Present: Art Battson, Glenn Davis, John Doner, George Gregg, Judy Guillermo-Newton, Phil Handley, Bill Koseluk, Tom Lawton, Tom Marazita, Elise Meyer, Alan Moses, Joan Murdoch, Larry Murdock, Paula Rudolph, Jason Simpson, Kevin Schmidt, Jamie Sonsini
Not Present: Debbie Anglin, Kevin Barron, Ken Bowers, Bill Doering, Sonia Johnston, Pam Lombardo, Bill McTague, Ed Mehlschau, Vince Sefcik, John Vasi
Alan led off by noting that 50 people had already registered for the UCCSC. About another 100 are expected. Those at UCSB who would like to attend only one or two sessions should contact Alan about trading help with conference for attendance at those sessions. Local participation is encouraged.
Emerging Issues
The need for a "fund for the common good" was introduced. The question is how to fund the software licenses in a bulk purchase that do not get resold. The campus may pay less in total for the licenses it needs, but the department that funds a bulk purchase may get stuck with unclaimed licenses. (If, for example, the list price of a license is $200 and we can buy 10 copies for $1500 the campus could save $500. However, if the department that steps up for the 10 copies resells only 8 of them at $150 each, its own copy winds up costing $300 - not much of a reward for coordinating the bulk purchase. Meanwhile, the campus saves $300 on the purchase of the 9 required copies, even if the 10th copy of the license is never used.)
The RUAC method of charging for IP ports based on a single usage during the year does not work to the satisfaction of everyone. One problem is that anyone can plug a computer into a subnet and generate an $11 charge for the department owning that subnet. This does not work well in places where individuals can plug in computers not known to administrators (e.g., Housing). Various techniques for polling computers or limiting rogue attachments were exchanged during the discussion. The IP-address revenue center generates about $132K per year.
Old Business
The broadband data network has been retired - Buffered Repeaters are now candidates for EIMR.
Physics and ITP have now been attached to the new CalREN-2 network. Cable & Wireless has been awarded the contract to supply ISP connections to CalREN-2 in the north and south. ISP connection is expected in August.
The LDAP directory now contains 991 entries and is on track to merge with the PPS person index and telephone directory in August. Goal is a unique key for PPS, telephone and email directories.
The BEG is drafting a plan for the New Generation Backbone (NGB), which is currently planned to be an extension of the Gigabit Ethernet with central routing. Issues include the tradeoffs between pulling more single-mode fiber and buying additional routing equipment. Need for maintenance contracts on all equipment attached to the backbone is also an issue.
The Security Group reported significant recent problems with password sniffing and root compromises around campus. The NOC was required to disconnect machines and departments to stop "denial of service" attacks. The FDDI network was driven to 90% capacity by these attacks. There have also been reports of problems connecting to the campus from GTE during the past month, but no trace-routing reports have been provided to pinpoint the problem.
Reports of a few complaints about the 30-minute time-out on the modem pool (and positive feedback on the recent time-limit extension for the 2400 bps pool) were exchanged. Communications Services plans to generate a proposal to replace the existing modems this month. Funding might come from a trade of bandwidth to Housing, which would divert their payments for a separate T1, or it might come from the Chancellor's three-year allocation for network improvements. Some departments expressed interest in having Communications Services run dedicated subpools of modems for their constituents.
Poling the ITPG members present showed that all but one have their own ISP accounts at home. Questions regarding the sharing of ISP accounts were posed. Some ISPs are reported to specifically allow multiple email boxes on one login account.
It was reported that Cox Cable has requested beta testers for cable modems in Isla Vista.
Turning to the student access surveys, copies of responses from a pilot test in Alan Liu's class were distributed. Goals of analysis of the results include looking for responses that are highly correlated, indicating that the questions might be measuring the same thing, and responses that indicate different interpretations of the questions (Question #3, percentage of time computers are used, for example). The survey subgroup will attempt coding and analysis and report their findings before we target a summer school course for the next pilot.
New Business
Paula Rudolph, Sexual Harassment Officer, and Judy Guillermo-Newton, Coordinator, Sexual Harassment Prevention Education Program, discussed the use of email in sexual harassment incidents. Paula and Judy related examples of inappropriate (and increasing) use of email and the impact that such messages have on recipients. They also provided a handout presenting questions regarding the handling of sexual harassment issues at UCSB. Attributes of email (distance, lack of visual feedback) that might lead to the use of the medium for such purposes were introduced. They also pointed to an MIT program called "Stop IT," and suggested that good results can be achieved with education and minimal intervention. Techniques that could be employed without overstepping the bounds of the email policy were presented. Paula and Judy emphasized the importance of conveying incidents of using email for sexual harassment to the Sexual Harassment Officer because they may be part of a larger pattern harassment that is under investigation. During the discussion ideas such as sending a note to CSF, generating a poster for labs and inviting people to training sessions were exchanged. Ideas of how to set up email configurations to protect the anonymity of those who might need help but are reluctant to call an office and complain were offered. A major problem in this area is to generate awareness on the part of a recipient that what seems uncomfortable or disturbing may, in fact, constitute behavior that should stop.
Next Meeting of the ITPG is scheduled for Friday, July 16, at 10:00 a.m. in North Hall 1131. Paul Valenzuela will present draft contingency plans regarding campus services that could possibly be disrupted on January 1, 2000.
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