Specialized computer labs: care and feeding
Pages 273 - 280
Abstract
This paper is a brief overview of some of the challenges and successes related to the support of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Windows lab and a music technology Mac OS lab at Williams College. Specialized computer labs can present some surprising issues that set them apart from general academic computer labs. The GIS lab and music technology labs at Williams have provided many examples of such challenges, including:The authors share their experience supporting these labs and confronting some of these issues at Williams College.
Finding academic pricing for non-academic software.
Creating secure lab spaces.
Handling unusual license management, including dongles and hasps, as well as software management schemes that involve locking software to a specific computer.
Working around security issues with products that assume that all users have full administrative access to the lab computers.
Solving peripheral software and hardware interface challenges.
Training users and creating effective documentation.
Troubleshooting non-standard hardware and software-intensive lab stations.
Creating and deploying an image for a specialty lab.
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Index Terms
- Specialized computer labs: care and feeding
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Published In
November 2006
478 pages
ISBN:1595934383
DOI:10.1145/1181216
- General Chair:
- Alex Nagorski,
- Program Chairs:
- Gordana Brouilette,
- Carol Rhodes
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Published: 05 November 2006
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SIGUCCS Fall06: ACM SIGUCCS Fall Conference:Expanding the Boundaries
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