[17] in Resnet-Forum
Re: Evangelizing residence networking
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dan Updegrove)
Sat Oct 30 08:02:34 1993
From: Dan Updegrove <danu@dccs.upenn.edu>
To: resnet-forum@MIT.EDU
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 93 7:27:57 EDT
Cc: mckenna@dccs.upenn.edu (George McKenna),
Michael,
Penn has used the following approaches to convincing students to live in
the (higher-priced) networked dorms:
* Inclusion of 55-channel cable TV (actually SMATV) service, and
lower-cost option for a private phone line in the "wired room" bundle
together with 10 mbps ethernet (no asynch or LocalTalk)
* Articles in the campus computing newsletter and the official campus
newsweekly (we'll probably use ads in the student daily this year)
* A "sample wired room" (complete with bed, lamp, networked computer, TV,
and phone) setup at several on-campus computer fairs
* Inclusion of ResNet in presentations to pre-freshmen who then indicate
which dorm they wish to live in.
Our upper-class wired dorms were effectively 100% occupied on Sept 1,
whereas non-wired dorms had unoccupied rooms. If I had to guess, the
cable TV was the big factor, but our survey data are incomplete on this.
Perhaps more to the point of your question, how did we encourage students
in wired rooms to *use* the ethernet connection?
* Our program imposes no ethernet-activation fee
* We offered *free* IP-based software (no problem on the Mac side, since
we have site license for MacTCP and obvious clients -- NCSA Telnet, Fetch,
TurboGopher, PennInfo, NewsWatcher -- are public domain; on the DOS and
Windows side, we selected Novell's LAN Workplace,for which we have site
license, after considering several more expensive options)
* We made a special point to include ethernet cards and the free software
offer in the campus computer reseller's "Fall Truckload Sale" brochure,
lest ResNet students buy modems.
* We offer up to two-hours free in-room software installation and
training (we'll install board, if required). Experience so far is that
Macs don't require two hours, and many Intel machines with funny cards
require more time (which we've been providing at no charge, so far).
* We created a new after-hours hotline for support.
* The 20-student installation and support team appears to be functioning
as ResNet evangelists.
* The campus-wide AppleTalk provides some extra incentives for networking,
e.g. the "broadcast" function and student-run file servers with games.
(And we're experimenting with use of the AppleTalk server to provide
access to the required IP-based software, which might reduce need to make
house calls.)
Hope this is helpful. Is anyone doing anything with video?
Dan Updegrove
Associate Vice Provost
Info Systems & Computing
