Admittedly this question isn't the most pressing one facing our campus today, but I thought it would be an interesting thought experiment.
Every so often, computer L.T.A.s must make the hike down from North Campus to refill the paper in the printers, to make sure all of the chairs are pushed in, and to sign people off from their computers, should they have wandered too far off.
I wonder about the wisdom of that final part of the LTAs job description. Now to be fair, LTAs want to guarantee that all of the computers are used efficiently. LTAs don't want students to monopolize the computers by leaving them logged onto their own accounts, and so they log them off. In fact, I'm told that there's a policy of logging people off the computers if they have been away from the computer for too long. Just who gets to decide how long is, of course, a judgment to be made by the LTA on duty.
This presents weird social dynamics. For instance, what if the person logged onto the computer has gone to the bathroom and has only left the computer for five minutes? How does the LTA know? Moreover, what if the LTA knows the person and decides to have select enforcement?
It would seem that the proper way to deal with this problem would be to have the computers register idleness and then shut down, automatically saving whatever was on the computer to a specific folder. At peak hours of lab usage, this could move people along.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Thoughts on the Computer Lab's Policies of Kicking People Off the Computers
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10 comments:
Aren't the computer's set so that the screensaver turns on after 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, people will be logged off, I thought this was a pretty clear policy. I don't see where the confusion is.
Agree - I've always been told/heard 15 minutes
So was this issue ever resolved Charles? I never understood what the confusion was?
So no?
Haven't looked into it, can't comment.
But what was the confusion? Isn't the LTA policy clear? And don't the screensavers being timed to go off after 15 minutes help make it clear to LTA's when someone has been away for more than 15 minutes. I have thought that this is why LTA's whenever they visit a lab go around hitting the spacebar if the screensaver is on and seeing that it is on the login screen?
So can we get a clarification on the confusion?
sooooo....
Again, can't comment. Don't know. Haven't look into it. Not that pressing.
So it's pressing enough to write a blog post about it, but not pressing enough to look further into it within a 7 month period? How pressing is it exactly? What was the point of the first blog post? I'm also still curious as to what the original confusion was? Is that earlier statement that somebody made about it being 15 minutes with a screensaver not clear enough? I have heard this policy stated by Mike Malsead. He often reiterates it through emails he sends out so whats the issue?
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