 Technology
in the 21st century has put ever-increasing amounts of information
right at our fingertips.
It is now possible, within the span of a few minutes, to research
for class assignments, access databases from universities all over
the world, register for classes and e-mail friends and relatives
back home.
Many parts of Appalachian State University have abandoned paper
all together in favor of computerized systems.
In light of the recent attack of the “worm” an important
question is being asked throughout the temporarily crippled campus;
are we becoming too dependent on computer and Internet technology?
As students moved to campus this weekend, they were greeted by signs
stating that “due to a virus, ASU’s ResNET will be down
indefinitely.” Indefinitely? This seems quite a scary word
for a campus that only recently switched all registration processes
to a “user friendly” Internet system.
Here at The Appalachian we faced complications in producing our
last issue as our server crashed, limiting our graphic design abilities
to one computer station. We twiddled our thumbs and waited until
someone could finally get us back online.
The Appalachian is a relatively small business organization in comparison
to the entire 13,500-student university, and we were almost shut
down completely.
If that level of disability was campus-wide, just imagine the difficulty
Appalachian has faced.
There is no paper system on which to fall back. There are no more
printed class schedule booklets. We are completely at the mercy
of our ability to log on to the Internet.
If the entire university were to lose Internet capabilities, no
classes could be added, dropped, researched or moved.
Last year, the reasoning given for having an Internet-based registration
system sounded fantastic. The university could save money by eliminating
the newsprint booklets with class times and numbers listed, and
students could spend less time pouring over hundreds of lines of
listed classes. Scheduling for the 2003 fall semester was a breeze
as there was minimal time and effort involved for most students.
However, what do we do now?
A backup system must be in place for the registration process. Surely
printing out a few copies of the schedule books and placing them
on reserve in the library would not be devastating costs to the
university.
We’re sure to receive plenty of “I told you so” letters
to the editor, criticizing the university and the new registration
system. Good luck finding a computer to e-mail those to us. |
