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By Matthew Latterell (mlattere@oregon.uoregon.edu)
Assistant Dean, Educational and Information Technology UO School of Law
Winter is always the time I start thinking about my garden. What should I plant this year, what work needs to be done to the soil before I plant, and how soon can I actually get something in the ground?
Winter at the School of Law is also the time to think about what laptop computer configuration we are going to recommend for next year's entering class. Going hand in hand with this is how we can get better tools to our faculty and staff -- computers that are at least as good as those used by our students. We are contemplating every possibility: buying or leasing, laptops or desktops, new machines or upgrades, Macintosh or Windows.
The possibilities listed above, we have come to realize, are mostly a matter of personal preference and financial resources. The real choices we must make are less about the hardware and more about the software, less about the individual machine and more about the entire network infrastructure, less about how a person uses his or her own computer and more about how our data is accessed, shared, and distributed.
The other day a faculty member wanted to share a file with his students. But some of his students were using Microsoft Word and some were using Corel WordPerfect. Some were using the Windows version of WordPerfect and some were using the Macintosh version. Some of the Macintosh students use Claris Emailer for their email -- others use Eudora. Because of application compatibility problems and file attachment issues, less than one-quarter of his students were able to use the file he sent. Students attempting to share common documents have similar experiences.
The problems are not caused by the operating system or platform, but by the applications. Word and WordPerfect are strangers to each other on the Macintosh. WordPerfect routinely alters formatting between its Macintosh and Windows versions. Claris Emailer sends attachments using compression and encoding not easily understood by most email packages on either platform.
The applications we recommend to students affect the applications that must be available to faculty and staff. These recommendations in turn affect the quality of machine--new or upgraded--that must be on that staff or faculty member's desk.
Another decision that must be faced is the role the floppy drive will play (or should play) in our computing environment. Part of this is driven by the fact that the new Macintosh desktop systems--both iMacs and the "blue" G3s -- are floppy-free. The lack of floppy drives on these machines is a challenge to conventional computing. It presupposes that the computer is in some way attached to a network. And at the new Law building, with over 1000 network ports for just over 600 individuals, this will be very much true.
The need for a floppy drive is inversely proportional to the strength and accessibility of the network. Being able to plug a floppy-free laptop or desktop into a network is one thing; sharing data across that network is another. File servers go down, disrupting access to shared and personal files and, for many Windows users, access to printing. Dial-up access to network-based data is slow at best. Downloading a large email attachment over a standard 56k modem can be done, but even more could be done with that time using a document saved to a floppy or some other removable media.
Computers with or without floppies require transparent network access. This understanding affects everything from the networking hardware in our laptops and desktops to the server hardware and software we choose and the underlying network infrastructure in the Law building itself.
Coming up with answers about software applications, floppy drives and network access when contemplating our computer recommendations and purchases for the Law School is very much like figuring out what the soil behind my house needs before I can plant the garden: if we don't see to the fundamentals, we won't get the results we desire. The computers that students, faculty and staff use must be appropriate for their needs. Even more importantly, the computing environment must be up to the task of making these computers as easy to use and as functional as possible so that the real task at hand -- the study of law -- can proceed.