Our generation is far more tech-savvy than any that have come before us, but even for students who have grown up in the information age, the language and specifics of computing are mind-bogglingly complex. All but the most computer-knowledgeable among us occasionally require a little magical help on that front—the course of new technology never did run smooth.
Georgetown’s University Information Services is devoted to providing this expertise; unfortunately, dealing with UIS and trying to understand its policies are frequently frustrating and often futile endeavors. One of the most important UIS services is its role in translating technology for the layperson, something it must do more effectively to better serve the computing needs of the Georgetown student body.
When virus activity prompts UIS to turn off a student’s Internet port, no notification is sent, leaving the student to wonder about her inexplicable boot from cyberspace. Dealing with a virus on one’s computer is difficult enough, and UIS’s cavalier lack of notification adds insult to injury, compounding the massive headache a virus already causes.
UIS justifies this policy as one of expediency. Because no password-secured log-on is required to access the network, the process of identifying an infected port with the student who uses it is long and tedious. It’s simpler—at least for them—to just shut it off.
This lack of communication violates the University’s own stated technological Security Policy: “If the virus is particularly pernicious or if its removal is likely to be a lengthy process, affected individuals shall be informed as soon as possible by telephone or other non-electronic means.”
When UIS suspects a student of excessive file sharing, however, it does take the time to look up her contact information to follow through with sanctions. The University is clear in its policies against file sharing of copyrighted materials, as it must if it wants to avoid endless lawsuits from the Recording Industry Association of America—neither a borrower nor a lender be, they advise. What’s unclear, though, is what triggers the policy’s enforcement: maybe after a student uses a specific amount of bandwidth, or maybe when a system administrator arbitrarily decides that a student has used too much bandwidth. The consequences of violating these undefined rules are left to the students’ imagination as well.
If you ask any Georgetown student about UIS, chances are he’ll have a complaint. Whether it’s about the elevator music he heard while on hold or the less-than-adequate training the student employee dispatched to help appeared to have had, the complaints usually stem from an organization-wide problem with communication.
UIS says its mission is “assistance and support for the user community.” UIS already has the technological know-how to do this; what it lacks is a connection on the human level. The organization should consider taking the time to write and distribute a new comprehensive information packet laying out the specific ramifications of its services and policies—it doesn’t have to be Shakespeare, but it does have to be clear. Once UIS improves communication with computer users across campus, technology’s labor need no longer be lost.
