Blog

Reading Week is upon us! The University will be closed for the Family Day Holiday on February 21 and the Labs will be “card access only” for most of the week. If you need in-person services on Reading Week, please contact us, otherwise Lab Staff will be mostly working from home.

We expect most classes booked in the Labs to be returning to in-person learning the week of February 28, but please check with your professor/instructor just to make certain what the plan is for your class. We will be providing on-site services on those days where classes are using the Lab(s), likely Monday through Thursday.

Now that scheduled classes have ended for the Fall, we are in the process of preparing for Winter classes. Here’s your guide to the next few weeks in the IAML (updated 2021-12-21).

Deleting Student Files

• All user accounts on Lab computers will be deleted starting Monday, December 20. This includes all files stored on our computers.
• All files on the lab server will be deleted on Monday, January 3.

Card Access

• Majors in Art, Music, Drama, and Dance will have card access to the Small Lab until the University is closed (i.e., until the end of the day on December 23).
• Anyone who has been granted access to the building during the holiday closure (Dec. 24 – Jan. 1) will still have card access.
• Card access for students who were not majors but were enrolled in a Lab class this Fall will have access until December 20.

Services

• If you need services during the week of December 20, please contact us. Staff are on vacation but may be on campus at times to complete Winter course preparation.
• Services are scheduled to resume on Thursday, January 6. (Note: The Block Course originally scheduled to be held in the Main Lab has been cancelled.) Should the University institute a Work from Home order, contact us if you require any in-person services.

While you were off campus, we spent a lot of time (and money!) improving the Integrated Arts Media Labs. Here are the highlights:

• Every student station in both labs now has, at minimum, one 27-inch display. In the Main Lab, all student stations have a HiDPI (Retina) display.
• We have added 10 Apple Silicon Mac mini computers, mostly in the Main Lab. These will offer great performance for years to come.
• The capacity of the Main Lab has been increased to 22 student computers.
• The remaining Intel Mac mini computers (all located in the Small Lab) have been upgraded to use an internal 480 GB Solid State Drive (SSD) instead of the original Fusion Drive. This should improve performance on these older machines.
• All Lab computers are running Apple’s latest operating system, macOS Big Sur. (The hallway computers will run macOS Catalina until they are replaced.)

Access to services will be limited for the remainder of the Summer. Here is the schedule by week (subject to change):

• Week of July 26: Closed (staff vacation)
• Week of August 2: Closed (University closed August 2, staff vacation other days)
• Week of August 9: Staff available by appointment
• Week of August 16: Staff available by appointment Monday to Wednesday (staff vacation Thursday and Friday)
• Week of August 23: Staff available Thursday (after 10:00) and Friday by appointment (staff vacation Monday through Wednesday)
• Week of August 30: Block Week course in Main Lab Tuesday through Thursday (no drop-in access), access to services Monday and Friday by appointment
• Week of September 6: University closed Monday (Labour Day). Fall Classes begin Tuesday.

Irrespective of other campus, city, or provincial guidelines, a face covering will be continue to be required in the Art Building using the Campus Face Coverings Protocol establish originally on 2020 November 24. This means masks must be worn at all times when indoors in the Art Building unless you are in an office, lab, or studio completely by yourself.

At this time, it is expected that this policy will be in place until at least 2021 August 30.

As per Alberta Health pandemic-related restrictions, all classes are now being offered online only. However, if you need access to Lab computers to do your class work, this is still possible.

• We can arrange to give you card access to the Main Lab (after you complete a safety orientation);
• You can remote control our Lab computers (or, in some cases, computers in the Arts Faculty Computer Lab);
• You may be able to obtain free or discounted software for your own computer.

Ask your instructor for details or contact us directly.