HASCS Equalizes House Resources

It's 3 a.m. and you want to go to bed, but you have a paper due the next day. Your printer is making funny noises again, so you head off to your House computer lab to find that, of the two computers not taken by people writing e-mail, only one of them is working, and it doesn't matter anyway because the printer is out of paper. Sound familiar?

In response to annual fall student surveys including just these kinds of complaints, Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Computer Services (HASCS) recently completed a massive upgrade of House computing facilities, updating computers and making workstations more ergonomic.

According to Rick Osterberg '96, who is coordinator of residential computing support for HASCS and is one of the leaders of the upgrade, "Two years ago, most of our computers were these terrible 486s that were already almost six years old. We used our annual fall survey to establish that the computer labs were being heavily used by students, and we were able to go to [Dean of the Faculty] Jeremy [R.] Knowles to obtain funding to upgrade the computer labs."

Last year, all the House computers were replaced with 74 new Mac and PC computers, none of which is currently more than 15 months old.

"We're mainly interested in raising the quality of house computing across campus, and making each house as equal as possible," Osterberg says. "We try to give each House lab seven Mac or PC computers, as well as a laser printer."

But because the Houses are of different sizes, numerically equal computer facilities may mean crowding in some Houses and easy computer access in others.

Ryan Reiss, a chair of Pforzheimer House Committee, says he is very pleased with his House computer lab. "Our lab is actually really good. It's rarely overcrowded, even during the busy recruiting and thesis periods, and our UAs [user assistants] always come down to help you out if you give one of them a call."

But Pforzheimer has seven computers for about 350 students while Leverett has the same number for about 450 undergraduates.

Osterberg says HASCS is constrained by the space available in the Houses.

"The primary limitation on how many computers a lab can have is the amount of space available, not what computers we have," Osterberg says. "Some houses like Winthrop are very tight on space, so for them we'll only put in five computers, whereas a House like Leverett, with a larger lab, can get up to seven computers."

Osterberg acknowledges that different ratios of students to computers are a problem, but says, "Sure, [Pforzheimer] is the smallest house on campus, but it's also the farthest away from the Science Center. The best thing we can do is to just make everything equal. The Houses are all communities, and it's just better to have them all have equal facilities."

Averting RSI

Besides working to improve the number of House labs, HASCS has been working to improve the comfort and safety of computer use for undergraduates, especially in the wake of recent concerns over Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

Recently, HASCS began outfitting all the House computer labs with adjustable ergonomic chairs, and are also gradually installing adjustable keyboard trays in each computer lab over break.

Julie Hassel, special assistant to the administrative dean within FAS, says similar steps are being taken to alleviate safety concerns within dorm rooms as well, where most students do most of their typing.

"Room desks are being outfitted with keyboard trays as each House comes offline every couple of summers, or are being replaced entirely if the keyboard trays don't fit," she says.

Where's the Paper?

Many student concerns aren't focused on the model of the computers or the chairs, but rather on maintenance of the labs.

Maya S. Turre '00, of Dunster House, complains that "at least half the time half the computers aren't working in either of the two labs."

"A lot of times the printers are out of toner,so you get a nice processional stripe down halfyour term paper. I know because I've turned themin like that," she says.

Osterberg says the best way to get problemsaddressed is to contact the House UA, who shouldeither fix the problem or pass it on to him.

But he warns that many of the lab computerproblems actually come from students themselves.

"Paper theft is an enormous problem for usaround campus. We keep track of how much we putinto the printer trays and how much is actuallyprinted out, and about one-third of it is stolen,"Osterberg says.

He says another major problem is studentsbringing food and beverages into the computerlabs.

"It's not a fun job for the UAs to go walkingaround the computer labs telling people to puttheir drinks away, but it really does make theequipment age earlier. All it takes is one can ofsoda and you lose a $50 keyboard," he says.

On the whole, Osterberg says the upgrades havebeen successful.

"My opinion is that the labs are in a very goodsituation...We'll continue to make minoradjustments, like upgrading all the 32 megabyteRAM machines to 64. But on the whole, we think thecomputing facilities can stay this way for alittle bit longer.

"A lot of times the printers are out of toner,so you get a nice processional stripe down halfyour term paper. I know because I've turned themin like that," she says.

Osterberg says the best way to get problemsaddressed is to contact the House UA, who shouldeither fix the problem or pass it on to him.

But he warns that many of the lab computerproblems actually come from students themselves.

"Paper theft is an enormous problem for usaround campus. We keep track of how much we putinto the printer trays and how much is actuallyprinted out, and about one-third of it is stolen,"Osterberg says.

He says another major problem is studentsbringing food and beverages into the computerlabs.

"It's not a fun job for the UAs to go walkingaround the computer labs telling people to puttheir drinks away, but it really does make theequipment age earlier. All it takes is one can ofsoda and you lose a $50 keyboard," he says.

On the whole, Osterberg says the upgrades havebeen successful.

"My opinion is that the labs are in a very goodsituation...We'll continue to make minoradjustments, like upgrading all the 32 megabyteRAM machines to 64. But on the whole, we think thecomputing facilities can stay this way for alittle bit longer.