Duke News Briefs, April 15, 2005

The culture of comic books

Comic books are required reading for an April 22 Duke colloquium titled "Comic Book Cultures." Scholars from U.S. and Canadian universities will explore various approaches to the study of comic books when they gather at the MaryLouWilliamsCenter for the one-day meeting, which is open to the public. The event begins at 9 a.m.

The colloquium speakers include Scott Bukatman, Stanford University, addressing the inter-relatedness of cyberculture, urban studies, and comic books; Peter Coogan, co-chair of the Comic Arts Conference, talking about the superhero genre; Susan Squier, Pennsylvania State University, discussing the role of graphic novels in science and science studies; andPhillip Thurtle, Carleton University, outlining connections among the histories of genetics, mass media and comic books.

The Duke University Libraries' large comics collection, acquired in 2003, was an incentive for having the colloquium on campus. The Edwin and Terry Murray Collection of Pulp Culture, a collection of over 55,000 comic books (as well as related items such as fanzines) is housed at the University's Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library. Comic books from the Murray Collection as well as comics from a collection owned by the library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are being exhibited at Perkins Library in conjunction with the colloquium.

The colloquium and the concurrent Perkins comic book exhibition are co-sponsored by Perkins Library the Robertson Scholars Program Collaboration Fund, the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, the New Beginnings "Culture Study of Medicine" Working Group, and the departments of cultural anthropology, English and literature.

Rob Mitchell, assistant professor of English at Duke, is the conference organizer. More information about the program is available at <www.duke.edu/web/english/comics>.

Need to upgrade your VPN

Students and faculty connecting to the Duke computer network from a remote location who have not yet downloaded the new 4.x version of the Virtual Private Network (VPN) client need to do so by May 10. After that date, computer users who have not upgraded to the new 4.x VPN client will no longer be able to connect to the Duke network using the old 3.x VPN client.

The new version -- which should include "Version 4.6.00" in the VPN client title bar once installed “ can be downloaded by visiting <www.oit.duke.edu/remote_access/vpn>. Members of the Duke community still using the old VPN client will be sent an e-mail notification to download the new client. The entire download and installation process should take about 10 minutes.

A VPN is a means of transferring information using secure methods over a public network. Duke's VPN creates a secure connection between a user's computer and Duke's VPN concentrator. While the VPN is running, any network traffic from a user's computer is sent securely to the concentrator. The concentrator will then pass the data along to the intended destination, letting your home computer appear to be physically at Duke.

If you are connecting via the VPN service, a VPN client window will open when you connect prompting you for login information.  If no such window pops up, then you are not using a VPN client.

Duke's VPN provides a secure method for transporting confidential information across a public computer network. Anyone using the Duke network for handling sensitive records, accessing IP-restricted library databases, or using Microsoft Windows Networking or accessing files via insecure methods should use the secure tunnel to Duke provided by a VPN.

The new 4.x VPN client provides a significant upgrade from the older 3.x version, including increases in security features. In light of this, OIT has decided to discontinue support for access via the old 3.x client.

"The new client has a security system that makes it virtually impossible to impersonate Duke's VPN server in order to capture a user's NetID and password, and then gain unauthorized access to resources at Duke," said Kevin Miller, OIT's Network Architect.

For questions about the new VPN client or installation issues, call the Help Desk at 684-2200.

Duke tops AOL search

America Online users are interested in DukeUniversity. The institution was the most searched for university on AOL search this spring.

The results are based on the people and topics that received the highest volume of online queries nationally on AOL Search from Jan. 1 to March 21, 2005.

"Looking at search terms seasonally and seeing what's gaining in popularity on AOL Search can reveal a lot about emerging trends and what's hot with consumers," said Jim Riesenbach, Senior Vice President, AOL Search and Navigation.

The rest of the Top 10 following Duke was New YorkUniversity, the University of Florida, OhioState, University of South Florida, Florida State, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, PennState, UCLA and the University of Maryland.

Academic Council meeting

The Academic Council will meet at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21, in 139 Social Sciences Bldg.

AGENDA

1. Approval of March 24 minutes

2. Announcements

3. Executive session “ honorary degrees

4. Faculty Secretary election

5. Election of Academic Council Executive Committee

6. Salary equity report

7. NCAA certification “ Larry Moneta

Blood pressure study

People who are between the age of 30 and 75 and who have high blood pressure are needed for a Duke study of blood pressure and perceptual functioning. The study involves four visits. Volunteers will be paid $25 for each visit.

Volunteers should not be currently taking medication for hypertension or high blood pressure. For more information, call 681-6090.