CCFIT > Calendar & Minutes > 2006-07 Minutes > November 13, 2006 Minutes

Excused: Mike Allred, Rick Catalano, Bill Lacy, Kathleen Moore, Dennis Pendleton, Jon Wagner, Wes Wallender, Leon Washington, Keith Widaman, and Fred Wood.

Absent:Nancy Benavente, John Berg, Bella Corbin, Ravi Deepak, Michael Hogarth, John Stachowicz.

Guests:Tracy Bennett, Matt Bishop, Jan Dickens, Nancy Hang, Sarah Kakwani, Mark Redican, and Jatinder Singh.

Staff: Babette Schmitt.

I. Welcome to CCFIT – Chair Bledsoe

Chair Caroline Bledsoe welcomed Council members to the first meeting of the 2006-07 academic year. A number of new members have joined the Council this year, including two new undergraduate students, and five new faculty representatives (see 2006-07 CCFIT Roster). After a round of introductions, Caroline summarized the charge to the Council , emphasizing the responsibility of each member to consult with the group he/she represents on CCFIT to ensure Council discussions are communicated to those groups and to identify topics and issues of interest to those groups. In addition to discussing reports from campus constituencies and identifying possible follow-up actions, CCFIT members will review information and educational technology proposals and develop recommendations to be shared with the project sponsors and the Vice Provost for Information and Educational Technology (IET). CCFIT reports to Provost Hinshaw and to Vice Provost Siegel.

Caroline Bledsoe welcomed Pete Siegel, new Vice Provost-IET, and invited him to offer additional comments. VP Siegel emphasized the importance of the Council in the context of planning and coordination of information and educational technologies at UC Davis. He looks forward to bringing important information technology and educational technology issues to this group for discussion, and expects key technology-related campus projects and initiatives to involve representation from CCFIT. VP Siegel will ensure the Provost is aware of Council discussions on an ongoing basis.

Chair Bledsoe encouraged everyone to visit the CCFIT Web site for additional information pertaining to Council activities. On the site are: the charge letters for each of the subcommittees and task groups, the CCFIT meeting schedule and minutes, the CCFIT roster, past reports, synopses from past discussions, etc. Chair Bledsoe will use the CCFIT site as a primary means of communication with Council and campus members. This site is available to all members as a communication and information-sharing tool.

II. Wireless Expansion

Caroline Bledsoe introduced Professor Matt Bishop, Chair of the CCFIT Wireless Task Group. Last spring, Bishop led a group of faculty, staff, students and IET representatives who were asked to investigate the current state of wireless networking at UC Davis and make recommendations to guide further expansion. The group compiled its findings, prioritization principles, and recommendations into a report that was presented at the CCFIT meeting this past June (see CCFIT Wireless Task Group's Findings & Recommendations). Bishop summarized the short- and long-term recommendations from the task group. One of those recommendations was to constitute a campus workgroup to provide ongoing guidance and help IET prioritize future wireless roll-outs.

Bruno Nachtergaele noted that integrating wireless into the planning process for new buildings should be a priority and should not be delayed. Bishop agreed and noted that this was one of the principles the task group identified last spring (see pp. 7-8 in the report). Dave Klem, Director of IET-Communications Resources, mentioned that IET is already working closely with Architects and Engineers to integrate wireless considerations into planning for new buildings. The technological infrastructure needed to centrally manage wireless networking on campus is already built. However, according to a recent cost analysis, expanding wireless to the whole campus (incl. ~600 buildings) would cost between $7.5M-$8M. Given these costs, and considering that additional maintenance and operational costs will need to be factored in, it will be essential to prioritize which areas should be made wireless first. A campus workgroup with the appropriate representation would provide an effective mechanism for identifying wireless-related needs, expectations, and priorities for the campus.

Roger McDonald noted that in 2006 we shouldn’t have to ask whether the campus should make wireless available broadly. It should be seen as a priority, and it is a service that many students and some faculty have come to expect. John Meyer indicated that wireless is one of many competing funding priorities the Provost is weighing, along with faculty salaries, classroom upgrades, etc. Pete Siegel indicated that, from an investment standpoint, we need to assess where the value is and who will benefit from it. The prioritization principles developed by the task group will be helpful in this regard, but we also need to better understand how wireless fits within the broader academic, teaching, and research priorities of the university. Bruno Nachtergaele suggested that it would be helpful to have a sense for the costs associated with bringing wireless to the buildings where classes are held.

Caroline Bledsoe asked Matt Bishop if he would chair the CCFIT Wireless Working Group. Bishop agreed. Anyone interested in joining the group should contact Bishop directly. ASUCD representative Karim Salem volunteered. Tom Kaiser requested that the group also be charged with defining the impact on staff workload. A charge letter will be developed and distributed at the December meeting.

III. Student Printing

Karim Salem, ASUCD representative, introduced the discussion of issues related to student printing with a brief reference to the report submitted by ASUCD representatives last year, and the response developed by IET and the Library shortly thereafter (see Response to ASUCD Report from 2005-06). At the time, ASUCD reported concerns among undergraduate students that it was becoming increasingly difficult to get class assignments printed on campus before class as instructors are posting more and more materials online and the lines at the computer labs are getting increasingly long. One suggestion at the time was to explore the possibility of offering wireless printing. Salem met recently with Jan Dickens, IET-Classroom Technology Services, and her staff to discuss progress made over the last few months, including the introduction of a new wireless printing pilot program.

Jan Dickens provided a summary of the steps that were taken over the last year to alleviate the lines and maximize the number of computers in the computer rooms. In addition to what’s been available for some time now (e.g., stand-up print stations, faster printers, and a real-time Web-based system students can use to check the availability of seats in computer rooms from their cell phones), the computer room in Shields Library was renovated this summer, and quick access stations were added, among other features, to serve more people more quickly. (Note: Many of the printing-related enhancements mentioned at the meeting are captured in IET’s quarterly report for Fall 2006).

Dickens noted that the wireless printing pilot program was launched on October 30 (see recent article announcing this pilot). Since then, anyone using the UC Davis wireless network can print from a laptop connected to the campus wireless network to a printer in the computer rooms in either the MU Station (177 Memorial Union) or 1101 Hart. Set-up instructions and an FAQ are available from the wireless printing Web site. As of the day of this meeting, 93 campus members had used the new service and had generated 136 print jobs. This pilot, along with some of the other measures noted above, are expected to make it faster and more convenient for students to get their class materials printed. Karim Salem mentioned that he was provided an overview of this pilot when he met with IET representatives recently, and noted that this pilot will be a great service for students.

Chair Bledsoe thanked Jan Dickens and Karim Salem for their reports.

IV.Upcoming Implementation of Spam Reduction Measures – Jatinder Singh, Data Center

Jatinder Singh, who oversees IET’s email services at the Data Center, provided an overview of the spam reduction measures that are expected to go into effect on November 29th. These measures will help with the ongoing fight against spam. They are designed to reject hundreds of thousands of spam messages each day before users ever see them. In addition, the amount of spam processed through the campus email servers (and then delivered to users' mailboxes) is expected to decrease significantly, thereby easing the load on the email system.

Singh pointed to the Enhanced Spam Management handout and briefly explained the scoring, filtering, and deletion process used to identify and re-route (or discard) spam. Approximately 25% of the 2 million email messages processed through the campus email system are considered definite spam, and an additional 50% are probably spam. The current spam filtering system requires users take action to re-route their spam. The new system will introduce default settings, and will give users more control and flexibility in defining their own spam filtering and deletion settings.

These measures and implementation plan were recently discussed in a special meeting with the CCFIT Steering Committee and additional faculty representatives. A communication plan is now under development. Included in the communication approach is an announcement that will be issued to all members of the campus community a couple of weeks before the measures take effect, as well as a Web site with instructions, an FAQ and a link to adjust spam filtering settings.

Singh thanked members of the CCFIT for their feedback on the proposed measures and for their help testing the new Web page.

Rob Kerner asked whether a diagram of the campus email architecture was available. Singh replied that a diagram will be made available.

[Note: To access the spam filtering Web page, see http://email.ucdavis.edu/secure/spamfilter.php

V. Tech Innovation: Free & legal music service for Undergrads: Ctrax, New Music Download Service – Sarah Kakwani and Nancy Hang

Tracy Bennett, Associate Director-Student Housing, announced the availability of a new option for students to access and download music and music videos. This option, offered through a partnership between Student Housing and IET, was made available at the beginning of the quarter. Earlier this year, a workgroup was formed (with representatives from Student Housing, IET, Student Judicial Affairs, the campus DMCA agent, and other members of the community) to evaluate responses to a Request for Proposals issued by the Office of the President. The workgroup evaluated four vendors before selecting Cdigix, one of the leading online music providers to colleges and universities. With Cdigix, the campus hopes to reduce illegal file sharing and invite students to use a legal music service.

Sarah Kakwani and Nancy Hang, two Cdigix student-marketing representatives, provided an overview of the service. Some key points from the overview and discussion:

• Every UC Davis student has now access to a free one-year subscription to Ctrax, part of the Cdigix media suite. The subscription includes unlimited downloads and streaming audio from a two-million-track music library.
• Downloads are free but expire with the subscription. To keep the files permanently, students can purchase an individual song for $0.89 or an entire album for $9.99.
• The service is also available to staff and faculty for $5.99 a month.
• Ctrax is only for Windows PCs and requires Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer. Ctrax will not download directly to iPods.
• Approximately 300 students are using the service. IET and Student Housing are collaborating with Kakwani and Hang on additional promotional communications.
• The contract with cDigix is not exclusive; the campus can contract with other vendors as well.

The demo of the service had to be postponed due to technical difficulties. It will be rescheduled for next month. In the meantime, to access the music library and the informational site, see http://getlegal.ucdavis.edu.

The meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.