Thursday, September 04, 2003 |
OPINION
IT NEWS
RESOURCES
NEW PRODUCTS
DEALS, CONTRACTS, GRANTS
SPONSORS
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OPINION
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Connect, Enable, Transform . . . Case (CWRU) Is Getting Wireless Right
Terry Calhoun, Commentator
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
University of Michigan
In the past few months, I’ve been various places where I would have
liked to have been online. (Well, actually, there is no place I wouldn’t
like to be online.) Often, these are places where I can detect that I am surrounded
by a wireless network – just not one that I am permitted to use. For example,
when in the University of Michigan Business School, I can perceive the wireless
network, but since I am staff in the School of Education, I don’t have
access. Unless, during limited business hours, I fill out forms, authenticate
myself, and check out a special PCMIA card.
Yet, last week as I was refueling my SUV at a local gas station I noticed a
little Wi-Fi decal on the door. I checked and, sure enough, I was able to pop
onto the hot spot with my notebook – for free, and without creating any
identity-sucking account – and download my email while I was pumping gas.
This can be very confusing and frustrating. When I am in a high-tech building
on a college campus, there is no connectivity for me. Yet when I am in a gas
station at the end of the dirt road I live on, I can get online?
Wouldn’t you think that universities and colleges would have more at stake,
in terms of being identified with and providing Internet access, than gas stations?
We do. And we think that the model that Case Western Reserve University is implementing
right now is the one to follow...
Read
more
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IT NEWS |
North Texas University Billing Students for Blaster Clean-Up
North Texas University is billing students an unanticipated $30 fee, to
their university housing accounts, for cleaning up Blaster and virus
messes from infected machines, and for installing up to date protection.
(North Texas Daily Online)...
Read more
Gaming: The Program That Dare Not Speak Its Name
Colleges are increasingly offering classes and credentials in video game systems
and design, a development that may not thrill Mom and Dad, but which a few big-name
universities are taking seriously, including MIT, the Georgia Institute of Technology,
and Carnegie Mellon University, to name a few. (Christian Science Monitor)...
Read
more
Europe’s Hottest Spot – The Netherlands’ University
of Twente
Europe's largest hot spot is the University of Twente in The Netherlands, which
has built a Wireless LAN infrastructure of unique dimensions in Europe. It covers
the 140 hectares of the university campus and consists of 650 wireless access
points, some running at 54 Mbps – and all are intended to be that fast....
Read
more
Online College Orientation Fast Becoming Standard Routine
As usual, many schools are building their own and some are turning to a
rapidly-growing sub-industry that offers services ranging online course registration
to Web-based virtual orientation tours that provide photos, profiles of class-mates,
even pictures of the future dorm room. (CBS News) ...
Read more
Campus Wireless Sows Seeds of Business Transformation
More than 85 percent of campuses have some wireless networking, compared to
about half of the nation's businesses. By getting college students hooked on
wireless access, technology companies could be grooming a future market for
their products, as those students move into the corporate world. (Kansas City
Star)...
Read more
Nebraska System Protects Copyright Violators from Themselves
The University of Nebraska has created new IP address system to help track
down file-swapping intellectual property violators. But it's not intended to
get them into trouble - it's intended to help steer clear of big-time legal
headaches. (Daily Nebraskan)...
Read
more
Getting Internet Access – From Rooftop to Rooftop
Roofnet is an MIT project to create a self-organizing wireless network
in which an amorphous, unmanaged collection of cheap Linux computers equipped
with Wi-Fi cards collaborate to efficiently route data packets...
Read
more
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RESOURCES |
NiceNet Internet Classroom Assistant
Nicenet is a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to providing free
services to the Internet community. Nicenet's primary offering, the Internet
Classroom Assistant (ICA) is designed to address the pedagogical needs and limited
resources of teachers and their students....
Learn more
The Sloan Consortium
A consortium of institutions and organizations committed to quality online
education. Publishes the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks. Maintains
a catalog of degree and certificate programs; hosts conferences and workshops
to help implement and improve online programs; and keeps an effective practices
database. . .
Learn more
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DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS |
George Mason Grant Enables GIS Experience for Grads
George Mason University received a grant of $1.1 million from Integraph Mapping
and Geospatial Solutions to support the university’s Earth Systems and
GeoInformation Sciences program. The company’s GeoMedia and IntelliWhere
technology will be sued to support School of Computational Sciences, the College
of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Information and Engineering.
St. John's University Unveils Mega Technology Rollout
St. John's University today announced a major technology initiative for the
Fall of 2003 that would see all 3,100 freshman - the largest freshman class
in almost 20 years - receive an IBM ThinkPad notebook, powered by Intel Centrino
Mobile Technology, configured to operate on the University's Cisco Aironet Wi-Fi
local area network. The school says the combination rollout is the biggest and
most aggressive of its kind in higher education, carrying an overall price-tag
of $7 million.
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POLL
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Sponsored by:
Is your institution leveraging the Internet to facilitate remote desktop
support?
Poll Results
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NEW PRODUCTS
Microsoft Announces Pricing Incentives
for OneNote Product
In recent months, academic IT departments have become overwhelmed with spam
complaints from end users. Yet many schools have a policy protecting academic
freedom and privacy, which must be balanced with the need to protect their IT
infrastructures and end users. To help address the problem, ActiveState has
introduced PureMessage, a server-based email filtering solution that identifies
and quarantines spam using a combination of heuristics, spam directories, and
spam signatures...
Learn more
Dogpile Search Engine Gets New Look,
Feel, and Features
Dogpile, the metasearch engine that combines the search results of string
of Internet search engines, announced a major site renovation. By bringing together
the best results from the Web's search engines, the new Dogpile offers a fast
way to search as much as 50 percent more of the Web than any single engine,
the company said...
Learn more
Apple Ships New PowerMac G5s to Higher
Ed Customers First
Apple Computer delayed shipping its dual-processor Power Mac G5 to consumers,
opting instead to ship the first of the fast desktops to schools, according
to the CNET news service. Apple promised customers that the dual-processor 2GHz
Power Macs would ship by the end of August. Now it is saying it may take until
the end of the month for those people to get their machines. The delay is due
to the company's efforts to equip colleges for the back-to-school season, says
the news service...
Learn
more
Firm Launches One-Stop Shop for Incoming
College Students
Qcorps Residential Inc., a residential management company, has launched UniversityMoves.com,
a service that allows college students to shop for and connect a variety of
essential home services through a single online location. Available services
vary by location and include: local and long distance telephone service, cable
and satellite television, Internet access, renters insurance, newspaper delivery,
moving services, furniture and appliance rental, and even change of address
forms...
Learn more
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Wireless Handheld Computers to Increase Interactivity and Collaborative
Learning
This week's interview features Betty L. Black,
Click Here
to Listen
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