Introducing the Network Services Group

Figure 1: The ADN Network Services Group (not including the ITL staff). From left to right, in the front: Michael Sperberg-McQueen, Judy Grobe Sachs, and John Andrews; in the back: Bob Hyman, Bob Goldstein, Vinod Kutty, and Jay Rajarathinam.

We're the ADN Network Services group, and we're not what you think!

True, we provide services, and they are usually delivered over a network. But we don't install or maintain the physical network, like the Network group. We don't build and fix LANs or public labs like the Small Systems group. We don't man the front lines like Network Operations and the Client Services Office. And we don't (dare) maintain backups or fix or upgrade the large servers, like Systems. But trust me, we stay plenty busy, because there's lots more that a computer center needs to do.

What we do do is support databases and campuswide information systems. Our most import database-related task concerns the database for the campus phonebook, both the online and printed versions. We don't do data entry, editing, formatting, and printing -- Publications does that -- but we build and maintain the database and its related software.

Good databases being what they are, new information gets linked to old. So we use the phonebook database for more than phones -- for computer account info, email aliases, lists of who is registered for what course, and so on. It seems like were always finding new uses. For example, our new UIC Announce system is made possible by easy access to the phonebook database. (UIC Announce is on the Web at: http://www.uic.eduhttp://tigger.uic.edu/announce )

We also have our fingers in other databases or database applications. Some are internal, used by the Computer Center for various logging or accounting purposes. Others are semispecialized, used by specific segments of the UIC community. For example, we manage OASIS and CPSRES for the Office of Career Services; students use them to submit resumes and sign up for job interviews.

A second thrust for us is campuswide information systems, also known as CWIS. Nowadays this means Web publishing to most people, but for us it includes Listserv lists, Netnews/Usenet newsgroups, and parts of the email delivery systems, principally sendmail. Our CWIS-related responsibilities also include running the Computer Center seminars and supporting teachers in their use of various types of instructional technology. These are done by the folks in the Andes Instructional Technology Lab. The ITL is part of the Network Services group, but it's distinct enough that they will have their own article in a later issue.

Yet another area of responsibility is ADN documentation. We manage Inform, and write its content when we can't point at someone else's work (see "The New Inform on the Web"). We also publish this newsletter.

Judy Grobe Sachs is our principal documentalist. Vinod Kutty manages many of the servers such as Listserv, Netnews/Usenet, and sendmail, with help from Jayakumar Rajarathinam, our student assistant. John Andrews, Bob Hyman, and Michael Sperberg-McQueen keep our databases feeling their oats, and I usually concentrate on Web publishing. (But being a manager means I get to kibitz in other areas, even ones I don't know anything about!)

How to contact us? Please don't. :-) Seriously, most of our work is behind the scenes; you'll be referred to us by other members of the Computer Center staff when we can be useful. Other times you'll be contacting us without realizing it, such as when you send a note to document@uic.edu about Inform or a question to www@uic.edu about Web publishing.

Comments are welcome; send them to:
Bob Goldstein, bobg@uic.edu