v.4 no 1                                                            February 2000

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IR Helps Clipper Project Take Off
The Lehigh University "Clipper Project" announced this past December will design and offer freshman courses to high school students over the Web and assess the effect of the courses on students and faculty. Funded by a $670,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, course design is now underway. The first courses will be offered in the spring 2001 semester to selected students already accepted and committed to attending Lehigh University.

The faculty members designing the courses are Professors Natalie Foster, Chemistry; Jakob Kazakia, Engineering; Ed Gallagher, English; Tom Hyclak, Economics; and David Johnson, Mathematics. Principal investigators for the Project are Professors Stephen C. Bronack and Jim DiPerna. They have enlisted Information Resources help primarily through participation of the IR instructional technology consultants. (The Project is also funding one additional instructional technologist position for two years to help with the increased workload.) In addition the IR Help Desk will serve as the first line of contact for students with technical problems and the Media Production Center will prepare digitized video and audio materials as needed.

IR Instructional Technologists Robin Deily (Engineering and Applied Sciences), Gale Fritsche (Education), Kristen O'Hara (Business), and Neil Toporski (Arts & Sciences) are currently meeting regularly with the faculty members developing the initial courses. With backgrounds in cognitive learning theory, instructional technology, and some of the specific disciplines being taught, the consultants are part of the Project team, helping faculty identify technologies and applications that will work in this Web environment. Tim Foley, IR Director of Client Services, is coordinating IR's involvement as needed.

In an interview for this article, Professor Natalie Foster noted that IR staff bring to the table both knowledge of technology and how people react to it. They also have a good sense of which technological innovations are manageable and which are not. For instance, Foster felt that IR's Neil Toporski, with whom she works most closely, can give her a sense of what will "scale up" successfully. Both fellow faculty members in the Project and the IR staff also provide motivated colleagues to "bounce ideas off of." She and Neil are already discussing writing a paper together about the experience. Ultimately Foster's motivation is to "drive change on campus and get away from so much dependence upon the lecture."

Toporski feels that this is a very exciting project because it offers Lehigh a chance to innovate and learn from that innovation by utilizing its own highly qualified faculty and staff. This Project affords the opportunity to think about and experiment with what will work in the new environment rather than simply transferring classroom-based learning models onto the Web.

One of the primary challenges is how to create and maintain a sense of community. Simulations, animations, chat rooms, and other applications will help to overcome what could be an isolated and lonely activity. Peer projects and collaborative workgroups may be used to incorporate these high school seniors in a learning community—with each other, with other Lehigh students, and possibly with students at other universities. Foster is thinking about requiring small groups of her Web students to plan a "chemical dinner" by identifying in the local grocery store edible elements, compounds, and mixtures (and justifying their choices!).

Over the life of the project there will be three student groups — the typical, on-campus, face-to-face classroom course; Web-based courses for high school seniors only; and Web-based courses for a combination of high school seniors and Lehigh freshmen living on campus. Bronack and Diperna will be assessing and comparing the effectiveness of learning in these various groupings.

Professor Bronack believes that Information Resources is a key component of this program. “We met with IR when we were initially writing the grant and they were very supportive. Their role encompasses many diverse elements: supporting students who call the Help Desk, keeping the servers running, producing instructional materials, and help from the instructional technologists who serve as members of the technical design teams for each course. I think it will be a very productive collaboration.”

Why is it called "The Clipper Project?" The name comes from President Farrington's inaugural speech in April 1999 in which he used the story of the Pan Am Clipper in the 1930s winging its way from London to New York, passing over the Queen Mary luxury liner. Just as air transportation then signaled the end of the age of steamships and transformed the way people lived, so too is new technology today transforming education. "Learning, not teaching, is the business at hand," said Farrington. "The classroom as we know it today is our Queen Mary, and technology will be our catalyst -- our Clipper, if you will." [Note: pictured at right is the Pan Am Washington Clipper, a Stratocruiser designed to compete with luxury liners during the 1950s.]

19th Century Bridge Collection Augmented
by Philip Metzger
Special Collections has recently made a major addition to its holdings in the history of iron and steel construction, in the form of a large volume (27 inches tall) consisting of illustrative plates for a proposed, but never constructed, bridge over the Thames in London. This volume was submitted to Parliament, along with a written report, between about 1792 and 1808. Thomas Telford, England's most prominent engineer at the time, was heavily involved in the project. The plates include plans for reconstruction of docks along the Thames as well as construction of new bridges over the river. One particularly spectacular plate, a full size double foldout, depicts a cast iron arch bridge that would have spanned 600 feet without intermediate supports.

A junior history major, Bill Fritchie, is engaged in a for-credit internship in the History Department, under the supervision of Professor Patricia Turner, to make an inventory and description of the plates, prepare a bibliography of writings about the reports and the project itself, and to research the effect these reports had on the development of the Port of London. Turner explained that the goal of the new internship program is to give students an opportunity to employ their skills in a "hands-on" project like this one that will develop the historical context of an artifact.

One of the premiere subject areas of Lehigh's Special Collections is 19th century bridge construction worldwide. The original corpus of this collection was derived from the older volumes in the book stacks, e.g. Lehigh library purchases during the19th and early 20th centuries to support the engineering curriculum. These materials have now been transferred to Special Collections and augmented by judicious purchases from endowment funds like this one.

Helpful Hints and Other IR Digest Features
The February 10th issue of IR Digest inaugurated a new regular feature--two or three quick hints generated by staff at the Information Resources Help Desk. "Hints" will be answers to questions, shortcuts to help you work more efficiently, or clarifications that will benefit many faculty, staff or students. The first hints dealt with two areas: (1) viewing the quota and usage for Network Server and AFS disk spaces and (2) using the ASA catalog Web Self Service feature to renew or recall books. A compendium of more of these items can be found on the Help Desk FAQ (frequently asked questions) page at: http://www.lehigh.edu/~inhelp/faq/. The remaining contents of this issue are listed below and can be viewed at: http://www.lehigh.edu/lists/archives/irdigest

CONTENTS:

- HELP DESK HINTS
- NEW CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY WEB PAGE
- NEW DEALS ON PURCHASING A COMPUTER
- NEW SEMINAR: USING THE WEB WISELY
- FREE ISPs
- NEW! LINK TO FULL-TEXT ARTICLES FROM YOUR WEB PAGE
- CHANGING YOUR VOICE MAIL GREETING FROM HOME
- ERIC DOCUMENTS IN ELECTRONIC FORM 1996 TO PRESENT
- CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS SciFinder NOW 24/7

TO SUBSCRIBE TO IRDIGEST: Send email to: Listproc@lehigh.edu; type in the body of the message: Subscribe irdigest <your name>. Call the IR Help Desk (84357) if you have any difficulty in subscribing.

Internet2 Connection Goes LIVE
After three years of planning and preparation, Lehigh's high-speed connection to the national Internet2 backbone network began full operation on January 14, 2000. Research and educational activities that had been hindered by regular Internet speeds can now enjoy access at up to 155 million bits per second to 160 Internet2 schools, plus many other sites on the various interconnected national and international high-speed networks.

In partnership with the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, and with support from the NSF and corporate sponsors, Lehigh will now be able to participate in the development and use of next generation networking technologies to help build a leading edge academic environment. For more information, see http://www.lehigh.edu/i2.

Star Kids Get Inside Look at Computer Hardware

IR staff members Carol Lidie, Keith Meeker, Kathy Miller, Dan Moyer and Craig Warrick coordinated a computer hardware program for 100 sixth-twelfth graders in the S.T.A.R. program on January 22nd.

The group developed a hardware seminar augmented with digital photographs of components, provided insights on future computing trends with a video, and developed a handout defining computer hardware components. In addition the participants were given the opportunity to take apart a computer. Lidie is IR Team Leader for Technology Installation and Maintenance Services and the other staff members listed also serve on that Team.

Tim Foley, Client Services Director, presented two sessions to 40 S.T.A.R. Academy participants. The first, with Lehigh graduate student Amy Walker, was on Ethical uses of Computers and the Internet in January. At the second session on February 12th, they discussed the Internet, using email, and an electronic communications system called "ecircles". There is now a S.T.A.R. circle, with all participants taking part, that includes discussion boards, photo albums, project lists, calendaring, music files, and other online activities. [Photograph above by Craig Warrick]

IR People
On February 22nd, Brian Simboli joins IR as Science Librarian on the College of Arts & Sciences Team. He holds degrees from Swarthmore College, University of Notre Dame, and Drexel University. He has served as acting science librarian at West Chester University and as acting head of the Math-Physics-Astronomy Library at the University of Pennsylvania. Most recently he has worked as an account executive and trainer for INSPEC, the organization that produces the IEE engineering database. Please join us in welcoming Brian.

Librarian Jennifer Heise, IR General and Student Services Team, was recently appointed to two groups within the American Library Association's Machine-Assisted Reference Section: the User Access to Services Committee and the MARSbest (best web references sites) Task force.

Jean Johnson, College of Education Team Leader and Librarian, was recently elected Vice Chair-Chair Elect of the Pennsylvania Library Association's College and Research Division.

Firm Chosen to Aid in Linderman Program
IR has retained the Boston architectural firm of Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott to assist in developing a program plan for the rejuvenation of Linderman Library. Consultants Geoff Freeman and Carole Wedge met with IR staff in early January. They will return several times this spring to gather more information and talk with user groups including students.

This firm has been involved in either program planning or architectural work for many outstanding academic libraries including Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library built in 1929, the same year as Linderman's addition. They will also be studying Linderman in the context of the evolving campus master plan and the services offered in the Fairchild Martindale Library and Computing Center.

The expectation is that the Shepley Bulfinch consultants will complete their work by the end of the spring semester and will deliver a report that identifies the issues, describes the needs, defines concept and programmatic components, and presents a review of the options with some recommendations. This report is preliminary to the next step which, assuming the project is pursued, would be a detailed building feasibility study.

Tickets for Friends Dinner Featuring Terry Gross
Tickets for the Friends of the Lehigh Libraries Dinner on Tuesday, April 18th, are now available at $35 for members and $45 for non-members. The evening includes a reception in Linderman Library, dinner, and a talk by Ms. Gross, host of NPR's Fresh Air.

To purchase one or more tickets, please send a check payable to Lehigh University to: Friends of the Lehigh Libraries, Fairchild-Martindale Library, 8A E. Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015. Please call 610-758-3025 if you have questions or need additional information.
 
 
 

New Book List Makes a Comeback on Web
What do the following books have in common: Derrida and the Future of Literature; Twilight of the Clockwork God : Conversations on Science and Spirituality at the End of an Age; and Philosophy and Computing : An Introduction?

All three are new acquisitions in the Lehigh Libraries over the last three months. An automatically generated list of new books is always available at: http://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/NewBooks/800.html on the Library Service Web page. This listing is arranged by Dewey call number range so if you are interested in business books, for instance, you can quickly flip down to the 650s and browse along.

The list is updated monthly. Titles that have been in the collection for more than three months are deleted from the list and the newest ones are added. In the future videos will be included.

Gift Provides Venture Capital for Wireless Project
Impressed by the University's WIRED program, Lehigh Parents Denis and Joanne Salamone recently donated a gift earmarked for the area of student networking. The Salamones believe that computing and networking have a very positive role in the academic and social environment of a private institution like Lehigh University. They also recognize that, although Lehigh is in the forefront in this area, there is always more to be done, especially in the fast-paced area of telecommunications and networking. Mr. and Mrs. Salamone hope other donors will join them in this relatively new and innovative area of philanthropy.

Information Resources will augment this gift from its funds and jump start a project to test wireless connectivity in various environments on campus, including some student residences. This experimental project is in the planning stages under the leadership of Director for Technology Management Services Roy Gruver and Director for Client Services Tim Foley.

What is wireless local area networking? In the simplest of terms, it is local area networking without wires, providing all the features and benefits of traditional LAN technologies like Ethernet, the dominant technology and the one currently used at Lehigh University. Instead of using twisted pair wire, coaxial cable or fiber optics, wireless LANs use radio frequencies to send and transmit data between PCs or other network devices without wires or cables.

Wireless LANs "talk" on spread spectrum radio waves which are less susceptible to radio noise and interference and therefore ideal for data communications. Recent breakthroughs have made it feasible to use wireless technology to reach Ethernet-like speeds (11 megabits per second using a 2.4 Gigahertz frequency band.).

Although technically wireless lans can be implemented with desktop computers, the most common application is in a laptop environment where users are looking for maximum adaptability. Indeed, at this time, the primary advantage of wireless technology is the flexibility it affords: individuals can work together using network resources in informal, diverse, and constantly changing configurations. In a typical installation, a base station is wired into the campus network and supports a group of users who must have wireless (as opposed to Ethernet) cards in their machines. Each building or area may present unique problems and there are also security issues to be addressed.

Denis Salamone is a partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Joanne is the Business Manager at Genesis Interior Design. Together they serve as Vice chairs of the Lehigh University Parents Committee. Their son Tom is a junior majoring in computer engineering and has been a WIRED consultant for two years.

Upcoming Exhibits in Linderman Library
Linderman Lobby:
February: The Bitting Collection of Regional History
March-May: Reflections on the Holocaust in Art and Literature
Bayer Galleria of Rare Books:
March-August: Illustrations through the Centuries: Selected Lehigh Highlights