WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2008 News WWW.KANSAN.COM THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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TECHNOLOGY
Campus more accessible as McCollum goes wireless
BY SACHIKO MIYAKAWA
smiyakawa@kansan.com
McCollum Hall will become more friendly to laptop users in the fall. ResNet will install the wireless Internet service in the common areas of the Daisy Hill residence hall, with plans pending for other halls on the hill.
Student Senate sponsored the wireless initiative to install wireless Internet access in academic areas on campus, but the plan didn't include residence halls.
ResNet provides cable Internet service to most of the residence halls and scholarship halls.
McCollum Hall will connect wireless Internet in its study rooms and lobbies in the fall in response to students' demand for the wireless service. ResNet will perform the installation and cover the cost.
Bill Myers, director of assessment and outreach for information services, said ResNet would also provide similar services to the other residence halls on Daisy Hill during the fall semester. He said the plan had been pending and wireless Internet in other residence halls on Daisy Hill would be determined in August.
Myers said the wireless initiative in buildings on campus aimed for 100 percent wireless coverage in
classrooms, labs and selected academic areas, such as libraries.
The two-year project is near to completion. Wireless Internet became available for eight more buildings this month, including Bailey Hall and Learned Hall. The project will be done in a month. When the fall semester begins, students will be able to use wireless Internet with their online IDs anywhere in the academic areas.
Both Student Senate and the University committed $1.3 million for the $2.6 million project. Students pay $5 every semester as part of the required campus fee to install and maintain the wireless service.
Adam McGonigle, Wichita junior and student body president, said he had been looking into wider possibilities of increased wireless services, including providing wireless access to the entire residence halls.
"It's always about finding a balance between accessibility to the wireless access and fees," McGonigle said. "Hopefully, incoming freshmen will be pleased to having wireless in their lobby of their residence halls."
GSP-Corbin Hall and the scholarship halls will not have access to the wireless Internet in their common areas in the fall semester.
Carlie Copeland, Overland Park sophomore, lives in Hashinger Hall
this summer. She does not subscribe to ResNet, but brings her laptop to campus when she needs to use the Internet. She said it didn't create much inconvenience to her because it was only for this summer or two months.
Copeland plans to live in Rieger Scholarship Hall next year. Although the hall will not have the wireless areas like McCollum Hall, she said she would like to receive the service in her hall lobby.
"Everyone will love it," Copeland said. "We have a lot of people hanging out in the lobby."
Edited by Mandy Earles
INTERNET
Facebook attempts to get step up
BY ANICK JESDANUN ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - The popular online hangout Facebook is sporting a new look to reflect changes in how its members communicate with each other and how they share photos and updates about their lives.
Central to the redesign, to be unveiled Monday, is an expanded Wall, the section of a member's personal profile page where friends can leave comments and photos. People
will now be able to add items more easily, and the Wall will incorporate reports on a user's activities previously found on a user's "MiniFeed."
Facebook, trying to avoid the type of privacy backlash that has
The development comes as Facebook and rival MySpace from News Corp. vie to become the central hub of online communications. Both sites are reorganizing their layouts this summer to reduce clutter and make information easier to find.
accompanied major changes in the past, said it has been alerting users of the changes in recent weeks. The site first outlined the facelift in May and plans to let users start testing it this week. A complete switch won't occur for at least another week or two.
The changes stem from the growing comfort people have with sharing details about their personal lives more frequently and in smaller bursts — such as on the "microblogging" site Twitter.