Information Technology

Citing media from digital resources

This post will provide a walk-through for citing digital media using the American Psychological Association (APA) format. This is the most common citation style for scientific papers. Proper citation is important in that it gives credit to the original authors and owners of referenced works, and it gives readers of your paper a way to research and verify the sources that you used.

  • Citing a Video Link:

Example:

Citation:

In-Text Citations:

The video should be referenced in the text, like this:

“The OSU marching band put on an amazing halftime show (the Lantern, 2012).”

or

“The Lantern (2012) highlights the skill of the OSU marching band.”

  • Citing an Image/Graph/Chart:

The image should have a caption that includes:

  1. The word Figure (with a capital letter and in italics)
  2. A number (starting with 1, increasing in numerical order with each new figure)
  3. A title for the figure or brief description of the work
  4. The owner and publication date in parenthesis

Example:

Figure 1. Ohio State Buckeyes Logo (Buckeyes1186, 2013)

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Citation:

In text citation:

The figure should be referenced in the text, like this:

“As Figure 1 shows, OSU has the best school logo.”

  • Citing a Table

The table should have the following information:

Above the table:

Include the word Table with its number next to it (starting at 1) and a title which describes the contents of the table. Title should be in italics and capitalized in sentence case.

Below the table:

A table should be able to be understood on its own, even outside of the context of the rest of the paper. A note under the table can be used to provide extra information and context.

Example:

Citation:

In-text citation:

The table should be referenced in the text, like this:

“As shown in Table 1, I assume you will have a perfect understanding of APA formatting after reading this post.”

  • Additional Tips:

Some web resources may choose to include their reference list without the usual APA-style hanging indent because hanging indents will not display correctly on certain blogs and web platforms (See an example).  The reference entries you see above are image files intended to demonstrate how hanging indent should display in APA style.

It is important to be aware of the ownership rights of media you choose to replicate. Some sources of free use images are:

When in Doubt, Don’t Click! Avoid Email Phishing Attempts

You have probably been told in the past not to click links in emails from unknown sources, and you probably follow that rule to the letter.  Phishing attempts become more legitimate-looking every day.

When thinking about whether to click on a link, please remember these basic rules (explained in more detail in this Wired.com article):

  1. Always think twice before clicking a link in an email
  2. Consider the source (first, look at who sent the email, then hover over the link– but don’t click!– and see if the link leads to a website you recognize and trust)
  3. Report phishing attempts, or suspected attempts, to report-phish@osu.edu

Some recent items we have noticed in phishing attempts include the following:

  • Email addresses that look like OSU emails, but if you search the names at osu.edu/findpeople, no results will come up
  • Use of OSU logos, legitimate-looking email layouts, and legitimate email addresses/websites listed under the signature or in the header
  • Simple-looking emails that ask you to click a link to “validate” or “secure” your email, storage, or other information
  • Emails that look like they are written by a friend/colleague but with unknown email addresses or referring to a conversation you never had

Below are some recent examples that faculty and staff at the College of Nursing have reported.  Click on the image to view it full-size.

Examples of Recent Phishing Emails

This email has been flagged by the administrator as a possible phishing attempt (red flag #1), and if you hover over the link without clicking, you’ll see it does not go to a osu.edu webpage. Also please note the convincing-looking signature line, and the very suspicious line above this assuring you that it is legitimate.

See that the link above does not lead to my.osu.edu, and note the grammatical errors in the email.

The above email contains a link that does not lead to a osu.edu page.  It also contains questionable grammar such as “All staffs and students” and “portal to access the below”.

The link in the above email does not seem legitimate, and the “From” line of the email seems odd too, as it does not have an email address but only a name. I looked up the sender below for more information.

It turns out, the “sender” is a real OSU employee, but if you notice in the original email, the “From” box has a comma between last name and first and in the center of the email the comma is missing. If you do not know the sender or you are not expecting an email from them, assume this is a phishing attempt.

Sometimes it helps to do a Google Search or a “Find People” search on the sender of an email. Above is what I found out about “Wilhem Veen,” a name which appeared numerous times above.

 

Thanks for reading! Please remember to always consider the source and hover over links before clicking them. When in doubt, don’t click! Forward any suspicious emails to report-phish@osu.edu

 

 

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Office 365 for Personal Computers

The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is rolling out Office 365 for faculty and staff on July 25, 2017. The following products will be available as part of the phase one release:

  • Office 365 ProPlus – Mac/PC Licenses for full Office installs; enables Mobile Office
  • Office Online – Work in the cloud using Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and PDF documents in your web browser
  • OneDrive for Business – One (1) terabyte of cloud storage; needed for Office Online
  • Sway – Easily create engaging, interactive, web-based reports and presentations
  • Forms – Quizzing function available through Office 365
  • Planner – Create new plans, build a team, assign tasks, and update status in a few easy steps
  • Delve – Discover current information likely to be most interesting to you across Office 365

To get started with Office 365 for faculty and staff, refer to the Office 365 Employees article as well as the FAQ for employees on Office 365. For information on the data that can and cannot be placed in OneDrive for Business, consult the Ohio State Institutional Data Policy.To access Office 365, use the office365.osu.edu webpage.

To log in, click the ‘Faculty/Staff’ button and use your lastname.#@osu.edu and password. If you are a student as well as a university employee, you will have two Office 365 accounts: for one, you will use your lastname.#@osu.edu to log in, and you will use your lastname.#@buckeyemail.osu.edu to log in to the other. It is important to note that if an employee is also a student, they will have two separate and unique accounts, one for employee work and one for student work. They must log into each separately.

To install Office 365, refer to the Installation of Office for Windows/Mac for Employees Knowledge Base article. Note: Office 365 should NOT be installed on any Ohio State-managed equipment. Employees must contact their local IT before attempting an installation on university managed computers.

Cybersecurity Part 3: Educate Yourself About Web Addresses

In our first two posts about Cybersecurity, we defined different threats and discussed what the College of Nursing IT department does, as well as what you can do, to protect our data at the College of Nursing.  This post will go over some additional information about reading website addresses that will help you to be safer when browsing the web.

Below in black/blue/red/green you can see the full web address of the RN to BSN program introduction on the CON website.  You will notice four distinct parts of the address. Below, we will go over those parts of the web address.

Http(s): The letters “http” ahead of a website signify the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, and the “S” added here indicates that the connection is encrypted (or, coded to keep unauthorized viewers from seeing the information being transferred).

Domain: The domain name is the name of the website that you are accessing. In the case above, nursing.osu.edu is the domain name of the College of Nursing.  All of the subsequent pages that you can reach from the College of Nursing’s website are “nested” into this domain.  In this particular case, nursing.osu.edu is connected to the overall osu.edu domain which you can reach by clicking the link at the very top of the page.  In much the same way that books have chapters with sub sections, the larger “osu.edu” domain connects to the smaller “nursing.osu.edu” domain which has many pages attached to it.

Extension: The extension tells us what kind of website we are accessing.  In this case, the “.edu” extension indicates that this is a higher educational institution.  Other common domain names are listed on this Wikipedia page.  It’s good to be familiar with the most used extensions, because in recent years, fake websites have popped up that may lead you to think they are legitimate. For example, the real website for the ABC News television station is abcnews.go.com.  Recently, a fake site popped up with the web address abcnews.go.co* (notice this site ends with “.co” instead of the usual “.com”) that mimicked the real website quite convincingly.

Path: The series of words with forward slashes that follow the website extension tell your computer where to look in the domain of the website– this is basically a nested series of pages. So, in the example above, the RN to BSN program introduction connects to the undergraduate program overview page which can be found on the academic program page.

Now that you know the basic elements of a web address, try paying attention to the addresses that common links take you to.  Whenever you see a domain name that seems off (like “gooogle.com” for instance), an extension you don’t recognize such as “.co”, or you don’t trust the provider of the link, DON’T CLICK!  You can find some helpful hints from these pages as well:

How to Spot a Fake Website

Reading Web Addresses

 

*For those of you who are now terrified of clicking on a bad link, we’re glad you’re paying attention! The link above to the fake ABC website will just take you to a Wikipedia page describing the site, so feel free to check it out this time.

 

 

BuckeyePass (Duo Multi-Factor Authentication) coming to the College of Nursing

Multi-factor authentication adds a second layer of security that combines something you know (like your password) with something you have (a mobile device or phone). With just a few changes, users can take advantage of the new security measures now when authenticating to the CON VPN (known sometimes as NetExtender or SonicWall). Both single-factor and multi-factor authentication methods will be available until May 5, so now is a great time to try it out and work through any issues before the old method of logging in is no longer available.

Why:

Passwords alone are no longer secure enough to protect certain kinds of data. Increased phishing attacks against higher-educational institutions, increases in identity theft crimes, and data breaches on other websites where usernames and passwords may have become exposed all contribute to the need for multi-factor authentication. Attackers will no longer be able to access sensitive information with just a stolen password.

When:

The new, multi-factor VPN is already active and available for use. The existing, single-factor VPN will remain active until May 5th, 2017. Faculty, staff, and students connecting to the VPN will need to use the address vpn.nursing.osu.edu.

The Remote Desktop Server will begin requiring Duo authentication on the same day.

How:

Most faculty and staff have already activated their Duo account, as it is required to log into Employee Self-Service. If you have not already, please click here for more information on how to register and activate. If you need assistance, please call (614) 688-HELP.

https://buckeyepass.osu.edu/

Once you have activated, you will need to set up a new connection in your NetExtender or SonicWall Mobile Connect application. For more detailed instructions, click here.

There is a general Panopto tutorial here.

Quick Guide: Leaving Classrooms After Class

For the purposes of saving energy and money, we ask that all instructors turn off classroom projectors when you are finished using them.  Of course, if you know the next instructor is outside waiting, feel free to keep the projector on. If you know the next class won’t be using the projector for 20-30 minutes or later, please turn off the projector. 

 

Below are instructions for turning off the classroom systems. Please note that pushing the “mute display” button on the control screen will cause the projector to project a black image and will still use up some of the bulb’s life. (For most of our projectors, the bulbs run around $300 each. In the case of room 172, the bulb is around $800.)  Thus, when you leave the classroom for more than a few minutes, it’s much better for the system to turn the projector all the way off rather than muting it.

 

1) Wave your hand by the touch screen on the lectern. The little dot my finger is pointing at the motion sensor that will turn on the touch screen for you.

2) Press the System Off button.

 

3) When asked if you are sure you want to turn the system off, press on the Power Down button.

 

Here and there the Power Down button may not work exactly as intended and the projector will stay on. If that’s the case, please let us know at con-it@osu.edu and we can take a look.

 

If you are coming into a classroom and wanting to turn the projector on, first make sure that the computer is on by looking under the monitor and checking for the lime green light:

If the computer is not on, you can turn it on by pressing the green button once. The machine may take a few minutes to start up.  Again, wave your hand in front of the sensor and the touch screen should turn on. You can use the touch screen to turn on the projector as well as changing the input (from the classroom computer to a laptop, for example).

Please let us know if you have any questions about using the classroom computers, turning on/off the projectors, etc.  Also, please remember to lock the classroom doors when you leave.

Student Printing When Lab is Reserved

At certain times of the year, the computer lab in room 220 Newton Hall is reserved for proctored exams or other purposes.  When the lab is reserved, students may still use printing services according to the below instructions.

When an instructor or staff member schedules the lab, they will be asked to also schedule a Newton Hall classroom to use as an alternate lab. The room number of the alternate lab space will be posted on the door of the 220 computer lab.  If the alternate computer lab is not listed, you can find out where it is by asking one of the IT staff members in rooms 260 or 208.  In the alternate space, students can then check out a laptop from the laptop cart and use it as they would in the lab, and send the print jobs to the new printer on top of the laptop cart.

Students, faculty and staff can see the lab schedule by following this link, or looking at the “Computer Lab Closures” list at the bottom of the Student Web homepage:

To Students: If you need technical support or have any concerns about IT services at the College of Nursing, feel free to let us know at con-s-help@osu.edu

Cybersecurity Part 2: External Threats

In our previous cybersecurity post, we discussed internal threats and what you can do to avoid them.  This post will focus on external threats, and how the College of Nursing IT department is working to keep our network safe.

An external threat is an attack or attempted attack by an outsider trying to gain access to a network.  There are several levels of external threats, including:

  • Basic: These usually take the form of scripts that automatically search the internet for vulnerabilities. They are not usually aimed at specific people or networks.
  • Advanced: These are attackers actively trying to access a network from the outside.
  • Advanced Persistent: These are often hackers who are state-sponsored or may even come from inside foreign governments.  They have the time, money, resources, and motivation to get into a network and they will continue trying new attacks.  Attacks of this nature are often the ones you hear about on the evening news.

We asked Erik Yarberry, network administrator for the College of Nursing, what we are doing to mitigate threats from both external and internal attacks.  Here are a few things our network is equipped with:

  • A Firewall, or a system that uses certain rules to control traffic into and out of the network.  The CON has two firewalls– one that protects all networks inside the CON (including Nursing_WiFi) from the outside, and then another one that keeps Nursing_WiFi separate from the wired network.
  • A Virtual Private Network (VPN) which encrypts internet connections to network resources that are not available to the public
  • Splunk, a program which exports all of the network’s system logs and allows network administrators to search those logs using sophisticated techniques
  • Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Software which protects all of the network’s data from exposure or being compromised.
  • Various alerts about possible “ransomware” attacks, compromised accounts, too many login attempts, etc

With all of these programs and defense mechanisms in place, our network runs every day while fending off potential attacks from the outside.  In our next and final entry for this series, we will discuss more ways that you can protect your information and keep the CON network secure.

 

Using Social Media to Promote Nursing Science

Mention social media to a room full of nurses and nurse educators and you may just see a collective cringe shudder through your audience.  From HIPAA to hospital liability and everywhere in between, social media may feel like a minefield to those in our line of work.  While there are lots of resources out there to tell you what not to post online as a nurse, we think it’s equally important to know how proper use of social media can benefit you, your colleagues, and society as a whole.

In this Huffington Post article, Mona Shattell and co-author Monica McLemore discuss the changing demographics of the nursing profession and its implications for nurses’ involvement on social media. Like other fields of science, nursing science is finding its footing in the world of Twitter, where researchers can disseminate information far and wide, potentially reaching diverse audiences across the globe.

The potential benefits of using social media to advance nursing science abound– these platforms allow for quick postings, hashtags that bring attention to issues and help organize posts, and connections to other researchers or interested parties who may never have crossed paths with the nursing researchers without the help of social media.

If you would like to explore social media as a vehicle to share your nursing research and scholarly work, this AACN webinar recording is a great place to begin. Read the session description and use the link below to access the recording. One hour of CE is available!

How to Use Social Media to Promote Nursing Science
“You’ve completed the research, presented your findings at a scientific conference, AND published your research results in a high-impact journal. In the past, this was considered to be the complete checklist for dissemination of science – but now there’s social media. This session will provide guidance for developing your social media plan as a means to build a professional network, monitor news items from our professional organizations and other media outlets, promote programs and services, and even find new funding and publishing opportunities. Advanced users can use social media as a means to become a thought leader in areas of expertise, influence policy, and inform the public; all by being a part of the conversation.”


View the webinar, and comment below if you decide to establish your professional presence in the world of social media! Note: you will need to enter your name and email address to view the webinar, but it is free and available to the public.

Cybersecurity Part 1: Internal Threats

Erik Yarberry is the College of Nursing’s Network Administrator.  He recently took some time to talk to us about cybersecurity at the College of Nursing, including what are termed “internal” and “external” threats to the network.  This post will explore internal threats, and another post will follow discussing external threats.

Internal threats are those that come from employees or others who have access to the network.  These can be both intended and accidental. Here are some examples:

  1. Employees clicking on or forwarding phishing messages sent by email
  2. People leaving employment who leave security holes or delete files they shouldn’t (either accidentally or intentionally)
  3. People getting viruses through unsafe websites, unsecured flash drives, or other means

You might be wondering, what’s the point in phishing or hacking the College of Nursing? What’s there to gain? Here are some things hackers and phishers look for:

  1. Intellectual property including copyrighted works, dissertations, etc.
  2. Personally identifying information
    • Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, anything that would help an identity thief
  3. Access to legitimate email addresses to send more attacks out

Internal security threats make up a large portion of the cybersecurity threats that the College of Nursing faces. That’s why it’s important to know a threat when you see it, and if necessary alert the proper channels.  Here are some tips to remember to protect yourself and the College of Nursing from these kinds of threats:

  • Don’t click on unfamiliar links or attachments in emails! If you are sent an email that looks suspicious, forward it to report-phish@osu.edu
  • Change your passwords frequently, and use a new and unique password each time.  If your email or other information was ever breached, those old passwords could be in the wrong hands.
  • Know how to browse the web safely. Here are some good tips.
  • Have anti-virus software, and update your computer and software regularly. Cybersecurity is basically an arms race, and the best way to be equipped is to keep all of your systems as up-to-date as possible.
  • If you suspect you have a virus or clicked on something you shouldn’t have, alert IT right away at CON-informationtechnology@osu.edu

 

In our next Cybersecurity post, we will delve into external threats and what the College of Nursing is doing to mitigate them.