[37] in Resnet-Forum
Re: Evangelizing residence networking....
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Albert Steiner)
Fri Nov 5 16:40:11 1993
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1993 09:19:30 -0600
To: dorm-net@antioch.acns.nwu.edu
From: a-steiner@nwu.edu (Albert Steiner)
Cc: resnet-forum@MIT.EDU
To all,
A few thoughts etc...
I am Matthew Arthur, Manager of Residential Computing @ Washington
University in St. Louis, MO. I was a co-presentor with Jeff Merriman at
Educom this year. Basically, I have taken the program he developed at
Stanford (24Hr computer clusters in every residence hall with an onsite
student manager called an RCC based on the model of the Residential
Advisors program) and applied it toward our setting here at Washington.
We have 16 residence halls all co-located in an area called the
"South40" (~40acres and on the south end o' campus). Unlike Stanford, we
support both the IBM/PC compatible platform and the Macintosh platform.
We have set up a three phase plan for residential computing:
Phase I: Install 24HR computing clusters and RCC's into every hall
Phase II: Connect the clusters to the campus network
Phase III: Give students in their rooms connections to the campus network
We have just finished phase III in two halls. The other halls don't have
the infrastructure right now. If this pilot project is as successfull as
we anticipate, there will be that much more pressure to either renivate
(sp?) the other halls or rebuild them. We have clusters (Phase I and II)
and connectivity in 5 of the halls with plans for at least two more next
year and maybe more.
Reasoning behind this approach? By giving each hall 24hr access to
computing and support (the RCC) AND (eventually) each "pillow" access to
the campus net, every student living here will be able to benifit from
our program. At this point, I am living off the breadcrumbs of a few
different departments; however, I do anticipate a budget increase coming
from the housing costs students pay. It would be fair, since every
student would benefit (w/computers and w/o), or at least be able to
benefit if they choose to. The students themselves are willing (the
Congress of the S40 voted a non-binding resolution in favor of increasing
housing fees IF they went directly into the program) to pay for it.
Also, Washington University is not much in favor of "extra" fees above
and beyond the tuition/housing costs.
A couple of other points: Jeff and I both believe that our RCC's (the
student managers of the clusters) are our biggest resource. We were both
suprized when someone mentioned that they were loseing student employees
to McDonalds. I have had my RCC's offered jobs on main campus for more
money and they have turned it down. I believe it is because the RCC
believes (and rightfully so) that he/she is really making an impact. It
is their lab to manage. We set up some guidelines, but they do manage
the day to day aspects.
Point #2: I think that it is VERY important that whoever is
running the residential computing program be situated (physically and
hierachy-wise) within the ResLife/Housing/Student Affairs window. There
is no way I could have done nearly what has been done here without my
direct involvment with the students and ResLife professional staff on a
daily basis. The views we have been espousing for 4 years are just now
being recognized by the central computing folks (and the University
administration, also). My new bosses (the networking folks) saw how I
ran things with my RCC's for the first couple weeks of the semester and
then talked to the Engineering Lab manager and some other lab managers
about how they deal with their employees. My bosses started to recommend
some changes. I really stessed that the RCC's are NOT your average
hourly wage earning student lab employees. I suggested that they contact
the director of Residential Life, because the RA's and the RCC's were
much more akin than normal computer lab employees. It has taken awhile
(including a tour of the clusters), but I think they are begining to
understand.
Of course, my bosses report to the Provost and his daughter is a new
freshman at ... Stanford. She sent him email before he returned home and
he seems to be hooked! He had heard my proposals three years ago and
liked the idea then, but now...
I will be at Stanford this summer. I will probably be making a
presentation there, also. We have gotten a couple of coporate sponsers
and if Jeff can line up residence hall rooms for us, the price should
really be minimal. All of our higher-ups would probably like the
information we could come back for the price they would have to pay.
Matt Arthur
Manager - Residential Computing
(314) 935-6845
arthur@fcrc-next.ecs.wustl.edu
***************************************************************
MATTHEW K. ARTHUR BIG BOSS -- FIGHTN' FRUSTRATION *
(314) 935 - 6845 Manager Residential Computing *
Bitnet - C09625ma@wuvmd Washington University *
Internet - arthur@fcrc-next.ecs.wustl.edu *
>>>St. Louis Cardinals - Baseball only, please<<< ***-->
--
Albert Steiner Manager, Network Applications Development Group ACNS
Academic Computing and Networking Service, Northwestern University
2129 North Campus Drive 708-491-4056 FAX 708-491-3824
Evanston, IL 60208-2850 a-steiner@nwu.edu
