St. Petersburg Junior College: What Presidents Need to Know About the Impact of Networking on Campus Background paper for HEIRAlliance Executive Strategies Report #3 "What Presidents Need to Know ... about the Impact of Networking on Campus" --------------------------------------------------------------------- prepared by representatives of ST. PETERSBURG JUNIOR COLLEGE Carl W. Kuttler, Jr. President James Olliver Vice President for Institutional & Program Planning Susan Anderson Director of Libraries Janet Gammons Data Communication Specialist Janetze Hart Programmer Analyst, Technology ----------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1993 by HEIRA The Executive Strategies reports are published by the Higher Education Information Resources Alliance (HEIRAlliance), a vehicle for cooperative projects between the Association of Research Libraries, CAUSE, and EDUCOM. For information about paper copies, contact CAUSE at 303-449-4430, orders@CAUSE.colorado.edu ============================================================= What Presidents Need to Know about the Impact of Networks on Campus: St. Petersburg Junior College St. Petersburg Junior College, founded as a private college in 1927, is Florida's oldest two-year institution of higher education. But we've never been "old" in our thinking. and thus does the college have a spirit and a tradition of innovativeness that trace clear back to its very conception: The founders launched SPJC through a public-private partnership that enabled hundreds and hundreds of the community's young people to pursue higher education at a time of widespread economic hardship. The institution has been receptive to the new, the experimental, the "wave of the future" ever since. Our first use of computers dates back more than a generation, to 1967, when we contracted with the Pinellas County School Board to write SPJC's first computer programs and run them on the Board's Honeywell H-200. We've come a long way since then, to the point of being almost completely computer-networked through all seven of our college campus and administrative sites. That will give us a huge leg up in providing instruction to the 57,000 credit and non-credit students we serve annually in Florida's second smallest but most densely populated county. The network, called Project Flamingo, is described in detail in a December 1992 speech given by our Vice President for Institutional and Program Planning, Dr. James Olliver. The speech accompanies this report and provides more detailed background on our technology. Chief architect of Project Flamingo was our then-Director of Technology, John Busby. Our aim was to integrate the academic and administrative systems to make the operation of the college more efficient. The vision was to reduce paperwork as much as possible, and to improve learning for students -- especially the latter. Even so, the decision to implement Project Flamingo over a period of several years generated heated discussions and controversy among district and campus officials and faculty members. Provost Vilma Zalupski of our Clearwater Campus remembers that it was "a major philosophical decision ... a major commitment to technology ... (and) a major, major expense for the college." It was all those things -- especially expensive. One initial price tag came to $10-million, although that figure was subsequently scaled back somewhat. In addition, there have been modifications and adaptations to the plan, including the introduction of new technologies. Here and there, we have even seen prices come down on the cost of some components. Greatly easing the financial burden has been the support we have received from three computer companies -- Apple, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Unisys. They formed a partnership with us to support the venture and contributed almost $3-million worth of equipment. Apple also invited SPJC to become one of the 10 charter members of its Community College Alliance, made up of institutions regarded as leaders in the use of education technology. In 1990, Apple Vice President Jerry Mallec called our project "the installation of the largest network of educational computing systems in the U.S." His company intended, he said, "to use SPJC's leadership role ... as the model for use of Macintosh technology in the classroom." The college's District Board of Trustees captured the vision and made an initial commitment of $2-million in capital outlay for Project Flamingo. Major support comes from the College Development Foundation , which has targeted $2.5-million as it specific fundraising goal in Project Flamingo's behalf. A 12-minute video was produced to aid in the drive. The network to date is 75-80% complete. Starting out, we made the conscious decision to computerize one site at a time. This was an "all for some and none for others" approach, resulting in "haves" and "have nots" for a time -- which was made worse by unexpected legislative budget cuts that had the effect of protracting the inequities. We still feel this was a correct approach. Spreading the technology out equally, a little at a time, would have produced general excitement at first -- but very limited capabilities on each campus's part. By doing what we did, we produced a "critical mass" that had observable capabilities we could evaluate and fine tune. Meanwhile, those who had to wait to come on line displayed admirable patience and understanding. Had it not been for the delays -- which tested the perseverance of many -- we're convinced it would have worked perfectly. And there is one silver lining: The delays now mean that some of our later computer acquisitions will end up being more powerful machines than the earlier ones were, for the same amount of money. In all, we expect to have a total of 1,400 personal computers in place college-wide when the project is finished -- 300 of them in 14 open- access labs. They will be tied in to such services as Internet and LINCC (Library Information Network for Community Colleges), which will provide informational access on a national and international scale. The vision of the Technology Department, in the words of Jim Olliver, is "to provide access to information anytime, anyplace, instantaneously." We're confident that the four-year-degree-seeking students who use this system will be able to go on to any institution and be more advanced and skilled in using technology in education than many of their peers -- particularly those "native" university students who have been on campus their first two years and never touched a computer. (Ted Micceri, research associate for the Center for Interactive Technology in the College of Engineering at the University of South Florida, says Project Flamingo "will have an impact for all kinds of universities.") SPJC also has faculty development centers, connected to the network, which contain sophisticated equipment for faculty who wish to develop instructional software. These centers contain computers and multimedia equipment similar to those in the classroom "bunkers" (see Vice President Jim Olliver's speech), as well as sound equipment, a scanner and a printer. Everyone who receives a machine gets 24 hours of training over two weeks. Users learn how to word process, use a spreadsheet, send electronic mail ("E-mail") and navigate on the network. As more cabling, equipment and applications are added to the network, faculty members will be able to access knowledge bases and files anywhere within the college's computer system -- and beyond. Eventually, the world -- one day, the universe? -- will constitute the limits of our educational horizons. That has always been true, of course. The difference, with computer technology and networks, is that now the world suddenly lies just beneath our keyboard fingertips. ACTUAL NETWORKING IMPACTS Once our network was in place, it began to grow and evolve. As this happened, impacts were experienced all across the institution -- in the classrooms, in the offices, fiscally, administratively; in virtually every area of the college's life. Following are the categories that seemed relevant to this report. Except for the first two -- Planning and Instructional -- they're in no particular order of priority. Part III's "Thoughts Worth Noting," by the way, are also listed categorically and, in most cases, tie in directly to the subjects discussed below. PLANNING It's Priority 1, and we cannot stress this strongly enough. Ahead of any other steps you take, you first must make sure you give your networking aims the proper preparation, because the lack of same will impact negatively on everything that follows. So you must assemble a cadre of your best people, including at least one person with great expertise in computer technology, whom you probably will have to hire from outside. You must give them a set of marching orders, along with sufficient resources and a sensible time frame to carry out those orders. And you must give them to understand that the decision-making lies with you (this is not something to be decided by committee), but that all reasonable options and ideas will be welcome. You then must set them to exploring the best ways for your institution to embark on this path in terms of feasibility, preciseness, effectiveness and foresight. You can expect that president and staff will have to work long hours, find new sources of funds, and occasionally use outside consultants to help design and reach the goal. Also, plan to spend more money than you planned to spend. Allow plenty of time for what the techies call "debugging," as the concept of "turnkey" is not always compatible with technology packages. And realize that by the time one system is fully installed, personnel-trained, and up and running, the next generation of hardware and/or software willl be upon you -- so expect to stay on a "change treadmill." Those last three points may sound facetious but they're practically truisms. At one point early in our progress, Dr. Dale Parnell, who was then president and chief executive officer of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, said of our plan that it "is going to change peoples' lives across the country." That's how important blueprints such as these can be, and we would wish the same might be said of yours. INSTRUCTION Nowhere should networking have more impact than on instruction, on learning, on classroom productivity, because those are our institutions' reasons for being. So, plan accordingly. As to precise impacts so far, it probably is too early to tell -- that is, we can't really gauge yet the full effect that our technology has had on our students, even those who already have graduated. We do know it's critical for instructional personnel to have a complete grasp of those networks that impact directly on students and their instruction -- and even those that impact indirectly. Those faculty least inclined to fall into step with the technology are, naturally, the ones who are most negatively affected. Hopefully, this is becoming less and less of a problem everywhere. "Institutional readiness" remains something we must deal with, however. At this stage in America's adaptation to computerization, there still are vestiges of a generational gap. Many, maybe most of our young people have cut their teeth on computers, they are "hip" to them, they think in computer-oriented terms. Many faculty members -- particularly older ones -- have not undergone this transformation at the same rate of speed and completness. Nonetheless, our experience has been that a preponderance of the SPJC family is champing at the bit to become computer proficient -- and the feedback we get in the president's office is that this eagerness is at least partly due to the enthusiasm and encouragement that have emanated from the top down. Well, we have championed technology here. We've championed our champions -- those individuals who've grabbed the ball and run with it. We've gone to great lengths to conduct training, promote workshops, sponsor "show-and-tell" projects for instructors and staff eager to display their computer initiatives to their peers on other campuses. It truly is remarkable how our people have risen to the occasion (and it has been most interesting to see, in the training, just how much time it has taken to enable persons to use the new machines to their capacity). Instructional horizons already are broadening through networking, of course, and this will continue to an extent we possibly cannot imagine. One phenomenon already shaping up at SPJC is on-line degrees. -- the end result of programs administered to the student via networks and modems. As was noted by someone in one of our sessions, "The impact of the network is that the instruction is not bound by the walls of the campus." One impact that already is quite clear lies in the area of remedial instruction. More than 70% of our students now need remedial help in at least one discipline, and it has been most gratifying to discover that, even in the face of growing enrollment, we should be able to maintain momentum in this area without proportional increases in staff. How? Via certain software applications. This came as most welcome news. Early in the game, SPJC saw two ways in which Project Flamingo would impact on instruction and the local business community simultaneously: The technology would enable us to develop and provide a potential pool of computer-literate employees, plus develop computer literacy among those already employed. Inasmuch as we're one of the county's major employers, the lesson was not lost on us. This section should not conclude without mention of a significant impact networking will have on all our instructors once everybody's on line: Through E- mail, faculty office hours should effectively be expanded to a considerable degree and, likewise, faculty/student interaction. MORALE If your networking must take place gradually -- say, on a campus-by- campus basis -- count on institutional morale feeling the impact. The longer it takes for the have-nots to catch up with the haves, the greater the impact. Provided a solid plan is being followed and a reasonable schedule adhered to, the problem should be minimal. It's when you take an unexpected hit to your budget, causing delays, that concerns over timely implementation set in. Assuming that something unexpected always is going to happen, have contingency plans in place. After the network is in, the morale problems don't end. This is because of an item known as distribution of equipment. From time to time, you'll discover the necessity for moving some of the computers and other electronic gadgetry around. so that the hardware better fits the job slots. For those who wind up with lesser equipment than they had -- no matter how justifiable the move -- this may be a problem. We've had few problems, actually, and a lot of cooperation. But you'll want to have a rationale and a sound policy in place to back you up and minimize any negative fallout. As for those unreconstructed faculty members whose spirits plummet at the thought of having to "master" the science of computers, we've found that a simple, yet up-beat and effective retraining program works wonders. Ease of use is a major reason we chose the Apple Macintosh line, and most of our re-trainees express surprise and relief at how relatively painless it is to get computer literate. New faculty and staffers -- and existing staffers moving to computers for the first time -- receive 24 hours of computer training over a two-week period. PHYSICAL PLANT If and as networks require less in the way of actual classroom space, library storage and so on, the impact on institutions' physical-plant needs obviously will be enormous. We may, at some point, be talking "virtual libraries" and even "virtual campuses." For instance, due to networking, we hope we'll be able to find ways to invest less, proportionately, in the physical plant of our next new site, the Seminole Campus. At the present time, computerizing and networking has significant impact on the physical plant. Computers and all their attendant equipment take up room, it goes without saying, so the space must be provided for. And until we see the day of wireless networking -- which may not be far off -- there is a prodigious amount of wiring that accompanies network installation. The best way to cope is to take on a "just another utility" mentality, i.e.: Don't plan a building or an add-on or a remodeling without lumping in technology with all the usual services -- lights, plumbing, telephones, climate control and so on. COSTS We hasten to add there is nothing cheap about this. When you think about networking, you perhaps think about wiring; about physical connections. But, as we have learned from Project Flamingo, the computerization of a college is not just putting wiring into and a computer on the top of the desk of every faculty member. It's also training, it's support personnel, it's software, it's black boxes it's maintenance, it's upgrading, it's continuing and visionary leadership. Wiring is cheap. These other things are not -- but you must have them. Upgrading is a major factor, by the way, because the technology is constantly changing, constantly improving. It's imperative that you plan well the system you ultimately acquire, to help hold upgrading costs down later. This comes at a time, of course, when presidents all over the country are being pressed to reduce administrative costs. But meanwhile, networks are providing additional capabilities and (to a somewhat lesser extent) additional efficiencies. The way this plays out, your administrative costs -- despite your advantageous gains -- go on the rise. So it's not an altogether easy sell. As you compute your costs, don't fail to include the tab for at least one skilled and savvy coordinator or director of technology, and also the money to cover consulting services. At SPJC, we have linked up with a number of local and national vendors as well as an international computer consulting firm right in Clearwater. The expense has been well worth it because, in return, we have been provided with resources, advice, technological assistance, a sounding board for ideas, and ears to the ground that keep us posted on pertinent developments. Lastly, be sure to budget for sufficient technology staff. It takes a lot of people to keep the equipment maintained and upgraded, and it's also crucial to have enough people on hand to assist those who use the technology. In our own case, we could have used more people than our plans called for, and those we've had have been stretched pretty thin at times. DESIGN Design is so important because you have all these different vendors connected together and you have to have the right pieces -- the so- called black boxes, which are translators and converters -- to do the translations. That's basically what networking is all about: making sure all these pieces can talk to each other in languages they can understand. The more extensive and comprehensive your design, the greater and wider impact it will have, obviously. But we strongly feel that college-wide network design will have more positive impact -- indeed, that it will work to a tremendously greater advantage for your institution. Not only does it prevent anyone from feeling left out, it affords easier centralization, which simplifies problem-solving, maintenance, management and other chores. When we changed our network configuration starting last year and went to greater centralization, it not only gave us greater reliability, it reduced some of our costs as well. COMMUNICATIONS Networks have a particular impact on a college's sense of community, especially a large one and/or one with multicampuses (as at SPJC). None of our people has put it better than Clearwater Campus Provost Vilma Zalupski: "The computer has pulled us all closer together. There is more of a community feeling now." Certainly, more information is being distributed faster to more people. A message that once might have taken a day or two -- or longer -- to disseminate now reaches everyone instantaneously. This can do wonders for productivity and efficiency. But electronic communications also make for a whole new protocol. That is to say, E-mail -- for all its speed and saturation -- lacks expression and inflection. Person-to-person communication, even telephone communication, is much more understandable in terms of meaning and mood. E-mail so far doesn't afford us that dimension, so greater care has to be taken with its message-sending, to prevent misunderstandings. There's a lack of confidentiality with E-mail, too, plus a lack of safeguards against editing of -- even tampering with -- messages. This new mode of communication affects not just our method but also our style of communicating. SECURITY This ties right in with Communications. Password-protected machines not only afford your system more security against entry, they also make your communications more reliable and less vulnerable to tampering of any kind. But security is a much broader issue than that, and unquestionably a critical one. Networking alters the configurations of your computerization and thus impacts on security. It is safe to say that the wider you network, the greater is your security challenge. (Our local network ranges across a distance of nearly 30 miles and more than half a dozen campus sites.) If you add such services as Internet, as we have, the challenge magnifies greatly. It goes far beyond the obvious security aspects of simply having multi-thousands of dollars' worth of equipment to safeguard. What's in those machines, and available on those linkups, must be vigilantly protected too. As more and more students come on line at SPJC, security risks go up -- not because they're students but because the rising population increases the odds that something can happen. We don't lie awake nights worrying about hackers who can't wait to invade SPJC's inner sanctum of computer files. But we are concerned about vandalism, mischief-making, and plain accidents. Adventurous students, disgruntled employees -- these are possible threats that realistically must be considered. "Students sometimes get into these machines and mess around in them a lot," was a comment from Director of Libraries Susan Anderson. Well, maybe they don't mean any harm -- but lots of it can result from such "messing around." Accordingly, preventive measures must be taken. INFORMATION OVERLOAD As faculty and students gain access to a far greater wealth of knowledge via networks -- Internet, LINCC, et al. -- the danger of information overload is posed. Some may see it as an unmitigated blessing that "the world" is available with the punching of a few keys. Hopefully, the reaction on most faculty's part will be that it's an over-abundance of a good thing; that reasonable restraints must be placed on the imparting, researching and production of information. In any case, it's a reality administration must confront. ATTITUDE Ironically, just as you're dealing with overload, you're apt to be confronted by another wrinkle on the "too much of a good thing" syndrome. To explain: Networks impact on the attitudes of those affected (just as basic computerization does initially). One attitude that can result from networking -- it possibly is even inevitable -- is summed up in the phrase, "The more you give 'em, the more they want." In other words, a voracious appetite is created, and it's something any administration must come to grips with. There may be no limits to what's available out there, but there certainly are limits to what you can afford. UPGRADES On the other hand, you want to keep an open mind where upgrades are concerned. As we all know, the technology seemingly changes overnight and we thus have to decide on what our "keeping up" pace will be; not if, but how much. As has been pointed out, this makes critical your early choices of systems and their adaptability. Once you choose, you've limited future choices, so choose wisely and well. Someone said in one of our meetings: "We've got to clue the presidents in that they have to spend some time on the 'vision thing.'" If you must work with different systems, different hardware, multi-vendors and so on, try to choose ones whose technology will "match" as greatly as possible. Compatibility, you'll discover, counts for a lot. There is, of course, no way to predict where and how far technology's evolution will take us, but this is a given: It will be extensive, expensive . . . and inevitable. ORGANIZATION This category will cover a multitude of sins, because networking impacts your institution in so many ways, it is sometimes difficult to make distinctions as to where all those impacts fall. One of the more memorable quotes to come out of our sessions was this one: "Networking is going to blow holes in the traditional organizational charts." Amen to that. How do you organize all this? The traditional guidelines are out the window, and it's not certain yet which of the new ones are reliable. There are colleges that have taken the library and networking and learning support centers and distance education and put them under one vice president. Is this the way to go? For them, maybe, but perhaps not for you. And how do you know? Then there's this facet of the problem: Once you decide to network, all your departments lose some of their individual autonomy -- because everything connects to everything else. And if the plan you've chosen -- the system, the network -- rules out certain ways of doing things, and if a department wants to do something -- say, install a lab -- in one of those forbidden ways, you just have to be able to say: "No can do." "It doesn't compute." "Sorry, that configuration doesn't jibe with the network." There'll always be a creative tension between such endeavors and the college-wide standards that have been established, but that's how it has to be. And speaking of standards - they're imperative. As someone famous once said, and as it's echoed constantly around the college: "No man is an island." No person, that is; not anymore. Autonomy, in this context, doesn't work. Uniformity is a must. You give some leeway to the classrooms, yes, because faculty and students have to have freedom to experiment and be creative. But administratively, everyone has to toe the same line. There must be a designated controller, what that controller says must be law, and the "statutes" must cross all lines -- departmental, hierarchical, campus, etc. The up side? (Yes, there is one.) This necessary control motivates everyone to level up to a "New! Improved!" plane of intra-site and college-wide cooperation. And it doesn't take a genius to realize that strong leadership is called for. One specific recommendation is that you form a group or groups to take these matters in hand and regularly come forth with determinations and recommendations in as democratic a way as possible. At SPJC, we formed two. TeleTechNet is a task force of representatives from telecommunications, technology, data systems, physical plant and planning. They coordinate projects and deal with issues related to the implementation of technology at the college. The Computer Standards Committee is a larger group -- made up of faculty and staff -- who periodically peruse hardware, software, and networking standards. Both groups are charged with reviewing, collegially, whatever questions come up. It doesn't always head off sparks, but it seems to keep the fur from flying. CONCLUSION We'd like to wrap this up with a quote; with several quotes, in fact. The first is from an article by John Busby and William H. Pritchard Jr. (our former Director of Instructional Computing), written for Apple's MACINTOSH SPECIAL ISSUE 1991 and entitled "A Blueprint For Successfully Integrating Technology Into Your Institution": "Lastly, full integration of technology into an institution is as much a political exercise as it is a technical one. Technology is destined to have a major impact on educational institutions. Anything that has such an impact becomes political because it forces people to change. Therefore, we add a final factor for success. Create as many 'win-win' solutions as possible. Help others in your institution to see how your technology plan is also a 'win' for them. Only then will your technology implementation be a success." The other quotes are from SPJC faculty, staffers and administrators, who were asked just recently for their personal comments and reactions relative to SPJC's network technology. These are some of their responses: * "It only takes one 50-minute period of classroom instruction and two 50-minute periods in the lab to give (my Composition I students) enough expertise to do their papers without my help." * "I couldn't live without my Mac." * "You've made believers of us all." * "Keep those new programs coming!" * "E-mail . . . invaluable!" * "Take my computer and you might as well take my right arm!" * "Macintosh . . . great time-saver . . . great organizer." * "Thank you to those who had the vision to see this." * "Because the Mac is so friendly, I wasn't afraid to try anything." * "E-mail (moves) things along at a rate that previously wasn't possible." * "The most valuable tool it has been my experience to use." * "I see the light!" * "When I teach composition in the computer lab, I see more willingness on the part of students to rewrite their essays. Their attitude is more positive from the beginning .... Computers can't teach writing because writing is communication -- meaningful contact between people. What computers can do is facilitate writing and generate excitement. They break down the traditional teacher-centered classroom paradigm so that students become focused on the computers -- and their writing -- and not on the instructor. I also believe computers will eventually change the way we write in some fairly drastic ways. An evolution is in process that may make some more traditional composition teachers uncomfortable. What writing will become is difficult to predict at this early stage; however, we have the opportunity as technology leaders to help shape the path of that evolution." It's our hope that you experience this same kind of success.. THOUGHTS WORTH NOTING The following are comments made during various meetings held among team members as this report was being assembled. Although they're out of context to one degree or another -- and, as such, weren't intended for publication -- they should be of value in amplifying or enhancing statements made in Parts I and II. CONTROL STANDARDS "No man is an island anymore. It just can't work that way. At the onset, you have to decide who's going to be the controller regardless of who or what department bought the actual equipment." --Jenny Hart "When you network, you automatically create a need for greater cooperation as well as improved communications." --Jim Olliver COMMUNICATIONS "I usually sign E-mail messages with my little smiley face so I won't be misunderstood. --Jenny Hart COSTS "If you let your imagination go, you can just think of countless ways in which the technology could be used in very practical fashion to enhance the educational product. But there's a price tag on each one of those advances." --Susan Anderson "It costs more to be on the cutting edge, but you don't have to be right on the cutting edge. As soon as something comes out, you know there are going to be cheaper imitations. Some might be just as good." --Jenny Hart DESIGN "On each campus there's a line -- a T-1 high-speed line -- that originates at the campus and terminates (at the college's Allstate Center). All the lines come in here, so the data is routed down here and then goes back out. The only other way you could do it is if everybody had a direct connection to everybody else, and that would be prohibitively expensive ... and a nightmare to maintain." --Janet Gammons "Once you make a decision on which way to go, you need to work on a network design that is consistent and internally integrated; that takes the fullest advantage possible where adaptability and compatibility are concerned. So presidents need to spend some time on that 'vision thing.'" --Jim Olliver "Because networking reduced my travel time, our response time on problems is better. I haven't received any calls complaining of sluggishness in the system for awhile. All those 'strange,' gremlin-like problems have disappeared. I get problems that are real now." --Janet Gammons INFORMATION OVERLOAD "In something I read once, it said that as people gain broader and broader access to a greater number of things, there's a danger they'll confine themselves to smaller and smaller niches and become less broad. They'll just be talking (by computer) to other persons interested in 'left-handed Lilliputians' or whatever. So ... we do need to deal with information overload." --Jim Olliver INSTRUCTION/INSTRUCTIONAL HORIZONS "The impact from this needs always to be tied to the instructional; that is, we need to keep in mind what impact any of this will have on the students." --Susan Anderson "In the classrooms of the future - and in some that already exist - networking will permit student and faculty member to talk directly by computer. So it changes the whole interaction between them. They'll be able to see each other's work, project it for viewing by the entire class, ship information back and forth. The faculty member ..., theoretically, could be in Hawaii on vacation, telephone on a modem, call into the network, drop something into a server, and students then could access it in the classroom. So you're really talking about networks breaking down the barriers of not time but certainly space." --Jim Olliver "I think Internet, combined with the teaching bunkers in the classrooms, will have the single biggest impact on the students. -- Jenny Hart "Eventually, networking is going to change the way we educate." -- Jim Olliver PHYSICAL PLANT "For the library on our new Seminole Campus, we won't have to have a 'warehouse,' because library networking does mean that storage of many items will be much more compact .... " --Susan Anderson PLANNING "Institutions sometimes jump into networking without sufficient planning and forethought. It's a lot more involved than they know ... and the main thing is, there's no one standard that's best for everybody. You have to have the expertise to evaluate what's out there, decide what's best for you, and then try to make all your decisions and purchases based on the plans you've established up front." --Janet Gammons SECURITY "Equipment security is an issue, because there are people who will steal anything .... But the more important security is the security of the system ...." --Susan Anderson "No one appreciates the time it takes to set up accurate security, but it's absolutely critical. You only realize how critical if it fails. I tell the staff, it there's ever a question of more security or less security, it's more every time. The danger of a breach in security in a local network is one thing, but when you have Internet, the implications are far-reaching." --Jim Olliver STAFFING/TRAINING "When you network, you must get the right people, technologically, to stay on top of it. That way, you're not vendor-dependent. But the specific staffing required to handle networks, which are becoming increasingly complicated and expanded, has to be considered carefully. We have to plan for network managers, for network technicians, and for network-help people on the clerical level." --Jim Olliver TECHNOLOGY "One thing that needs to be stressed: The technology is inevitable, so you might as well plan for it and do it right and not let it run you over. There's just no way around it -- and the technology is going to keep changing." --Jenny Hart "A college without technology is like Florida without air conditioning." --Jim Olliver