The department "IT-concepts and recommendations" at the University IT and Data Center was informed that the sale of indefinite Adobe-Acrobat-BUY licences for Acrobat Pro 2020 and Acrobat Standard 2020 was discontinued within the frame of the CLP-programme from July, 15th 2024.
We advise the administrators of the University of Bonn to create a small "stock" of Adobe Acrobat purchase licences now, in case of foreseeable need (cf. https://uni-bonn.asknet.de/cgi-bin/product/P10016608).
Please take notice that the support end for Acrobat 2020 will be reached in June 2025.
Note: Nowadays most applications can either create PDF files on their own or via the help of a "PDF-printer". For any further features (deleting pages from PDF-files, comments, text fields or text markings) there are many other free programmes (e.g. Foxit Reader or PDF24 Creator). PDF-forms can usually be easily created via LibreOffice. Many of the programmes are available for several operation systems, in other cases there are fitting products. Features going even further, such as (real) digital signatures or text recognition from scanned documents (OCR) a commercial product is usually needed (e.g. PDF Studio from Quoppa or FlexiPDF from Softmaker). Most of these products are cheaper than the Adobe Acrobat. We prefer products without connection to Cloud-services.
The products mentioned above are to be seen as examples and are not to be seen as recommendations. Support via the HRZ cannot be ensured for these products.
The University IT and Data Center introduces a new annotation tool for digital media: Recogito Studio
With immediate effect, Recogito Studio is available in the BONNET/via VPN under the URL http://recogito.uni-bonn.de and will become an important part of the digital infrastructure for studying and teaching at the University of Bonn.
Recogito Studio is a software application for teachers to prepare working with media, critically analyse images and texts, promote close reading and implement digital small group work. Students can write comments, annotations and tags to make media accessible for themselves and others and to interpret and discuss digital works. Teachers can also provide annotations and define different tasks for parallel small groups. The annotation tool can be used to annotate and analyse texts as well as graphics, images, photos and PDFs. Recogito Studio therefore offers numerous pedagogical and didactic applications in teaching for all faculties and departments.
Special features of the annotation tool Recogito Studio
In-house development in the context of ViCo: Recogito Studio is part of the ViCo project, with which the University of Bonn promotes digital small group work in teaching. The completely new development of Recogito Studio took the specific needs and requirements of teachers and students at the University of Bonn into account, which were previously collected and reflected on in several workshops. The focus is on teaching and learning scenarios for which media can be linked to specific work assignments. Thanks to its ease of use, Recogito Studio generates positive user experiences and a high level of acceptance. Open source codes promote digital sustainability. This combination makes Recogito Studio a state-of-the-art solution in the field of collaborative media annotation that is unique in the world.
Media annotation: Recogito Studio can use and edit a wide variety of media formats. Text files like TXT, PDF, and TEI, and picture uploads with common file formats, such JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF, GIF are supported. In addition, digitalised inventories (pictures, graphics, facsimile prints and others) of the ULB and other archive and library institutions can be imported for annotation via an IIIF-interface.
Small group concept: For every class context a Recogito Studio project can be created that helps to manage documents and students. Furthermore, teachers can create tasks in their projects that can be assigned to a freely definable group. When working on tasks, the interactions of all users are synchronised in real time. So students are able to retrace the activities of their peers and can receive a personalised teaching and learning experience. Moreover, teachers can unlock the results of one group for another one to see.
Registration and access control: Registration happens via Shibboleth and is restricted to accounts of the University of Bonn. Teachers have to import their students manually to assign them to their project.
Support and training: To help teachers of the university to use the annotation tool effectively, introduction workshops are offered.
Two introduction workshops are offered to all who are interested:
- Workshop Recogito Studio - Date 1
11.07.2024 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
https://uni-bonn.zoom-x.de/j/63989290227?pwd=YE814Z8aUP7EdINDkBtNzBgnrkw2Bn.1 - Workshop Recogito Studio - Date 2
15.08.2024 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
https://uni-bonn.zoom-x.de/j/68468395521?pwd=lHAJH5NMAlT3wPlCl1E2CPYLutEzdY.1
Further training dates can be arranged on a group basis, ideally for your own field. Please send your appointment enquiry to recogito@ticket.uni-bonn.de.
On Thursday, 27 June 2024, our annual company trip will take place again, so that many HRZ employees will only be available to a limited extent on this day. Therefore, there may be occasional delays in ticket processing or telephone availability.
However, the availability and opening hours of the IT-Helpdesk will not be affected:
IT Helpdesk - the central contact point for members of the University
Plaza on the ground floor (room 0.008a)
Monday to Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Tel.: 0228 / 73-2751
E-mail: info-hrz@uni-bonn.de
The previous functions of the RADAR service, in the form of data publication and long-term storage, are no longer available via the University of Bonn.
As part of the Dies academicus of the University of Bonn on May 15, 2024, interested participants had the rare opportunity to take a look behind the scenes and the usually closed doors of the ultra-modern high-performance computer "Marvin". The supercomputer, which was ranked among the top 500 fastest computers in the world with its impressive computing capacity at its official inauguration in autumn 2023, has been in operation since March 2024 and has been available for use by all members of the university ever since.
The guided tour of the "Marvin" machine room offered participants at Dies academicus the opportunity to learn more about the technical details and the wide range of applications of the high-performance computer. Interested parties were able to get an idea of the impressive technology on site and ask questions directly to the experts in charge.
Technical insights and infrastructure
The high-performance computer "Marvin" has around 300 computing nodes, some of which are equipped with powerful NVIDIA GPUs and some with Intel CPUs. The University IT and Data Center (HRZ) of the University of Bonn is responsible for the installation and operation of the system, but due to its enormous size and the special requirements of the system, "Marvin" was housed in the premises of the Institute of Numeric Simulation (INS), as the HRZ itself did not have sufficient space. The HPC/A-Lab is the central point of contact for HPC-related research projects.
The tour was conducted by Jan Steiner, HPC team member at the University IT and Data Center. A particular focus of the tour was on the power and cooling requirements of "Marvin". Operating such a powerful supercomputer not only requires an enormous power supply, but also an extensive cooling system to efficiently dissipate the heat generated and maximize system performance.
Providing a network infrastructure that meets all user requirements is a complex task and requires the right resources and technologies as well as thorough analysis and planning, especially at a university.
The network department at the University IT and Data Center of the University of Bonn is currently facing various challenges.
On the one hand, the network department is faced with the task of managing a large number of new leases and renovations at the University of Bonn. First of all, moving into a new building means connecting the premises to the network infrastructure and thus creating the basis for work at the university. The WLAN network connection is established by so-called “access points” (distribution points), which not only have to be installed once, but also regularly maintained and replaced. The rapid increase in APs to currently over 1,900 (as of May 2024) and limited personnel resources lead to various problems. There is always an enormous backlog when it comes to replacing obsolete access points that have reached “EOL” (end-of-life) status. These are discontinued products that are no longer produced or supported and therefore need to be replaced with new products. Consequently, the replacement of these APs must be prioritized based on their critical importance for the network. The network department of the University IT and Data Center also coordinates the installation of the APs by external service providers.
On the other hand, the expansion of WLAN and the increase in new spaces and refurbishment projects are leading to an increased need for new installations.
The entire WLAN-equipment process requires not only a structured schedule, but also the implementation of project teams and the automation of planning and deployment processes in order to meet the requirements and achieve the necessary speed of deployment.
As part of the upcoming Dies academicus on May 15, 2024, the HPC team at the University IT and Data Center is offering two guided tours in the machine room of the new high-performance computer "Marvin":
Start of guided tour group 1: 1:00 pm
Start of guided tour group 2: 1:30 pm
Please note: The number of participants is limited to 15 people per group. Participation without prior registration and confirmation is unfortunately not possible. If you are interested in participating, please contact Jan Steiner (jan.steiner@uni-bonn.de) by e-mail by Monday, May 13, 2024 at the latest.
Together with the confirmation of participation, you will receive all further information (including the meeting point) by e-mail.
What parts does a computer consist of? How do smartphones and laptops communicate? How do you create a secure password, what do the server rooms at a university look like and how does a 3D printer actually work? These and many other exciting questions were answered at this year's Girls'Day, the nationwide Girls' Future Day, at the University IT and Data Center. Once again this year, schoolgirls between the 8th and 10th grades were able to gain an insight into the world of IT and work at the University IT and Data Center. The aim of the Girls'Day was to inspire the participants with a combination of practical learning and a playful element for technology and to deepen their understanding.
The morning was designed as a big scavenger hunt through the University IT and Data Center. At individual stations, the participants got to know the IT helpdesk, the 3D printers, workstation systems and network communication. There were short presentations at each station, followed by a quiz. The aim of the scavenger hunt was to collect solution words that were required for the task in the afternoon. After the tour of the server rooms at the HRZ and the subsequent lunch break, it was straight on: in a model house with four offices, four Raspberry Pi's were waiting to be networked and wired up by the girls. Once the monitors, switches and keyboards had been connected, the master password could be entered and the network connections made.