As I understand it, the drive for Digital Literacy within the Digital Campus Initiative is so that everyone in the University is able to use their IT resources with the minimum of fuss and effort but, at the same time, in such a way that security and resiliency standards are maintained at the highest levels.

In order to accomplish this the things that they are expected to do and the procedures they are expected to follow should make their job easier to do and not be a chore or a faff.

It will fall to the University’s IT setup to ensure that this is the case. IT staff will be the most likely candidates to guide users in best practice as they may be the ones who develop the tools and procedures in the first place.

For example, a regular user would probably balk at having to complete five different stages of preparation if they simply want to (securely) send a document within an email, if there were a simple process that allowed this, at the press of a button, then they will be much more likely to adhere to the procedures. It is up to NU-IT staff to ensure that such a button exists and that it works first time and that it works every time.

Another example is global us of single-sign on. SSO should be employed Campus-wide – saving users an authentication stage is another rung on the ladder to making the job easier.

Training will be a necessity, however this doesn’t have to be formal SDU sessions, it can be quick clinics or workshops showing people how simple the processes can be.

Above all, if a policy is mandatory then it should be applied with as much help and guidance as possible, otherwise it is likely to be ignored or only partially followed (either that, or the ‘mandatory’ part will need enforcing with a big stick – and if a big stick is necessary then perhaps the Education drive has failed).

Some regular things that should be simple (and should be made to be so):

• Digital Signing of emails.
• Encrypting/decrypting files to a consistent, universal standard
• Promulgation of documents in open formats.
• Arranging meetings and booking rooms for them at the same time.
• Backing up and recovery.
• Requesting help and guidance.