Category: Students

Academic Technology, Media Center, Students, Workshops and Training

Best Visual Effects (on campus)

Jeremy Polk

If you watched the Oscars on Sunday night, you’ll know The Jungle Book took home Best Visual Effects (see link for two behind the scenes videos on the film’s creation). What you may not know is that some of the same technologies used by those Hollywood artists are available in Swarthmore’s own Media Center. Before you get carried away and show up asking for help with your next animated feature, it’s important to remember that major film work requires a sound stage, some proprietary technology, and a large team of visual artists. While we can’t claim to be a satellite office for Disney Studios, we do encourage folks to stop by … Continue reading Best Visual Effects (on campus)

Academic Technology, Faculty/Staff, Media Center, Students

Arduino Inventor’s Kits Now Available for Checkout

Andrew Ruether

Arduino is an open source electronics platform that you can program to interact with the real world: make lights flash, buzzers buzz, and motors spin.  You can use Arduinos to build an invention, animate a sculpture, or automate your house.   ITS has purchased several Arduino-based SparkFun Inventor’s Kits now available for checkout from the Media Center.  These are great for learning about Arduino and come with lots of fun stuff like motors, LEDs, an LCD display, temperature and light sensors, a buzzer, and supporting electronics.  The kit also includes an excellent guide with 16 sample projects starting from the basic blinking … Continue reading Arduino Inventor’s Kits Now Available for Checkout

Academic Technology, Classroom and Conferencing Technologies, Email, Calendaring, & Collaboration Tools, Faculty/Staff, Google Apps, Students
white chromebook surrounded by Google app icons

Media Services Has New Chromebooks for Student Checkout!

Ashley Turner

Chromebook laptopMedia Services has new Chromebooks for students to checkout! They now have a limited number of Chromebooks designated for student use on a short term basis. This may be really helpful for someone whose laptop is under repair or needs a laptop on the fly. Continue reading “Media Services Has New Chromebooks for Student Checkout!”

Greening, Media Center, Students

Green Advisors to monitor energy usage in the Beardsley Media Center

Mike Jones

ITS, Media Services and the Office of Sustainability’s Green Advisors Program are currently working on a project aimed at reducing computer energy usage across campus. The first stage of the project will be to monitor energy usage in the Beardsley Media Center. We will collect quantitative data on our electricity usage while implementing strategies to reduce the electricity demand from computers in the lab. We aim to create behavioral changes in how students interact with computers (i.e. ensuring students/staff turn off machines at the end of the night or leaving inactive machines in sleep mode). Additionally, we will explore potential … Continue reading Green Advisors to monitor energy usage in the Beardsley Media Center

Academic Technology, Faculty/Staff, Software, Students

MATLAB Licensing

Andrew Ruether

Last year we enhanced our MATLAB licensing to allow any Swarthmore community member to install MATLAB and all available toolboxes without requiring a connection to a license manager every session. This makes it easier for faculty and students to do their work from off campus as well as eliminates any problems with running out of licenses. MATLAB users do need to check in with MathWorks every so often to make sure their licenses are still valid. If you receive a message that your license will expire soon, see the instructions on our MATLAB page to update your license. Continue reading MATLAB Licensing