The University Information Technology (UIT) department is working to expand wireless Internet access across campus in the near future, and plans to install wireless access points in Tisch Library before spring reading period begins on April 29.
UIT has also conducted site surveys in several dormitories and will use the results to frame its goals, said Dawn Irish, associate director of outreach for UIT.
After improving connection strength in the library, which already has wireless access but has experienced a number of outages recently, UIT will decide which additional locations to address.
"Based on cost, the schools will determine which areas are addressed first," Irish said in an e-mail, adding that UIT has completed preliminary examinations of Wren, Haskell, Sophia Gordon and West Halls.
"The surveys were conducted to provide a budgetary estimate ... of how much it would cost to provide wireless coverage in the buildings," she said. "This information will be used in conjunction with other data to help determine a feasible plan to expand wireless coverage on the campus."
According to Irish, adding access points across campus will require a significant investment from the university due to the age, design and scattered locations of its dormitories and classroom buildings. She added that installing and maintaining outdoor access points will also be a challenge because they are more expensive to keep up due to their exposure to the elements.
Last semester, UIT began looking into expanding wireless after a Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate report spearheaded by freshman Senators Sam Wallis and Chas Morrison highlighted that Tufts had fallen behind its peer institutions in wireless advancement.
"We had researched and put down approximately 30 schools like Tufts and what kind of wireless access they have, and what that revealed was that Tufts was kind of lagging behind the other schools," Wallis said.
The Senate report examined the wireless access at schools that are socially and academically similar to Tufts. "The vast majority of [those] schools have wireless in dorm spaces or at least in common spaces in dorms," Wallis said.
The Senate gave its results to Leah McIntosh, executive administrative dean of Arts and Sciences, who expressed interest in addressing the senators' concerns. She commissioned Mely Tynan, vice president and chief information officer for UIT, to research cost-effective methods to implement greater wireless access.
A common cause
The Senate has focused on increasing wireless in dormitory common rooms before tackling entire buildings. "We're not asking at this moment for ... universal wireless. We are asking to start out in the dorms," Wallis said. "We've really focused on dorms because an issue that we found in the Senate survey is a lack of group study space around campus."
Wallis hopes that improved access will encourage students to "use dorms as those study spaces."
Wallis emphasized that while senators are concerting their efforts on wireless access in dormitories, the long-term goal is universal wireless access. After studying the costs and the effects of increasing wireless in certain dorms, the administration may decide to implement a broader program of universal wireless, he said.
A survey pointed out that the lack of campus-wide wireless access is a major concern among the student body. The Fall 2007 senate survey asked students how much they felt inconvenienced by the lack of universal wireless Internet access on campus. About 46 percent of respondents said they felt "very inconvenienced," and 47 percent felt "somewhat inconvenienced."
Wireless woes in Tisch
The Senate has received direct complaints from students about recent wireless outages in Tisch. "That was something we immediately talked to the library about and to UIT about," Wallis said.
According to Irish, an initial router problem and a subsequent software bug caused the problems. UIT has not experienced any further issues since the problem was fixed in late March, she said.
In response, UIT recently conducted an intensive survey of wireless coverage in the library, and determined that adding access points would solve the problem. "The survey revealed that the building needed additional access points to ensure more complete wireless coverage with sufficient capacity to accommodate the increasing usage of wireless in the building," Irish said.
"As a result, UIT has recommended that new access points be added. Eight of these additional access points are scheduled to be installed in the library before reading period," she added.
Library Director Jo-Ann Michalak added that the library experiences the highest volume of wireless activity of any campus location. "What [UIT has] told us is that Tisch is the most heavily used area for wireless on campus," she said. "What I would continue to encourage them to do is to do an inventory of how busy the wireless is at each access point."
Wireless Internet access was introduced on the university's campus in 2001. The library was the first location to have wireless access. "Since then, the university has been adding additional buildings and areas each year," Irish said.
