Minutes from April 12, 2002

I. Streaming video server will be limited right now to instructional
purposes and research only. In the future, it will be used for recruiting
and other purposes. Limitations and policies:

size: limited to 1.5G (is this per presentation, per faculty member, etc?
This will need to be clarified.)

streaming rate limits: 256K

encoding standards: IT will propose standards. Most people use Quicktime
and RealAudio, but Windows Meida is up and coming.

dedicated bandwidth: may be necessary

number of concurrent users: this will be an issue, particularly for
distance courses.

Think about these issues and give Jerry suggestions/comments.

Ben Martz of Business will try to set up demo of streaming video server
for after our next meeting on April 26.

II. Streamlining:

Jerry handed out a summary of applications supported by IT and the
server(s) upon which they run. The summary indicates that we need more
than one platform, we gain flexibility by having more than one platform
(in agreement with Gardner Group's advise to stay diverse), and it would
not be practical to eliminate one of the platforms, as it would actually
increase the burden to IT.

On the other hand, it is important to help IT streamline, to become more
efficient with resources so that they aren't doing things they don't need
to be, and can concentrate resources on things they aren't now doing, but
should be. To that end, we need to look at redundancies that
affect IT economies. We should figure out what functions we need, and
only afterwards decide what technology is necessary to accomodate the
desired functionality.

After some discussion, we decided that course management (although a
sticky subject sure to bring about heated debate) is the best place to
start. We need to find out what specific needs are for the course
management system, realizing that sometimes faculty ask for specific
functionality without really understanding. So we need to find out 1) how
faculty are actually using the CMS (course management system); 2) what is
absolutely critical in a CMS; and 3) what would the faculty really like to
be able to do. We can find this out by talking to our faculty departments
and through a survey which lists specific functionality without being
associated with a specific CMS such as WebCT or Cyberclass. In the survey
it is important to know how the CMS would be used (for totally distance
courses, as an add-on to an on-campus course).

Jerry will start working on a survey grid listing functionality. We will
all bring suggestions to our next meeting on April 26 at 9 am.

In a similar fashion, we will examine specific needs for web servers,
email, etc., letting the needs drive the technology.

III. We also talked a little about tracking software licenses.

Some other interesting facts from the meeting (also some things I didn't
know): WebCT started out costing $4000/year, but is going to $7200.
Cyberclass costs $10,000 per year. Blackboard is $100,000/year.
E-College will have a new product called E-Companion for hybrid
courseware (like WebCT).

Next meeting: Friday, April 26 at 9 am unless we change it.