ACAC Meeting of March 21, 1996
Present: David Phillips (Chair), Michael Kubovy, John Lloyd, Sharon Lock (attending for Sally Reel/Nursing), Tim Sigmon, Martha Sites, Rip Verkerke, Alice Howard Next Meeting: April 18, 1996, 3:45pm, ITC-Forestry Conference room UCIT ==== David brought the committee up-to-date about UCIT's progress towards reshaping the strategic statement for Information Technology at UVa. Their goal is to form a vision of how Information Technology might be used at UVa in 5 years -- and to derive from that vision some implications for UVa (e.g. leadership, budget, etc.) David wondered what we could learn about UVa's similarities/differences to other research institutions from national surveys (like Casey Green's), and also inquired to what degree have/do ITC staff participate in national conferences and workshops related to the role/future of Information Technology and academic computing needs. Michael asked about trying to benefit from ideas/solutions that have been developed at other universities -- for example, is there something in the area of Information Technology that might be as innovative as UVa's development of ART$$? Scenario Discussion =================== The committee discussed what "flies in the ointment" were present in the scenarios submitted so far -- and what significant areas might have been overlooked. It was agreed that most scenarios required significant computing resources (especially John Hawley's!) and network bandwidth! and that there was a repeated theme of "collaboration" between students and faculty (locally, nationally, and internationally). Many scenarios also assumed that interchanges between various computing platforms would be "seamless" and problem-free. There was agreement that information technology could offer new opportunities to students with learning disabilities and/or special needs -- and a scenario will be developed to cover this area. Potential scenarios for using "virtual reality" were considered, but none seemed to fit into the current timetable. Some potential "mundane barriers" to the successful implementation of these future scenarios include: the need for most/all students to have powerful computers; providing "enough" network connections and bandwidth; "across-platform" issues. Following discussion highlighted the need for ITC to provide technical leadership and guidance to schools and departments -- particularly with respect to technology infrastructure (e.g. switches and routers). ITC's failure to make choices/decisions (e.g. email) does have consequences for schools and deparments. School and Department Issues to represent to UCIT ================================================= *Resources for production/use of multimedia within schools/depts. *Clinic setting computing needs *Use of wireless communication (probably not for 10 years yet) *Cyclic, planned replacement of computing equipment *School/dept support staff in addition to computing infrastructure -- i.e. computing support staff are just as critical to department support now as clerical support used to be.
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