OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
7A
THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008
EDITORIAL BOARD
Gmail's features necessary for students' needs
Between what KU e-mail provides and what students need lies a lack of space, features and innovation, creating a stagnant system with apathetic student use at best. ConnectKU has set its focus on invigorating the University's e-mail presence with a
free alternative from Google.
If the University wants to demonstrate a commitment to technological innovation that students expect, it has
an opportunity to do so by adopting the modern e-mail and application system that Google offers.
This comprehensive package, called Google Apps for Education, would provide free e-mail, calendar and other services to anyone with a University e-mail address. E-mail would no longer be stored directly on campus, and students would access e-mail using the popular Gmail interface. Applications such as Microsoft Outlook, 'Mail' (for Mac OS X) or Mozilla Thunderbird would also work with the new Google system.
OUR VOICE
Connect spokesman Jarrod Morgenstern called the current system "e-mail from five years ago." Morgenstern says that Connect is passionate about bringing about change, but meeting with University administration had not yielded results so far. He characterized IT at the University as "a department that is not providing for student needs."
Bill Myers, director of assessment and outreach for the University IT department, confirmed that all changes are ultimately up to the Associate Vice Provest Donna Liss but that "we're always interested in hearing from students."
As for why the proposal was not taken forward initially, Myers said that Google Apps would not be a comprehensive replacement for the existing system, but he could not offer a specific function that Gmail would not replace.
Costs
The bottom line is one place the University can look to when considering Connect's proposal. Gmail and Google Apps are offered for free to universities across the country. Myers indicated the University currently spends about $171,000 to $181,000 a year on support, software, hardware and storage for the current e-mail system.
Storage
While there is no direct monetary charge, Myers was quick to point out that "There's nothing that's
free." While Google is not charging directly for the service, it is potentially gaining future customers and users after students leave the University.
Space for e-mails has been a constant concern for students. At one point the University offered 50 MBs of storage, now up to 100 MB, and
soon to transition to 500 MB during spring break, according to Myers. 500 MB is likely sufficient for most students, but still will likely need to be upgraded sooner rather than later. Gmail, with its 6.5 GB current limit, will end space concerns for a long time and allow students to exchange and store increasingly large documents, videos and photos.
Features
Innovation is perhaps where the current system lacks the most. With Gmail, Google introduced tagging, allowing users to mark messages with multiple keywords and then sort and search around these tags. Google Calendars could allow students to combine calendars from all their classes, University deadlines and personal events into a unified schedule.
Student involvement
A new system would have to start by bringing students who have abandoned their KU e-mail address back into the fold. With students re-engaged, associated programs from Google Apps, like the calendar system, could gain increased use. Instructors could offer innovative ways to communicate with their students and provide schedules, such as the Google Calendar. The current system has no innovation because people are disengaged from it. The University could bring students back in with an e-mail platform they can relate to and then create more uses than anyone can fully envision today.
Now is the time to take action and update the KU e-mail, calendar and Web presence for students. Gmail and Google Apps provide power and flexibility that is currently missing.
Alex Doherty for the Editorial Board
》 FROM THE DRAWING BOARD
Max Rinkel
COMMENTARY
'Flesh-eating reality' fresh alternative to current life
Zombies are everywhere right now.
Calm down, faithful reader. I don't mean literally. I was using a figure of speech, so stop barricading your door. I was referring to the resurgence of the living dead in pop culture. Zombies are selling like hotcakes, and it's all because the economy is bad.
People are drawn to zombies, because a world with zombies is an attractive alternative to the world we
This connection might not seem obvious, so let's break it down.
The first assertion that zombies and zombie-themed entertainment are doing well can be easily observed. Zombies are in video games like "Dead Rising," movies like "Shaun of the Dead" and even on Facebook. The group "The Hardest Part of a Zombie Apocalypse Will be Pretending I'm Not Excited" has 28,941 members (as a Kansan contributor I am required to use Facebook as a source once in every 10 columns). Young consumers are eating this stuff up like brains.
live in. No one would consume zombie-based products if they weren't intriguing. The Facebook group says it right in the name. Those 28,940 members welcome an outbreak.
The reason has to do with my second point: The economy sucks. People finishing up college must worry about job hunts, starting the next phase of their lives. They know that Social Security will likely be gone when they retire. If the zombie dream became a flesh-eating reality, internships, entry-level positions and retirement would become the least of anyone's concerns. Wed all be busy looking for live ammo and securing the perimeter.
No one likes looking for jobs, or filing taxes or the countless other boring tasks adults must perform. Fleeing from flesh-craving monsters isn't all that great, either. The difference is that only one of these scenarios causes mid-life crises. Reaching mid-life during the zombie apocalypse is a proud accomplishment, not a reason to have an emotionless affair with your secretary.
Zombies don't sound so bad. Growing up and being an adult sounds boring. On the other hand, destroying the brain sounds awesome. Banding together with other survivors with makeshift weapons sounds great. Reinforcing a station wagon so it can plow through a mob of the undead sounds wonderful.
Zombies would make every day
action-packed. Going to the supermarket would no longer be tedious. "If 28 Days Later" taught us anything, it's that grocery shopping with zombies is a jovial, carefree and cost-free experience. At worst, it's a necessary thrill ride. Apartment hunting takes on a whole new meaning. Who among us wouldn't rather sleep in shifts to keep a lookout rather than worry if your roommate has his share of the rent?
Suddenly not getting that internship in New York you wanted doesn't seem so bad. You've got a golf bag full of blunt sporting goods ala Casey Jones. Those morons at Washington Mutual can eat a cricket bat.
Being an overqualified Longhorn's hostess with an anthropology degree is a distant memory now that you're the lord of the fortress that was once your apartment complex.
Zombies would erase everything aggravating and tedious about life. Sure, there would be new problems, but they wouldn't be annoying. Maybe doing a grad check is a better chore to have than finding clean water, but the latter sure seems a lot less pointless in the grand scheme of things. This is why our generation is intrigued by zombies. Certain danger is more appealing than uncertain monotony. If life sucks, it should at least be awesome.
Mersmann is a Lawrence senior in creative writing.
FROM THE WIRE
National opinions at a glance
Victories for Bush administration diplomacy are rare these days, and the adoption of a third U.N. Security Council resolution tightening sanctions against Iran is worth celebrating — even though it probably represents more of a beaten act of self-defense by the rest
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New Iran policy a success for Bush administration
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, listens to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during their meeting in Tehran.
Read excerpts from recent editorials from top newspapers in the United States
of the council than a triumph of U.S. statecraft. True, the resolution isn't as strong as the U.S. wanted, it took an entire year, and in the short term, it won't stop a determined Iran from making nuclear weapons. Still, it's an important step in the long-term international campaign to convince Iran's coolest head — Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — that the cost to Iran in isolation and lost prestige if it persists with its nuclear program will simply be too high.
—Los Angeles Times
Nationwide privacy breach will not stop terror attacks
Don't let President Bush's fearmongering fool you. The battle over wrtapping legislation in Congress will not affect this nation's ability to protect itself from terrorist attacks.
The sticking point has been the administration's insistence on retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that turned over private data on customers to the government.
—The Roanoke (Va.) Times
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansas Editorial Board are Alex Doherty, Bryan Dykman, Matt Erickson, Kelsey Hayes, Lauren Keith, Darla Sipke, Dianne Smith, Ian Stanford and Zach White.
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