During 10th week and finals week last term, many Lawrentians may have become very frustrated with the amount of time it took for computers to connect to the wireless Internet. The ability to check e-mail every five minutes to see if professors or study groups had responded yet had been compromised. So too had the ability to e-mail papers to oneself for printing, or double-checking that cited Internet source. While this problem is surely due to the increased number of people wanting to do just the same, something could be done by ITS to anticipate this habitual influx of computer-carrying students.
The library is not the only place that has Internet issues. During peak hours, the Internet everywhere on campus can be painfully slow; pictures, PDFs, JSTOR articles, Moodle postings, e-mail attachments and video files for academic as well as recreational purposes can take an aggravatingly long time to load. The campus Internet was not even fast enough to view the Webcast (without serious buffering issues) of this past weekend’s tutorial education conference that President Beck worked so hard to bring to campus.
Not only does slow Internet present a problem for current students, but it certainly does not help the image of Lawrence University being presented to prospective students. The speed of the Internet here is not as fast as that in many students’ homes, and while this is not a reason to take Lawrence off one’s list, it also does not exactly add to the “Pro” column for Lawrence.
Recently there was a survey posted on the Internet by ITS asking for feedback. Take this opportunity, Lawrentians, to tell ITS exactly what you think and to what degree of satisfaction you find the Internet access, campus network, wireless, e-mail and Voyager to be speedy, reliable and easy to use.
Staff Editorial
