IRC News Minutes provided by Sue Ellen Richey, Recording Secretary

IRC Regular and Ex-officio Voting Members: Judith Adkison, College of Education; Ginny Anderson, Fiscal Affairs; Donna Asher, Administrative Affairs; Craig Berry, School of Visual Arts; Sue Byron, Faculty Senate; Bobby Carter, UNT Health Science Center; Jim Curry, Academic Administration; VACANT, Student Association, Don Grose, Libraries; Jenny Jopling, Instruction Program Group; Joneel Harris, Administrative Program Group; Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Standards and Cooperation Program Group; Abraham John, Student Affairs; VACANT,Graduate Student Council; VACANT, University Planning Council; Ramu Muthiah, School of Community Services, GALMAC; Jon Nelson, College of Music; Robert Nimocks, Director, Information Technology,UNTHSC; Patrick Pluscht, Distributed Learning Team; Mark Rorvig, Research Program Group (Acting Chair); Paul Schlieve, Communications Program Group; Kathleen Swigger, College of Arts and Sciences; Philip Turner, School of Library and Information Science and University Planning Council (Chair, IRC);; Virginia Wheeless, Chancellor; John Windsor, College of Business. IRC Ex-officio Nonvoting Members: VACANT, Telecommunications; Bill Buntain, Computing Center Networking; Jim Curry, Microcomputer Maintenance Shop; Richard Harris, Computing Center; Coy Hoggard, Computing Center; Joel Lanpher, UNT Health Science Center; Maurice Leatherbury, Computing Center; Sue Ellen Richey, Computing Center (Recording Secretary). [As of 10/2000]

March 13, 2001

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:  CHAIR: PHILIP TURNER,  DON GROSE,  JON NELSON,  JIM CURRY, PAUL SCHLIEVE, ELIZABETH HINKLE-TURNER, MARK RORVIG, JUDITH ADKISON,  JENNY JOPLING,  RAMU MUTHIAH,  MARGARET HUDNALL, PATRICK PLUSCHT,  KATHLEEN SWIGGER,  JONEEL HARRIS, ROBERT NIMOCKS, BOBBY CARTER, MIKE IMPSON, DONNA ASHER, JIM CURRY NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:  RICHARD HARRIS,  COY HOGGARD, MAURICE LEATHERBURY,  BILL BUNTAIN, SUE ELLEN RICHEY  (Recording Secretary) MEMBERS ABSENT:  GINNY ANDERSON,  JOHN WINDSOR,  JOEL LANPHEAR, CRAIG BERRY, ALLEN LIVINGSTON, VIRGINIA WHEELESS GUESTS:  JAMES STRAWN, BETTY TOMBOULIAN, JOHN HOOPER

The minutes of  the January 16, 2001 IRC meeting were approved as distributed. There was no Information Resources Steering Committee meeting in February; therefore, there was no report.

Distributed Computing Support Management Team

Maurice Leatherbury reported for the Distributed Computing Support Management Team that they have met and talked about the following issues: 1) the desire to improve the process by which new hires to the University (faculty and staff) obtain computing services; and 2) the investigation of wireless local area network technologies on campus. Maurice reported having attended the EduTex conference recently where he observed the wireless operation there. Doug Jackson of UT Dallas made a presentation on wireless technology; so Maurice has invited him to come to the DCSMT meeting on Friday, March 16 to give the committee a brief overview of what UTD is doing. 

Instruction Program Group

Jenny Jopling reported for the Instruction Program Group that they have met electronically. At this time they are awaiting a response from Counseling & Testing as to what their responsibility might be in the new computer-based testing facility.  Jenny also reported to Suzanne LaBrecque that the issue of staffing this new facility is not being addressed by the Gateway Center committee and stated that she is preparing a report for Dr. LaBrecque.

The Program Group is continuing to look at internet access in terms of long-term strategy in order to manage the growth of that resource.  Paul stated that one of their first tasks will be to find out how the bandwidth is being used, by whom, and to determine what tools are available for managing it. 

Discussion followed during which it was mentioned that  Napster appears to be using a great deal of the available bandwidth, and the Housing Dept. has been limited as far as the amount of bandwidth that will be available to the dorms.  Bill Buntain added that restricting the dorms to a certain percentage of bandwidth was a business decision by the Housing Dept. because the dorms pay for their share and then pass that cost on to the room rates of the residents.

It was also mentioned that a hardware/software solution called PacketShaper is being evaluated which seems to be able to monitor and control bandwidth usage. Patrick Pluscht mentioned that desktop video-conferencing capability, that is now available to everyone, is a potential bandwidth hog, whether it is used for sanctioned or non-sanctioned activities.

Research Program Group

Mark Rorvig reported for the Research Program Group that they would like to write a computer and information science/engineering science research infrastructure grant so that if awarded UNT could focus more on providing more capacity for research than on limiting the use of bandwidth.

Dr. Turner mentioned an article in EDUCAUSE in the February issue called “The Hybrid Campus.” The article predicts what a campus will look like five years from now in terms of telecommunications infrastructure. It observes that as the move is made toward a more distributed environment, funding will have to be shifted from buildings, electricity and everything that is necessary for a campus environment into supporting teaching in a distributed environment. Dr. Turner stated that he thinks that the UNT administration believes this but they must be assured along the way that the development in that direction is not frivolous. 

In response to a question by Patrick Pluscht, it was stated that the cost of PacketShaper is $24,000.00 and approximately $2,400.00 per year for maintenance. It was also explained that the PacketShaper product is faster than the internet connection so there should be no interference with or slow down of the IP Video speed. 

Administration Program Group

Joneel Harris reported for the Administration Program Group that a spreadsheet is being prepared to post on the Web so that the University community can see the project charge as well as the list of requirements for the proposed Enterprise Information System. A contract with NCHEMS has been drafted that would provide a consultant to work with the project teams as they go through this process. Chuck Thomas, who has worked on a consulting contract at UNT before, would be the consultant for this project. The Program Group has also looked into the purchasing requirements, and it has been determined that if there are at least 3 vendors, that are Qualified Information Systems Vendors, a Request for Offer procedure can be used which will incorporate the compiled requirements document, as opposed to a more formal Request for Quote. The committee is also looking at the possibility of using an outside consultant in contract negotiations. Joneel Harris introduced John Hooper, who is developing the Web site that will contain information for the UNT community to review.

In response to a question from Kathleen Swigger, Joneel responded to assure everyone that the proposed EIS will not be just an administrative system. Data warehousing, and easy access to data for use by faculty is a high priority in the planning of this new system.  Joneel stated that Margaret Hudnell is one of the faculty representatives on the planning group.

Standards & Cooperation Program Group

Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner reported for the Standards & Cooperation Program Group that they are working on security procedures and standards policies.They hope to have a draft of the new policies by the May meeting.

Distributed Learning Team

Patrick Pluscht reported for the Distributed Learning Team that at their meeting on Thursday, March 15, they will discuss the WebCT server upgrade. The Center for Distributed Learning is also doing some work on refurbishing course Web sites so that students can have audio and video clips about a course and its instructor, in an effort to better market these courses.  They hope to have these improvements completed in time for Fall registration. In addition, the TIF DI4 grants were awarded on Friday, and UNT did not receive the $650,000 one that Patrick applied for, which would have provided more video-conferencing between UNT and Univ. of Houston.

Other Business

Don Grose provided information regarding the new Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA), which is a proposed state contract law developed to regulate transactions in intangible goods such as computer software, online databases and other information products in digital form. The law has been introduced into the Texas Senate, and it is being opposed by Libraries, consumer protection groups, and a number of businesses. If approved, the new law would override a lot of the copyright laws. Dr. Grose stated that Melody Kelly is planning to bring up a Web site that will keep the University community informed of this law and its progression through the legislature.

Kathleen Swigger commented about a problem she and other faculty have experienced in using classrooms in the Business Administration building, which are supported by COBA computing support, rather than the central Classroom Support Services. It was explained that College of Business purchased the equipment in the classrooms in their building and support those classrooms because of that. Jim Curry commented that Microcomputer Maintenance will be providing new equipment for those classrooms as it is replaced and in the future will provide the classroom support for them.

Dr. Leatherbury also announced that 20 Teaching with Technology grant applications have been received; a committee has been formed to review them, and a decision will be made in mid April.

Richard Harris reported that the connections for Internet2 are in place; however, significant router software maintenance is scheduled to be done during Spring Break, so after the maintenance is completed, they will bring up the Internet2 connection, with the hope that Internet2 will be in production the week after Spring Break. Richard also announced that there will be an Internet2 Day on April 6, about which there will be announcements later.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:10 pm.