On Tuesday, April 11, 2006 Choate experieced something similar to the Stock Market’s “Black Thursday”. From the moment the Internet turned on for students, the First Class email server did not function. The campus’ elders who bask in the technologically limited days of past would say, with a slight edge to their tone, “Now you know what Choate was like before the internet,” showing us that we, the Choate students of the new millennium, are spoiled and take amenities such as the Internet for granted. Before the students lapse into a guilt trip and proclaim these elders as the bearers of all that is moral and right, they should tell the teachers the following: we live in 2006, not 1906, or even 1996. The Internet is something that the Choate students, faculty and staff have all learned to rely on. A day without it can lead to extreme hassles for all of the aforementioned groups.
In 1995, Choate ran a pilot project in McCook and Logan Munroe, with high speed internet in every room. In 1996, Choate became fully integrated with high-speed Internet ports in every dorm room and an Internet-laden library. As early as the 1980’s, however, Choate had an Administrative Computing Department. Their job was to support systems like the student information system, as well as the software and hardware used by the school’s development and business offices. In the late 1980’s, math department member Frank Steen was appointed to head Choate’s Computer Services department. By 1991, Steen had created the first AppleTalk network, and placed a Mac Plus or SE on the desk of every faculty member. The first application was an e-mail program called QuickMail.
Mr. Steen left in 1991, and Mr. Joel Backon was hired in 1992 to head up Information Technology Services (ITS). His first goal was to wire the campus, replace the old student information system, and update the antiquated telephone system. ITS’ job continues to be, among other things, to ensure that the various cyber-services at Choate function properly. These include, but are not restricted to, the First Class server Choate uses for email. On April 11, 2006, the crashing of this server crippled life in the Choate community.
The fact that Choate had to go 30 hours without First Class is not the issue. The issue is that when ITS discovered this problem, on Tuesday morning, it did not inform the community via the online Daily Notice, which is updated throughout the day and was still fully accessible to the community. Furhermore, ITS did not avail itself of the telephone voicemail system to inform the entire student, faculty and staff body of what was going on. Finally, ITS had the opportunity to ask Mr. Ford to make an announcement of some sort at Community Lunch that Tuesday. According to the head of an IT department beyond the school, such communication, when possible, is standard practice for IT departments. Informing the community that an IT department serves is a matter of courtesy and to some degree, s elf interest.
Some communication, although minimal, was in effect. ITS sent out voicemails on the antiquated and seldom used system to RTA’s and various other members of the community, asking them to spread the word. The lack of distribution of this information is, as one RTA stated, a fault of the receivers of the messages, not ITS. This attempt is indeed something that should not go unnoticed.
The lack of First Class email caused assignments to be turned in late, short-circuited communication between those at Choate with outside world, and prevented The News from laying out and printing its April 21 issue. These results, some may say, gave us a respite from the daily rigors of Choate for one day--a warm, picturesque spring day at that. ITS, however, turned the situation from bad to worse by not giving students and faculty any information at all about what was going on. If the students at Choate are required to check their email, voicemail and campus mailbox once a day, then the faculty and staff should reciprocate that request by informing the entire community of malfunctions in any of those media.
In a fast-paced environment in which effective communication is a necessity, it will come as no surprise that many students and faculty were bewildered by the events of April 11’s. Accidents happen. We hope that ITS has learned from the First Class blackout that it is in the interests of every community member to be kept informed when a major means of communication here grounds to a halt for almost 30 hours.
