-tictech message:
>>
>> Minutes
> -------------->stuff cut<----------------------------------
>> Bandwidth
>> John Rowlands discussed the Internet bandwidth for the District. He
>> explained that the bottleneck has moved to the four T1 lines leaving the
>> District to the University of Washington, which is slowing Internet
>> connectivity. He has requested that the Seattle Schools be allowed to
use
>> the Internet 2 capabilities through the University of Washington. There
> has
>> been no formal response from the UW.
You may recall that i mentioned the puny ness of the 4 T1 lines in an
earlier note. The internet 2 project has been in the hatchery for several
years even before I retired. However my recollection is that it was going to
be a part of the new statewide k-20 net with some high speed connections. I
really dont know how far along they have gotten with that. The type of
bandwidth needed is more on the order of T3...or sonet..or some 0ther high
speed ring which was originally a concept being worked on with king county.
I think i mentioned all the unconnected dark fibre laying around now.
As best i can recollect internet 2 was a superhighway for higher education
and hopefully the k-12 people as well. Seattle schools was quite slow in
coming board with recognition and adoption of some of these new
technologies.
>>
>> The good news is the Bess Proxy is no longer slowing down Internet access
>> speeds.
It is good news when it only solve a problem that no longer exists at one
level because it is much worse at another level?
>
> It would appear from this statement that the bandwidth issue is not due
> to, as Judy McName stated in a forwarded e-mail to this list, "Streaming
> media (things like RealAudio, Windows Media, etc.)[that] account for over
> 10% of our total bandwidth use -- and sometimes more than 20%", but
> instead is due to a "bottleneck" at the University.
And a lack of long term planning!!! More specifcally little appreciation for
the scale of the problem though there were many who knew about this
including a meeting i had with a well known internet specialist and John
Rowlands not long before I retired.
>
> Does the source of the problem originate at the University, as John
> Rowlands alludes to above (a technical problem) or does the problem
> originate, as Judy McName states above, at the classroom/office level
> where streaming media are blamed (a social problem)? I ask these
> questions because it would seem that if Internet II is the answer to the
> problem, then the University is to blame. However, if the answer is "too
> many streaming media connections", then the problem lies at the
> classroom/office level which, of consequence, raises a number of issues.
The problem is that scale has not been addressed.
>
> What are the sanctions, then, for the "overuse" of the Web and what type
> of enforcement is in place to effectively ensure that the Web is used in a
> manner that is deemed to be in accordance with appropriate practices? What
> constitutes appropriate practices in this context? How can individuals
> who are "overusing" the Web learn how to use it in a manner that is
> commensurate with expectations for appropriate use?
That whole approach is a can of worms in my estimation. The cat was let out
of the bag some years ago when those issues were not addressed in the early
years. I had a pretty good handle on it in my school but the district just
let it all hang out there for several years before starting to reign things
in and then used the blocking of free email as their big move which got them
nothing but disrespect from the kids.
>
> [Enter BESS, stage left.] According to the February minutes, BESS is now
> free from incrimination as a "bottleneck" source. Again, from Judy
> McName's e-mail:
Bess is still a pile of crap and does nothing really except impede genuine
research.
>
>> Please help to conserve our very limited bandwidth and keep it
>> available for instructional use by:
>> - not using streaming audio/video - don't listen to radio stations
>> online
>> - not playing online games from your district computer
>> - not downloading or uploading MP3 (music) files
>> - stopping all Internet file-sharing activity (Gnutella, KaZaa,
>> Morpheus, etc).
>> In addition to being bandwidth hogs, these last two activities are
>> frequently illegal because of copyright violations. They can result in
>> district disciplinary action, and the user may be prosecuted by the
>> copyright owner.
Of course these are sensible restrictions but there was never any real
formal directive about sensible things untl way after.......teachers
included.
Cheers!
Currie
buck63@attbi.com
>
> This list of inappropriate uses conjures up notions of what BESS *can* be
> good for in the absence of a clear understanding of what the Web is
> supposed to be good for. It is quite possible that in the foreseeable
> future, BESS will be used to block these types of file transfers. The
> rationale typically used to justify these types of action fall under the
> rubric of the "few who spoil it for everyone else". It is easy to see how
> the power of the Web for learning purposes can be rendered inert by
> administrative intervention. The Web may never get a real chance to
> "show its stuff" because too many people were experimenting--yes, and even
> wasting time--trying to figure how the blasted technology worked AS WELL
> AS how it can be used in a classroom setting.
>
> I would think that the overuse of the Web is a good thing. Students,
> teachers, staff all have access to digital "stuff" that has been made
> available to them via taxpayer money. Accessing information should not be
> a crime. We are at a liminal moment with respect to using technology in
> schools. How can we say with certainty what people ought to be doing
> when they are using computers? Teachers certainly can guide student
> use. But who guides teachers' use? It is very hard for me to use a
> computer and not learn something new in the process. It might be
> something about the software itself, it might be something I've read on
> the Web, and it might be something that I have created in a written
> document. And, it just might be in an ah-ha moment of watching a
> streaming video that I have a new idea. This process is all very new to
> us as human beings and we have got to cut each other some slack if we are
> to grow and develop into intellectual people.
>
> Kurt Sahl
> bluesky@scn.org
>
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