Madison Sees Jump in Laptop, Wireless Usage from 2006

  • By Paul McCloskey
  • 09/18/07
The number of students who own a laptop at the University of Wisconsin at Madison jumped to 77 percent this year, up from 64 percent in 2006, according to an online survey conducted by the school's Division of Information Technology (DoIT). The increase corresponds with  a jump in the number of students who rely on wireless services, which went from 30 percent usage in 2006 to 50 percent this year.

A  separate survey of faculty and staff on campus also showed big gains in IT usage. About 60 percent use a laptop, double the 29 percent in 2006, and 49 percent use a cell phone, up from 20 percent reported last year.  "The newer students coming in are even more comfortable with portability," DoIT communications manager told the Madison Capitol Times newspaper.

But with more portability comes more risk. The survey showed that 84 percent of the students surveyed never shared a password, up from 76 percent in 2006, the Times reported. Data backup is dramatically on the rise, with only 9 percent of the students saying they never back up their computers, compared with 40 percent last year.

"This was a pleasant surprise for us," Rust told the Times. "Our effort to redouble security seems to have gotten through to all."

Read More:

About the Author

Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.

Featured

  • From Fire TV to Signage Stick: University of Utah's Digital Signage Evolution

    Jake Sorensen, who oversees sponsorship and advertising and Student Media in Auxiliary Business Development at the University of Utah, has navigated the digital signage landscape for nearly 15 years. He was managing hundreds of devices on campus that were incompatible with digital signage requirements and needed a solution that was reliable and lowered labor costs. The Amazon Signage Stick, specifically engineered for digital signage applications, gave him the stability and design functionality the University of Utah needed, along with the assurance of long-term support.

  • Abstract geometric shapes including hexagons, circles, and triangles in blue, silver, and white

    Google Launches Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet

    Google has introduced Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental, a new artificial intelligence model designed to reason through problems before delivering answers, a shift that marks a major leap in AI capability, according to the company.

  • Training the Next Generation of Space Cybersecurity Experts

    CT asked Scott Shackelford, Indiana University professor of law and director of the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance, about the possible emergence of space cybersecurity as a separate field that would support changing practices and foster future space cybersecurity leaders.

  • Two stylized glowing spheres with swirling particles and binary code are connected by light beams in a futuristic, gradient space

    New Boston-Based Research Center to Advance Quantum Computing with AI

    NVIDIA is establishing a research hub dedicated to advancing quantum computing through artificial intelligence (AI) and accelerated computing technologies.