PENNPRINTOUT - University of Pennsylvania

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ON THE COVER: Is the importance of a university’s physical campus fading? Will global electronic access to scholars dilute institutional affiliation? Will it be possible to get a Penn degree without ever laying eyes on this statue of founder Benjamin Franklin in front of College Hall? Provost Stanley Chodorow contemplates these and other possible effects of the electronic revolution. Penn Printout is composed on Apple Macintosh computers using Aldus PageMaker. Alesi Graphics outputs the PageMaker files directly to film negatives on a Linotronic 530 Imagesetter. Offset printing is done by Alesi Graphics on 60-lb. Cross Pointe Halopaque paper. Printed on acid-free, recycled paper. Please recycle this issue. 2 PENNPRINTOUT EDITORIAL STAFF: Judy Smith, Managing Editor Randall Couch, art direction Teresa Leo, design Caroline Ferguson, editing Penn Printout is published by the office of Information Systems and Computing University of Pennsylvania Harnwell House, Suite 211 3820 Locust Walk Philadelphia, PA 19104-6134 Send electronic mail to: printout@isc.upenn.edu Penn Printout articles are available online in Acrobat PDF and Web-based HTML formats. Telnet to www.upenn.edu (log in as “pennweb”) and select Penn Printout from the menu) or point your World-Wide Web browser at the URL: http://www.upenn.edu/pennprintout 1 3 5 8 11 12 14 16 18 FEATURES APRIL THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY The electronic revolution in higher education. By Stanley Chodorow TECHNOLITERACY A student’s view. By Jordana Horn INFORMATION AT YOUR FINGERTIPS The Wharton Research Data System. By Kendall Whitehouse and Paul J. Ratnaraj RESNET Student survey results. By Daniel A. Updegrove and George P. McKenna ALUMNI PENNNET SERVICE ISC offers a way to stay in touch. By Alfred C. D’Souza DATA WAREHOUSE Information under one roof. By Tad Davis and Dan Shapiro BEYOND PENNNET Alternatives for off-campus net access. By Daniel A. Updegrove LATIN AMERICAN NEWS Keeping up to date on the Internet. By Joseph C. Holub ISC SUPPORTED PRODUCTS The current list of supported hardware and software. By Don Montabana DEPARTMENTS Q&A, p. 20; Announcements, p. 24; Electronic Calendar, p. 26; Q&A, p. 31; Random Bits, p. 30; ISC contacts, back cover. PENNPRINTOUT
Technoliteracy A student’s view BY JORDANA HORN Why am I writing this? After all, I know very little about computers. I was introduced to them in fourth grade, where my classmates and I learned Apple programming intricacies like “run.” But I must confess that I developed no great love for these machines. For us never-to-be-hackers, the lessons were merely welcome diversions from grueling drills in the Dewey Decimal system—to say nothing of opportunities to play the popular computer game “Oregon Trail” behind Mrs. Hardy’s back. My family bought a computer when I was in high school; we knew it better as a typewriter with a screen. I took a giant, information-age-esque step forward and learned how to save things. Oh, yeah...and we could even play “Oregon Trail” in the privacy of our own home. It was the best of all possible worlds, no doubt. In short, I have never exactly been a “techno-geek.” I didn’t expect my technoliteracy to grow in the context of a humanities-based college education. I carefully tailored myself and my interests toward becoming a poster-child for the liberal arts—English and communications major, concentration in politics and literature, Executive Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. Just when and where I least expected it—in an English class during my senior year at Penn—the two worlds collided. Well, they didn’t exactly collide; they bumped into each other ever so casually, as if there was nothing unusual about mixing technology and literature. In addition to our intense class discussions in our “Literature of the Holocaust” seminar, the class was encouraged to post to a listserv. That was all. I am writing this because it is clear to me that the revolution is computerized, it is here at the University, and it is time for us to get on board. Revolutions, rising voices Truth be told, I didn’t even realize Penn needed a revolution of any kind. I thought nothing of the fact that everyone was too intimidated to talk to the professor in a big lecture class. Or the fact that no one ever bothered to start a conversation with classmates about the material just learned in class. Or the fact that some classes were just too big for a student’s thoughts to be heard, to be challenged, or even to matter. Intellectual dialogue does not happen nearly enough at Penn. And so, from the beginning of freshman classes, there is the possibility of being lost in endless corridors of complication—the huge lecture hall, the sporadic appointments with advisors, the complete separation of intellectual and social life at Penn. There is Smoke’s and there is Shakespeare, and never the two shall meet. This divide was dramatically crossed in English 293, where students’ passions and ideas were not constrained to the perimeters of Bennett Hall 127, Tuesday/Thursday, 1:30-3 PM. On the listserv, the discussions raged on into the night and the early morning, demanding that we as students think, contemplate, and make our intellectual lives a relevant and ever-present part of our day-to-day schedules. In each electronic discourse, we were subjected to a far more arduous test than any exam—the test of self-expression, the ability to interact and learn from one another. We forged both personal relationships and intellectual exchanges; no longer hampered by time or constrained by coolness, we held a vigorous debate. Moreover, the debate allowed us to speak (continued on next page) APRIL 1995 3
Page 1: PENNPRINTOUT VOLUME 11:6 APRIL 1995
Page 5 and 6: The Wharton Research Data System In
Page 7 and 8: large-scale study of the financial
Page 9 and 10: neglected to identify their residen
Page 11 and 12: Alumni PennNet Service BY ALFRED C.
Page 13 and 14: ists around campus—in what has be
Page 15 and 16: Internet Access in Philadelphia & B
Page 17 and 18: Other sites Other sites offer news
Page 19 and 20: Supported products In addition to t
Page 21 and 22: Virtual University (from page 1) ch
Page 23 and 24: evolution is putting libraries and
Page 25 and 26: ANNOUNCEMENTS Further information o
Page 27 and 28: ISC B&P seminars Bits & Pieces semi
Page 29 and 30: Hot Dates Please note that the summ
Page 31 and 32: I want to include sound files with

PENNPRINTOUT - University of Pennsylvania

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?