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April 29, 1992

 

 

               Minutes of the Communications Resources Committee

                     29 April 1992, 3-5 p.m.,  Room F, CEC

 

  Attending Blythe, Bowden (guest), Caceci, Crane, Crofts, Evans, Fox,

            Furrow, Gray, Hunter, LaBerge, Litchfield, Sanders, Smith (for

            McAnge), Snoke (acting chair), Sumichrast, Swift (for Johnston),

            Travis

 

  1. Following up on the UCRC's intent to inform faculty/staff (and raise

     consciousness) of computer/network issues that impact students, Snoke

     led a discussion at the 1 April meeting of the Commission on Graduate

     Studies.  Discussed briefly were issues such as implications of the new

     rate structure (which will include a charge for off-campus access for

     most graduate students) and if there should be any University involve-

     ment in decisions as to what instructors could require from students re-

     garding computer access.  Enough interest was generated that the

     Commission voted to establish a standing committee on computer issues.

     (In spite of what it said in the 9 April issue of SPECTRUM, the Commis-

     sion did NOT vote to "monitor CNS".)

 

  2. ELECTRONIC VILLAGE UPDATE: Bowden reported that some feedback from C&P

     was expected that week.  He reemphasized that any "foundation" set up

     would not be university affiliated in the spirit of VTIP or VTLS.  It is

     hoped that the first applications can come on line by the beginning of

     93.

 

  3. RATE-RESTRUCTURING UPDATE:  Bowden had mailed committee members 5 docu-

     ments prepared by CNS (included with archived minutes).  These dealt

     with both long-term networking philosophy and immediate issues such as

     inbound modem pool access, terminal servers, and 10Base-T.  Most of the

     meeting discussion dealt with the immediate issues and specific cases.

     Subsequent to the meeting the "final" details were worked out regarding

     rates and access to the inbound modem pool.  Rates document was amiled

     with phone bills in May to all departments, and modem-pool document to

     all deans, heads, etc. Both were mailed to UCRC members (and included

     with archived minutes).  The main new feature in the modem pool access

     is that no card or software program will be needed to access the inbound

     modem pool.  (This is made possible by the fact that the system software

     will restrict usage to one session at a time per id/password.)

 

  4. RESOLUTION:  Also included in the mailing to members was a draft of a

     resolution titled FACULTY COMPUTER-NETWORK ACCESS.  Fox outlined the ra-

     tionale:  universal faculty access to computer networks has long been a

     stated goal, advances in electronic mail and other applications poten-

     tially affect faculty in all disciplines, better communication among

     faculty, staff and students can be done electronically with considerable

     savings in time and paper.  The rate restructuring, which brings the

     monthly access rate down to $5, effectively removes one impediment.  Fox

     feels that the resolution would provide that-last stage follow-through

     to attain that goal.

 

     Most of the discussion concerned his "resolved", repeated here for con-

     venience:

 

       LET IT BE RESOLVED that a means be developed to ensure that all

       full-time, on-campus Virginia Tech faculty have a computer network

       connection which at least guarantees they can directly make use of

       electronic mail from their office.

 

     Questions included the following:  Is it needed?  Should hardware be in-

     cluded?  What about students? Should "ensure" be replaced by "make pos-

     sible"? Doesn't this merely express a desire without a course of action?

     The following "resolved" was put forth as an alternative (although some

     thought it might be in addition to the original):

 

       LET IT BE RESOLVED that by January 1994 campus offices and service

       units begin operating as though all faculty have access to the

       university computer network.

 

     It was decided to form a subcommittee to work on the resolution over the

     summer.  Members of the committee are Crofts, Fox, Hunter, Lilly/CNS,

     Litchfield, Snoke and Swift.

 

  5. On 30 April all UCRC members for whom McAnge had userids should have re-

     ceived an announcement that they were on the Virginia Tech Departmental

     Networking LISTSERV.

 

  6. The next meeting will be in September.

 

  These minutes were circulated to members by mail 6 June.  Approval date: 1

  July.

 

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