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March 6, 1991

 

                                     MINUTES

                               Computer Committee

                      Fourth Floor Burruss Hall Board Room

                                  March 6, 1991

                                      3 PM

 

 

        PRESENT:     Don Allison, Joseph Cochran, John Cosgriff,

                     David Goodyear, Bea Mahan (for Katherine Johnston),

                     Gerry McLaughlin, Fred Medley, Joe Kelley (for Mary

                     Miller), Harlan Miller, Terry Rakes, Richard

                     Sorensen, John Hoernemann (for Ernest Stout),

                     J. R. Webster, Michael Williams

 

        ABSENT:      Darrell Bosch, John Burton, Bob Heterick,

                     Joan McClain-Kark, K. B. Rojiani, Jay Stoeckel,

                     Jeff Wilcke

 

        VISITOR(S):  Barbara Robinson (Computing Center)

                     Charles Nunnally (Electrical Engineering)

                     Ed Fox (Computer Science/Computing Center)

 

 

        AGENDA ITEM 1:  MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 6, 1991 MEETING

 

        Motion made, seconded and passed to approve the minutes of the

        February meeting.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 2:  COMPUTING CENTER ANNOUNCEMENTS (WILLIAMS)

 

        The Computing Center has made some changes to output delivery

        schedules in response to budgetary constraints and low volume.

        There are two types of deliveries on campus.  Runs are made

        hourly during the day, with fewer runs from midnight to 7 a.m.,

        to the primary distribution points in Burruss, Hutcheson,

        McBryde, UCOB and Animal Science.  This service had one change.

        The 5:30 a.m. delivery was changed to 7:00 a.m., which allowed

        consolidation of duties and personnel savings.  The other kind of

        delivery, to 75 stops scattered over the entire campus, was re-

        duced from 3 times a day to two.  Weekend deliveries are un-

        changed.

 

        Substantial resources must continue to be devoted to output de-

        livery from the Center, even though departmental printers might

        be a more efficient and effective solution for the University.

        The divided economy of SMART and real dollars encourages central

        printing, since departments view mainframe printing as free,

        while equipment and supplies for departmental printing must come

        out of department budgets.

 

        The Computing Center has several used 3812's it will donate to

        departments that offer the best potential for reducing the load

        on central printing and are willing to absorb the continuing

        costs of communication and supplies.  The Center is also exper-

        imenting with using HP and Apple PostScript printers as depart-

        mental printers attached to the mainframe.  Print quality is at

        least as good as 3812 output and some suitable printers cost less

        than $2000.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 3:  STATUS OF VISION STATEMENT DRAFT (MILLER)

 

        A draft of a planning document will be distributed to the Com-

        puter Committee before the April meeting.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 4:  ACCESS PROTECTION POLICY (WILLIAMS)

 

        The policy is meant to be a vehicle for education of users to be

        sure they are aware from the outset of the responsibilities asso-

        ciated with access privilege. A copy will be distributed to indi-

        viduals who request an access id for any central system.

 

        Motion made, seconded and passed to endorse the access protection

        policy.  It will be issued as an administrative policy by the

        Computing Center, with a copy sent to Deans, Directors and De-

        partment Heads.

 

        A task force continues to develop a proper use policy, which will

        address related issues, such as guidelines for use of electronic

        mail.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 5:  SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

 

        1.  Computer Capacity and Planning Subcommittee (Allison)

 

            The survey of major mainframe users was distributed in mid-

            February to 150 people and the response rate was about 50%.

            The committee will analyze the results and present a draft

            report at the next meeting.

 

        2.  Personal Computer Subcommittee (Sorenson)

 

            The subcommittee will be meeting with Virginia Tech Facili-

            ties on March 19.  The Engineering student package for next

            year is expected to be ready March 15, too early to be di-

            rectly affected by the meeting, but it is hoped that the ini-

            tiation of organized dialog will be found to be useful in

            other negotiations.

 

            Dr. Nunnally noted that he has equipment that can be used to

            interface PC and Macintosh displays with the projection sys-

            tem in 100 Hancock, and that, with reasonable notice, he will

            make it available to others.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 6:  ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA

 

        none

 

 

 

 

        The next meeting will be held on April 3 at 3 p.m. in Burruss

        400.

 

        Meeting adjourned at 3:54 p.m.

 

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