Back to Campus - Fall 2007 (28 Aug 07)

Background Info: Welcome to Digital Tweed-The Blog. The first Digital Tweed column was published in Converge Magazine in June 1999. From 1999 through 2006, the Digital Tweed column appeared regularly, first in Converge, and later in Syllabus Magazine (which is now Campus Technology). The archives of all past Digital Tweed columns will be posted to the Campus Computing web site in the coming weeks.

Onward. Back to Campus, 2007. The fall rituals of academe now include the annual Beloit College Mindset List, reminding us that this year’s college freshmen, Class of 2011 (born in 1989), share less and less of the historical and cultural experiences and references of their parents and professors. Admittedly, it may be easy – perhaps all too easy – to sniff at this list and view it as yet another indicator of what today’s full-time undergraduates don’t know.

     But what if roles were reversed: what if a student group at some high school (Boston’s Latin School? Bronx Science? Beverly Hills High?) were to issue an annual list of coming of age references and cultural experiences? How would we – as parents and professionals in higher education – fare? Dare we compare?

Coming Soon: WiFi Phones on Campus Networks? No question that the winner of this fall’s “Who Admitted that Kid” contest in admissions offices across the country goes to the smart folks at Rochester Institute of Technology. On August 21st, days before going off to freshman orientation, George Holz, RIT class of 2011, announced on his blog that he cracked the iPhone, allowing, as noted on his new Wikipedia bio, “full functionality with almost any SM wireless carrier without any external hardware.” It should be an interesting moment when the Apple (or AT&T) rep who services the RIT campus meets Mr. Holz. Perhaps they’ll talk tech; maybe they will discuss summer internships. (Mr. Holz is also a successful entrepreneur: his blog reports that he traded his hacked iPhone for "a sweet Nissan 350Z and 3 8GB iPhones.”)

     But aside from the extended Warhol unit (minutes/hours of fame) that the iPhone hack generates for Mr. Holz, it also highlights the challenge that the next generation of mobile phones present to campus IT and telecom officers. To date mobile phones and campus networks have generally resided in independent, if at times parallel worlds: colleges and universities, as ISPs, provided Internet access for members of their communities. In contrast, mobile phones remained largely a consumer service, provided by the major carriers such as AT&T/Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, among others. The iPhone heralds the coming (first arrival?) of a new generation of WiFi phones that can connect to (wireless) campus networks. The looming question for campus IT and telecom officers involves the emerging expectations among students and faculty who begin to wander campus with iPhones and other WiFi compatible mobile devices in the coming months. On some campuses, the WiFi phone conversation will be a matter of when, not if. Yet other institutions may dwell on the if question, asking if campuses are (implicitly) obligated to open campus networks to devices that are not explicitly linked to the educational mission of the institution. And regardless of the decision – if vs. when to open the campus network to WiFi phones – there will also be will be conversations about costs, security, and bandwidth. DT