Revision as of 22:14, 9 April 2007

Columbia College Chicago

IT services wiki

Members

• Kevin Cassidy kcassidy@colum.edu
• John Upchurch jupchurch@colum.edu
• Sabina Ott sott@colum.edu
• Bob Thall bthall@colum.edu
• Barbara Calabrese bcalabrese@colum.edu
• Michelle Citron mcitron@colum.edu

Thoughts on Computer Lab report from spring 06

Basic premise – asking the departments to do the job of IT

Recommendations are full of logical flaws

Basic misunderstandings:

Computer facilities are not just equipment and space, they are: -Peripherals (high end, large format scanners and printers) -Software (special purpose, beyond Office Suite – 3D modeling, game engine, high end sound editing, motion graphics, vector and raster graphics, etc.) -Specialized equipment configurations (2 monitors for programmers, audio recording and mixing facilities) - Personnel – Computer and facilities technicians student workers including tutors, equipment specialists

How control access by non-majors to peripherals once they are using the space?

Why have high-powered machines equipped with extensive and special purpose software being used for word processing?

Why are some facilities, like Avids, exempt? Computers are increasingly ubiquitous. If they should all be shared, why stop at Avids?

If we want resources to be shared, why stop at computers? If Dance students need to shoot images or moving images for their web pages, shouldn’t they be able to Go to photo, film/video, and TV to check out cameras?

Under Short Term objectives: Increase sharing of dept. servers and other network resources Who will manage? If this means that departments contribute to a shared pool of resources, then that might work, if the resources are adequate for all their needs But does it mean that existing network resources and servers owned and maintained by individual departments should now accommodate the needs of other departments? Annoyingly vague.

Specter of fairness- not all depts.. need the same things. Is it unfair that Graphic Design doesn’t have a soundstage or a dance studio or an acoustics lab?

Last short term objective: Ensure compliance Flagship departments whose needs far exceed those of other departments are not to be supported, but rather to be penalized for being unruly and demanding. IT misunderstands its role to be that of policeman rather than facilitator.

Recommendations:

Short Term: Find space to install more open labs. Long Term: Laptop initiative.

If what is needed is more computers for relatively undemanding applications, why not go with a laptop initiative immediately rather than build labs and then scrap them later? There are many precedents, googling brings up many URLs of different approaches that various colleges have to requiring laptops. for eg: Quick review of laptop programs: http://www.arch.uic.edu/pdfs/laptspec.pdf http://lawschool.unm.edu/students/it/laptop-program.php http://www.stjohns.edu/it/aci/laptop/gfaq.sju http://web.mit.edu/lcp/ http://www.ccis.edu/collegewide/laptopprogram.asp

Data incomplete and inaccurate. 6th floor Mich. Ave., former IMM, completely missing - as is the InterArts lab and one of Photo's labs.

Thoughts on IT services to the departments in general

IT problems

Webserver going down with no backup

Course files going down when faculty/staff were revising them (10/19)

Multiple attempts to get training for staff (since 6/06)

Etc.

Goal:

Make IT accountable to educational goals of the college Improve responsiveness Better academic management software Integrate across systems (peoplesoft, budget, oasis, etc.) Improve speed and reliability of network, including pipeline to the outside to support media streaming, etc. Improve communication with students - allow them to forward to their personal accounts, don't let boxes fill up, give them a system they want to use

How: Begin with outside review Change purview of IT, make responsible only for infrastructure Create AT with responsibility for actual data, under auspices of Provost