Inside the Current Issue

Anger, Warnings, and Grim Talk at the GC Community Meeting

From Floppies to Flash Drives: The Future of Info Resources

Dan Skinner

At the March 15 GC Community Meeting, billed as an open forum on recurring computing problems, Information Resources' annum horribilis devolved into a GC-style theatrum absurdum.

President Kelly opened with some optimistic remarks about the budget process in Albany (CUNY, it appears, may make it out of this cycle without further cuts), and then promptly turned the forum over to the Vice President for Information Technology and External Programs, Stephen Brier. Kelly joined the audience while Brier fielded questions solo from confused and sometimes dismayed faculty, staff and students. A noticeably empty chair sat next to Brier, by the way, possibly intended for Kelly, or maybe Gloria M. Barlow, Executive Director of Information Resources. Ms. Barlow sat out of the spotlight a few feet away, which seemed a bit unfair. IR reform: too hot to handle?

Brier asked that the event not focus on expressing dismay - "everybody knows there are problems" - but on proposing real solutions. These remarks, reiterated at several points, seemed to suggest that IR was expecting the GC community to offer technical advice about a complex network problem, which seemed odd. Brier asked the community to tell him their priorities, including which features they valued more than others to help IR make informed changes. The conversation, however, kept steering back to the network.

Brier explained that IR did not know "exactly what caused the U:\ drive to go down" earlier this semester and announced a commitment to replace "80-plus" outdated network Cisco brand switches throughout the building. These switches, according to Brier, are the routers through which all information is processed in the building, and how it connects to the outside world.

Since the meeting, Brier has told THE ADVOCATE that funding for this project has been finalized. The first phase of the transition is slated to begin at the end of the fiscal year in June and continue into the next fiscal year, with the (albeit seemingly optimistic) goal of completion before the Fall 2006 semester commences. Students, staff and faculty should be aware, however, each time a switch is replaced, the network will go down (for those of you out there keeping score, that's 80+ "downs"). Brier, however, says he is committed to minimizing the impact of this process on the GC community.

Major structural questions notwithstanding, here's a run-down of other main points from the meeting:

1. Students should not (and should not reasonably expect to be able to) trust their U:\ drives. Brier nostalgically recalled his own graduate school days, when he and his colleagues lived in dorm rooms with back-up floppy discs strewn about wildly. They knew better than to save their important work "in one place." Brier's salve? GC students "need to be educated about the dangers" of relying on the U:/ drive. Moreover, DSC funds were used to provide flash drives to all students to alleviate this very purpose. Students should pick up flash drives from APOs immediately and back up their dissertations.

2. Brier noted that the GC email system has only been down one day since June. Reinforced at one point by Kelly, he noted that this record is above average for a network of this size. At several points Brier pleaded with the community to come back to GC email and "give it a chance."

3. Unconvinced, DSC Media Board Chair David Golland asked Brier to allow GC students to forward their GC accounts to their everyday (and, he insinuated, more trustworthy) email accounts, such as Yahoo! and Gmail. Brier explained that the Microsoft platform that the GC currently uses does not allow for this and that deploying third-party forwarding software would nullify the GC's service contract with Microsoft.

4. Golland announced that DSC has now purchased non-GC web space because the GC FTP system was extremely unstable and that this problem was forcing the DSC webmaster to spend several extra hours each week duplicating prior work. This is the latest example of similar such moves: both the DSC and THE ADVOCATE moved to Gmail accounts this year for similar reasons.

5. Happily, a new search engine - powered by Google - has been activated on the home page of the GC web site. This should increase the usefulness of the (previously useless) GC web site and enable students to find out about events and other important information.

6. Wireless technologies are also in the works. As a preliminary steps, a survey was conducted and bids are currently being solicited. As the GC is a landmark building, Brier and Co. may have to jump through a few legal hoops here. But, barring unforeseen problems, wireless technology - at least in the library area and 8th floor cafeteria - is slated for the Fall 2006 semester. These initial locations were chosen via the online survey in which 400 of the GC's 4,000 students participated.

7. GC students are now entitled to free anti-virus software and update subscription for their personal computers. Because of a special deal worked out with Symantec, all CUNY students and faculty are entitled to two free downloads of Symantec Anti-Virus (visit http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/icit/software for details).

8. Gloria Barlow (with a "huzzah" from Brier) said that IR needs to do a better job publicizing offerings and communicating with the GC community. Currently, email and web postings are their preferred method, which is one reason why they are encouraging students and faculty to "come on home" to GC mail. David Golland told THE ADVOCATE that "transparency is important from senior administrators and elected committees. What we need from the IR staff is not transparency, but efficiency."

The meeting revealed that there are still major unresolved problems with regard to the future of information technology at the GC, though it is certainly good news that the network issues will begin to be addressed this summer. Still, it is clear that while the IR staff is concerned with addressing a range of problems and expanding the available offerings, it has yet to devise a solution to the major structural problem: the instability and unreliability of the network itself. According to Brier, while replacing the switches is an important step in the right direction, there are still additional Rumsfeldian unknowns regarding instability. For his part, Brier told THE ADVOCATE that he's "feeling that there are areas of the network that are extremely stable" and that IR is "working to make the network more functional and simpler in the way they it is configured." (Brier alluded to something else that many have long suspected: the incompetence of the former IR regime of James Haggard continues to be felt.)

But as some in attendance at the meeting pointed out, wireless networks, search engines, Virtual Private Networks and other features are useless if the network is down. There is little point in polishing new bells and whistles so long as the sleigh itself is broken.

The sleigh is broken now, though the community will have to see how IR's summer plans play out. Kelly joked that some have suggested to him that Community Meetings be renamed "keggers." If the next one addresses questions of information technology, this seems like a smart move.