Kansas State University

Tips for making PDF documents accessible

To make a scanned PDF document accessible, you must convert the image to "real" text by using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software. Use one of these three simple methods:

• Use your scanner's PDF conversion option. Most new scanners come equipped with OCR capability, which can often be run at the same time you scan the document.
• Scan your document into an image file (typically a TIFF) and then convert the image file into a PDF using Adobe Acrobat.
• Scan directly into PDF using the "Create PDF from Scanner" option in Adobe Acrobat.

Encrypt data on laptop computers

A recent study reported in eWeek states that 43 percent of the personal identity information records involved in a security breach since Jan. 1, 2005, were due to loss or theft of a physical object, such as a laptop computer. Others put the figure much higher. Laptops are indeed a serious security risk, and K-State is not immune to this threat -- a K-State faculty member had his laptop stolen last year while on sabbatical in Europe, and K-State police have investigated many reports of laptops stolen from the K-State campus.

Given this risk, confidential data should not be stored on laptop computers or other mobile devices like USB thumb drives, as stated in K-State's Guidelines for Mobile Device Security developed by SIRT. However, if you absolutely must have confidential data on a laptop, it should be encrypted so the data cannot be accessed if the device is lost or stolen. It is possible to encrypt individual files and/or folders, but SIRT recommends encrypting the entire disk to ensure that all sensitive information is encrypted and ease the administration of encrypted files and the encryption keys. If you use full-disk-encryption (FDE), as it is called, you don't have to decide which files or folders should be encrypted or remember which ones are -- everything on the disk is protected. Enterprise FDE products also make it easier to recover data when the encryption key is forgotten or otherwise unknown.

SIRT developed a detailed list of requirements and is in the process of evaluating software FDE products in order to recommend a standard product for K-State. Demonstrations by prospective vendors will occur over the next several weeks, starting tomorrow, so a recommendation can be made before the start of the spring semester. Watch InfoTech Tuesday for further information.

Best practices for online assessments

Over the last month, we have observed how online assessments in K-State Online are used and wanted to share some best practices.

1. Put only 1-10 questions per page in an online assignment. This causes students to click Continue, which automatically saves their work more often.
2. Encourage students to periodically save their progress.

Note: For security reasons, K-State Online times out after one hour of inactivity (with "activity" defined as clicking a button to save or continue to the next page of the assessment; each time a button is clicked, the hour resets).

Use small event-graphic ads on WebMail page?

Can K-State departments post small ads on the WebMail sign-in page?

No. The small "event graphics" feature (which used to be available on both the K-State homepage and the WebMail page) is being phased out of use. It was removed quite a while ago from the main K-State website, and is no longer being advertised as an available service on the WebMail page.

Wesch and students use video to explore, explain

Michael Wesch has done it again with a video on what education looks like in today's world -- but from a college student's perspective on the day-to-day realities and numbers. A Vision of Students Today is on YouTube.com and was created by Wesch and students in his Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class this spring.

In addition, students in Wesch's Digital Ethnography class have created several videos about YouTube itself. On mediatedcultures.net, the "home of the digital ethnography working group" at K-State, see the Digital Ethnography of YouTube project.

According to Wired Magazine's website, Wesch was one of 22 "innovators, instigators, and inventors" who received a 2007 Rave Award for his video about Web 2.0 tools. See Video: The Explainer | Michael Wesch | Web 2.0... The Machine Is Us/ing Us.