Attending: Brian Bell, Benjamin Barenblat, Liz Denys, Alex Dehnert, Manjul Sahay
I. The W20 cluster
IS&T concerns: Space is under-utilizied. Students clearly want more laptop space, as they frequently unplug monitors and keyboards.
Discussion:
- Monitor, power, network are the most important concerns for laptop users.
- Maybe something like the TEAL rooms, but with semicircular tables for group work, with movable monitor arms.
- Group study area is under-advertised, yet Reading Room (and Lobby) frequently fill up
- Maybe we should move the Windows machines to the front room, and use the entire back space for small group/laptop spaces
Outcome: IS&T will investigate furniture and measurements
II. MS Office
- It's used infrequently (or only Word is used), so paying more than $50 is not desirable, even if the discounted price is significantly cheaper than retail. $10-$50 price range would be good.
III. The IS&T Website - Student page (http://ist.mit.edu/students)
- Nobody knew it existed
- The "First steps" are not helpful - people already know how to do that, because they have to
- Listing student-specific software would be great.
- Remove the link to Stellar - nobody goes there to explore, they go there when their TA tells them to.
- Hardware Discounts
- At first glance, they seem really expensive. Macs are more expensive, but the Dells come with better warranties, yet that information is not publicized
- Most people come in with their hardware/model preferences, and merely want to see what the MIT discount is, as opposed to coming in saying "What specific model does MIT recommend?"
- This is particularly true for grad students, as they're less likely to have their laptops purchased for them by their parents
- Having some sub-$1000 laptops would help
- Having a large link saying "Don't see what you're looking for? Go here" to the Dell or ECAT catalog would be great.
- Mobile Devices
- Most students don't know they exist. Students tend to assume they can get a discount on a laptop or software as a student, they don't assume the same of cell phone plans
- Most undergrads with phones are on a family plan – detailed info about how the discounts interact with family plans would help
- Nearby locations of retail stores would help
- Basically, a "Show me all the free/cheap stuff I can get now that I'm a student" page would help
There is discussion of "course.mit.edu" as a great site, because it's simple, fast, and gets students where they want to go immediately.
The IS&T front page is confusing, and busy, and should have a large: "Student? Click here" link at the top to take them to the student page.
Certificates:
- Cert front page is hard to find; MIT CA is hard to get/impossible form the student page
- CA is served through non-SSL links
- Nobody knows about MIT CA or what it does for them
- Link CertAid from the student page
Student Page:
- Have a link at the top: "Is my service down?" -> 3DOWN
- Have a link at the top: "Have a question?" -> Hermes knowledge base
Other sources:
- A student-specific twitter would be good. People read Twitter because they want to, but people read mail because they have to, and prefer not to get stuff over e-mail because they get too much already
Under-utilized services:
- TSM
- Compare services to their alternatives: "Dropbox is good for X, TSM is good for Y"
- e.g. "You can use TSM to back up your thesis, and important docs, without backing up your entire hard drive full of media"
- Calendaring
- Nobody knows they have an Exchange calendar, how to use it, that it can be sync'd with mobile devices, etc.