Instructional Support Committee

Minutes of December 2, 2009
Noon
Faculty House

Attending: Rebecca Stuhr, Mark Schneider, Richard Fyffe, David Cook-Martin, Leslie Gregg-Jolly, John Stone, Karen Shuman, Kramer McLuckie, Jenny Anger, Bill Francis, Terri Phipps

Minutes approved with minor edit.

Update: Librarians have tracked un-retrieved printed documents from three printers, totaling approximately one ream of paper per week.

John Stone has been invited to today's meeting on file formats. A task force was formed two years ago to look at the file format issue. The task force recommended that PCs be configured to default to the previous version rather than Office 2007, .doc rather than .docx, for example. It was also recommended that converters for Open XML, Microsoft Office 2003, and Open Document Format also be included with new computers.

Discussion of Open Document Format (ODF):

  • Offer encryption, which MS Word does not have.

  • Tracking changes: Can track in documents that originate in ODF

  • Not compatible with Macs running software older than 2008. These users will need to download Open Office.

  • Microsoft products do not run on Linux systems, so MathLan users often have difficulty opening documents. John reports that about one-fourth of documents received are saved in MS2007 format and cannot be opened.

  • The cost of training to support multiple software packages could negatively impact support that can be offered.

  • The interface of Open Office is very similar to Microsoft 2003. Documents created in Open Office cannot be saved as MS 2007. Documents created in MS 2007 can be saved in MS2003, which would be compatible with Open Office; however, some formatting could be lost.

  • Collaboration with other institutions and with students can be difficult as there is a wide variety of file formats in use. Currently, documents saved in MS2003-compatible formats, such as .doc, work best.

  • Specialized software used by Admission and Development are not compatible with MS2003 or older.

  • Non-proprietary software seems to offer longer-term compatibility.

Recommendations:

  • That new computers have Open Office installed and that users are made aware that it is an option.

  • That new PCs are set to default to MS2003-compatible settings.

  • That users are made aware of the issue and should save in MS2003-compatible format.

Discussion will continue next semester.

Respectfully submitted,
Terri Phipps