Computing & Information Services
Computing Policy Committee Meeting Minutes
April 12, 2007
4:00 – 5:00 p.m., ETC 309
Committee members in attendance: David Schiff, Paul Hovda, Akihiko Miyoshi, Marianne Colgrove, Dena Hutto, Karen King, Alex Botero-Lowry, Ed McFarlane, Jon Rivenburg, Karen Perkins-Butzien, Luc Monnin, Marty Ringle, Molly Thurston Parker, Sonia Sabnis (left meeting at 4:10 p.m.).
Absent: Stephen Wissow
David Schiff called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Marty asked Molly to work with committee members to see if it would be possible to schedule a May CPC meeting in order to finish up some agenda items for the year. The question of whether or not email should be treated as an official form of college communication is the primary item that remains to be considered.
Mid-term report on Five Year Technology Goals
Marty Ringle reviewed the Five Year Technology Goals status report. He pointed out the progress in installing the Bradford Campus Manager network security system, which will be complete next year (Fall 07). The system will allow only known (registered) computers to access networks, and eventually will scan computers for viruses and antivirus software before allowing registration. Karen King asked how Trustees and other guests will access the network during Board meetings. Marty said that the system will enable users to register as guests, which will limit the permitted activities but will allow access to the internet and other basic services.
Alex Botero-Lowry and Paul Hovda asked how the system will detect the content of users’ computers, and asked if this poses a privacy issue. Marty asked them to contact Gary Schlickeiser (ext. 7570) for information on how the scanning is done.
Marianne Colgrove briefed the committee on the Digital Asset Management project. The system went live in a few classes this semester, and the team is planning a summer rollout for more classes (specifically HUM 110 and Classics). They hope to have replaced the old system at that point.
Marianne briefed the committee on Cascade, Reed’s content management system. Cascade has been implemented more for administrative web pages than for course pages, due to the deployment of Moodle for academic use. Web Support Services (WSS) developed an Academic Web Checklist, which has been distributed to all academic department liaisons who will work with Jason Parker (the Academic Web Specialist) to ensure that departmental web pages are up to date.
Marty told the committee that CIS is considering the use of Moodle in pilot form for another year instead of having a formal rollout. Paul asked what ‘rollout’ means. Marty described a formal rollout as an institutional commitment to the stability and completeness of a software package. By contrast, a pilot indicates that the software is still being tested for completeness and stability. During a pilot, users' expectations of the software are generally lower and they are more patient with the time it takes to fix bugs or add features. Thus far, the Moodle pilot has gone surprisingly smoothly and more than 20% of the campus is already using it. But there are many features that need to be added and various shortcomings –– including a few large ones –– that need to be addressed.
Marianne noted that the philosophy of continual evolvement of software is catching on, so users are more accustomed to software evolving as it goes. Alex asked if CIS is committed to staying up to date on the latest releases for Moodle. Marty said that we are indeed committed to staying current. Alex asked if e-reserves will be integrated into Moodle. Dena said that Moodle does have e-reserves capability and we are looking into how well it might work.
David Schiff asked how audio and other multimedia would be integrated. Marty said that Moodle has the capacity to handle audio materials but, for the sake of speed and efficiency, it would be best to deliver audio and video via a dedicated media server. Users might be led to those materials through Moodle but when they want to download large files they would connect to the media server. He pointed out that we are looking into the use of iTunes University to meet this need, since it is fast, reliable, and would save us the cost of purchasing and maintaining servers in-house. However, there are some concerns about this strategy that have been raised by President's Staff, so we are also looking at internal solutions. We hope to have a strategy in place by this summer.
Marianne described the current effort to expand the IRIS Portal to include many different types of resources. Luc Monnin noted the need to maintain individual flexibility so that individuals can use different systems in different ways. Marty affirmed that flexibility is an intrinsic part of our approach to technology.
Marianne mentioned the use of iPods as something that we have tested as a way to distribute audio to students. Marianne indicated that this was an initiative that Leila Falk had explored but it turned out that most students already had their own iPods, so the distribution program was terminated. David noted that some music department faculty were not aware of this initiative.
Aki asked if there is a system in place to enable students to distribute large image files. Marianne responded that the implementation of the Andrew File System, tentatively scheduled for 2007-08, should provide that. We are awaiting word on a grant proposal to the Murdock Trust to see if we will be able to hire temporary staff to work on the file system implementation (as well as Moodle enhancements and other software projects).
As the meeting was drawing to a close, Marty asked committee members to email him any questions or comments about the goals that were not addressed.