Fire Safety in Focus: Smoke Detector Day
Source: RWTH Aachen
Friday, December 13, 2024, was the annual Smoke Detector Day – an event that draws attention to the importance of working smoke detectors. What is often regarded as an unlucky day is to be turned into a lucky day through preventative measures.
Thirty years ago, there were more than twice as many fire deaths as there are today. This decline is mainly due to the gradual introduction of mandatory smoke alarms in the individual federal states, which were implemented independently of each other. Hesse made the start in 2005, and Berlin finally introduced the obligation in 2017. The educational work of the fire department and initiatives such as “Smoke alarms save lives” from 2000 are also making a significant contribution to this.
Research Data Management at RWTH Aachen University: An Overview
Source: Own Illustration
Research data management (RDM) is a central topic in modern science that goes far beyond the mere collection and storage of data. It encompasses all processes that are necessary to securely collect, store and analyze data and make it usable in the long term. At RWTH Aachen University, a clear guideline and a structured infrastructure around the data lifecycle for RDM is provided, enabling researchers to manage their data sustainably and follow the principles of good scientific practice.
How Does My Social Media Algorithm Work?
Source: Freepik
Social networks are now an indispensable part of our everyday lives. Billions of people connect with each other daily and publish countless posts. In order to maintain customer engagement, it is crucial that the content is appealing and relevant.
This is where social media algorithms come into play: they determine what content is displayed in our feeds and ensure that each user receives a personalized experience. This means that no two people see exactly the same content, even if they follow the same accounts.
IT Center Annual Review 2024
Source: Freepik
The year 2024 is drawing to a close – a year full of exciting projects, successful collaborations and unforgettable moments at the IT Centre. From innovative events and new partnerships to internal team celebrations and significant changes and new ones, the year was characterised by growth, collaboration and joint development. In our annual review, we take a look at the highlights, changes and successes that made our year so special.
New Year at the IT Center: Together into 2025
Source: Own Illustration
The IT Center wishes all readers a happy new year! Just as you, dear reader, have probably been thinking about good resolutions that you want to try to realise in 2025, we have also made some plans for 2025: Together with you, we want to implement exciting projects, drive forward digital innovations and make IT services even more user-friendly.
Advent Door #4: The IT Center Christmas Party 2024
Source: Own illustration
We open the last Advent door and share some insights into this year’s Christmas party.
On December 13, 2024, it was that time again: the annual Christmas party took place and brought together the IT Center staff, alumni and family members to end the year together. With a festive atmosphere, good food and exciting activities, it was an all-round successful afternoon and evening!
The Beginnings of Computer Technology
Source: Konrad Zuse Internet Archive
Computers have become an essential part of our lives and significantly influence our daily routine. From using them at work, to gaming at home, to listening to music, writing messages and social media on our cell phones. We already took a closer look at how our computers work today and what lies behind them in our last article “From Click to Display, This is How Computers Calculate”. But how did this journey begin?
From Research Data Storage (RDS) to DataStorage.nrw
Source: DataStorage.nrw
Coscine gives you the opportunity to store your research data using various resources. From next year, there will be a fundamental change: The new DataStorage.nrw will replace the previous Research Data Storage (RDS).
In this blog series, we would like to introduce you to the advantages of the new storage system, explain the process of applying for storage space and go into the details of the migration from the old to the new system.
What Was Going on? – Disruption on November 21, 2024
Source: Own Illustration
Anyone who was at RWTH on that day or tried to connect via VPN from the road felt it: On November 21, 2024, starting around 10 a.m., many of our IT services no longer functioned as we wanted them to. RWTH e-mail, Eduroam, VPN, RWTHmoodle as well as the entire RWTH Single Sign-On—the login for a large part of the services at RWTH—stopped working. All this was due to a malfunction of our F5 load balancer. In this blog post, we will transparently explain how this massive disruption occurred.
Advent Door #3: Christmas Cookies
Source: Freepik
In the last parts of our Advent series, we presented you with Christmas recipes and tricky puzzles. Today it’s all about cookies – both the delicious ones from the Christmas bakery and their digital namesakes from the IT world. Discover exciting information and fun word games on the subject.
