Colleges and universities have got a big problem: how to bake a wireless network as good as Mom's. The problem is that enterprise wireless networks "tend to be a little more finicky" than the home ones. While the home devices are plug-and-play, enterprise networks force IT departments to manage client issues such as drivers and settings. It's a…

In this era of political rancor when everything is a zero-sum game, it is refreshing to think that two parties could actually come together to create a win-win situation. That is exactly what is happening, though, as a number of universities take on the role of application service provider (ASP) for smaller schools. It is not all confetti and…

As the ranks of educators on Twitter grow, more and more are heard about the importance of their "PLNs" (a term reportedly coined by educational technology guru David Warlick). A PLN, or Personal Learning Network, is a group of like-minded professionals with whom one can exchange ideas, advice, and resources. So why shouldn't students have PLNs of…

In early 2004, the Hilton Hotels Corporation (HHC) required that all of its hotels (both owned and franchised) install high-speed Internet access (HSIA) in all of their rooms by June 2004. This case focuses on how one of its franchise properties located on the northern gulf coast of Florida (the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort &…

Information systems educators must balance the need to protect the stability, availability, and security of computer laboratories with the learning objectives of various courses. In advanced courses where students need to install, configure, and otherwise manipulate application and operating system settings, this is especially problematic as these…

Explains bandwidth in non-technical terms and why its conservation is important. Network performance is discussed, Australian networks are reviewed, and actions that can be taken by personal computer end users on the Internet and World Wide Web in the interest of conserving bandwidth are listed. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the variety of performance measures available for information retrieval systems, search engines, and network filtering agents. Considers how measures of performance at a point in a search can be formally compared, develops criteria related to document orderings, and discusses equivalent ordering and precision and recall. (Author/LRW)

World dilemmas such as poverty, immigration, globalization, technology, transportation, and transnational endeavors define the notion of "global village" in the same way that multicultural populations currently in all nations are described. No longer are nations as homogeneous as they were even a decade ago. In classroom settings the study of…

Discusses modem speed, factors affecting performance; phone-line limitations; new options: Interactive Services Digital Network (ISDN) and Digital Subscriber Link (DSL); satellite delivery; cable modems; and choosing the right solution. (PEN)

Addresses issues to consider when upgrading library CD-ROM networks for multimedia applications. Topics includes security issues; workstation requirements such as soundboards and monitors; local area network configurations that avoid bottlenecks: Asynchronous Transfer Mode, Ethernet, and Integrated Services Digital Network; server performance…

Discusses three innovative Internet-based electronic document delivery systems: Ariel, developed by the Research Libraries Group; Digitized Document Transmission Project, developed by North Carolina State University; and Network Fax Project, developed by Ohio State University. System are compared in terms of equipment, operation, advantages and…

October is national Cyber Security Awareness Month, and for the world of higher education, that means it is time to take a look at defense systems and plan for the future. Clearly, more planning is needed now than ever before. According to the majority of IT market research firms, phishing and identity theft have leapfrogged spam and spyware as…

Addresses the problems of managing capacity and provisioning the demand for continued growth in data services. Discusses the need for blending high-performance technologies for interoperability and reliability; delivering higher bandwidth at lower cost; and allowing for increased customer control in networking. (AEF)

This report examines subsections of the computer network topology that relate to end-to-end performance and capacity planning in schools. Active star topology, Category 5 wiring, Ethernet, and intelligent devices are assumed. The report describes a model that can be used to project WAN (wide area network) connection speeds based on user traffic,…

Provides an overview of the IRIS (Intelligent Reference Information System) project at the University of Houston (Texas) libraries; describes CD-ROM database performance tests, user reactions to the CD-ROM network, and a survey of users of an expert system to recommend reference sources; and reports on current activities and future plans.…