Lee's complicated network causes technology problems across campus
Photo by Keith Birdwell
The latest network upgrade on campus has resurfaced the conversation about communication between students, faculty and The Information Technology (IT) department.
An over-saturation of traffic on Lee's network made it necessary to upgrade the core routers, which is the main equipment that operates the network.
Students are by and large unaware of this change and perhaps even its implications for their campus experience.
It does not go unnoticed. However, when things are not working.
Sophomore Janalyn Patterson was among those who were affected by the change.
'[Last week] I was trying to get work done, but I couldn't because I needed the Internet,' Patterson said.
IT Operations had intended to make this switch on the weekend of spring break to inconvenience as few students as possible.
Director of IT Operations Christopher Golden said this kind of upgrade is never without its bugs.
To complicate matters, Lee's internet service provider, Charter, decided to reroute their routers on the same day.
'When you do something like that there's always going to be issues and we tried to get them all done before students got back,' Golden said. 'But when we looked on social media we saw that we were wrong.'
Golden said social media is typically how they find out about technological problems on campus.
IT Operations Support Analyst Ayodeji Olukoya said the technological problems on campus represent a bigger issue.
'I think the biggest problem is the communication gap,' Olukoya said. 'If we don't know about a problem we can't fix it.'
Golden said that it should also be recognized that with a wireless network as complex as Lee's, not all problems are easily fixable.
Senior Support Analyst for IT Operations Jim Osterman also said Lee's complex network can have many problems.
'A lot of [students] have not tried to do what we're trying to do,' Osterman said, 'If you haven't done it you don't realize the challenges.'
The help desk, located on the bottom floor in the William G. Squires Library, is made available to students for any technological needs Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Members of the Help Desk team, such as Olukoya and Osterman take a very proactive approach to make sure technology runs smoothly across campus.
Olukoya said they periodically check the labs and if they find problems then they fix them.
'Unfortunately people feel like when there's a problem they can leave it to someone else to report, which is why often we don't know about it,' Golden said.
Patterson, who gained respect for the help desk when they fixed her computer when it crashed, said no one takes the time to go to [the help desk] but they're really nice people and they're willing to help you.
'I think at any school anywhere there will be a disconnect between students and the user base,' Osterman said. 'It's just important to know that if you want to get something solved, you should ask the appropriate people.'
To contact the Help Desk for any technological needs, email helpdesk@leeuniversity.edu or call 423-614-8027.
