Emerging Practices Lab Guidelines

All Emerging Practices Lab users are responsible for reading and following these guidelines. They have been established to promote equitable and enjoyable computer access for all EP/CD students.

1. WORK ENVIRONMENT In consideration of a cooperative and productive working environment:

• Headphones are required for any extended audio output.
• Cell phone ringers must be kept on "vibrate" or "off".
• All conversations (phone and person-to-person) should be kept in a low voice and to a minimum.
• Food and beverages must be consumed away from computers.

2. Authorized Users Emerging Practices Labs are available to students currently enrolled in Emerging Practices, Communication Design, Art 140, and Senior Thesis, as well as other Visual Studies students who have completed ART 250 (or equivalent) and pay the $100 lab fee.

3. Classwork Only The Computer Labs are furnished with state-of-the-art, high powered workstations with software intended for the making of art and design. For non-EPCD class related activities, other public sites on campus are available.

4. Log-in/out Authorized Lab users have their own EP Lab account. Log-in to a EP/CD workstation with your UB IT name (if you don't know it, lookup your email address in the UB Phone Book), and the default password given to you by your instructor. You must change your password at first login, and may do so thereafter by using System Preferences/Accounts. If you cannot log-in to an EP/CD workstation, see Dom in CFA 139.

You must log-out at the end of your work session to secure any documents left in your Home folder and to protect your print quota. Since activity on lab machines is logged, you may be held responsible for actions performed by others using your account.

5. Saving files, Server access, & backup Your account includes a server-based Home folder for documents and preferences, which can also be accessed from outside the labs. User accounts are synconized from the server to the local hard drive at login and in the background during a work session. To minimize synchronization time, students are encouraged to store a minimal amount of data in their home directories and use external drives for large files and backups.

Students are required to carry external drives to class on a regular basis, and to make frequent backups of work.

Your Home directory is available to you automatically by logging into a EP/CD lab computer, or by connecting to our server remotely (see below). The CourseWork directory is used by instructors to hand out and collect assignments from students. Connecting to CourseWork is not automatic.

To connect to the VS servers see instructions at <http://vs2.buffalo.edu/>.

You are responsible for keeping backup copies of your files. Servers are not regularly backed up. Work stored in your Home folder or in CourseWork may be lost unexpectedly! You must ensure that your work is backed up onto a removable drive. Lost data is never an excuse for not meeting a deadline.

6. Printers Printers are for lab course related material only — all other prints may be destroyed. Each $100 lab fee entitles the user to make 50 black & white prints and 50 color prints per printer per semester, either 8.5x11 or 11x17, single- or double-sided. (The print quota is adjusted to accomodate errors caused by jamming or other unforeseen problems.)

Students may add 100 color or BW prints to their quota for an additional $25 fee. Unused prints may not be transferred nor will fees be refunded.

For more EP Lab printing info, click here.

For info about iPrint@ub, printing in the public labs, click here.

7. Computer Availability & Time Limit Lab access is available on a 1st-come 1st-served basis during posted Open Lab times (the schedule is posted outside the lab doors). If users are waiting to use a computer, there is a 4 hour continuous use limit on all workstations. Anyone using a computer for more than 4 hours must relinquish their seat to the next person in line. If you leave your machine unattended for more than 15 minutes you may be logged-out by the lab monitor.

Do not tie up lab machines with lengthy 3D or movie rendering. Rendering that will take more than 30 minutes should be done overnight in lab 142. Place a sign on the computer and be in when the lab reopens to save your work, or you might be logged out.

8. Special use workstations The scanning and audio/video capture workstations are prioritized for students needing to use them for those purposes. If that's not you, you must give your spot to someone who needs it for that special use.

Special equipment such as scanners, audio and video equipment require special care. Do not operate equipment that you are not familiar with. Please ask you instructors for help.

9. Privacy The VS Servers maintain logs of user log-ins (date, time, duration) and of applications that are launched. No other personal data is collected. Files stored within the default folders of the user's Home directory are viewable only by the user. Files stored in Shared directories or on the CourseWork volume may be viewed by others.

Passwords should not be shared with others. Passwords are encrypted and cannot be recovered if forgotten. They can, however, be reset by the admin.

The lab administrator uses Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) to connect to lab clients for remote maintenance. ARD can also be used to chat with users and assist with support issues. An indicator in the user's menu bar shows when the administrator is online, and if he/she is observing or controlling the user's computer. Users will be observed only if permission is granted beforehand, and only for the purpose of assisting the user or troubleshooting a hardware or software problem.

10. Additional Support For updated schedules and technical support, see the Emerging Practices Lab Resources section of the Web site <http://visualstudies.buffalo.edu/resources/computerlabs>. For more info or to report problems, see Dom Licata in CFA 139 or email djlicata@buffalo.edu