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www.unc.edu/dth
Digital
CCI Laptop Recall
Announced After
Many User Errors
By Kim Minugh
University Editor
Critics called it overly ambitious. Cynics said it was unre
alistic. Skeptics cried, “too much, too soon.”
But no one guessed that the first problem with the Carolina
Computing Initiative would be with the laptops themselves
-and that it would stem from user error.
The late Chancellor Michael Hooker created CCI in 1998,
hoping to cultivate the intellectual climate on campus by
requiring all incoming freshman to
purchase laptop computers.
But Hooker’s vision hit a road
block at the semester’s start when stu
dents began breaking a critical part
of their laptops.
Academic Technology & Networks
officials are announcing a recall today on all A2O IBM laptops
purchased by freshman this year because of a problematic part
“This is really a preventative maintenance,” said Tim
CoyneSmith, a project manager with IBM and CCI coordinator.
He said some students have already ruined the networking,
or Ethernet, 'JWfT by-forcing in the telephone cord, which
should be connected in the adjacent port. This could pose a
problem in the future for students making the same mistake.
CoyneSmith said six IBM representatives will be on cam
pus for two weeks, beginning next Monday. They will bring
enough parts to replace the port in the 1,100 A2O laptops pur
chased by freshmen.
Linwood Futrelle, director of distributed support for ATN,
said students will be notified via e-mail of their appointments
with IBM representatives. Students will be assigned two days
during which they can drop off their laptops and, depending
on demand, pick them up the same day. “We want to get
ahead before people start having problems,” he said.
“We’re sorry for the inconvenience, but it’s better to get it
fixed in advance.”
See CCI, Page 5
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DTH/MILLER PEARSALL
Red Hat co-founder Bob Younq discusses ibiblio.org, which was created
to increase the amount of easily accessible information online.
Technology ... throws daily another loop of fine wire around our souls.
Adlai E. Stevenson
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Many UNC Faculty
Still Adjusting to
New Technologies
See Page 5
DTH/KATE MELLNIK
Norledia Moody, a freshman journalism major, works on a paper Monday in the Student Union. Moody said she thinks
the laptops are very useful, but some students have complained that they are an inconvenience.
Initiative Elicits Mixed Student Reactions
By Elizabeth Breyer
Assistant University Editor
The sight of freshmen toting laptops
across campus has become more familiar in
the last three weeks, but only some of those
newly wired students have smiles on their
faces.
Although the Carolina Computing
Initiative is living up to its promise for
many, some students say the technology is
too hard to use and the computers them-
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Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Distraction
File-Sharing Web Site Debuts
A partnership between UNC
and the Red Hat foundation
spawned ibiblio.org, a site
that offers free downloads.
By Elizabeth Breyer
Assistant University Editor
Students looking for anything from
Dolly Parton audio files to information
on a virtual institute about lunar explo
ration have anew Internet resource from
which to download multimedia files.
A partnership unveiled Monday
between the Red Hat Center and UNC
will create a
Web site offer
ing files in a
format that
anyone can
download,
copy or modi-
Former Byrds
Frontman Makes
Cameo in Class
See Page 3
fy. The site, dubbed “The People’s
Library” by organizers, is located at
http://www.ibiblio.org.
The project was spurred by a $4 mil
lion gift from the Red Hat Center, a
Durham philanthropic organization
established to promote sharing and avail
ability of information. The center is
endowed by Red Hat Inc., an information
technology company that is one of the
largest distributors of the Linux computer
operating system.
Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange,
Chancellor James Moeser and singer
songwriter Roger McGuinn, formerly of
selves often malfunction.
CCI, announced in 1998 by the late
Chancellor Michael Hooker, requires all
incoming freshmen to purchase a laptop
computer starting this year. The University
established a partnership with IBM, offer
ing two models for sale to students at a dis
counted rate.
Norledia Moody, a freshman from
Gaston, used her laptop to write a paper
near a Student Union mural as she
explained how convenient it is to have a
The Byrds, also attended the launch in
Wilson Library’s Rare Books Collection to
show their support for the “open source”
philosophy of information sharing.
“Throughout history, the university is
dedicated to the freedom of speech, free
dom of thought and the free exchange of
ideas," Moeser said. “Ibiblio, which we
call the public’s library, is a natural
extension of this university’s freedom.”
The site represents a partnership
between Meta Lab (formerly known as
SunSITE), an archive and information
sharing site founded by UNC in 1992,
and the Red Hat Center.
Organizers of the project stressed the
importance of making information free
and available and allowing contribu
tions from the public.
“What we hope to do in the future is
build a contributor-run library,” said
Paul Jones, a UNC professor and
founder of Meta Lab.
“We don’t want to take ownership
away, but we want people who are usu
ally patrons to become participants.”
McGuinn also discussed the impor
tance of making information widely
accessible. He testified July 11 before the
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the
future of downloading digital music
from the Internet. McGuinn said he has
been placing his own recordings on the
Meta Lab site for the last five years.
“The Internet is the only way to pre
serve tradition, because the, mass media
is so controlled that the Internet is the
only way to have artistic freedom for
(artists) to express themselves,” he said.
X
portable computer.
“It’s so easy to pack it up and take it to
class,” she said.
Moody said she is required to use her
new IBM laptop in her English 11 class and
also finds it helpful for many other classes.
But freshman Rebecca Bennett said her
computer is a mixed blessing, creating
diversions at the same time it connects her
to her teachers and her work.
See STUDENTS, Page 5
Jones showed off the two new multi
media collections available on the site,
“Goldband Recording Archives” and
“Like A Family - The Making of a
Southern Cotton Mill World.”
These exhibits offer opportunities for
clients to download files in formats such
as photograph and film.
Bob Young, founder of Red Hat Inc.,
said this type of file sharing represented
a spread of information that would lead
to worldwide awareness.
“Dissemination of knowledge is start
ing to occur on a scale mankind has
never seen before - it’s pretty exciting
stuff,” he said.
Young said Meta Lab is a world
renowned organization that UNC could
utilize in numerous ways.
“SunSITE and Meta Lab have made
UNC one of the most famous institutions
worldwide on the Internet,” he said.
“Meta Lab produces hundreds of millions
of bits of data every day, and to be in the
position to make this contribution and
take it to the next level is a great honor.”
Moeser encouraged faculty and staff
members attending the event to explore
the site themselves on the laptop comput
ers set up in the Rare Books Collection.
He said the expanding partnership
would enrich the University’s intellectual
environment “We are truly grateful for
this opportunity and will use the tool to
further the expression of knowledge,
which is what the University is all about”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
Sunny Days
Today: Sunny, 86
Wednesday: Rainy, 86
Thursday: Sunny, 84
Tuesday, September 12, 2000
Candidate
Withdraws
From List
Peter Spear cited personal
and professional reasons
for taking himself out of the
running for UNC provost.
By Kim Minugh
University Editor
Officials announced Peter Spear’s
withdrawal Monday from UNC’s
provost search, less than a week before
his scheduled campus appearance.
Spear, dean of the College of Arts
and Sciences at the University of
Colorado-Boulder, said he notified the
Provost Search Committee of his deci
sion late last week.
He was set to participate in an open
forum Thursday as the final candidate
in the provost selection process.
The decision
stemmed from
personal matters
as well as a com
mitment to
Boulder, Spear
said.
“My wife has a
company that she
is in the process of
merging and she
needs to stay in
the Boulder area,”
he said torn his
Boulder office
Monday. “And I
have spent four
Ex-provost candidate
Peter Spear
said he wiU not leave
the University of
Colorado-Boulder
for the UNC post.
years improving the governance and
culture of the university and have
decided that I would like to firmly
establish it.”
He said the growth and improve
ment of Boulder is important to him.
“I want to watch it come to comple
tion after I set the stage for it,” Spear said.
Richard Soloway, vice chairman of
the search committee, said Spear had
some reservations even at the start of
the search.
“I know he had some domestic con
siderations on his mind,” Soloway said.
“He was concerned about some initia
tives at Colorado that made him ambiva
lent even at the beginning (of the search).”
Spear was the last candidate sched
uled to visit UNC before the committee
met to confer about the finalists.
Soloway said the committee hopes to
refer three names to Chancellor James
Moeser, who will then select the final
ist for the post
The forums conclude today with
William Roper, dean of the School of
Public Health at UNC. He will speak in
the Wilson Assembly Room from 3
p.m. to 4 p.m.
Upon his arrival at UNC, Moeser
merged the roles of provost and execu
tive vice chancellor, creating a post pre
siding over both academic and bud
getary affairs.
The late Chancellor Michael Hooker
created the executive vice chancellor
position in 1995 for current Western
Michigan University President Elson
Floyd, who held the office until 1998.
The search for a provost first began
under Hooker in May 1999 when former
Provost Dick Richardson announced his
plans to retire in June 1999.
But the search was postponed after
Hooker’s June death, and it did not
reconvence until Moeser took office in
August.
The remainging four candidates
include Roper, Paul Courant of the
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor,
Karen Lawrence of the University of
Califomia-Irvine and Robert Shelton
of the University of Califomia-Davis.
Soloway said the search will continue
as planned.
“I think the process is right on sched
ule,” he said. “I don’t think there will be
any effect on time.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesK@unc.edu.