WISCONSIN SELECTS JABBER INSTANT MESSAGING - The University of
Wisconsin has licensed the Jabber Communications Platform to provide instant messaging
(IM) applications for its 80,000-plus students, faculty and staff. Jabber, an IM applications
developer, will provide the real-time communications platform, which can also be extended
to provide messaging between students and users of other messaging services like Yahoo or
MSN. The IM services will be delivered via the Jabber Instant Messenger client for
Windows, developed to ensure the performance of widespread deployment of IM. Roger
Hanson, a technologist with the University of Wisconsin, said the platform would provide
"everything we think our students and faculty will need for spontaneous IM
communications." For more information see: http://www.wisc.edu

FINDING HIGH PROFILE SUCCESS STORIES - One of the most important tasks
that learning professionals can do in these tighter times is to use the last month of the year
to assemble some very detailed success stories from the past year. Learning departments
are being urged to reach out to their units and gather together very specific success stories
that show the power and impact of training efforts - and then use these stories to make
their case. Details at http://www.masie.com (Techlearn Trends #223, 28 Nov 01)

SEVEN CANADIAN COLLEGES AND U's FORM SHARCNET - The Shared
Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network (SHARCNET) in Ontario is the
result of the collaboration of a cluster of Canadian colleges and U's. More than 25% of
Canada's supercomputing power is wrapped into the $26.4 million network. SHARCNET
is even more powerful than supercomputers at Caltech, Princeton, Cornell University and
the University of Cambridge, and will provide supercomputing resources for a wide variety
of initiatives: research into genomics and cancer treatments, design of fuel-efficient aircraft
wings, insurance modeling and quantum gravity theories. (Chronicle of Higher Education
Online, 21 Nov 01)

SPECIAL OFFER FOR LIBRARIES - The EASI (Equal Access to Software and
Information) program is extending a special offer to libraries: register for any one of
EASI's courses that help institutions remove barriers for staff and students with
disabilities, and qualify for a $445 discount on a CCTV (a CCTV is a magnification device
for customers with low vision that will magnify print and make your books, journals,
magazines and newspapers readable). Information about EASI courses, online registration
and a description of the Certificate in Accessible Information Technology offered by EASI
in partnership with the University of Southern Maine is on the web at:
http://easi.cc/workshop.htm (AAHESGIT-A90, 12 Nov 01)

SURVEY OF COLLEGES' SPENDING ON "IT" FINDS OVERALL INCREASE -
Colleges' spending on IT is growing at a faster rate than spending on other initiatives,
according to data from the Cost of Supporting Technology Services (COSTS) project.
Project co-director David L. Smallen of Hamilton College reported that median IT budget
increases for the 2000-2001 school year were 11%, while the median amount earmarked
for IT spending accounted for approximately 5% of the total budget. On average, colleges
polled allocate about 25% of their IT budgets to hardware purchases and about 7% to
software purchases. Smallen and CO-director Karen L. Leach, also of Hamilton, indicated
that about half of colleges' IT budgets goes toward personnel expenses such as salaries,
benefits and staff development. (Chronicle of Higher Education Online, 30 Oct 01 -
Edupage, 31 Oct 01)