[834] in UA Senate
Re: athena printing committee
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Geoffrey Thomas)
Sun Oct 17 23:28:09 2010
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 23:28:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: Geoffrey Thomas <geofft@MIT.EDU>
To: Betsy Riley <rileyb@mit.edu>
cc: Owen C Derby <oderby@mit.edu>, Michael E Plasmeier <theplaz@mit.edu>,
Daniel D Hawkins <hwkns@mit.edu>, Richard A Dahan <rdahan@mit.edu>,
"ua-senate@mit.edu" <ua-senate@mit.edu>
In-Reply-To: <4E789960-EB4A-437B-B63B-1ABBBE00CECB@mit.edu>
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As a student who's been involved with working with a bunch of folks from=20
IS&T including Oliver Thomas on a lot of issues including printing, I have=
=20
one thing to say:
What's with this "Thomas" business? His name's Oliver. You even called him=
=20
"Mr. Oliver Thomas" in the UA Update the other week:
http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N43/uaupdate.html
Unless you can pull off the kind of formal respect that the New York Times=
=20
can evoke with that sort of phrasing, it reeks of "Miss Frances'=20
third-grade class recently visited IS&T to see how printing works." You=20
guys are grown-ups now.
Anyway he's a cool dude and I encourage you guys working with him.
--=20
Geoffrey Thomas (no relation)
geofft@mit.edu
On Sun, 17 Oct 2010, Betsy Riley wrote:
> Okay. When Oliver Thomas came to speak at Senate, he talked about the
> Phase I projects that were completed over the summer but also spent a lot
> of time discussing potential changes to printing that will be explored
> this semester. These changes extended beyond the issues of Athena spaces
> and 24/7 study rooms, including multi-function printers, printers
> designated for certain jobs, and printing straight from sites like
> Stellar. Looking at the reports you sent me, many of these ideas have
> already been proposed, but Thomas said that IS&T wants to test them out
> and will therefore need lots of student feedback.
> Since printing is such an integral part of the MIT undergraduate
> education, and since this semester will demand a lot of coordination with
> IS&T to ensure a final printing system that is appealing to students, it
> seems prudent to form a new committee devoted exclusively to printing.
> Furthermore, since Vrajesh suggested that an ad hoc committee on printing
> be formed, I figured that no existing committee has the capacity to take
> on the issue of printing right now given that we need to resolve all
> printing issues by the end of the semester.
>=20
> Lastly, Thomas's enthusiasm for student input is something that we want
> to cultivate. Having a committee working exclusively with him, therefore,
> makes it more likely that we will maintain a positive relationship with
> him and establish a trend of exemplary UA work. I'm worried about the
> possibility of printing getting shafted if it's=A0just added to CSL's lis=
t
> of goals, which would be a shame and embarrassing given that Thomas,
> unlike most administrators, is actually asking for UA input.=A0
>=20
> Betsy
>=20
>=20
> On Oct 16, 2010, at 1:04 AM, Owen Derby wrote:
>
> tl;dr: The UA Committee for Student Life has been working on
> printing since last year and will continue to work on it this
> year. CSL would welcome any and all input from senate into
> how it should proceed.
>
> Betsy,
>
> I meant to bring this up at retreat, but I don't think I did.
> If you want to set goals and see progress on this issue, you
> would be better off tasking CSL with this than creating an ad
> hoc committee to do what CSL is already working on.
>
> Also, it might be a good idea to establish some sort of goals
> in this bill. What do you hope to achieve with this committee
> (regardless of who is running it)? This bill is not very
> clear on this front.
>
> - Owen
>
> On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 12:43 AM, Michael E Plasmeier
> <theplaz@mit.edu> wrote:
> Hi Betsy and the UA Senate,
>
> I am the UA rep on the Institute's Athena and
> Printing Committee. =A0I worked extensively on the
> printing issue along with Daniel Hawkins and
> Richard Dahan in CSL on this issue last year. =A0We
> did a lot of work and thinking on this issue. =A0We
> conducted a survey and talked for weeks about
> what the best options would be. =A0We put together
> our suggestions into an 11 page report and
> PowerPoint presentation. =A0Because we completed
> our work at the end of the year, without time for
> Senate approval, and because the Committee was on
> the same page with the UA, and decided to
> implement our printing suggestions this past
> summer anyway, we did not publish our report.
> =A0Many of our recommendations are already
> complete.
>
> Outline of printing recommendations:
> -buy new printers - Complete
> -unify model for Athena and dorm printing support
> - Complete
> -Pharos printing system - last I heard the
> Institute was going to do this
> -2,000 page/semester quota to limit the top ~5%
> of printers, CopyTech course readers included -
> think they are going to do this, CopyTech part
> questionable
>
> The Institute Committee, which Oliver de facto
> leads, has not met this year. =A0I've sent the
> committee an email asking if there were any open
> issues they wished to reconvene on. =A0The
> remaining issue that is open under our charter is
> a reconfiguration of the Athena spaces. =A0Hawkins,
> Richard, and I had proposed closing the disused
> clusters 38-370, 37-332, 4-166, 2-225, 2-032 and
> replace them with nearby quickstations with
> printers. =A0In addition, MIT should move all of
> the book out of Barker 5th floor and lock up the
> books on Hayden 1st floor and open those spaces
> 24/7 with a bump in computers and group study
> rooms. =A0Barker, Hayden, and 5th Floor Student
> Center would become integrated study
> neighborhoods with a mix of computers, individual
> study, and group study. =A0The committee has not
> shown any momentum in moving forward with
> anything. =A0What do you think is a better option?
> =A0Status quo or what we proposed?
>
> In any case I think any work on this issue can be
> handled inside of CSL, as it has been. =A0I extend
> an invitation to Betsy and whoever else wishes to
> join me on the issue to work with me inside of
> the existing framework. =A0Also, as for moving
> forward with the Institute committee: if the
> consensus is that status quo is better, we can
> leave sleeping dragons lying, but if people
> actual prefer the 24/7 library space, I can push
> that issue if need be. =A0I welcome feedback.
>
> -Michael Plasmeier
>=20
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Betsy Riley [mailto:rileyb@MIT.EDU]
> Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 10:38 PM
> To: ua-senate@mit.edu
> Subject: athena printing committee
>=20
> Hello -
>=20
> As I said I would, I have written a bill to create an ad hoc
> committee to examine changes to Athena printing, provide a
> mechanism for student input about printing, and ensure that
> student ideas are implemented or at least appropriately
> considered. Let me know what you think, if you think anything
> should be changed, etc.
>=20
> Thanks,
> Betsy
>=20
>=20
>=20
>=20
>
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