Hello world!
First post with the new blog system on mkdocs :)
News from the staff team¶
We post major announcements related to the OCF here. For downtime information or unscheduled events, however, you may want to follow our status blog which will have the latest info even if the site is down.
Student Organization Subdomain Moratorium
Campus wants to rename your website and email addresses
<p>
<strong>TL;DR:</strong> The university is revoking all existing *.berkeley.edu domains for student organizations, and mandating migration to *.studentorg.berkeley.edu. All new allocations are put on hold until this occurs and will subsequently also be provisioned as *.studentorg.berkeley.edu.
<p>If you'd like to voice your feelings on this subject, please direct your comments to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Patrick Holmes: <a href="mailto:pholmes@berkeley.edu">pholmes@berkeley.edu</a><br /><em>Executive Director of the Department of Marketing and Digital Communications</em></li>
<li>Jeff Woods: <a href="mailto:jeff.woods@berkeley.edu">jeff.woods@berkeley.edu</a><br /><em>Director of Fraternity & Sorority Life</em></li>
</ul>
<p>If you have questions for the OCF (or would like to CC us on communication with the two aforementioned university representatives), please contact: <a href="mailto:subdomains@ocf.berkeley.edu">subdomains@ocf.berkeley.edu</a>
</p>
<h3>Final Statement</h3>
<p>The Open Computing Facility (OCF) is deeply dissapointed in the proclamation made by the UC Berkeley Department of Marketing and Digital Communications today</a>. It displays a concerning lack of attention, care, and respect for the student body from administrators who are purportedly here for the benefit of the students. We also condemn the use of the OCF name in this announcement. The OCF's (and by extension the student body's) concerns were not "carefully considered", instead they were wholly ignored. Furthermore, the responsibility of migrating the websites of hundreds of student groups has now been thrust onto the all-volunteer staff of the OCF - seemingly without clear guidance or instruction from those making this decision. We appreciate the vast amounts of support from the ASUC and many other student organizations during this process and are grateful to have formed new partnerships with our users through this experience. Thank you.</p>
<p><em>Read the university's announcement here: <br /><a href="https://brand.berkeley.edu/news/top-level-sub-domain-name-changes-student-organizations">https://brand.berkeley.edu/news/top-level-sub-domain-name-changes-student-organizations</a></em></p>
<h3>General Overview</h3>
<p>
Since 1998, the Open Computing Facility has hosted websites for UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff. Currently we host websites for 633 student organizations. As an integral part of the UC Berkeley community, student groups until recently were allowed to register a subdomain of berkeley.edu for these websites (i.e. group.berkeley.edu). Sites must be pre-approved by both the OCF team and the university hostmaster (who allocates the subdomains). The OCF constantly monitors these sites for violations of university policy after their release, and resolves each issue in a timely manner.
</p>
<p>
Recently, the UC Berkeley Department of Marketing and Digital Communications has decided that no registered student organizations shall be allowed to have a berkeley.edu subdomain. Their main concerns are (1) that student websites are not accessible to the standard required by the WCAG 2.0 (AA) Success Criteria and (2) that this then places liability on the university for the use of its brand image by student groups. Notably, however, student groups are exempt from the WCAG 2.0 (AA) Success Criteria.
</p>
<p>
Despite several attempts to explain the importance of a berkeley.edu subdomain and massive impacts of removing this service (as well as providing suggestions for compromises), the marketing department has not changed their plans. As of today, this is the official policy of UC Berkeley - student groups may not hold berkeley.edu domains. All existing subdomains must be changed. As far as we are aware, there will be no exceptions to this rule.
</p>
<p>
The OCF recently conducted a survey of all hosted student organizations. Almost 90% of these groups responded that they oppose the change and nearly all feel it is a negative step for the university.
</p>
<p>
Mainly, this change will break all links pointing to all student sites. Every flyer, poster, document, and more produced over the last 20 years will have to be reprinted at the expense of the student group. Each and every industry contact at every student organization will have to be told to change their contact - otherwise the contact will be lost forever.
</p>
<p>
Groups may then favor a shorter .org or .com domain. Since we do not provide these domains, we cannot regulate them and ensure they comply with campus technical, legal, and marketing requirements. Not to mention the price that groups would have to pay to purchase and continually renew an external domain.
</p>
<p>
The OCF, in response to this, is committed to opposing the change on behalf of the student body. An attempt like this was made in 2013, but was successfully repealed by the OCF with the support of students, staff, and faculty. Students are what makes UC Berkeley a world-class educational institution, and should be afforded the technical tools required to maintain that reputation. Questions, comments, or support should be directed to <a href="mailto:subdomains@ocf.berkeley.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">subdomains@ocf.berkeley.edu</a>.
</p>
<h3>Historical Timeline</h3>
<p>
Below is a list of the major developments that have occurred since we were made aware of this issue. Between each of these landmarks, the OCF has been meeting with relevant entities to attempt to resolve this issue.
</p>
<ul>
<li>06/24/2022: The university requires all new *.berkeley.edu domains requested by student groups to submit responses to new screening questions</li>
<li>09/29/2022: The first domain is rejected by the university</li>
<li>11/03/2022: After a long chain of communication with various campus entites, the OCF makes contact with the Department of Marketing and Digital Communications</li>
<li>11/15/2022: The Daily Cal reports on the <a href="https://dailycal.org/2022/11/15/surprising-and-frustrating-uc-berkeley-limit-berkeley-edu-subdomains-for-student-groups">"surprising and frustrating"</a> subdomain changes
<li>11/12/2022: OCF sends out a survey to student organizations that have a *.berkeley.edu domain to gather feedback on the change</li>
<li>03/01/2023: OCF & ASUC Office of the CTO launch an <a href="https://ocf.io/s/SubdomainSenateResolution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ASUC Senate resolution</a> opposing the change publicly</li>
<li>03/15/2023: The ASUC senate resolution <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mdfRRXjEoYnFcw6YjCJKsxgeF9RJh52GImPnPJylaRo/edit?usp=sharing">SR 22/23-041</a> passes with a resounding majority and is co-signed by 148 organizations</li>
<li>05/26/2023: After ignoring the senate resolution and further input from the OCF, the university <a href="https://brand.berkeley.edu/news/top-level-sub-domain-name-changes-student-organizations">publishes a document</a> mandating all student organizations migrate to *.studentorg.berkeley.edu domains</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><em>
The Open Facility for Computing is an all-volunteer, student-run
organization. It was founded in 1989 to serve the interests of
the UC Berkeley campus community.
</em></p>
<p><em>
Questions or comments about this change? Please reach out to
<a href="mailto:subdomains@ocf.berkeley.edu">subdomains@ocf.berkeley.edu</a>.
</em></p>
The OCF is hiring!
<p><i>
We are looking to hire students to be OCF Operations
staff for the 2019 academic year and onward! This includes two paid
positions, Operations Assistant and Operations Manager, neither
of which require any technical experience. These are very
important roles, and without dedicated and passionate students
to fill them, the OCF will not be able to stay open next
semester.
</i></p>
<h3>Operations Assistants</h3>
<p>
Operations Assistants will have the following responsibilities:
<ul>
<li>Staffing the front desk</li>
<ul>
<li>Maintaining lab security</li>
<li>Assisting OCF members with using the lab</li>
<li>Carrying out regular lab maintenance</li>
</ul>
<li>Working on projects that benefit the OCF</li>
<ul>
<li>Marketing and outreach</li>
<li>Collecting feedback on OCF services</li>
<li>Organizing events taking place in the lab</li>
<li>Researching and applying for additional sources of
funding for the OCF</li>
</ul>
<li>Attending regular meetings with the Operations Manager
and the other Operations Assistants</li>
</ul>
The salary for this position is $15 per hour.
</p>
<h3>Operations Manager</h3>
<p>
The Operations Manager has the same basic responsibilities as an Operations Assistant,
but will also be responsible for managing OAs, their shifts and projects, and scheduling
and leading meetings with OAs and OCF Volunteer staff. The OM position places a greater
emphasis on managerial duties than time spent staffing the front desk.
The salary for this position is $17 per hour.
</p>
<h3>Application</h3>
<p>
Applications close on Sunday, November 4th at 11:59 PM. Apply <a href="https://ocf.io/hiring">here</a>!
</p>
The OCF is hiring!
<p>
<strong>Update April 8, 2017:</strong>
The application period is over and we are no longer accepting
applicants. Thank you so much to everyone who applied!
</p>
<p>
The OCF is making a big transition to having a completely
self-staffed front desk next semester, and as part of that
process, we are looking to hire students to be OCF Operations
staff for the 2017-2018 academic year! This includes two paid
positions, Operations Assistant and Operations Manager, neither
of which require any technical experience. These are very
important roles, and without dedicated and passionate students
to fill them, the OCF will not be able to stay open next
semester.
</p>
<h3>Operations Assistants</h3>
<p>
Operations Assistants will have the following responsibilities:
<ul>
<li>Staffing the front desk</li>
<ul>
<li>Maintaining lab security</li>
<li>Providing help to OCF members using the lab</li>
<li>Carrying out regular lab maintenance</li>
</ul>
<li>Working on projects that benefit the OCF</li>
<ul>
<li>Marketing and outreach</li>
<li>Collecting feedback on OCF services</li>
<li>Organizing events taking place in the lab</li>
<li>Researching and applying for additional sources of
funding for the OCF</li>
</ul>
<li>Attending regular meetings with the Operations Manager
and the other Operations Assistants</li>
</ul>
This job position will be paid $13.75 per hour. See the
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oS3ma415LbtuyeEuuoucWKYLcWOJaWmzhv2nIs5f718/edit">full job description</a>
for more details.
</p>
<h3>Operations Manager</h3>
<p>
The Operations Manager will have the same responsibilities as
the Operations Assistants (see above), except they will spend
less time staffing the front desk of the OCF, and instead will
spend the remaining time performing more managerial duties,
such as leading meetings with the Operations Assistants,
delegating projects, and scheduling shifts for the OCF front
desk. This job will involve more responsibilities and use of
communication skills than the Operations Assistant role, but it
is also paid more, at $15.75 per hour.
See the
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oS3ma415LbtuyeEuuoucWKYLcWOJaWmzhv2nIs5f718/edit#bookmark=id.im3qxqp4zku2">full job description</a>
for more details.
</p>
<h3>Application</h3>
<p>
Applications closed on Tuesday, April 7th at 11:59 PM. If you
are interested in applying for a future position, you can <a
href="{% url 'doc' 'contact' %}">contact us</a> for more
information.
</p>
OCF seeking interest in high-performance computing service
<p>
The OCF wants to hear from anyone who is interested in the
possibility of participating in a free high-performance computing
(HPC) service that we will be offering starting next academic
year. Our eventual goal is to make intensive computational
facilities student-run and freely avilable for all students and
researchers in the UC Berkeley community.
</p>
<p>
Our current, tentative itinerary is to make an initial hardware
purchase by the end of the spring 2017 semester, then purchase
additional hardware in the fall based on input from interested
parties and feedback from a trial run in the summer or early
fall. Depending on the success of the service after it launches
for the entire campus, we will consider expanding it in future
years to accommodate even more projects of varying sizes and
needs. To that end, we have created a survey for those who might
like to see their project run on OCF hardware:
</p>
<p><a href="https://goo.gl/forms/ZqC69uhQuUzj9LjK2">
OCF HPC interest form
</a></p>
<p>
To anyone who may consider hosting a current or future project on
our open computer infrastructure, we urge you to fill out this
survey as best as you can, using estimations if you do not have
all the hard data. We want to see the full breadth of projects on
campus that have unmet computing needs. Our first server is
planned to feature multiple high-end graphics cards, a many-core
CPU, and spacious quantities of RAM and storage, but we will need
as much input as we can get to make informed decisions if we want
to make high-performance computing a reality for as many as
possible.
</p>
<p>
To student groups in particular, we would like to select a few
candidates for our trial run on limited hardware. We will use our
experience on this outing to iron out wrinkles and anticipate
obstacles that may come up during a full run. If this sounds
interesting to you, please let us know in your response.
</p>
<p>
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to
<a href="{% url 'doc' 'contact' %}">contact us</a>!
</p>
OCF affirms support for EFF's Electronic Frontier Alliance
Board of Directors vote to support Electronic Frontier Alliance
<p>
Back in March, the Electronic Frontier Foundation launched the
<a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/03/launching-efa">
Electronic Frontier Alliance</a>, designed to bring
together groups which support digital freedom, security,
privacy, creativity, and access to knowledge.
</p>
<p>
The Open Computing Facility, a student organization founded in
1989 at the University of California, Berkeley, believes
strongly in the mission of the Electronic Frontier Alliance and
of the EFF in general.
</p>
<p>
Since its inception, the OCF's all-volunteer staff base has
worked hard to provide free and fair access to technology at UC
Berkeley.
</p>
<p>
We hope to help others recognize the importance of digital
rights, and their relation to free and open-source software.
</p>
Unveiling a new name for the Open Computing Facility
<p>
<img src="https://static.ocf.io/img/announcements/thanks-for-flying-ofc.png" />
</p>
Board announces new name for the OCF.
<p>
Late Thursday night, the Board of Directors of the Open Computing
Facility voted to rename the organization to the Open Facility
for Computing (OFC).
</p>
<p>
"After seeing 'OCF' written as 'OFC' by people on Facebook,
Twitter, and even by the Daily Cal's writers all in the same
day, I decided it was worth bringing up at one of our
meetings," said Chris Kuehl, the organization's former Site
Manager. (Chris recently stepped down to focus on his studies.)
</p>
<p>
After a heated discussion (and short break to get boba), the
members of the Board voted unanimously to adopt the new name
and acronym.
</p>
<p>
"I try really hard to stay away from social media like Reddit
and Facebook," said Nick Impicciche, the OFC's current General
Manager. "Still, we're pretty strong believers in democracy,
and it's clear what the people wanted."
</p>
<p>
After the decision was announced, <strike>OCF</strike> OFC
technicians worked into the night to get the website moved from
<tt>ocf.berkeley.edu</tt> to its new home at
<tt>ofc.berkeley.edu</tt>.
</p>
<p>
In the coming days, we'll be reaching out to student groups
using our web hosting to ask them to replace their now-outdated
"Hosted by OCF" web banners. We're also working with facilities
to get some stickers printed to cover up the signs in the
hallways of MLK.
</p>
<hr />
<p><em>
The Open Facility for Computing is an all-volunteer, student-run
organization. It was founded in 1989 to serve the interests of
the UC Berkeley campus community.
</em></p>
<p><em>
Questions about this change? Please reach out to
<a href="mailto:devnull@ocf.berkeley.edu">devnull@ofc.berkeley.edu</a>.
</em></p>
Changes to printing policies
<img class="img-responsive" src="https://static.ocf.io/img/about/staff-bonding.jpg" />
We're changing our printing policies to match our new lab space. Here are the details about how and why.
<p>
Starting Tuesday, Feb 16th, the following daily printing limits
will be in effect:
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>On weekdays,</strong> 8 pages per day.</li>
<li><strong>On weekends,</strong> 16 pages per day.</li>
<li><strong>Per semester,</strong> 100 pages<a href="#exception-printed-150">*</a>.
</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
Last semester, we moved from our trusty old space in 6A Hearst
Gym into our shiny new home in 171 MLK, more than twice the
size and conveniently located in the ASUC Student Union.
</p>
<p>
The new lab is great: it's larger, more accessible, and has
allowed us to serve many more users than in previous semesters,
especially with the lab being open later.
</p>
<p>
However, coupled with the lab being open later, we've seen huge
jumps in overall lab traffic. We're breaking records for the
number of people in the lab and the number of pages being
printed nearly every day. Even with the increased capacity,
we're filling the lab nearly every day.
</p>
<p><strong>We want the lab to be a great place to work.</strong></p>
<p>
The lab is our most important asset, and we want it to be a
great place for students to work, study, and collaborate. It
doesn't serve its purpose when there's a 15-person long line to
sit at a computer because people are waiting on printers.
</p>
<p>
Our vision for the lab is for it to be a collaborative space,
not just the campus free printing hub. Printing is an important
service, and we're not ending it. But we're expecting to spend
over $13,000 on printing alone this year even after making the
changes outlined here, and we just don't have the money to
continue printing at the current level.
</p>
<hr />
<p><img class="img-responsive" src="https://static.ocf.io/img/announcements/random-day.svg" /></p>
<p class="text-center">
<small>
Lab usage from a busy day this semester. There are 27 computers in the lab.
</small>
</p>
<hr />
<p>
We've spent a lot of time trying to figure out how best to meet
our budget while impacting the fewest people. Below we'll
describe the changes we're making and our rationale for them.
</p>
<p><strong>The daily quota is decreasing to 8 on weekdays, and 16 on weekends.</strong></p>
<p>
So far this semester, we've had an average of about 750 users
in the lab each day. That's a huge jump from last semester,
where the average was closer to 500.
</p>
<p>
Unfortunately, our resources haven't kept up with the increased
demand. When you subtract out moving expenses, such as
purchasing another 15 computers, monitors, and peripherals, our
budget this year is less than it was last year in a space half
the size.
</p>
<p>
Not only are we facing budget troubles, but our printers are
starting to fail. They've both now printed
<a href="https://ocf.io/stats/printing/pages-printed">over a million pages</a>.
They're several years old and starting to show it. The
near-doubling of printing this semester has greatly increased
the frequency of paper jams and other technical glitches (just
ask the front desk staff).
</p>
<hr />
<p><img class="img-responsive" src="https://static.ocf.io/img/announcements/unique-lab.svg" /></p>
<p class="text-center">
<small>
The number of students using the lab each day has greatly
increased since 2014, with an especially large jump after
the move to MLK (last semester, around November 16, 2015).
</small>
</p>
<p><img class="img-responsive" src="https://static.ocf.io/img/announcements/printing-per-week.svg" /></p>
<p class="text-center">
<small>
Since 2013, we've gone from printing about 10,000 pages per
week, up to almost 40,000 pages per week this semester.
</small>
</p>
<hr />
<p>
We're running the printers at more than four times the
manufacturer's recommended maximum pages per month. We don't
have much of a choice; we have to limit the pages printed per
day, or we risk breaking our printers beyond repair.
</p>
<p>
Historically, we've implemented a number of measures to manage
our levels of printing, including draft-quality printing,
lower-quality paper, and third-party toner. However, the OCF
has never faced such a massive increase in number of users, lab
usage, and printing before. Long-term members of the OCF will
remember that the weekday printing limit was 10 pages per day
in 2014. Our budget and lab usage levels back then allowed us
to increase the limit to the limit announced at the beginning
of the school year, but we have to reverse this decision.
</p>
<p>
We're continuing the tradition of allowing double the number of
pages on weekends. While we understand this is less convenient,
we hope this will help strike a balance between the needs of
our members and the physical limits of our printers.
</p>
<p><strong>The semesterly quota is decreasing to 100 pages per semester.</strong></p>
<p>
We spent a lot of effort trying to find ways to cut costs while
affecting the least number of people. The semesterly quota
turns out to be one of the best places we can make that happen.
</p>
<p>
The average user prints only 61 pages per semester, while a
very small number of users (about 7%) actually come close to
exceeding their semesterly quota (printing more than 200
pages). These users have a disproportionate impact on our
printing costs, so we're decreasing the semesterly quota to
help limit that expense.
</p>
<hr />
<p><img class="img-responsive" src="https://static.ocf.io/img/announcements/semester-histogram.svg" /></p>
<p class="text-center">
<small>
The decrease to 100 pages per semester will affect only about
20% of our users.
</small>
</p>
<hr />
<p>
Of course, we know that many people pace their printing
throughout the semester, and we want to ensure we're being
fair. As such, we're not taking into account the number of
pages you've already printed this semester<a href="#exception-printed-150">*</a>.
</p>
<p>
This means that you'll still have a full quota of 100 pages to
work with for the rest of the semester, starting today.
</p>
<p><strong>Daily quota changes will take effect on Tuesday. Semesterly quotas have already been changed.</strong></p>
<p>
Starting on Tuesday, February 16th, the new daily quotas will
be enforced. The grace period is intended to avoid penalizing
people who had already planned to print large jobs in the next
few days.
</p>
<p>
The semesterly quota change has already taken effect. We feel
this is fair, as we're not affecting anyone's short-term plans.
The reason for the immediate implementation is that it helps to
avoid a rush to print in the coming days before a semesterly
quota reset.
</p>
<p><strong>We know printing changes are inconvenient.</strong></p>
<p>
It's unfortunate that we have to make these changes, and we
hope that in future semesters we can find the resources to
raise quotas again.
</p>
<p>
In addition the the OCF lab, we'd also like to remind you that
there are other places to print on campus, such as the
libraries, the ResComp-run labs in the dorms, and your
program's computer labs (e.g. Dwinelle Language Lab, Athlete's
Printing Room, Soda Hall).
</p>
<p>
In the mean time, we hope you'll continue to use the OCF lab in
its entirety; the convenient location, open space, and comfy
furniture make it a great place to work between classes or late
at night.
</p>
<p>
Our volunteer student staff are always open to hearing your
thoughts. If you'd like to get in touch, feel free to
<a href="/user-docs/contact/">contact us</a>, or come to
one of our weekly meetings on Tuesdays at 7:10pm in the lab.
</p>
<hr />
<p id="exception-printed-150">
<small>
* We won't take into account pages you've already printed
this semester, with the exception of members who have
already have a balance of less than 100 pages; for these
members (only about 15 of them), we won't modify or lower
your balance at all.
</small>
</p>