News

Yes, we are open for services during the Spring Term. The Lab will be open from 09:00-12:00 and 13:00-16:00 most weekdays unless otherwise mentioned here (including on our Twitter feed, @uciaml). If you come in while the door is open but the staff areas are closed, check for a sign on Anthony's door for an expected return time.

The Summer Term will have very few staff hours. We are expecting that the Lab will be closed most of July, with the only scheduled open dates being July 9 and 10, then again in the last week of July (date TBA). Once we re-open, we expect to be open weekdays (excluding Heritage Day) until August 12. Service times after that are not known.

Here's the status of files left on Lab stations and the Lab Server during the Winter Term:

• The Small Lab has been closed for the Spring Term. Files are no longer accessible.
• In the Main Lab, most station are still in tact, but we reserve the right to erase any station at any time as we deploy updated software.
• Due to a request from a Spring class, we're keeping the Art 333 folder up on the server, but other classes are in the process of being removed.

We've revised the location of our lab booking calendars, so if you subscribe to our booking schedule on your computer or mobile device, unsubscribe (delete) the "iamlmain" and "numl" calendars and go to our Bookings page and subscribe to the new calendars (now named MainLab and SmallLab).

Effective immediately, we will not be giving out pennies with your change. This is due to the discontinuation of the penny by the Federal Government. Since our pricing includes GST and is priced to the nearest quarter in most cases, most transactions will not change. The only transactions that might be affected are photographic prints on roll media. In those cases, your invoice will be calculated to the penny as in the past, but the way we settle cash payments will change:

• You may pay the exact amount (or pay to the penny) if you have Canadian pennies (maximum 25¢ worth of pennies).
• Otherwise, you will pay the amount rounded to the nearest 5¢ (we will be using the federal government rounding guideline, which is what most people think of when discussing rounding).
• Your receipt will be issued for the invoice amount (i.e. to the penny), as per University accounting standards.

Note that non-cash payments (e.g., interdepartmental billing, cheque from Faculty member) will not be rounded. Should we choose to accept debit, credit or Campus Card in the future, those transactions will not be rounded.

If you are working with large files (e.g., video) and have a portable USB 3.0 drive, there are now computers in the Main Lab that support USB 3.0. Station 04 is the easiest to access, as we have a blue-coloured extension cable (see picture) which allows you to plug in your USB 3.0 drive at full speed. Stations 06 and 20 also support USB 3.0, but you have to plug your drive directly into the back of the Mac mini to get the faster speed — the regular jack you use only supports the older USB 2.0 standard.