Time For Commitment

Three years ago, telling your friends you were an "e-mailer" would do as much good to your reputation as belonging to the Society of Nerds and Geeks. Two years ago, email was no longer considered something obscure, but anyone who talked about it was sure to draw some blank if not disdainful looks.

Then, there was an explosive growth of email users at Harvard last year--in part because students could obtain accounts by registering electronically and in part because many students, probably after taking Ec 10, realized that it really made more economic sense to talk to their friends in Little Rock via e-mail than over the phone.

This year, Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services (HASCS), the office in charge of maintaining Faculty of Arts and Sciences computing facilities, upgraded its equipment and software so it became even easier to get and use an e-mail account. As the word about all the wonders of e-mail spread, a large number of students signed up with HASCS.

Riding high on the e-mail wave are members of Class of '97, 68 percent of whom now have accounts, according to HASCS acting director Richard S. Steen. So these days it's quite commonplace to hear people talk about e-mail this and e-mail that, especially if you spend any time hanging out in Science Center.

However, along with enthusiastic students also came problems. Sure, it's easier than ever before to get a UNIX account, but using the resources often turns out to be a nightmare for most users.

Increasingly, frustrated e-mailers are found cursing at their computer terminals--as if that would get them the machines' sympathy. But interesting enough, the source of the users' nightmare--slow responses from the computers--is the users themselves.

Because everyone loves e-mail, and almost everyone likes to access it during the day, the machines and the network that serves them are so overloaded between ten and five on weekdays that it becomes impossible to access one's account.

But having too many users doesn't seem to be a problem at other universities. At schools such as MIT and Dartmouth, nearly every student uses university computing resources, but users there complain little, because there are no waits.

One means of improving system responses is restricting users' activities, but this is hardly a sensible or popular solution. Indeed, HASCS need to do more to meet students' demands for efficient computer access.

Distributing student accounts among several servers, for example, would alleviate many problems with speed. What's more, it would also mean maintenance of the servers would not prevent all students from accessing their accounts during downtime.

HASCS has often complained about being understaffed. But that's hardly a valid excuse if Harvard is committed to bringing computer information technology to every member of the community. Harvard may be committed to this goal, but plans still remain largely only on paper. Concrete commitment will require pouring more funds into developing and maintaining the various computing resources.

The ongoing installation of a campus-wide high-speed data network that promises to link together every corner of the University only amplifies the urgent need for such commitment.

Providing access to the network to users is not enough; making it work as they expect it to work and maintaining its integrity are difficult tasks that HASCS is currently ill-equipped to deal with.

And the problem may feed on itself. If the University fails to recognize the significance of keeping the network healthy and responsive, future users may be discouraged from participating in the effort to modernize the campus. Future administrators may in turn find it difficult to justify investing more money in something nobody uses.

Harvard does not have to be number one in computing facilities. But a firm commitment to bringing technology to faculty and students and making sure the technology works well will result in more than mere satisfaction among e-mail users; it will ensure that we will not be left behind in the Age of Information.

Haibin Jiu '94, associate photography chair of The Crimson, is the former president of the Harvard Computer Society. His column appears Tuesdays on the Science & Health page.