Many faculty, staff and students at UNL are knowledge workers. Knowledge workers are individuals who are valued for their ability to act and communicate with knowledge within a specific subject area. In education, up to 75% of the workforce are considered knowledge workers.

The heart of what knowledge workers do on the job is collaborate, which in the broadest terms means they interact to solve problems, serve customers, engage with partners, and nurture new ideas.

Wikipedia defines Collaborative Software as computer software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve their goals. It is usually associated with individuals not physically co-located, but instead working together across an internet connection. It can also include remote access storage systems for archiving common use data files that can be accessed, modified and retrieved by the distributed workgroup members.



Information Services provides service and support for the following Collaboration Technologies:

  • Video Conferencing - whether you are using a Polycom, Tandberg, Lifesize or other manufacturer's video conferencing system, IS can provide you with the support to make your video conferences successful and productive.
  • Web Conferencing - IS provides Adobe Connect Pro service to the campus, which we call UNLConnect. You may access UNLConnect using your UNL LDAP/Active Directory credentials here. If you wish to upload content or have the ability to author your own meetings, get more information about Adobe Connect Pro, or to request specialized training, contact contact Collaboration Technology support staff at collaborate@unl.edu.
  • Lecture Capture - Do you have the need to create a video from your computer screen and your voice? IS provides service and support for Camtasia Relay, a software based lecture capture system. Use your UNL LDAP/Active Directory credentials to login via the web and download the lightweight application from our server here. Then launch that newly installed application and give your recording a name and hit record. When finished, the recording is uploaded to our server for processing. An email will then be sent with links to full size, mobile and mp3 versions of your recording.
  • Collaborative Learning Space Design - The Learning Spaces team is uniquely qualified to provide consulting, design, build and training for any facility you wish to turn into a collaborative learning space. This includes, but is not limited to, conference rooms, classrooms, training rooms, and labs. Whether your collaboration will be face to face or over a distance, Learning Spaces staff has the experience to provide solutions that exceed your needs.

In addition to the currently supported services listed above, the Collaboration Technology team is actively evaluating the effectiveness (both cost and usability) of several new technologies for the campus:

  • Instant Messaging/Presence - using a robust instant messaging platform would enable communication in a quick, simple way to eliminate the sending and receiving of short email messages as well as allowing for the launching of video conferencing, web conferencing or audio sessions directly from a list of colleagues. The new campus Microsoft partnership for email allows us to use Microsoft's Lync product for Instant Messaging. Stay tuned as Information Services pilots this product.
  • Desktop Video Conferencing - Participating in a high definition video conference from an individual's office on their computer has long been a desire for many people. The technology is now ready to allow these types of video conferences. Information Services is currently evaluating and testing several vendors that offer desktop video. We will update the campus as we move through this process.