Computer Committee

Meeting Minutes

Meeting: 10/15/99
D-243 2:00-4:00 p.m.

PRESENT: Anderson, DeLeon, Dorin, Gerzema, Higgins, Kini, Knapp, and Scott. Coven and Steward, ex officio.

ABSENT: Galloway.

1. The first order of business was the introduction of the new campus Vice Chancellor of Technology, Dr. Donald Steward to the committee members.
2. The second order of business was a series of questions for the Vice Chancellor (VC) from the committee. This agenda item occupied most of the meeting.
   1. The first question regarded how the committee should relate to the VC's technology unit(s) in the future to allow input into decisions made in unit(s) as has been the case in the past. The VC indicated that he desired input from the faculty and that he sees his unit as one to support the academic mission of the faculty.

   The current campus committee structure would have the campus Technology Council as advisory to the Vice Chancellor, the IUN Faculty Organization Computer Committee as advisory to the two computer-related Directors, and the IUN Teaching and AV Committee as advisory to the Instructional Media Director. The VC indicated a desire to streamline this structure to preferably one committee advisory directly to him. He has not been authorized to fill the two director positions in computing, and until that is done, the IUN Computer Committee should be advisory to him. The success, or lack of it, of the Technology Council was also discussed. Lastly, as Instructional Media now also reports to him, there was some speculation about consolidating the two IUN Faculty Organization committees of Computers and Teaching and AV into one committee. The missions of the two committees seem to be converging on each other.

   2. The second question related to acquiring a shorter domain name for the campus for purposes of e-mail and web sites. The VC indicated that we were moving as quickly as possible to the xxx@iun.edu e-mail address and the www.iun.edu web site address. He was beginning by moving us to an IMAP mail system, using Webmail for the mail client for students. This will allow them to retrieve their mail from anywhere in the world on the web, rather than having to attach to servers here on campus by modem. Changes for faculty and staff will come later.
   3. The third question regarded the role of the committee in hardware and software configurations for the laboratories on the campus. This question was prompted by the VC's technology update memorandum to the campus. It was the intention of the committee to move to Microsoft Office 2000 Professional in the laboratories for the Spring 2000 semester based upon a request from the CIS department. The VC re-affirmed his desire to work with the faculty on these types of issues, and indicated that his earlier memorandum was based upon the lack of training materials for the Office 2000 suite. Just this past week, those materials have become available from Bloomington, and he therefore has no problem with putting Office 2000 into the laboratories for the Spring, and making it available to faculty and staff as their machines are upgraded to handle it. No one will be required to upgrade to it, though.

   A brief discussion followed between the committee, the VC and Jackie Coven concerning the types and availability of these above-mentioned training materials. Some are free and some may be purchased. Not all are ready for sale yet.

   The software build from the Fall 1999 semester was given to the VC for use in doing the Spring 2000 laboratory build, with the only change being a move to Microsoft Office 2000 from Office 97. The VC saw no problem with the contents of the build. A short discussion occurred regarding which version of WordPerfect to use, and it was decided to leave Version 8 in place as it is in the Fall 1999 build.

   The fifth question concerned the charge of the committee in Spring of 1999 by Chancellor Richards and VC Vasquez to develop a policy and procedure for computer repair/replacement on the campus. This policy is available on the committee web site. The procedure regarded the setting of hardware configuration standards and review of vendor bids in response to RFP's sent out by Purchasing in Bloomington. The VC has already taken several initiatives in this area, and he distributed the current configurations available through BL Purchasing for both laboratory and faculty/staff/student purchases. That configuration differed from the committee's proposed configuration in three areas: (1) the hard drive size in the current configuration was 6.4 GB instead of the 10 GB size requested and that it should meet our needs, (2) the CD-ROM drive was a standard CD drive rather than the DVD drive requested, and (3) the amount of video RAM was 8 MB instead of the 12-16 MB requested. There is a DVD kit available to upgrade those machines that need it, and the issue of the video RAM was not addressed. There was no explicit understanding reached during the meeting on the role of the committee in this area, and this issue should be readdressed by the committee.

   The sixth issue was the change in laboratory procedures. Many laboratory classrooms will be returned to the Registrar's Office for scheduling as of the Fall 2000 semester.   Barbara McIntyre will continue to schedule laborabories during the Spring 2000 and summer semesters.  Hawthorn 108 and Raintree 202 will remain open laboratories for student use, and the others will be treated a regular classrooms. As part of this change in policy, laboratory monitors will not be assigned to these classrooms (except D108 and B202). The VC was informed that this change of policy about monitors caught many faculty by surprise, and that the lack of monitors in computer classrooms had created several difficulties for faculty unaware that it was coming. It was also stressed to the VC that these types of issues should come before the committee and be discussed so they can be communicated to the faculty in due time, to avoid unnecessary surprises. These kinds of surprises were a big source of strain between faculty and Computer Services in the past and the committee has worked hard over the past three years to rid us of these types of surprises. The VC responded that he did notify the Deans on several occasions in Academic Council that this was coming, and that he held a meeting with the faculty during SSII '99 for faculty to inform them of the change. The committee suggested that he NOT rely on the Dean's in the future to communicate these issues to their faculty, as very few did.

   4. The last written question related to IU-supported software becoming available in the bookstore with no notification procedure for the faculty and staff. The VC indicated that he would look into this issue. The committee asked for a procedure by which the faculty/staff/students would be notified when new IU-supported software becomes available for sale in the bookstore. The chair asked about routinely receiving departmental copies of newly released software for use in the units. The VC thought there might be problems with licensing involved with that procedure, but would check into it.
3. S. Higgins asked a question regarding laboratory space to use interactive software for her Division's students. Others indicated interest in the same topic. This software requires CD-ROM drives on the laboratory machines and the ability to use headphones. The VC indicated that new laboratory machines would be so equipped soon. Jackie Coven indicated that headphones would be available at a small price from the bookstore in the future. The VC indicated that there was a minor technical problem regarding jacks for the headphones, but that it could be solved fairly easily.
4. The Chair asked a question regarding the Graphics Workstation, previously available for student use with additional graphical software and access to the color laserjet printer for printing of faculty-sanctioned term projects, etc. The Computer Services tech section in Raintree 204 is not open past 4:30 p.m. since moving the Help Desk to Hawthorn 108. This makes this equipment unavailable to students in the evening. Also, funding for a second color laserjet printer for student use was authorized by the Technology Fee Committee last year for Hawthorn 108 to increase availability to the students, but it was never purchased (or put in place). The VC indicated that the equipment would be moved to Hawthorn 108 ASAP to make it available to students for this semester's projects.
5. It was reaffirmed to the VC that the biggest source of strain between faculty and staff and Computer Services in the past was surprises with no advance warning or notice of changes in policy or procedure. The best way to avoid bad relations between the groups is to keep the faculty informed of upcoming changes, and to involve the committee as their representatives in the planning and execution of those changes. The committee indicated its strong desire to work with the VC in the future.
6. The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m. with thanks to the Vice Chancellor for making himself available and giving us answers to our questions.