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Computing Policies

PC Reservation

Occasionally, during peak periods of the term, certain machines will have signout sheets to reserve blocks of time in advance. This is especially true of machines in which special software has been installed or that are connected to imaging equipment. If there is a signup sheet, you must follow the directions provided on the sheet. If reservations are required, you must sign up in advance to use that particular computer. Your reservation becomes void if you do not show up for your block of time within five minutes into the time reserved. Any machine that is not reserved is available on a first-come first-served basis for an indefinite period of time (see Playing Games below for exceptions to this).

Adaptive Computing

Equipment and software is readily available to meet the needs of students with special needs at the iSchool. You may make your needs known directly to the Labs Staff who will work with you and various offices on campus to make sure your requirements are addressed in a timely and convenient manner.

Priority Use of Equipment

Occasionally, someone will have priority use of specific lab equipment for a period of time, e.g., users engaged in research or course work requiring use of special hardware and/or software. The labs will place a notice on equipment that either has priority use, or is reserved solely for special users. If you are using equipment that has priority use and a priority user requests the machine, please free the equipment within five minutes for the priority user.

Storing Files on Hard drive

Disk space on PCs and Macs is limited, so users are not permitted to save files between sessions on local hard drives. Lab GSAs cannot restore user files that may be lost from any directory. Users may save files either to the flash drives or their Internet accounts.

Printing Restrictions

The labs printers are for course assignments, research, and professional communication printing ONLY. Resumes, cover letters, and proposals are permitted.

• NO personal or commercial printing is permitted. Recipes, party invitations, personal email, and furniture sale signs are examples of prohibited printing. Such output will be destroyed.
• NO duplicate printing is allowed. Take output to a copy center if multiple copies are needed.
• Email and network news items that do not fit in the categories of course assignments, research, or professional communication may not be printed.
• The printing of class assignments and research have priority over job search materials.
• Users should print long or large documents (i.e. 30-page papers or images) during non-peak hours.
• In our continuing effort to save paper, output from the laser printer is double-sided by default.
• Place all printouts that are no longer needed in the paper recycle cans located in each lab.
• If you are working on a project that you expect will have extraordinary printing requirements please inform the lab staff in advance.
• While printing at the School appears to be free, money that is spent on paper and toner cartridges is money that cannot be spent on new equipment or software. Please keep this in mind when deciding whether or not to send that rough draft or that tech report that you pulled off the net to the printer. Previewers are available in most of the word processing packages. Use these whenever you need to see a printer-formatted document that you do not wish to keep or pass on to somebody else.

Software Copyright

The labs prohibit illegal use of, or copying of any copyrighted software, e.g., non share- or freeware -- this includes downloading software programs from the internet. Most labs software falls under protection of copyright laws. If you are unsure, refer to the software manual, the copyright message displayed to the screen when loading software, or ask the lab Attendant on duty. The labs do pay licenses on shareware, and encourage all users who copy it for home use to do the same to support the continuing availability of inexpensive quality programs. PCs and Macs are monitored regularly for non-School software, which is flushed whenever found.

The downloading and/or installation of Napster/Gnutella/FreeNet on labs machines is strictly prohibited. You will be asked to leave the labs if you are found using this software on any labs machine.

Personal Software

Personal software brought by users to the Computing Labs is permitted, provided the user is not violating any copyright laws. However, users cannot install the software on the lab equipment -- personal software must be accessed from flash drives when using a PC. The labs' user support does not apply to personal software.

If there are programs available on the internet that you wish to have installed for public access on lab machines, submit a request to the labs Administrator. You may install software in your own Paradox (or Icarus) directory, but if it requires more than your allotted space you will need to request more space or to have it publicly installed.

No Smoking

In accordance with University and government policies and laws, smoking is prohibited in the building. All tobacco use is prohibited on the eighth floor.

Food & Beverage

Food and beverages are not permitted in the labs at any time. Any person found eating or drinking in the labs will be asked to leave.

Radio, CD, Television, Cell Phones & Computer Audio

While the labs are not a "quiet study zone," we do attempt to keep sound to a minimum so that students can study uninterrupted. The labs support computer generated audio on all of its machines. You may listen to CDs with your own headphones while working at a terminal, but you assume all risk of loss or breakage of the CDs/headphones. You may not listen to online radio or other music channels, as these programs require too much bandwidth. Please pay attention to the rights of students nearby by keeping volume down to an appropriate level. The same request holds for personal radios, CDs, TVs, etc. Please step out of the labs to make or answer all cell phone calls.

Playing Games

Games are available on some lab systems, however their use is not encouraged. Games have lower priority than other applications, so you are required to give up your computer if you see anyone waiting for a machine while you are playing a game.