Few jobs are as ungrateful as working at any kind of service desk – throw technology into the mix and it’s even worse! Just remember how you feel by the time you call the IT Service Desk with your problem. Even before you pick up the phone your frustration levels are peaking. 

In the late 90’s I also had a stint at the IT Service Desk – back then only four people weeded out the whole campus’ tech problems. Nowadays the team consists of eight people, but technological demands also expanded. 

Luckily mine was a brief experience, otherwise murder or a nervous breakdown would’ve been the order of the day. However in spite of these stressful conditions, the IT Service Desk has to perform miracles every day – just have a look at the past year’s stats:

Jan 2014 

9 798 calls received in Jan 2014,  8 780 (90%) were dealt with. This is the highest amount of calls in 4 years. 

Average waiting time: 1 minute, 6 seconds

Average length of calls: 2 minutes, 17 seconds

 Jan 2013 

8 004 calls received, of which 7 402 (92%) calls were dealt with.

Average waiting time: 42 seconds

Average length of calls: 2 minuts, 12 seconds 

1 378 more calls were handled as the same time span last year.

More information on the IT Service Desk can be found at  https://stbsp01.stb.sun.ac.za/innov/it/it-help/Wiki%20Pages/Service%20Desk.aspx

With the emergence of e-readers people have been exposed to a whole world of new technologies – one of these is e-ink.

If the ink that runs out of your shirt pocket, is the only type you’ve been aware of up till now, we’ll explain. 

Electronic ink, e-ink, electronic paper or e-paper are display technologies developed to mimic the appearance of normal ink on paper. Unlike standard flat panel displays emitting light, electronic paper reflects the same way traditional paper does. 

It consists of an electrophoric image with thousands of light and dark nanoparticles trapped between two plates of electrostatically charged glass. The exact application of the stream to the screen attracts or deters the nanoparticles to create a viewable image.

Electronic paper has been used for electronic boards in shops, digital ads, schedules on stations and cell phone screens for years. Thanks to the arrival of the e-reader, we only became more aware of in recent times. With e-ink e-book readers can display digital versions of books and magazines and is an integral part of readers such as Amazon Kindle,Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo.

E-ink is ideal for reading when a slow refresh rate is not important. It’s easier to read due to the fact that it has the appearance of normal paper and doesn’t emit rays like a screen and also has a wider reading angle. The perfect e-ink device can be read in direct sunlight without fading or any reflection.

[SOURCE: www.howtogeek.com & www.wikipedia.org] 

In the first half of 2013 a third of book sales in America consisted of e-books. Statistics like these are enough to cause bibliophiles, who worry about the future of the printed book, many a sleepless night. 

A survey earlier this year by Surveymonkey should however reassure book lovers to some extent. A survey was conducted to establish the preferences of 300 American readers.

Results were unexpectedly in favour of printed books and indicated that 40% of the group only buy printed books, 50% buy both electronic and printed, while a mere 10% buy e-books only. 

The main reason cited for buying traditional books was due to nostalgia, convenience and comfort. Readers still want to smell the paper and ink and hear the sound of a page turning. E-books cannot compete with the tangible characteristics of printed pages, even though manufacturers try their best to enhance their e-readers with similar functionalities.

Convenience is also listed as the main reason users buy e-readers.

With e-readers gaining popularity it’s now easier than ever to catch up on your reading while on the go. They are light and can hold more than 1000 books. Perfect for the indecisive traveler who needs a whole library at his disposal. 

E-books offer greater interaction with readers. Links to web sites can be built into text, a reader can bookmark or highlight pages and the meaning of words can be looked up with a built-in dictionary. 

Unfortunately this interactivity is a disadvantage when it comes to e-books for children. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center in New York did research in 2012 on the efficiency of e-books and literacy.  (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/07/enhanced-ebooks-bad-for-children?CMP=twt_gu)

E-books with enhancements hampered with children’s concentration and distracted them to such an extent that they could recall and convey less of the actual story line. 

Printed books were more effective in promoting literacy through co-reading. E-books, and in particular enhanced,interactive e-books were more useful when engaging children in the learning process and encouraging physical interaction.

There are areas where e-books offer a distinct advantage, but in the long run the choice of format will be determined by the preferences and needs of readers. Maybe we should be less concerned about choosing one format above the other – both have their advantages and can add value to the other.

Literacy should be the focus, whatever the means.

[SOURCES: www.wordalivepublishers.com, www.theguardian.com,
 www.surveymonkey.com, www.spreeder.com,
 www.digitaltrends.com]

It is argued that the average speaker has a vocabulary of approximately 20 000 words. You can even test yourself online to see how large (or small) your current vocabulary is. 

There’s also the tongue-in-cheek statement that women use more than double the words in comparison to men. I’d rather not comment on this, but you can read more about it here.

But what to do if you struggle with section of text and the right word escapes you? I’ve always been a huge supporter of dictionaries – my desk sighs beneath three of them, but there are easier and faster alternatives which could add value to  the traditional versions.

Types of electronic dictionaries can be divided into two sections; online dictionaries and downloadable dictionaries. Each has it’s own advantages, disadvantages and nifty extras. Unfortunately we can’t recommend a specific version, but you can play around with what’s available and let us know which you prefer.

DOWNLOADABLE DICTIONARIES

1. Ultimate Dictionary is easy to install and use and comprises a collection of 61 dictionaries.
2. WordWeb provides a dictionary and a thesaurus with a wide variety of functions including a keyboard shortcut for faster access.
3. TheSage has more than 210,000 definitions and a thesaurus providing over 1,400,000 relationships between definitions.
4. LingoPad contains a German-English dictionary and additional dictionaries can be downloaded. You can import your own dictionaries and word lists.
5. Artha is based on WordNet, a large, lexical database of English, developed at Princeton University. 
6. Aard Dictionary allows users to look up meanings for difficult words using multiple dictionaries in multiple languages. More than 50 different dictionaries can be added to its database.
7. GoldenDict is a usable on Windows and Linux and supports looking up and listening to pronunciations using forvo.com.
8. Lingoes is an easy-to-use dictionary and text translation program that offers look up dictionaries, full text translation and pronunciation of words in over 80 languages.
9. Mobysaurus Thesaurus contains 30,260 roots and more than 2.5 million synonyms. Mobysaurus Thesaurus is freeware, but you have to register

ONLINE DICTIONARIES

1. Dictionary.com is an interactive and reliable source used by 50 million users worldwide per month. It’s the largest and most authoritative free online dictionary and mobile reference resource and can be used on various mobile platforms.
2. Free Dictionary also has, apart from it’s standard functions, other types of dictionaries available, such as Medical, Legal, and Financial dictionaries. It’s contains a Thesaurus, Acronyms and Abbreviations, Idioms, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a search engine.
3. Wiktionary is the lexical companion to Wikipedia. Wiktionary is a wiki and can be edited, however, stricter criteria than their sibling, is applicable.
4. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary is the electronic equal of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary and includes abbreviations, foreign words and phrases, biographical and geographical names.
5. Oxford Dictionaries Online offers guidelines for better writing, puzzles and games, and a language blog. 
6. Collins Dictionary has over 1 million entries, and provides free access to word definitions, translations, and examples. It also has a section where you can play word games.
7. Word-Net Online can be used online, but also offers a free dictionary and thesaurus programme for Windows.
8. OneLook can be used to find a word when you only have part of it. With their Reverse Dictionary you can describe a concept and it supplies you with a list of words and phrases related to it.
9. Urban Dictionary is a database of slang words and phrases submitted and rated by site visitors, monitored by volunteer editors. The definitions on Urban Dictionary are meant to be slang or ethnic culture words, phrases, and other terms not found in standard dictionaries. 
10. MetaGlossary sources and extracts definitions of terms and phrases from the web and gives you precise explanations for them.

[SOURCE: www.howtogeek.com]

Did you know Windows XP will be celebrating it’s 12th birthday next year? And even though it’s served it’s purpose, the time has come for Microsoft to finally put an end to the XP era.

The official date when the software giant will stop releasing XP updates and supporting this outdated operating system, is 8 April 2014.

You will be able to continue working on XP, but your pc will also be 6 times more likely to be infected by a virus. (Read more on this on Memeburn)

But do not despair. Until 15 December 2013, IT will upgrade your office computer to Windows 7 for free – of course this is only possible if it’s is strong and clever enough to handle a new operating system.

An easy way of establishing which operating system you’re currently using, is to consult http://whatsmyos.com/ and the website will do the thinking for you.

If you are indeed still using XP, send an email to help@sun.ac.za to request the upgrade. Remember to include the following information to speed up the process –

–  the computer’s asset number, a contact telephone number, the building name and the room number.

An IT technician will contact you as soon as the work station’s specifications have been checked. Older workstations may need additional components for the upgrade and this will be for the account of the department.

IT will upgrade the operating system from Windows XP to Windows 7 free of charge, but you will  have to pay for backups of work related data, backup of personal data (music files, video files and movies), as well as (if needed) hardware components necessary for the upgrade to Windows 7

If IT is requested to backup data, the cost for less than 15GB will be R950-00 and more than 15GB will be R1650-00.