| Present: | Michael Wainer, Michael Bruens (for Duke Koch), Jerry Hostetler, Ruth Bernhart, Carolyn Snyder, Denny Leitner, Jackie Smith, Jim Eynon, Chris Svec |
Jackie began by summarizing discussion she and Brian had had at a USG meeting. After some problems with the Daily Egyptian report on her remarks she obtained permission to publish a clarifying letter, which appeared last week. The DE will eventually do a story on the points that we are working on. Her general impression is that there is a great deal of support for the ideas that we have been floating.
One question that has been raised is whether the committee intends to include Evergreen Terrace and Southern Hills in talk about wiring dorms, and the immediate consensus of the committee is that it does.
There was some discussion of ways in which it needed to be made clear that funds generated from a Technology Fee would be used exclusively for the purposes we have discussed, and could not be used as an excuse to cut other funding for technology. Further discussion included the possibility of encouraging matching funds from colleges and departments to go along with the technology fee funds. It was generally agreed that the proposed Technology Fee administration board should have representatives of the Provost and IT in regular attendance to receive input from the members of the board.
For the next meeting we decided to seek some real numbers on the cost of continually upgrading the labs and public access terminals on campus.
Other issues that were discussed included recommending the possibility of leasing some of our equipment, and a suggestion by David Shinn that SIUC produce a CD-ROM with an e-mail client, a browser, and lots of general information about connecting with SIU and other useful stuff. It was agreed that in general we need to address the issue of introductory workshops for those new to campus, both faculty and students.
Several points dealing with our web pages were raised. It was suggested that there be a link from our internal web page to the new, public one, as well as a link from `Computing on Campus' to the website. Geoff will arrange for that.
Jackie Smith suggested that item five, introducing the idea of a technology fee include something along the lines of '...after all other internal funds have been committed'. It was also suggested that the idea of leasing equipment was particularly attractive because it ensured that continuing funds would be allocated, rather than relying on occasional windfalls.
The next meeting is scheduled for April 7, in the Library conference room. Be there or be unwired!