Page 4 - Phoenix1998-99

Thursday, September 17, 1998 - Page 4 NEWS Information superhighway offers WMC a bumpy ride BY MICHAEl. STOKES students should be getting more computers SWjJWr;/er than the staff, especially when staff mem- bers who barely have a use for computers Although Western Maryland College is are getting upgrades. situated 20 miles from the Baltimore Belt- "Staff members aren't paying to go here, way, the campus contains an on-ramp to the we are, yet they are the ones who are getting largest superhighway in the world: the In- the computer upgrades while we have to wait ternet. in line for 45 minutes to type a paper!" said In an age when computer technology is Bogart. changing the world in which we live, com- Mathews said that there are no immedi- puters have become a necessary part of our ate plans to increase the number of comput- ' day-to-day lives. As such, they have become ers available for student use. She only plans a critical tool in teaching and learning to replace the existing ones as they grow old. throughout schools in the United States, and "I want to do as much as I can," said WMC is no exception. Mathews. "but it takes money, time and re- down. She believes students need to be more will benefit the entire college." In the past few years WMC has joined sources. And right now we don't have the educated in how to use computers, or else Despite these problems that hinder the the computer revolution, and the effects can money." the problem will continue. progress of the information age at WMC, the be seen almost everywhere on campus. Ethan Seidel, vice president of adminis- The tremendous disparity in the number future does have a silver lining. Dr. Joan Coley, the dean of {he faculty, tration and finance, said. "Increasing the of quality IBM computers to {he 'number of This fall, WMC will establish a computer said, "We have made a tremendous amount number of computers for student use is not inadequate Maclnroshes is also a concern. network system with the Carroll Community of progress in the computer age during the one of our main priorities for spending at this Mathews admits that the number of College library and the public library of past few years, and I believe that it will con- time. We do see it as a concern, but there Macintosh computers compared to the num- Westminster. This system will allow the tinue." are!"lO plans for an increase anytime soon." ber of IBMs is a problem "Four percent of holdings of each library to be viewed by each According to Christine Mathews, direc- One option that might become reality is the computer population in the world is made other. For example, a WMC student will be tor of information services, there are approxi- the extension of lab hours to 24 hours a day, up of Macintosh computers," said Mathews. able to scan the catalogues of both the com- mately 500 computers on campus. There are munity college library and the public library seven computer labs available to students: "Increasing the number of computers for student use without leaving Hoover Library. the Maggie Lab, located on the second floor is not one of our main priorities for spending at this According to Mathews, the top priority of Hoover Library; the Writing Center, on of information services over the next year the first floor of Hill Hall; the Hoover Lab, time. " will be to "improve the existing network in- on the first floor of the library; the Windows trastrucrure which is based on telephone lines Lab, in the basement of Lewis; the Graphics Ethan Seidel, vice president of administration andfinance by replacing them with fiberoptic cables, lab, in Peterson Hall; the Howard Hughes making the system extremely faster and more Lab, onthe second floor of Lewis; and the according to Mathews. This would only ap- "We are going -to begin replacing the secure." Math/Computer Science Lab, on the first ply to the Hoover Lab. This will be done by Macintoshes with IBMs, once it is time. Information Services is also looking at floor of Lewis. installing a card reader in the front of the However we replace the computers in cycles the possibility of student registration occur- However, despite the 500 computers that library that would read the strip on a student of three to five years." ring over the Internet, a concept that could are on campus, only 137 are for student use, identification card, allowing students and Another problem is that the entire com- become reality within the next "couple of which is a source of considerable frustration. staff members to enter the building after its puter network is built by Macintosh, accord- years." E-mail has also made a tremendous im- closing. ing to Mathews. Two main drawbacks that There is no question of the impact that pact at WMC. Mathews said that the col- Mathews and Chambers believe this will result are the Macintoshes use special equip- computers have had on WMC over the past lege handles over 2000 e-mail accounts from be a low-cost solution to the problem of over- ment that is not flexible, and the Macintosh few years. They have changed the way students, faculty and staff. crowded labs, which is especially evident network as a whole is rather slow, she said. teachers teach. the way students learn, and One important effect of the computer toward the end of each semester. However, Mathews said that this prob- the overall course of campus life. WMC is revolution is the use of computers in the Nearly everyone agrees that another ma- lem is in the process of being solved. The caught up in the computer revolution. and classroom. An increasing number of profes- jor area of concern is that the residence halls college network is being switched from only time will tell how far we will go. sors have recently begun to use computers do not have cable lines. Instead, data phones MacNet to EtherNet, which is a network that President Chambers summed it up this to do everything from teaching lectures with are used by those who have the Internet in is not based on anyone model, and will thus way: "Now we're cruising down' the high- the click of a button to sending graded tests their rooms. This creates the "tying up" of allow for different types of computers to be way, whereas three or four years ago we back to students via e-mail. phone lines which plagues the telecommu- linked with it. According to Mathews, this weren't even on the on-ramp. Who knows Richard Dillman, an assistant professor nications system. project will continue into next year and will just how far we're headed!" of communication, has been using comput- Mathews said the school is examining the create "a more secure. faster network [hat ers in his classroom for three years. He takes possibility of using coaxial cable instead of advantage of the technology by holding on- the data phones. Coaxial cables are con- 16" CHEESE line classroom discussions and sending back nected with television cable lines, so that graded papers through e-mail. He even holds phone lines will not be disturbed. Mathews out-of-class discussions through the e-mail said this change might become a reality for only system because of its convenience. within the next two to three years. "When our students leave here they are Another problem that detours the infor- $4.99 going to be using computers anyway, so they mation superhighway on campus is the ·might as well get accustomed to them now," Macintosh computers' small-memory capa- said Dillman. bilities. Many of these computers are un- Everyday ... All Day Amy Hacker, a junior biology/premed able to handle the memory required to "surf major, said she enjoys working with com- the net," so they shut down. Pizza, Wings & More Inc. puters in the classroom. She is excited that Mike Wolfe, a sophomore, said, "One more and more of her teachers are beginning night I went into the Hoover Lab and there (410) 840·8338 to use computers for learning purposes, and were five computers shut down. I couldn't she hopes that one day computers will elimi- get any of my work done because there were Carryout only, No Delivery nate note-taking. not enough damn computers that were run- "Computers make my work quicker. ning." -We also offer some of the best wings easier. and neater than if I were to have to do Virginia Story, administrator of the Writ- everything by hand," she said. ing Center, admits that the limited memory in Westminster Although the computer revolution has capabilities of the Macintosh computers is a benefited WMC, there are some areas of con- problem. Story said that the school tries to -Also, check out our huge 29" pizza cern that must be addressed before the cam- increase the memory each year, but part of pus can continue its technological advance- the problem is the computer user. She ex- for only $12.50 ments. plained that students bounce from one site Perhaps the most significant problem is to another. sometimes in a frantic way. The Located just one block from campus at Penn. Ave & Union Street. the lack of computers available for student computer then must download each site, and Across from Little Georges Convenience Store. use. Senior Michael Bogart believes that after too many sites the computer shuts