ISU computer lab: unplugged

In May, the 24-hour computer lab in the Student Computing Complex will close its doors, and a pilot program will start this December that allows students to print from the Commons.  

Both of these decisions are part of an effort to make technology more accessible to all students across campus and to encourage the use of laptop computers, which the university provides through scholarships.

Further, the library will play a huge part in this change, as it is collaborating with the Office of Information Technology to provide additional areas for printing and group projects.

This means that the university will have to purchase extra furniture, software and equipment to accommodate the transition.

In some respects, wireless-printing stations will be especially convenient for students with laptops. Students will no longer be confined to just the library and Student Computing Complex for their printing needs.

What's more, restrictions on food, beverage and cell phone usage will be lifted in locations such as the Commons.

Unfortunately, those who don't own laptops are left out in the cold. Students ineligible for the laptop awards or students who simply don't own a laptop, will have to find alternative methods to print materials.

The 24-hour lab isn't solely used for printing either.

In addition to Microsoft Word, students have access to the Internet and PowerPoint, both of which are staples in classroom activities.

Commuter students who don't have Internet access or computers at home, constantly rely on the lab.

And what will become of the computer lab employees?

Up until this point, we've taken them for granted; to us, they're just the people who hand us our printed pages in between their Facebook creeping.

Come May, though, they will be unemployed, and we won't have anyone to hand us our pages anymore. Instead, we will have to crowd around the printers and sort through the mess ourselves, which isn't bad in a small area like the library.

But in the Commons, there's more room for people and, therefore, more room for errors and mix-ups.

Heaven help us, if the printers break down or run out of paper.

The transition won't take place for a while, and some of the kinks are still being ironed out, so the university has time to take these cons into consideration.

Hopefully, the university will.