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A high-end media laboratory containing state-of-the-art equipment for video editing, digital photography and live video streaming is planned to be installed in Fogler Library by next semester. But some are unhappy about how the proposed facility will affect students’ computer needs.
“This takes us beyond word processing,” Associate Student Auxiliary Publications director and new media professor Mike Scott said. “So much in the clusters is word processing. We want students to start exploring other options of sharing information.”
The lab, which will be available to all students who are developing projects, will offer machines including video cameras, digital cameras, sound equipment and computers with high bandwidth connections. A support staff will also be available to help students learn how to use the equipment, which will be updated every two years, and produce sophisticated projects, Scott said.
“These computers will benefit the needs of not only new media students, but also art students and other students with similar needs,” said Joyce Rumery, a librarian at Fogler Library. “What computers, resources and printers are put in will be available to everyone. The library would never support putting in a lab that was only open to one college or program. This will benefit everyone,” she said.
Scott designed the lab to accommodate small groups of students working collaboratively to create projects with up-to-date technology. He said he hopes the lab will encourage students of various majors to come together and share ideas.
“I don’t want to predict how it will be used,” he said. “Students will discover new ways to share information. It’s a way to gain knowledge from people with different experiences. From wildlife ecology students to English students to journalism students, everyone will be able to benefit from this. You can take models from botany and apply them for use in art history. In the lab, you can incubate your ideas, then share.
“The most important things will be the ideas that will come out of this,” Scott said. “Technology is the instigator of bringing people together. Technology is not the end-all – the goal is to enhance the ideas.”
Students who wish to use the lab will have to schedule times to come in. Walk-in use will be discouraged, Scott said.
Since only half of the lab’s proposed budget of $200,000 was approved, the staff may be limited in size and skill.
“Trained consultants will still be there to help, but there may not be as many as we’d like,” Scott said. “We may be hiring undergraduate [new media students]. Graduate students would be more adept with the knowledge, but funding could limit who we hire.”
The limited budget is also forcing Scott to reduce how much equipment will be offered in the lab, as well as the size of the lab. Originally planned to replace the entire library IT computer cluster, the lab is now slated to take over just the section formerly occupied by 21 Macintosh computers.
The plan leaves only 14 Macs available for cluster use, located in Memorial Union. The computers that occupied the space previously are now being farmed out to other departments on campus, according to Robin Shaler, of the IT staff.
Both Scott and Shaler said they are not excited about what the location means for students who depend on the clusters.
“The library cluster is a heavily-used cluster,” Shaler said. “We have statistics that show that it was and is a heavily-used location. It’s unfortunate that students lost that many computers.”
Scott said since the media lab is not a cluster, the library might not be the best location.
“We need a facility like this and it needs to be able to grow,” he said. “Presently, it’s very constrained. The library is quiet and pristine, but in collaboration, you want excitement and discussion.”
“The computers in the clusters have quite a few academically-related applications on them that students may not have at home,” Shaler said. “UM has a significant percentage of non-traditional students, and the chances of them having those applications on their computers at home is small,” she said.
To respond to the loss of cluster computers, the library purchased 10 new laptops that can be taken out of the media resource lab on the second floor of the library, according to Rumery. The laptops can run Microsoft Office and FirstClass and students can print through the Pharos system. However, the computers lack specific programs like CAD, used by engineering majors, Fathom, a math program, and SPSS, a statistics program.
“We didn’t want to replace one student need with another,” Scott said.
Shaler said she supposes the need for word processing computers is not being met at the university as a result of the new lab.
“The new lab is exciting and there is a need for it, but it would have been nice if an alternative location had been provided for the cluster computers. That still might happen,” Shaler said.
Currently, there are 20 new Windows computers in the IT Center in the library, and other stations are located in the library and around campus for specific programs. The computer lab in Memorial Union is also still open.
Shaler said consultants in the Union and Fogler labs report that those computers are usually full most of the day.
IT has also opened a computer center at 121 Lengyel Hall for public use during specific evening hours. All students can use the computers, which can run specific software formerly offered by the Fogler Macs, during the following hours: Wednesdays from 6 to 9 p.m., Thursdays from 4 to 9 p.m. and Fridays from 4 to 9 p.m. New media students have been hired to provide support during these hours.
Despite the cluster issue, various delays and the less-than-ideal location, Scott is optimistic about the lab.
“This is what I would consider the tip of the iceberg at looking at how technology affects and contributes to other disciplines,” Scott said. “The question is just whether we have stamina to sustain this vision and build this,” he said.
