Article by Candy Rolland.
Free T-shirts, full-size Hershey’s bars, four films, one destroyed Apple MacBook, and a bombardment of “Lord of the Rings” screen savers are all to get all eyes on the “D.”
The Dixie State University Information Technology Department has been working earnestly for a year on the new Dixie ID project. The goal of the project will be combining the accounts individuals use under one authoritative database. Each student, faculty or staff member will only have one username and one password for all Dixie accounts, hence, “One account to rule them all.”
Technology is moving toward being even more connected, said Craig Southwick, director of systems administration. The combined ID makes things simpler, more secure, and builds for future IT projects like a single sign-on system, where you will only have to log in once to access all your accounts, Southwick said.
The new Dixie ID project will be initiated May 16. Students, faculty and staff will have to remember to place a “D” before their student or employee ID number. There will be no difference in student and employee accounts, but the change is a bit bigger for the employees. The password for students will be the same password used for their Canvas or mydixie. The password for employees will be the one used for their dixie.edu email.
IT has spent significant time and so far $20,000 for this project, not including the wages of the staff who have been working on it.
Southwick said he was asked, “Why has the DSU IT department been going to such lengths for marketing this project? After all what is so difficult about adding a “D” to your Dixie ID number?”
IT is actually improvising, Southwick replied. A project like this normally takes years, adding more full-time staff, consultants, and a lot more money, he said. However, the IT department will spend what it must to support campus with this transition, Southwick said.
The main reason for the marketing now is to bring awareness to students who will be using their accounts over the summer and to prevent as much confusion as possible when 9,000 students try to log on in the fall, Southwick said.
DSU Films has been playing a big role in the marketing, with two films already out and two to go.
IT had asked DSU Films for its help at the beginning of February to try and help promote this “mundane information,” said Ben Braten, director of film production and editing.
“We are all kind of like giant geeks, and so we all like ‘Lord of the Rings’… We all have that in common right?” Braten chuckled.
Braten said he doesn’t think most people know how difficult it is to actually put something like this together. You have got to find the actors, the costumes, order the costumes, wait for the costumes, find out the masks are awful, make everyone’s schedules work, and sometimes stay out until 2 a.m. filming, he said.
So far about 16 students and a handful of staff have been involved with the filming, but Braten estimates about two to three dozen students will have been involved when everything is said and done.
“[We’ve] pulled off something pretty funny,” Braten said.
DSU Films had planned on having the films done last week, but with the semester winding down and finals nearing, Braten said, schedules have been extra difficult. He said they are shooting to have them done this week but definitely by the end of the semester.
IT will be sending out emails in the near future to remind students, faculty, and staff about the login changes. Marketing will pick back up in the fall, and at least for the first week of school, six of 24 trained IT students will be staffing the front desk in the Holland building for extra assistance.
“If marketing helps and the more people [that] seamlessly login the first week the better,” Southwick said.
Remember everybody, in the words of DSU YouTube Gollum, “Give it the D.”
To watch the films and/or for more information, visit dixie.edu/dixieid.
