2008 Woodie Awards
LCCC administrators block two popular social networking websites
Patricia Bergquist
Issue date: 2/27/07 Section: News
Lorain County Community College blocked direct access to two popular social networking Web sites, MySpace and Facebook, from campus computers Jan. 9. This block includes all the computers connected to the college network and privately owned laptops in use on campus. The decision to take this action came from high-ranking LCCC administrators.
Vice President of Administrative Services and LCCC Treasurer David Cummins said, "The bigger issue was that students were complaining about Facebook and Myspace (users)." Cummins indicated that complaints arose because too few computers were available for the number of students waiting to use them.
Cummins explained the problem started with complaints coming from the Connections Center about students trying to use the Web for registration could not get on the computers designated for that purpose because people were using their Myspace accounts. Then the administration started getting similar complaints from the library, and eventually the open computer labs, Cummins said.
In a separate interview, Karen Wells, LCCC provost and vice president for Academic and Learner Services, echoed Cummins' statement.
First and foremost, Wells said, computers are provided for academic purposes for students, such as Web registration or to look up classes on computers near the Connections Center, or to do research on library computers using resources such as the Ohio Public Access Catalog and OhioLink.
When we (LCCC Administration) began to look at this issue, we looked at specific spots, Wells explained. But, Wells said, when LCCC administrators involved IT (Information Systems and Services), which provides academic and administrative services, it became a bigger issue: bandwidth. Wells said photos, video, and audio files take up a lot of bandwidth.
Wells said David Weiser, director of Information Systems and Services at LCCC, suggested a campus-wide block because it's very staff intensive to monitor computer usage. (For more information on the issue of bandwidth, see story by Matt Lewis.)
Vice President of Administrative Services and LCCC Treasurer David Cummins said, "The bigger issue was that students were complaining about Facebook and Myspace (users)." Cummins indicated that complaints arose because too few computers were available for the number of students waiting to use them.
Cummins explained the problem started with complaints coming from the Connections Center about students trying to use the Web for registration could not get on the computers designated for that purpose because people were using their Myspace accounts. Then the administration started getting similar complaints from the library, and eventually the open computer labs, Cummins said.
In a separate interview, Karen Wells, LCCC provost and vice president for Academic and Learner Services, echoed Cummins' statement.
First and foremost, Wells said, computers are provided for academic purposes for students, such as Web registration or to look up classes on computers near the Connections Center, or to do research on library computers using resources such as the Ohio Public Access Catalog and OhioLink.
When we (LCCC Administration) began to look at this issue, we looked at specific spots, Wells explained. But, Wells said, when LCCC administrators involved IT (Information Systems and Services), which provides academic and administrative services, it became a bigger issue: bandwidth. Wells said photos, video, and audio files take up a lot of bandwidth.
Wells said David Weiser, director of Information Systems and Services at LCCC, suggested a campus-wide block because it's very staff intensive to monitor computer usage. (For more information on the issue of bandwidth, see story by Matt Lewis.)
Be the first to comment on this story