Monday, June 28, 2010

Welcome!

The mission of Student Technology Services is to make the use of technology easier and to disseminate technological information to the Johns Hopkins community, especially students. We also provide services in technology, such as web and graphic design, video production, and computer programming for the university. One of the unique things about STS is that our employees are almost all students. Our motto is "By students, for students."

One of our major projects is JumpStart, a website that contains information about the wide array of technology resources available at Hopkins. Every year incoming students are directed to JumpStart to find information about connecting to their Hopkins email, buying a computer, and acceptable uses of technology at Hopkins. Also, we field questions from students, faculty, and staff about using technology. Of course, there's a lot more we do; you can find out by visiting the STS website.

There are three main purposes for this blog. The first is to further our mission of providing information about technology to the Hopkins community. It seems like technology changes every day and it can be very difficult to keep track of what's going on, let alone understand how it impacts our lives. Our goal is to pass on information and advice about what's going on in the world of technology, whether it's the latest iPhone, changes to Facebook's privacy policies, or new technology resources available at Hopkins. Also, a lot of people have questions about how to use technology, and we want to pass on some tips, advice, and basic training on how to use different programs and hardware. All of the students who work for STS have had learned a wide array of skills and use them every day so they have a lot to offer in this regard.

The second purpose for this blog is to share updates about the many projects we work on. One of our biggest projects is Virtual JHU - an interactive map of the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus, featuring 3D models of all of the campus buildings. Our video team produces a series of videos called MyFirst videos in which different people recount their experiences at Hopkins. We also design a lot of websites, which has shown us how many different services are available to students at JHU, which we want to tell you about.

Finally, we want to keep in touch with other students who are interested in technology. What are you interested in learning more about? How could technology resources at Hopkins be improved? Maybe you can help us solve some of the problems we face. We really want feedback so we can continue to provide the best support possible to the Johns Hopkins community. Feel free to email us or leave a comment letting us know what's on your mind.