes, research computing support, data management, security and collaboration. In between there was a buzz of conversation over box lunches and, later, ice cream.

If there was an overarching theme, it was a call to improve communication between IT specialists and end users. “We need to be much closer to the people we serve. They should see us as trusted advisers,” Margulies said.

What did it all accomplish? “We got 370 people together to discuss the problems and look for solutions,” Dodds said, noting that about one-third of those participating were administrators, not IT professionals. You call the computer support person because you have a problem. But IT professionals have their problems, too. The Cornell IT community gathered to discuss them (and to get better acquainted with each other) June 18 at the annual IT@Cornell Community Conference convened by Ted Dodds, CIO and vice president for information technologies.

Rather than a keynote speech, the event opened with a “keynote conversation” between Dodds and Anne Margulies, CIO at Harvard University. Margulies participated via videoconferencing, introduced to the audience by a rolling robot at the front of G10 Biotech. They reviewed some shared problems, including “disruptive innovation,” such as new forms of online learning that are changing education; the importance and difficulty of collaboration; and the need for more innovative approaches to administrative work. Comments from the audience indicated that users are split between old-timers who may still be uncomfortable with computers and younger “digital natives” who expect more.

Following the keynote was a panel of Cornell administrators and faculty members discussing what they want from IT.

Susan Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, wants better access for students to the information they need, while Mary Opperman, vice president for human resources and safety services, wishes for better ways to put information in the hands of decision-makers. Robert Buhrman, the John Edson Sweet Professor of Engineering and senior vice provost for research, would like to streamline the bureaucratic reporting required of researchers, which he said takes up 30 percent of their time.

Edward Baptist, associate professor of history and co-instructor with Louis Hyman of American Capitalism: A History, one of Cornell's first four MOOCs (massive open online courses), said MOOCs will not replace classroom instruction, but he hopes they can be a good way to deliver content. Samuel Bacharach, the McKelvey-Grant Professor of Labor Management, director of ILR's New York City-based Institute for Workplace Studies and director of ILR's Smithers Institute, looked for a definition of the relationship between IT and the development and delivery of a course.

In afternoon breakout sessions, participants discussed their specialties, exploring such topics as Cornell business processes, research computing support, data management, security and collaboration. In between there was a buzz of conversation over box lunches and, later, ice cream.

If there was an overarching theme, it was a call to improve communication between IT specialists and end users. “We need to be much closer to the people we serve. They should see us as trusted advisers,” Margulies said.

What did it all accomplish? “We got 370 people together to discuss the problems and look for solutions,” Dodds said, noting that about one-third of those participating were administrators, not IT professionals. You call the computer support person because you have a problem. But IT professionals have their problems, too. The Cornell IT community gathered to discuss them (and to get better acquainted with each other) June 18 at the annual IT@Cornell Community Conference convened by Ted Dodds, CIO and vice president for information technologies.

Rather than a keynote speech, the event opened with a “keynote conversation” between Dodds and Anne Margulies, CIO at Harvard University. Margulies participated via videoconferencing, introduced to the audience by a rolling robot at the front of G10 Biotech. They reviewed some shared problems, including “disruptive innovation,” such as new forms of online learning that are changing education; the importance and difficulty of collaboration; and the need for more innovative approaches to administrative work. Comments from the audience indicated that users are split between old-timers who may still be uncomfortable with computers and younger “digital natives” who expect more.

Following the keynote was a panel of Cornell administrators and faculty members discussing what they want from IT.

Susan Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, wants better access for students to the information they need, while Mary Opperman, vice president for human resources and safety services, wishes for better ways to put information in the hands of decision-makers. Robert Buhrman, the John Edson Sweet Professor of Engineering and senior vice provost for research, would like to streamline the bureaucratic reporting required of researchers, which he said takes up 30 percent of their time.

Edward Baptist, associate professor of history and co-instructor with Louis Hyman of American Capitalism: A History, one of Cornell's first four MOOCs (massive open online courses), said MOOCs will not replace classroom instruction, but he hopes they can be a good way to deliver content. Samuel Bacharach, the McKelvey-Grant Professor of Labor Management, director of ILR's New York City-based Institute for Workplace Studies and director of ILR's Smithers Institute, looked for a definition of the relationship between IT and the development and delivery of a course.

In afternoon breakout sessions, participants discussed their specialties, exploring such topics as Cornell business processes, research computing support, data management, security and collaboration. In between there was a buzz of conversation over box lunches and, later, ice cream.

If there was an overarching theme, it was a call to improve communication between IT specialists and end users. “We need to be much closer to the people we serve. They should see us as trusted advisers,” Margulies said.

What did it all accomplish? “We got 370 people together to discuss the problems and look for solutions,” Dodds said, noting that about one-third of those participating were administrators, not IT professionals.