Proposal to change layout of W20-575C

The IS&T Student Advisory Board (ISTAB) proposes that W20-575C be renovated to include "laptop workstations" as well as spaces suitable for 2-3 person groups.

The Problem

As it stands, the traditional Athena cluster layout is not suitable for students who bring their laptops to the clusters, as well as students who wish to work in pairs or groups of 3. The existing "small group" workspaces in W20-575D and 56-129 are either too large, poorly equipped for the students' specific needs, or frequently occupied.

Laptop usage in Athena clusters is extremely popular, with students wishing to use their laptops with a larger monitor and/or keyboard or mouse. The prevalence of "netbooks" with their very small screens, small trackpads and often not-full-size keyboards makes the use of external displays and peripherals particularly appealing to students. Right now, students who wish to use this are forced to disconnect monitors and peripherals from Athena workstations and connect them to their laptops. AC power is also in short supply in the clusters, as each workstation only has a single receptacle with two sockets, which are occupied by the CPU and display. Students are then forced to unplug workstations or monitors in order to charge their laptops. Finally, students also desire a wired network connection. Though wireless is prevalent throughout campus, a wired connection still provides greater bandwidth when students are transferring large amounts of data. In addition to putting unnecessary stress on the various connectors, this makes more work for IS&T Cluster Services staff, who must investigate each workstation and reconnect the cables, and often reboot the workstation to restore it to working order.

Some students also wish to work with both their laptop and Athena simultaneously, using each for different tasks. In this case, they often take over two workstations - one for Athena use, and the other as an external display for their laptop.

Group Work: The secondary problem is that of group work. Most group projects assigned as part of coursework consist of dyads and triads. While it may be possible for two students to cluster around a single workstation, it does not scale when a third student is added. In addition, it puts two other workstations out of commission, as the chairs from those workstations are used by the students in the group.

The Current Infrastructure

Athena clusters currently provide 5 "small group" learning spaces, initially created in 2005. They are under-publicized and under-utilized, and while they contain a lot of specialized technology, they're not suited for the use cases described above. For example, while a student may want a larger external display for their laptop, the existing large LCD displays in W20-575D are too large for general purpose use, even though they're ideally suited to collaboration or presentations involving groups of 4-5 people.

The Solution

ISTAB proposes the creation of "8 laptop stations" in W20-575C, which consist of an LCD display, a keyboard, a mouse, a network connection, and a plug strip, as well as a means of securing a standard laptop cable lock. These laptop stations would replace existing WIN.MIT.EDU workstations. (The Windows workstations would move into the main room of W20-575, replacing some Athena workstations.)

We also propose the creation of small cubicle-style spaces suitable for groups of 2-3 people, which contain an Athena workstation and a KVM switch which would also allow the connection of a laptop. The cubicles should also contain a network connection for the laptop, as well as an easily accessible plug strip. These spaces would also replace some existing WIN.MIT.EDU workstations, as described above.

In both cases, the existence of these new spaces should be advertised throughout the cluster, encouraging users to make use of them rather than tampering with existing equipment. If possible, their existence should also be advertised in the W20 Reading Room as well as the 5th floor lobby, as these spaces are frequently used by laptop users. ISTAB also suggests that feedback should be collected from users of the new spaces and that the number of laptop and group spaces should be adjusted as usage merits.

Mockups