THE CUTTING EDGE: Hooking Up

Walking to the library to look up information or personally handing an assignment to a professor may someday be as unfathomable as copying books by hand. All across the University, there is a movement toward greater computerization, which will someday affect every aspect of students' lives, from using the library to buying football tickets. "We've made some quantum leaps in the past year," said Michael Elley, associate vice provost of information and computing. "We are making significant progress." The library system's increased services on line are the most noticeable changes to computing at the University. And according to library officials, the new services can only expand in the future. "The idea is to make everything available on the desktop," said Patricia Renfro, associate director of Library Public Services. "Even if the student isn't at a library terminal." The library opened a new gateway to the public with a greater array of services and full text sources available over the Internet about two weeks ago. The new gateway was tested this summer, and responses so far have been very positive, Renfro said. "We've had many responses from students, and they've all been very happy with the system," she said. Some of the new sources available on-line are the text of the Oxford English Dictionary, the Dow Jones/News Retrieval with market quotes and business information, and the full text databases of LEXIS/NEXIS. LEXIS/NEXIS is an up-to-date database including most major newspapers as well as business journals, congressional publications and other media sources. According to library officials, this is one of the most utilized sources on line. "With the full text resources, we've seen a significant change," said Joseph Zucca, executive assistant to the vice provost and director of libraries. "Seeing students using the test gateway, almost all [had their terminals] set to the LEXIS/NEXIS ticker." Despite the current success of the new gateway, the library staff has more planned to make students' midnight run to the library as short as walking to the nearest computer. Access 2000, the long-term plan for the upgrade of the library facilities, has three main goals: to modernize the hardware and wiring, to move the computing environment from a mainframe to a UNIX system, and to make information access and delivery more user-friendly. As part of the continued computerization movement, the University is also upgrading PennNet, the University's dial-in modem service. Over the summer, the service was changed to run on 8 data bits and no parity, allowing for greater utilization of the network, according to University officials. "There has been a rapid growth in the demand for modems," said Elley. "We had about 120 to 140 modem ports for PennNet about a year ago. We've been trying to anticipate demand and add more. We added another 60 recently, and we've got about 300 in use now." In addition to this, the expanded availability of ResNet has allowed students to connect to servers and download information faster from their dormitory rooms. "ResNet is the key infrastructure," Elley said. "Half of the dorms have ResNet, and students are able to run at the same speed as the labs." Officials cited this ever-increasing number of computer users as a definite sign that both students and staff are becoming more active on the Internet, inside and outside the University. "Four years ago there were 375 e-mail accounts [at the University]," said John Abercrombie, senior director of Educational Technology Services. "Now there are over 8,000. That's a phenomenal statistic, a phenomenal growth." "[The Internet] is seen more as entertainment than anything at this point by new users, but there is tremendous education potential," said Vicky Maxon, Macintosh support specialist for School of Arts and Sciences Computing. "There are all kinds of sources, especially the Worldwide Web. Networking people together has the potential to educate more than television, since not everyone watches channel 12." The Worldwide Web has been in existence for about two years. The Web is an international directory of information that is easily accessible without having to learn complicated computer commands. First developed in 1989, the Web has sites on line in most standard countries. Most users of the Web have what is called a home page, a pre-made user file that can be accessed for information about the person. Home page owners can use pictures, quick-time movies or whatever other information they would like other users to have about them. With programs like Mosaic, computer users can create and read other pages as well. "Mosaic has been in widespread use for about a year, but now there is a new program called Netscape," Elley said. "It's a good program that doesn't crash as often." SAS does not offer home pages to users, but is planning to make them available to all users in the future. "What is going to happen is until users can get home pages though mail.sas, they will be available on ccat [the Education Technology Services computer] on a case-by-case basis," said Maxon. "In the future, we'll automatically make whatever they want available to the Web," she added. "Currently, the people power is not always as high as we would wish. It's going to get done for sure. In the interim, ccat is available to make your own home page." Even at Franklin Field, new computers are part of the game plan for the future. To gain free admission to football games this year, students need a red sticker affixed to the back of their PENNcards. The student's identification is scanned onto the computers, which then keep track of which games students bought guest passes for. Students can also get tickets for certain away games, such as next week's game at Princeton. Another possibility is to have PARIS on the internet. Although University officials say this option is probably far off in the future, the idea of registering for classes while seeing the name of the class being placed into the system is one that might please students. While this would be a convenience for many, officials are quick to say that those students who do not have access to Internet sites would not be left out of the registration process. "We might have a system that works in multiple ways," said Elley. "[We] might have a computer option while keeping [the current] voice options on PARIS." And, of course, there is the major impact computers have had in the classroom. Many teachers now have newsgroups and listservs for classes to further expand discussions. "After class [newsgroups] are a good way for students to carry on conversations and get peer reviews," Senior Director of Educational Technical Services John Abercrombie said. "It allows more students to communicate with each other." Listservs are mailing lists where a professor can send e-mail to all students enrolled in the course, and students can share announcements with the class. "In the future there won't be just listservs, it will be much more interactive," Maxon said. "There will be people waiting on line to talk about the subjects, like an IRC. This will do more than save paper and time, but expand the learning process." Classes are also currently being taught on the Internet, including one here at the University. Classical Studies Professor James O'Donnell is conducting a course about Augustine with 300 students around the world. Programs currently available and others under development may also eliminate the need for telephones and office hours. "There is a program called C.U.C.Me which is an Internet video program, and another program called Maven which is Internet audio," said Maxon. "People can have audio/video conferences on the Macintosh already using freeware. Like 'talk,' people have to be on to communicate, so it isn't something that can be used to spy on things." There are also 'virtual universities' where users can log on and take classes. These sites often have 'maps' of the virtual university similar to Multi-User Dungeons that are used for games over the Internet. 'Maps' are imaginary blueprints for universities complete with buildings for different departments and gymnasiums. Users log in at a specified time and are taught classes by another user somewhere on the Internet. Although there are no definite plans for this at the University, officials did not dismiss the idea of virtual classrooms becoming more widespread in the future. "It's a good idea," said Michael Nenashev, system administrator for SAS Computing. "Someday you might even be able to earn a degree without ever even stepping into a classroom."