This is the document publishing and project support service of the UCC Computer Centre Electronic Publishing Unit. Contact us at +353 21 490 2609 or email epu@ucc.ie
News (Friday 27 January 2012)
Author identity (2011-12-19)
The biggest single stumbling-block in the way to reliable citation is the identity of the authors: is that Smith, J over there the same one as that James Q Smith over here? There have been proprietary attempts to rationalise this before. but they have foundered on their restrictions. A new project called ORCID is now trying to make a global unique identifier for authors, like the ISBN is for books and the DOI is for articles. UCC is a member of the project and we are monitoring developments so that we don't get left behind.
Digital Object Identifiers (2011-12-04)
Books have ISBNs and journals have ISSN, but until recently there was no way to identify an article with a guaranteed-unique label that would not disappear or change like URIs tend to do. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) provides this (you've probably seen and used them already). We are going to sign up with one of the Registration Authorities so that we can issue all articles with a DOI so that readers can cite UCC publications even more easily. There are a few legal hurdles to overcome but we hope to start working with DOIs in 2012.
New control panel and uploader (2011-11-02)
The new e-journals control panel has been installed, and journals are now able to use it. The default article type is a .docx (OOXML) file, rather than the now-obsolete WordML files used in the old CP. The file-upload program also had to be updated, as the old one contained a a number of obsolete PHP calls which made it risky to continue using.
New e-journals control panel (2011-08-22)
A new e-journals control panel is being developed to replace the pilot one in use to date. This will provide better control and error-reporting on articles, and will include the file-upload mechanism as part of the interface. Release date is scheduled for 1st October 2011.
LISTSERV problems identified (2011-02-16)
The problem with the LISTSERV web configuration has been identified, and will be fixed today or tomorrow. It involves taking the machine down to single-user mode to move some partitions, so the server will be unavailable for a short period, probably no more than an hour, at some stage: details will be made available to the HelpDesk and SIT. Thank you for your patience.
LISTSERV problems (2011-02-11)
The web interface to LISTSERV at http://lists.ucc.ie/ is not working at the moment. We hope to have it restored over the weekend. In the meantime, list owners can use the email interface: documentation is on the L-Soft site. This problem also affects the WordPress blogs which are currently inacessible. All other services on this system are unaffected and mail sent to lists is being distributed as normal.
Upgrade to Saxon 9 (2011-01-20)
We have replaced the Xalan XSLT engine in Cocoon with Saxon 9 to try and stop the Java too many open files errors. The new engine is also rather stricter about conformance, so some pages need editing to avoid null data errors. Please bear with us while this is done.
The Boolean launched (2010-11-01)
The Graduate Studies Office launched their new annual postgraduate journal The Boolean last month, and the new design is now online.
IRIS update (2010-08-23)
The IRIS system for Research Support has been upgraded to Vidatum Academic 2.0, and the published profiles are now being served with a new script. There are still a few oddities to sort out, but it is expected that these will be fixed by the end of September.
LATEX and XML support (2010-08-01)
The new TEX Collection DVD is nearly ready, and copies for UCC have been ordered. We are hoping to upgrade the document server and switch to Saxon some time over the 2010-11 new year break. Due to financial constraints it was unfortunately not possible to attend either the 32nd (25th) TEX Users Group conference nor the Balisage markup conference, so the content of the training courses cannot be updated until later in 2011. LATEX courses are being scheduled for January 2011 onwards, possibly with one session being held in late 2010.
Research Profiles Live (2010-05-14)
IRIS, the new Research Support System, has successfully completed the pilot, and the published profiles are now being rolled out to all departments and school over the next few months. Each new unit going live gets to feature one of their researchers on the UCC home page.
Research Profiles (2010-02-19)
The new Research Support System is in a pilot phase, and the published profiles are under development. Cocoon and XSLT have been used to manipulate the data published by the system so that it conforms to the UCC look and feel, and adds the features we need.
LATEX (2010-01-10)
A new mini-FAQ is now available, with (for once) prescriptive solutions rather than the traditional approach of explaining every last detail and leaving the user with a collection of confusing choices.
Old server inaccessible (2009-11-16)
Due to an untraced networking problem, the old server (epu.ucc.ie) is offline. Most of the documents still served from there are available here (see the menu to the left). We hope to have the problem sorted out today.
Lucene search engine (2009-11-06)
Installing the Lucene search engine only to discover it only comes with a HTML search tool: nothing for XML.
Pieces of history (2009-10-14)
The even older machine, a Sun SparcStation IPX called curia.ucc.ie, failed to reboot last year (2008), and with an inoperable screen it was not possible to see what was wrong. It has been lying idle ever since, waiting for the time when someone can come up with a working Sun monitor that we can plug in and see what is failing. It's probably something simple, but without any screen, we're blind. Moral: never, ever buy proprietary hardware for which there is no easily-available substitute.
Getting closer (2009-09-22)
Finally there is some light at the end of the tunnel. The old server is still running, but all documents and services have now been copied to the new system, and should be reconfigured and running before the end of the [calendar] year. Once those services are stable, the old machine will be switched off and scrapped.
