Computing & Information Services
Computing Policy Committee Meeting Minutes
[DRAFT]
Friday, March 28, 2008
3:00 - 4:00 PM, ETC 309
Committee members in attendance:
Alex Botero-Lowery, Marat Grinberg, Vickie Hanawalt, Paul Hovda, Aki Miyoshi, Christine Morita-McVey, Gary Norbraten, Noah Pepper, Marty Ringle, Jon Rivenburg, Jim Fix arrived at 3:10 pm; Gary Schlickeiser attended to discuss network authentication
Welcome and introductions
In Jim's absence, Marty called the meeting to order at 3:08 pm.
Review and approve minutes of 12/14/07 and 2/29/08
Vickie Hanawalt moved to approve both sets of minutes, Jon Rivenburg seconded and the minutes were unanimously approved.
Moodle for matriculants
Marty reported that CIS is establishing a Moodle site for entering students who have paid deposits. Marty expects that many incoming students already use social networking sites and that this will site will create something of a Reed social network, provide an introduction to Reed’s technology environment, and be a useful communication medium for Student Services and other administrative offices. Reed’s peer institutions have had these sites for 2 or more years and have had good participation rates. Marty asked the CPC if an academic dimension to the site would be desirable.Noah Pepper stated that having samples from first year classes might have helped him as an incoming freshman. Jim Fix responded that most departmental pages already provide this type of information. Noah suggested links between the Moodle site and departmental pages. Marty agreed that general departmental pages have some information for incoming students available and pointed out that Moodle would be for authenticated users only so could provide different information, perhaps making use of the interactive tools available.
Marat Grinberg replied that including academic information might be left to individual departments. Paul Hovda agreed that links between this Moodle site and department pages would be useful. Alex Botero-Lowery stated his preference for allowing potential students to see some of the academic information that might be made available to matriculating students. Paul indicated that he would prefer this be done via updates to departmental web pages.
Noah returned to the question of whether there should be an academic purpose to this Moodle site. Jim Fix voiced his preference for in person placement meetings over handling this process online. Noah replied that perhaps this decision should be left to individual departments.
Marty suggested that this site should be created initially as a social network venue for incoming students and expanded for other purposes if and when demand materialized. In the fall additional discussions with faculty might lead to incorporating academic components for the following summer. Vickie mentioned her interest in collecting data on the library skills of incoming students and wondered if Moodle could be used for this purpose. Marty responded that Moodle would be a good method. Jim questioned if Moodle is used as a help desk resource at Reed. Jon responded that some institutions have done this; Marty indicated that this was not the case at Reed currently but agreed that this might emerge at Reed in the future, if people wanted it.
Audible Magic (CopySense appliance) test
Marty notified the committee that Congress is deliberating on wording that might require colleges to filter network content for illegal peer to peer file sharing. Audible Magic has offered Reed a 30-day free trial of their filtering software and CIS has discussed whether or not to take the trial.
Gary Schlickeiser raised a concern that if Reed finds illegal file sharing during this trial, it is not clear what Reed’s legal and moral responsibility will be with respect to these discoveries. Noah agreed there is no established case law on this topic; it appears that Reed’s liability might increase after trying the software.
Marty and Alex both mentioned that these devices are not foolproof; Marty stated that if Reed tests this device and finds that it is faulty then Reed would be in a stronger position in terms of challenging legislation requiring colleges and universities to filter network content. Marty asked the CPC if Reed should try this software. Jon suggested not doing anything until there is a compelling reason. Paul agreed, noting that the false positive rate makes this type of software unattractive to use. The CPC unanimously voted to advise CIS not to run this type of test. Marty agreed to refrain from running a test.
Transition to universal network authentication
Beginning in August, new network security measures will be put in place in an ongoing effort to tighten Reed's network defenses against worms, viruses, hacking, cyber-attack, and other electronic mischief. Gary Schlickeiser described how increasing security will require more frequent authentication while also decreasing the availability of some processes and servers. Two levels of wireless networking will be deployed: one that will require less frequent authentication and can be used by students, faculty, and guests for routine web access and other tasks; and a second, higher security wireless network that will require more rigorous authentication in order to allow users to have access to more sensitive resources such as administrative databases. Marty mentioned CIS' desire to balance security measures with the need to keep Reed's network as accessible and as easy to use as possible for legitimate network users.
Updates on Previously Discussed Issues
DMCA complaints
Marty reported that there have been 9 complaints received so far this year, the same number as this time last year. None have been pre-litigation settlement letters. We did, however, encounter, our first repeat offender. Gary Schlickeiser, our registered DMCA agent, has done a very good job processing each of the complaints.
iTunesU pilot
Marty reported that Reed’s senior officers and CAPP have approved the use of iTunesU for digital media distribution. CIS will work with a small number of faculty members and staff offices who have previously expressed a desire to distribute audio and video materials. If the initial work goes well, the service will be expanded and all faculty will be invited to take advantage of it. If we run into serious problems, we'll seek other technical options.
Marty indicated that this would likely be the last CPC meeting of the year. He thanked all the committee members for their contributions and thanked Jim Fix for his leadership.
Jim adjourned the meeting at 4:05pm.
