secure360 conference

I’ve finished the mid-May 2-day secure360 conference here in St. Paul. It was generally quite good even though it was very corporate-focused. Security is security no matter what you’re protecting. But first off I got my lanyard! That’s a Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reference for those not familiar.

The best session was the first one I attended – Users: your first line of defense (click for Slideshare) which had many immediately useful tips.  Taking cues from social psychology, Ari Elias-Bachrach focused on methods for influencing people for making effective training.  Some tips include

• Use positive advice: rather than tell someone “don’t run in the house” instead say “we walk in the house.”  Frame things not as “don’t do” but instead “how to do” the right thing.  And be sure to tell people what they should be doing.  So instead of “don’t use weak passwords” frame it as “you should use strong passwords and here’s how to do that.”
• Use real images in your presentations, not the usual clip art.  Take this
  Users are never going to encounter a man in a ski mask on a laptop.  Instead use a picture of a real phishing email.
• Use language appropriate to the audience and not technical security terms.  He mentioned using the general term virus rather than the technically accurate term of malware.  This spawned a good discussion.  The idea being, use a term that is commonly known.  Malware was agreed to be almost common but virus was more strongly common.  I am torn between being accurate vs. understandable in this case.
• Try making trainings about home or personal computing but all the concepts apply to the office.  For example, hold an optional brownbag about how to protect your kids on the internet or how to protect your computer at home from hacking.  People will come to those and then all the concepts apply equally at work.

Now, on to the social psychology tips.  Some of those included (more…)

Educause 2013 round up

Well another Educause annual conference has come and gone.  It’s been a few years since I attended the annual conference so it was a joy to return.  There were more sessions that I wanted to attend than I could attend.  Several time slots had multiple presentations that I wanted to see.  With more and more sessions recorded I can catch some of those later.  My priorities this year were student success (retention/advising), analytics and vendors.  We are implementing Hobsons Retain/AgileAdvisor/AgileGrad suite which includes a CRM (retain), case management advising (AgileAdvisor) and a degree planner (AgileGrad).  I was also recently on the team architecting a reboot of our institutional research operation that will be the Office of Planning and Effectiveness so analytics are of particular interest.

Sir Ken Robinson

The conference kicked off with an entertaining and engaging talk by Sir Ken Robinson.  This article captures much of the talk.  The very telling video (below) shows one of his points, how you stifle innovation by asking the wrong questions.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TskeE43Q1M]

(more…)

North Loop History Hunt 2

Returning to my “then and now” theme I used the The Minnesota Historical Society database as source material again and looked at the area of north 1st street and 1st avenue north — 1st and 1st.  Look at my previous post to see what this is about.  Enough talk — on to the pictures!

Hunt’s Perfect Baking Powder Company, 100 North First Street, Minneapolis

The hunt’s building still stands, just a bit smaller and without the chimneys.  The building on the left is gone and the main building is not as long –count the windows.  The back was shaved off at some point.  The trees are a nice addition.

(more…)

Fryeshine Jar visit to Minneapolis

Alright, a little background here for folks that aren’t from Frye ’09.  Frye class of 2009 has a mascot, the Fryeshine jar, that has been visiting each of us from the group (that’s a list of us with our addresses inside the jar).  Every visit includes many pictures of the Jar’s adventures.  I decided to show off a couple of my favorite spots in Minneapolis.  Additionally on our email list there was interest in Mary Tyler Moore and the Mall of America so I included those too.  Click on any image to see a larger version.

Minneapolis Skyline

The day started with a nice vista of the Minneapolis downtown skyline from the roof of my building.  It was an unseasonably warm 50 degrees so I headed out with jar in hand.

(more…)

North Loop History Hunt

This is a slight diversion from my typical theme of technology.  I’ve had an interest in urban history ever since being introduced to Larry Millet’s  Lost Twin Cities book  in a College history course.  That book and his book Twin Cities: Then and Now (and other versions by other authors) have been like ice cream to me – I can never get enough.  I’ve even gone on his walking tours of Twin Cities neighborhoods which were excellent.  Having recently moved to the North Loop neighborhood I am surrounded by history.  So I decided to take a walk down Washington Avenue North both then and now.  The Minnesota Historical Societies database  is impressive and keeps getting better — it now has a mapping feature on the pictures so you can see all the images in an area.  All the old images come from there and are linked back to the source.  Click on any of my images to see a larger version.

Washington Avenue North from Hennepin

It’s safe to say there’s nothing recognizable at this busy intersection.  The buildings in the distance are too far away to anchor us.  A disappointing and realistic start, but it gets better.

(more…)