Campus WiFi Revisited

Interview with Phil Mikulak of IU South Bend Information Technologies
 

By Kirby Cheng

In order to provide more accurate information about the WiFi networks available on campus, I recently interviewed Phil Mikulak, the director of the campus IT's telecommunications and networking group.  Below is the summary of our conversation.

 

Kirby: What is the exact number of WiFi networks an IU South Bend member can access?

 

Phil: There are four WiFi networks available on this campus: IU Secure, eduroam, attwifi and DeviceNet. The last is only available in the student apartment area across the St. Joseph River. Each wireless network serves its own purpose and has its unique features. If you are an IU community member, IU Secure should be the first choice for your mobile device because it provides WiFi WPA2 (WiFi Protected Access) for authentication and encryption. In addition, it allows you to utilize some IU resources, such as IUanyWare. However, before you can surf the Internet, you need to register your device's MAC address.  For a windows-based laptop or tablet, you can register via Get Connected. For devices of other platforms (iOS, Linux, Android), the easy way is to register at the IU DHCP site


 

Kirby: Would you please further explain how IU Secure works to protect our data?

 

Phil:  Say you intend to use your smart phone for online shopping.  IU Secure first encrypts your user ID and password, sending secured authentication data from your device to an IUSB access point nearby. There, your device will be connected to the IU network linked by cables and protected by the university firewalls.  As a decent online shopping site is normally secured by the company (often starting with "https://" in the URL), your personal confidential information should be protected through the whole transferring process.

 

Kirby:  Not many people know the wireless network eduroam.  Could you introduce our users to it?

 

Phil:  eduroam is a secured, worldwide wireless network.  The system allows faculty and students to access the Internet using their home university credentials while visiting other participating institutions. It is a convenient network to use, as it does not require registering your device's MAC address. However if you want to access the remote protected IU network resources, for instance, your department's H drive or your personal O drive, you need to further configure and establish a secured VPN connection.

 

Kirby: What are the differences between eduroam and attwifi?

 

Phil: attwifi is mainly there to provide courtesy access for IU visitors; however, you need to know, it is not secured. The service is free for AT&T users as well as the non-AT&T users.   After "signing" a company's disclaimer statement shown on your browser, you will be connected with the Internet; no typing in your user ID and password.

 

Kirby: I heard DeviceNet is not a proper wireless network for desktop and laptop computers.

 

Phil: That's true. To enrich student residents' after-class life, we made it available in the student apartments across the river.   DeviceNet is meant to be used with gaming devices and media players such as Xboxes, Playstations, Wii and Wii U systems. You can also use it for some Apple products and services, for example, Apple TVs and Bonjour Services. These are devices that do not support encryption, such as WPA2. DeviceNet is an unencrypted network. Without encryption, any personal data transmitted between your devices and the access point can be risky. So it's better not to use it for online shopping.  I strongly recommend you use IU Secure instead. You don't need your network ID and password to connect to the network, but you must register your device's MAC address* in order to use DeviceNet. If the device does not support a browser, you can contact the IU South Bend Support Center and they can facilitate registering your device.

 

Kirby:  I really appreciate your spending time talking about the wireless network around us.

 

Phil:  My pleasure.

 

*A MAC (Media Access Control) address is a number that identifies the network adapter(s) installed on a computer or a network device, also known as physical address or hardware address.  In Apple's OS X system, a device's wireless MAC address is called "Airport ID."

 


Library Subscribes to New Streaming Film Database 
Kanopy provides access for students, faculty, and staff to award-winning titles from Criterion, PBS, and more

By Julie Elliott

 

In response to the popularity and demand for streaming media in the classroom and on campus, the library has recently subscribed to a new video streaming service, Kanopy (requires IU South Bend login off-campus).

 

Kanopy's award-winning collection of over 9,000 titles includes classic works from the Criterion Collection, PBS, BBC, First Run Features, Psychotherapy.Net, and hundreds of other film producers.


 

A small sampling of available titles include:

  • The Seventh Seal
  • Belle de Jour
  • George Washington
  • The Tin Drum
  • Seven Samurai
  • The Times of Harvey Milk
  • A Woman Under the Influence
  • Stagecoach
  • Eraserhead
  • The Blob
  • Breaking the Waves
  • The Ruling Class
     

The films can be watched from anywhere, anytime by all students, faculty, and staff. The films have full public performance rights (as long as groups do not charge admission for showing the film) and have unlimited simultaneous use.

 

Faculty can create clips or teaching playlists and embed them into Canvas or Oncourse for students to view.

 

Kanopy can be found in our A to Z list on the library's homepage, and individual titles can be searched in IUCAT.

 

In addition to Kanopy, the library also subscribes to Media Education Foundation, which streams popular documentaries and allows to clips to be embedded in Canvas or Oncourse. To learn more about Media Education Foundation and other streaming media resources at the Schurz Library, please visit our streaming media subject guide.


 

If there is a film you would be interested in having available on Kanopy, please contact Susan Thomas at suethoma@iusb.edu. Kanopy is always looking to expand its collections and they will try to have it added if possible.

 

Kindle Fires, mini iPads, and Nook HD+ pre-loaded with leisure reading material available
 

By Vincci Kwong

 

Looking for something to read during Spring break? Thanks to a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant awarded to Schurz Librarians Vincci Kwong and Susan Thomas, the Library has several different e-readers that are pre-loaded with popular titles. For a complete list of titles available on the e-readers, please visit http://libguides.iusb.edu/ereader.

 

Fiction titles include:

 

Fifty Shades Trilogy, E L James

City of Glass, Cassandra Clare

City of Lost Souls, Cassandra Clare

Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

The Intern's Handbook, Shane Kuhn

Safe Haven, Nicholas Sparks

DMZ The Deluxe Edition Book One, Brian Wood

Watchmen, Alan Moore

Ceres: Celestial Legend (Vol. 1-14), Yuu Watase

 

 

 

  

Giving to the Library
Donations help with collections, student scholarships, digitization, and more     

Please consider a gift to the Franklin D. Schurz Library. 


The faculty and staff of the Franklin D. Schurz Library take great pride in the resources and services we offer to meet our mission. We can only maintain this high quality through the additional support from individuals and organizations like you. Please visit https://www.iusb.edu/library/about/donation.php to learn more about how to donate to the library. 

  

Interested in collections? Select the Franklin D. Schurz Library Fund (0320003739), Schurz Library Endowment (0370007892), and/or Wiekamp Educational Resource Commons Fund (0320003890).  

 

Interested in scholarships? Select the Endowed Russo Library Worker Scholarship (0370007943) and/or the Franklin D. Schurz Library Fund, which supports the Library Prize for Undergraduate

Research

 

Interested in digitization? Select the Franklin D. Schurz Library Fund.

 

Tax Advantages: Gifts to Indiana University are deductible as charitable contributions within the limits of the Internal Revenue Code. Indiana taxpayers are eligible for a 50% tax credit for gifts up to $400 on joint returns, or $200 on individual returns.

For questions, contact: Vicki Bloom, Dean of Library Services at (574) 520-4448 or Dina Harris, Director of Development at (574) 520-4131.